Category: Written by Faculty

The Student Tamer: Classroom Management

by Barbara Lane I was twenty-two years old the first time I ever sat at the big desk in the front of a classroom. Trying to look more like my English teacher mother than the coed in dirty denim that I’d just been before graduation, I wore an ironed church dress, stockings, and lipstick. My costume was good, but my palms were sweating. Read More

What is a Mentor?

by Dr. Rodney E Rohde Recently, I had the privilege of contributing an invited article for ASCLS Today (my professional organization) regarding mentoring. Mentoring occurs on so many levels, with so many different relationships. I have had the honor of being the recipient of informal and formal mentoring. Read More

In Memoriam: Student Demonstrated Learning

by Prof. Robert Fyrst Faculty colleagues, It is with a heavy heart that I share with you all that our cherished colleague, Robert Fyrst, passed away on February 6, 2018. Robert always demonstrated his devotion to students through the constant improvement of his own teaching practice. In honor of Rob’s huge legacy to the art of teaching, I want to share with you a post he wrote for the FCTL Faculty Forum. Please join me in celebrating Rob’s life and reflecting on his thoughts for how to improve teaching at ACC. Read More

Some Thoughts on Student Engagement and How We Can Focus It

by Karon Rilling The Lilly Conference at the start of 2017 had been a productive experience for me. I had gained strategies and, more importantly, I gained a sense of being part of a community of learners/teachers dedicated to effective instruction. When granted the opportunity to attend the Lilly Conference a second time, January 2018, I knew I would gain from the experience. Read More

Service-Learning: Is it Volunteerism? Is it an Internship?

by Lillian M Huerta Service-Learning is defined as a teaching methodology that allows students to apply their academic skills/learning to the service that they are providing in the community. Here is what service-learning looks like: auto mechanic students can teach women from a local women’s shelter to change oil or a flat tire. Students in a sociology course can develop a survey for a low-income neighborhood to determine the health needs of that community. Read More

REWIND: The Santa Factor

by Roie Black As a teacher, my job is to try to stuff knowledge and skills into the minds of my students, to prepare them for that life they hope to live. It seems to get tougher to do this every class I teach. I am always on the lookout for new ideas that might help get this knowledge into their heads! Read More

Interesting Use of an Old Tool: Kahoot Now Does Homework

by Herb Coleman Here's an article about using the online quiz/gaming platform Kahoot for homework. For those unfamiliar, Kahoot (Kahoot.com) is a web-based question/polling platform where faculty can pose questions and students answer on their mobile devices. It employs a game format with fast answers and leader boards. If you ever participated in one at a conference, then you know how infectious the competition can be. Read More

The Lilly Conference 2017: An Adventure in Learning

by Anne Fletcher This year, I was very pleased to present at the Lilly Conference in Austin. My colleague, Julia Maffei, and I chose the theme, “Motivating and Engaging Students.” Read More

Evidence Based Learning

by Vanessa Faz In January of 2017 I had the pleasure and wonderful opportunity to attend the Lily Conference in Austin, Texas. I was selected as a last minute alternate and was thankful for the opportunity to attend. In looking at the layout of the workshops, I felt that there was not enough of me to be able to attend all the workshops as they were all very appealing. I had to really think about which workshops would benefit me the most in my classroom and as a tutor. Read More

More Listening – Less Talking

by Julia Maffei Communication in class is important. Yet, I find that most students are generally reluctant to speak up. If I ask my students, “Do you understand?” they answer, “Yes.” But I know that is not always true. Likewise, if I ask, “Any questions?” most often folks remain silent and avoid eye contact or give a blank stare. So, this semester, encouraged by the ACC FCTL Faculty Fellows, I tried to be consistent in the use of strategies to improve communication in my ESOL Writing and Grammar class. Read More

An Approach to Teaching Resume Writing

by Michael Finney I prefer to teach students how to create a resume that targets a specific position at a specific organization, so that when compared to the generic resume of other candidates, the targeted resume will stand out as superior and thus improve the student’s chances of getting an interview (the ultimate goal of the resume in my view). Read More

Making Distance Learning Discussions Interactive Using VoiceThread

by Michelle Fitzpatrick So many times I have heard faculty, staff and students argue that you just cannot engage with students via distance learning as well as you can in the classroom. Comments are made that distance learning class delivery is only effective for some class types, not courses involving a lot of discussion. If you know me then you know that I am always up for a challenge, and I have dedicated the last few semesters to researching ways of obtaining an active learning environment in distance learning courses, then testing out my ideas. Read More

Are You Waiting Too Long?

by Russ Wittrup It was about midpoint of the last fall semester and one of my classes had just finished. Many of my students were exiting the room still discussing a topic that we had briefly debated toward the end of the period. As I left, I was stopped in the hallway by the instructor who next taught in the room. Read More

RiverBot Robot Car

by Shana Shaw Making a robot can be harder than it seems. Even though it is made from just a few parts; motors, sensors, a chassis, and circuit boards, the complexity lies in putting the hardware and software together in a seamless fashion. Read More

Lilly Conference – Student Engagement

by Sandra Teft I was awarded a scholarship to attend the Lilly Conference this past January and I was so grateful for the opportunity. The Lilly Conference is an evidence-based teaching and learning conference attended by faculty and administrators with varying experience and backgrounds. This diversity provides a wonderful opportunity to network and share knowledge and experiences with colleagues that you may otherwise never have had the chance to meet. Read More

Changing Too Many Variables at Once

by Meredith Denton-Hedrick When you teach geology, you have to face the reality (however inexplicable!) that not everyone is as fascinated by geology as you are. As with any science, geology can easily lend itself to a very dry, and thus very boring, presentation, so I’m always looking for new ways to keep students interested and engaged. Read More

Lessons from the Lilly Conference

by Julia Maffei The Lilly Conference has become my yearly opportunity to rub elbows with innovative educators. This year, I was pleased to attend the conference as well as present there. My colleague, Anne Fletcher, and I spoke about “Motivating and Engaging Students.” I focused on the importance of establishing connections among students and the teacher to create a learning community to foster student success, while Anne Fletcher spoke about the importance of students’ metacognition of their brain function and how they can use that understanding to achieve their goals. Read More

Why I Don’t Want to Take Center Stage Anymore

by Dr. Sripadma Satyan I have always adhered to the traditional approach to teaching, even though I have been watching the evolution of new techniques in active learning. In the last couple of years I have come across articles and research showing the importance of engaging the students during the class. Read More

Pausing to Make Progress

by Rennison Lalgee In my years of teaching, it was not unusual to see students in class that did not take notes. However, I’ve noticed an increasing number of students that come to class (some of them have perfect attendance!) who will not even bring a pen. This semester I used the “pause procedure” technique during my lectures. The Pause Procedure is one way to “interrupt” the long lecture and give students an opportunity to “reset”. Read More

Boring Quizzes, Minimal Impact? Scratch That!

by Catherine Harper The most valuable collaborative activity I currently use is the two-stage quiz with immediate feedback. Stage 1: students take a 10-point quiz individually, and hand it in. Stage 2: students join their assigned team and take the same quiz together using the IF-AT. I sum their two scores, for 20 possible points. Read More

Connecting Students with Careers using a Work-Based Learning Approach

by Jack O'Grady As the job market grows ever more competitive, STEM employers increasingly seek job candidates with not only academic knowledge but also technical and soft-skills that typically go beyond the training that most colleges and universities provide. Often, even the most talented students encounter a steep learning curve as they transition from the classroom into the workforce. Read More

Encouraging Students to Strive

by Suzanne Summers A common point of frustration for many of us, as educators, is seeing students, many of whom lack self-confidence academically and/or socially, give up when confronted with difficulties. So what can we do to encourage our students to persevere? Read More

Two Examples from Lilly

by Karry Sargologos There were a lot of great ideas on engaging students in more active learning in the classroom presented at the Lilly Conference in January. I have incorporated several into my group discussions and legislative simulations in my government classes this spring with positive results. Read More

Concept Mapping in Class

by Patty Collier Have you ever listened to a 90 minute lecture? Have you ever given one? My students start each class with enthusiasm. Cool, we're going to learn how to rehab someone after an ACL reconstruction. They are fresh and excited to learn. I start with a 30-minute lecture reviewing the knee joint: the bones, the muscles, the ligaments. Things they learned last semester. They get bored, their eyes turn glassy, and some look like they are asleep. I have totally lost... Read More

The Students Teach the Teacher

by Jennifer Graydon Our first Project ACC Faculty Fellows assignment was to conduct a focus group with our students. This was a humbling experience. As I sat and listened, my students had the opportunity to teach the teacher how they learn best. For the focus group, I asked my students “If you could tell your Professors before the start of the semester how you learn best, what you would tell them?” Read More

Let Me Help You Understand What You Think You Understood

by Benny Ligues During the Austin Lilly Conference for Teaching and Learning this year, I had the opportunity to attend a presentation that discussed one of the best teaching techniques I have come across. That is not to say the rest of the presentations were not as good. They were all very inspiring and ... Read More

Ethical Deliberation and Expectations || I Have Been So Lucky!

Have we got a treat for you! This week's blog is a double feature and has two posts: "Ethical Deliberation and Expectations" by Nancy Johnson and "I have been so Lucky!" by Margarita Burciaga Del Real. Read More

What I Learned About Flipped Classroom at Lilly Conference

by Hoda Tavakoli The Lilly Conference gave me a great opportunity to meet with other faculty from many different colleges and universities and to learn from their experience in teaching. In every session that I attended I learned more and more. As a new faculty all this information was like an ocean and made me even thirstier to learn. This experience was truly an eye opener to me to the world of teaching. In each one of the workshops I learned something new. Read More

From Good Ideas to Good Practice

by Susan Meigs I have heard dozens of great ideas about effective teaching. At workshops, conferences, retreats, summits, and roundtable discussions, I have listened to inspiring speakers and scribbled pages of notes. Despite my good intentions to apply those ideas to my own teaching, I end up setting most of them aside—or forgetting about... Read More

“COMMUNITY” is the Longest Part of our Name

by Cheryl Thompson Price I participated in the Computerside Chat on Fostering Motivation / Knowledge, Skills, Recall, & Understanding / Self-Awareness as Learners. I didn’t “chat-in” each time I had a comment because I didn’t want to hog up the queue; nonetheless, I’ve been encouraged to share: “The best part of these sessions is when passionate instructors share... Read More

A Little about Lilly

by Paul Thayer I attended the Lilly Conference in Austin, Texas during January 5 – 7, 2017. The Lilly Conference was held at the Doubletree Hilton Hotel near the ACC Highland campus. The theme for the Lilly Conferences is Evidence-Based Teaching and Learning and is geared toward College and University Teaching. Over three days, I was able to attend fifteen breakout sessions in addition to the daily plenary presentations. Read More

The Brain and Learning

by Jacqueline Childress Earlier this month, I had the good fortune of attending the Lily Conference. It was my first time attending and I came away learning a number of interesting facts and tips. First, I discovered who makes up Generation Z. If you don't know, some believe it's kids born from 1995 on and some believe it's kids born from 2000 on. The most mind boggling thing about Generation Z to me is that their attention span is all of eight (8) seconds. Read More

Soft Skills: An Evolutionary Tale!

by Clark Shaffer Today, employers across the country are looking to higher education to develop and implement programs to teach skills such as critical thinking, teamwork, problem solving and communication to name only a few. Read More

Staying in the Middle Path – Balancing Active and Passive Learning Approaches to Maximize Learning in Your Classroom

by Kusali Gamage What is your approach to teaching? Do you promote active/engaged learning or passive learning in your classroom? How do you decide which way to go? In the academic community, passive and active learning has been well defined. Active learning holds students responsible for their own learning where students actively engaged in the learning process through discussions/projects, problem-solving, concept mapping, role playing, debates, etc. Read More

Why Not Have the Students Do It?

by Mendy Holliday You have probably heard of the idea that students need to be working harder than the teacher for successful learning; well, I found the truth of this out for myself quite by accident one day. Read More

Lilly Conference 2017: Strategies for Introducing Short Stories

by Karon Rilling Attending the Lilly Conference gave me an opportunity to meet and interact with master teachers. Several were from here at Austin Community College. Others came from Cornell, Central Oklahoma, Kent State, and Chapel Hill. The timing of the conference gave me a chance to process what I learned and to make some changes to my instructional plans before the spring semester begins. Read More

Understanding Generation Z

by Lillian M. Huerta I was awarded a scholarship to attend the Lilly Evidence-Based Teaching and Learning Conference courtesy of ACC’s Faculty Community for Teaching and Learning (FCTL). It was my first time attending and I certainly hope it will not be my last. The conference was engaging, inspiring and meaningful to say the least. Read More

Teaching Students to Learn Without YOU

by Robert C. Fyrst Engaging students in the learning process is often challenging. Each of us, as instructors, present information in a certain manner that we hope allows for students to “learn” the material. However, more often than not... Read More

The Beauty of the Lilly – An Easy Idea to Help Enhance Any Classroom Discussion

by Kathy Statos Over the years, I have looked for ways to revamp my preparation for the new semester, and gratefully this year, I was able to attend the Lilly Conference. To be completely honest, there is... Read More

Teaching Time Management

by Terry Thomas This post is a great idea from Professor Terry Thomas. She is working to ensure that students learn not only course material in her class, but time management skills as well! So many students could benefit from this approach, that I thought it would be great to share it with all of our readers. Read More

The Santa Factor

Playing Jeopardy in the Classroom

by Charles Wukasch The ever popular TV quiz program Jeopardy can provide an enjoyable way of preparing for the final exam. Students can get ready for the exam while at the same time having some fun. Some years ago, when teaching one of the second-year... Read More