Ask-Dr-Kirk

Tips For Your Students On Interacting With Their Professors

Here is an article for students on how to talk to their professors from Michael Leddy and another from Dustin Wax.  These might make a good appendix for your syllabus and/or great suggestions to share with your advisees.

I love the advice to "Tell the truth...your average professor has pretty much heard it all...If a professor thinks s/he’s being played, they’re not going to respond very well to whatever request you have to make, so you might as well be honest. If you feel you absolutely must lie, at least make it a huge flaming whopper of a lie, so the professor can get a good laugh when they share it at the next faculty meeting."

Thanks to Jeff Hess for pointing me to this.

Professor Uses Online Role-Playing Game To Teach Leadership

In my last blogpost I talked about the use of creative methods in teaching concepts and theories in various courses.  Professor Rebecca Whitehead teaches a class called, "Introduction to Applied Leadership," that uses an online role-playing game to train the students to be leaders.  They learn goal setting, motivation, problem solving, and working in teams.  The class is designed for senior technology-management majors at the University of Advancing Technology, described on their home page as:

"a unique, technology-infused private college that was founded by a techno-geek for techno-geeks. Our Mission is to educate students in the fields of advancing technology to become innovators of the future. UAT's campus culture is devoted to continually nurturing a thriving geek community where everyone's personal lives and professional aspirations revolve around technology."

Sounds like a fun place to learn...

Using Creative Assignments In Class To Illustrate Theories And Concepts

As faculty, we should try to make our courses interesting for our students.  One way to do this is to use assignments that relate what the students are learning to their everyday activities.  A recent Chronicle of Higher Education article lists how The Simpsons television show can be used in science, literature, religion, psychology, and philosophy classes. 

We know our students watch this show and others.  I've assigned various television shows or movies and asked students to write papers discussing the concepts, theories, and terminology illustrated that relates to the class topics.

I would love to hear from other professors that use creative assignments in their classes...

Professor Joe Hoyle To Do Workshop on Teaching Effectiveness In Tampa October 18-19, 2007

There's an article in today's Chronicle of Higher Education on Professor Joe Hoyle (University of Richmond).  I had blogged on Professor Hoyle and his great tips on teaching in an earlier post.  You can attend a workshop he is facilitating in Tampa, Florida, on October 18-19, 2007.  If you can't attend, download his free ebook here.

Setting Expectations In The Classroom

This quote is from Mary Brown, Chair of the Pinellas County School Board in Florida:

"...school systems must make some major changes to meet the needs of 21st century classrooms and engage students in activities that will challenge them...Parents must stop trying to be their children's friends and start being parents and demand appropriate behavior and high expectations for respect and performance in school."

The advice for parents applies to us as teachers too!

Teaching Workshop For College Professors On January 3-5, 2008

I will be teaching a three day workshop for college professors January 3-5, 2008, in St Petersburg, Florida.  The course, Classroom Management: How to Teach Like a Pro, is for college instructors of all disciplines.  The tuition is covered by a grant from the National Science Foundation and thus the cost to faculty is only a $50 application fee.

The workshop will address issues such as:

• How to establish and maintain your credibility as the instructor from day one
• What to do that first crucial day of class to set class expectations
• How to convince students that your class is critical to their future success
• How to motivate students to take responsibility for their success or failure in class
• What classroom policies to include in your syllabus
• How to deal with those difficult students who come in late, disrupt class, sleep in class, dominate the class discussion, turn papers in late, etc.
• How to get responsible and useful feedback from students to improve your teaching!

The workshop is equally useful to those faculty members who are beginning their teaching careers, new faculty in the first few years out of their educational programs, or experienced faculty with questions as to how to manage this “new” generation of college students.  In general, if you want to become a better classroom manager and improve your classroom evaluations, this workshop is for you.

The workshop is limited to 20 participants.  Contact the regional director, Dr. Tony Irving, for more information at [email protected]

$10,000 Scholarship For College Students Who Blog

Here's a great opportunity to share with your students.  Collegescholarships.org is giving away a $10,000 scholarship to a college student who maintains a weblog.  The requirements are:

• Blog must contain unique and interesting information about the student and things he/she is passionate about.  In other words, no spam bloggers. 
• Student must be an U.S. citizen.
• Student must currently be attending college full-time.

The deadline to apply is October 6.  Thanks to Mike Sansone for pointing me towards this.

Rubric For Grading Classblog Comments

I have been using a weblog in my classes for the past two years but am still struggling with how to set up my expectations for the students on participating on the blog. Timothy Johnson (Drake University) shares the rubric he developed to grade a class blog which he gives to the students so that they know what he expects.  You can download a copy here: 

Download rubric_to_grade_classblog.doc