Ask-Dr-Kirk

Tips To Preventing Plagiarism

Nathan Grimm just shared this great list of resources on how to handle plagiarism in the classroom including sample policies, a list of online tutorials to help students understand what plagiarism is, and tips for discouraging plagiarism. As he notes:

Plagiarism is one of academia's most common problems and a constant concern for teachers. While the Web may have made plagiarism as easy as a few simple clicks, it's also made detecting plagiarism just as easy. If a student can find the essay in seconds, so can you—if you know where to look.

How Has Education Changed In The 21st Century?

Dan Brown (former student at University of Nebraska) gives a brief history of information and what education really is. Very thought provoking for all of us who teach! 

Thanks to Professor Alec Couros for bringing this to my attention via Twitter.

Measuring Learning Rather Than Memorization

Professor Joe Hoyle (University of Richmond) makes a case against tests based on memorization stating that, “No matter what students or faculty tell you, students learn based on how they are tested and graded.”

 

One way he emphasizes this is by telling his students they can bring in one page of notes to the exam:

“I allow the students to bring one full page (front and back) of notes to the test. I have found that this policy was good for both them and me. Creating that page of notes helps students to assess what is most important in the coverage. They only have one page so they have to consider seriously what to include. And, it clearly points out to them that I am looking for something more than memorization. There is no reason to memorize anything if you can write it down on a sheet of paper and bring it with you. But, I think I am actually the real beneficiary. If you know the students are sitting there with a page of notes, you cannot fall back on memorization questions. You force yourself to go beyond what they have written down—to think of what use can be made of that information. How can you test real understanding? Consequently, I have come to really enjoy writing tests because it is a challenge and a puzzle to push them beyond their sheet of paper.”

As he notes, "Students will learn based on how they expect to be tested. Take advantage of that."

 

You can read more here.

Quote Of The Day

Found this as the tag line at blog, Teach Online.

He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.

So true!

Evaluating Your Teaching

Here are a few articles on evaluating your peformance in the classroom. Professor L. Dee Fink in his article, Evaluating your own teaching, discusses how to determine what questions to ask.

 

This article found on the University of Florida's website, advocates "Getting early feedback from students."

 

Dr. Richard Felder (North Carolina State University) in this article, “What do they know, anyway? Making evaluations effective,” suggests getting feedback from small subgroups of students rather than each one.

 

And if you're currently reading over those evals from last semester that you just received, check out this site for advice first.

USFSM Student, Amanda Evora, Competes In Olympic Figure Skating Pairs Tonight

Amanda Evora is representing the United States in Figure Skating Pairs along with her partner, Mark Ladwig. Amanda is one of my students at the University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee. Good luck Amanda!

Photo by James M. Maher.

How To Assess A Graduate Program?

I'm on the Assessment team for our MBA program and we are struggling with just what and how to assess our students for SACS and AACSB. I was happy to come across this grouping of articles on educational assessment put together by Faculty Focus.

Anyone else have any good resources they would suggest?

Getting Your Students To Come To Class On Time

Some tips for getting on-time attendance:

• Remind them of the policy on your syllabus. I like to ask, "what does your syllabus say about attendance and getting to class on time?" This makes the syllabus the bad guy, not me
• Relate to the "real world" (tardiness will not go over well with your future boss!)
• Speak to students one-on-one about the importance of coming to class on time and the impact it has on their grades
• Start with a short quiz (perhaps on the reading or on last week's class) that cannot be made up by tardy students
• Start with a fun activity that their classmates will be talking about

You can find these and More tips here:

Ex-Student Releases His Third Book, SWAT: Seize The Accomplishment

Timothy L. Johnson was one of my MBA students back in the early 1990s at Drake University. Sometimes you get to remember why you went into teaching in the first place...It's the ability to look with pride at the accomplishments of former students.

Timothy's third book, SWAT: Seize the Accomplishment, has just been released. The book, written as a business fable is an excellent read on systems thinking and is being touted highly by top leaders such as the following:

SWAT is a compelling book on a subject that could be dry and brittle. Tim presents his topic by telling a story that everyone in business can relate to. It’s easy to read, and also realistic, humorous, and a great learning experience. I have worked with systems for over 30 years and I even learned some new things. If you want to get a better handle on business systems and processes, you won’t go wrong with this book! ...Richard Larson, PMP, CBAP, President, Watermark Learning

SWAT is a must-read for every aspiring (and practicing) business analyst, process manager, and project manager. It is the best business novel/fable/non-nonfiction business book around (this from someone who lists The Goal, It’s Not Luck, and Critical Chain as 3 of the 5 best business books he’s read). It is a clear, concise, entertaining, and EFFECTIVE introduction to systems thinking.   ...Mike DeWitt, Chief Operating Officer, Cyberactive Marketing LLC

SWAT takes an important topic, systems thinking, that has been avoided by many and makes it relevant and useful. This important knowledge is wrapped in a great story which is fun to read and provides an incredible opportunity to learn about the exciting world of SWAT teams. It is a combination that leaders and learners won’t be able to put down.    ...Kevin Eikenberry - Author, Remarkable Leadership: Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One Skill at a Time

Timothy is also the author of Race Through the Forest: A Project Management Fable and Gust: The "Tale" Wind of Office Politics.

Congrats, Timothy. I'm looking forward to the next book!

 

 

 

 

How To Impress Your Boss (Or Professor)

Terry Starbucker wrote a great blogpost on 10 Surefire Ways To Impress Your Boss (and get what you want). As he notes:

Be on time. Nothing, I mean nothing, is more penalizing than being habitually late. There is a lot of truth to the saying “90% of success is showing up” – that is, provided it isn’t after the appointed hour.

Keep your promises, and over deliver too. This is like mom and apple pie, I know, but getting the boss to trust you explicitly is absolutely critical. You need to be counted on when the pressure is on.

Display common courtesy, especially by returning phone calls & E-mail. In this day and age, doing this consistently actually makes you stick out. Those Thank yous and I’m sorrys add up in the “who’s a better person for the promotion” derby.

Show quiet confidence, and take “can’t” out of your vocabulary. A little positivity goes a long way out there...

Use the language appropriately – both verbally and in your writing. Bad grammar and spelling is right up there with punctuality as promotion killers. Proof read your stuff – and use spellcheck. It all matters!

Disagree and challenge respectfully. You can disagree with the boss, or even say “no”. Just be prepared to back it up, with a statesman-like flair. But if the play is called and it goes against you, despite your feelings you need to move on, and execute. There’s no pouting in the conference room.

Focus on the task at hand like a laser beam. I know it’s really hard these days to put down the Blackberry or stay away from E-mail, Twitter or Facebook, especially on conference calls, but when the boss is talking, stay focused.

All these suggestions would work well for our students also. In fact, I may tweak Terry's list and put on a future syllabus! 

You can access the entire article here:

A Positive Way Of Using Bonus Points

I’ve always been against giving bonus points in class as I felt it rewarded the wrong kind of behavior. However, Dr. Tena Long Golding (Southeastern Louisiana University) shares a recent experience she had with allowing bonus points as a way to reward completing homework assignments on time. Her approach seems like a win-win situation and I’m thinking about trying this myself.

USFSM Student, Amanda Evora, Competes In 2010 Olympics

One of my ex-students has been chosen for the U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Pairs team. Congratulations to Amanda Evora (University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee student) and her partner, Mark Ladwig. I'm looking forward to watching you compete!

Quote Of The Day

"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by."    Douglas Adams