Faculty Mentoring Guide

Mentoring has long been known to be a factor that could make or break the success of new faculty. A reference that may be of use to administrators (to help assist in establishing a mentoring program) and new faculty (to see the kind of mentoring that could be available) was brought to my attention today from Bonnie Mullinix on POD listserv.

The source is Mutual Mentoring, which was prepared at UMASS by Mary Deane Sorcinelli and Jung H. Yun. As indicated in the publication, the contents "includes an overview of mentoring in academia; an introduction to network-based mentoring; guidelines for protégés and mentors; suggestions for department chairs; and examples of individual, departmental, and interdisciplinary mentoring partnerships."

The guide is available at: http://www.umass.edu/ofd/mentoring/Mutual%20Mentoring%20Guide%20Final%2011_20.pdf.

As someone who headed up the Faculty Mentoring Network at Purdue, I highly recommend taking the time to review the resource to benefit new faculty.

Critical Thinking

I ran across the Critical Thinking Community website which is an organization that "aims to improve education in colleges, universities and primary through secondary schools via present publications, conferences, workshops on professional development programs, emphasizing instructional strategies, Socratic questioning, critical reading and writing, higher order thinking, assessment, research, quality enhancement, and competency standards."

The home page can be fround by visiting: http://www.criticalthinking.org/index.cfm

One of the links made it quite clear that "thinking is not driven by answers but by questions." So check out their recommendations to cultivate critical thinking with your students by visiting: http://www.criticalthinking.org/articles/thinking-some-purpose.cfm.

There are lots of other great resources on thinking across the website and worth a visit.

Great Video on Student Motivation

The recommended video today has to do with teaching presented by career analyst Dan Pink who examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories -- and maybe, a way forward.

Check out the video, you may get ideas on motivating your students: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html

Innovations in Education

I have previewed the Internet TV show launced by Teaching, Learning + Technology (TLT) at Stony Brook University called "Innovations in Education." It features Stony Brook faculty and staff using innovative approaches and best practices in teaching, and applications of educational technology that have had a positive effect on student learning. Interviews are 15-30 minutes long and focus primarily on faculty members. Video and pictures of the application of the innovation or best practice are included in each show where possible. The interviews are intended to provide a balanced look at both the benefits and challanges of adopting a particular approach to teaching and learning and should be useful to faculty and faculty developers at any campus.

To watch the shows you only need to go to the following URL and click on the episode on the left-hand column. To view the episode you selected you need to scroll down to "Watch the Show" and pick your preferred media tool. I found the Quicktime stream to be the best at quickly downloading and viewing: https://tlt.stonybrook.edu/FacultyServices/FacDev/TVShow/

Please feel free to forward this information to anyone, anywhere, who might benefit from this project. Comments, suggestions and feedback on the utility of this approach and the show's content would be appreciated by Graham Graham Glynn Ph.D. Assistant Provost & Executive Director, Teaching, Learning and Technology S-1464 Melville Library Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY 11794-3350 Voice: (631) 632-2775 Fax: (631) 632-2567 E-mail: Graham.Glynn@StonyBrook.edu https://tlt.stonybrook.edu

Take a Stand

Here is a great tip used by Bunny Clemes in a Liberal Arts College at ABS School of Maritime Policy and Management Cal Maritime, which is part of California State System to get students engaged in the learning. Here is what she does to get students to react to controversial topics and have a dialogue with each other:

"One of my favorite techniques is to post various sheets of paper and make students stand by them. The original technique is called "Take a Stand." The instructor calls out a controversial general statement, such as, "Foie Gras should be on the menu." Students must stand by one of these signs: "AGREE, DISAGREE, STRONGLY AGREE, STRONGLY DISAGREE." The instructor calls on students and asks them to explain their point of view. Other rules are as follows: wait to be recognized, don't make long speeches, and don't do ping-pong exchanges back and forth; involve everyone. Afterward students write anonymous completion sentences to "I learned that," "I was surprised that," and "I was pleased/displeased that." Students pass the papers around, and then the instructor calls on each person to read the student's paper that has been passed to him.

This could be an excellent technique to get the class talking about the course materials. Give it a try and let us know how it works out for our learning community.