MRU Institute for SoTL

ISSoTL special interest group on Student Engagement

The ISSoTL special interest group on Student Engagement is now being co-chaired by Andrea Jackson from the University of Leeds, and MRU’s Israel Dunmade.  Interested in getting involved?  Here’s a recent message from them received through the ISSoTL listserv:

Special Interest Group meeting @ ISSOTL 2013

We will be holding a Special Interest Group meeting at the forthcoming ISSOTL conference on Friday 4th October after the concurrent sessions (room to be confirmed).  It would be great to see many of you there to discuss ways in which we can promote and disseminate the outcomes of scholarly research on the topic of student engagement and how we can best support those who would like to participate in scholarly activity in this area of interest.

ISSOTL Student Awards – judging volunteers

There will be two new student awards at this year’s conference, one for best poster and one for best conference session led by a student.  Further details will be announced shortly on the conference web-site (http://issotl13.com/).  The conference team are looking for volunteers to assist with the judging for these awards.  Please let me know if you would like to help.

Israel and I very much look forward to meeting some of you at the conference soon.  For those who are not able to join us then we will send you a summary of the outcomes of the meeting but if you have any suggestions for ways in which the Interest Group could help you then please let us know.

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IJ-SoTL Vol.7 No.2 is online

The new July 2013 issue of IJ-SoTL, published by the CTLS at Georgia Southern University, is now available online.

Note: It also includes a reader’s response from MRU’s April McGrath on describing and analyzing quantitative data!

 

 

 

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Short- and long-term effects of cumulative finals on student learning

The following are excerpts from an interesting study which was recently highlighted in the Teaching Professor:

Khanna, M. M., Badura Brack, A. S., and Finken, L. L. (2013). Short- and long-term effects of cumulative finals on student learning. Teaching of Psychology, 40 (3), 175-182.

Mean scores on content exams versus a cumulative final were compared in introductory psych sections and upper-division psychology sections. The finding: “[C]lasses taking cumulative finals performed reliably better than classes who had noncumulative finals.” (p. 177)

Retention of course material was also measured using online content exams for courses taken one, two, and three semesters previously. “Regardless of type of course, students with cumulative finals did better on departmental content tests than students in courses with noncumulative exams. …” (p. 180)

“As a result of these findings, we believe using cumulative finals improves student learning, and we encourage instructors to utilize cumulative finals in their courses… [E]ven in our optimal study condition (immediate content exam administration in upper-division courses with cumulative finals) students only answered 82% of the content exam items correctly. In the worst condition (18 month time lag for introductory psychology courses with noncumulative finals), students retained just over half of the important information from introductory psychology.” (p. 180)

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grants to support student attendance at ISSoTL conference

From the issotl listserv:

The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
(ISSOTL) is pleased to announce a special grant program to support
undergraduate, graduate student, and post-doc participation in the 2013
ISSOTL conference, October 2-5, in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
http://www.issotl13.com

Individuals will be awarded grants to cover all but $50 of the cost to
register for the conference, including pre-conference workshop fees, and to
join ISSOTL. Individual travel, hotel and other costs will *not* be covered
by this grant. Awardees will be expected to attend the Thursday, October 3,
poster session and reception, where they will be recognized. Awardees must
be enrolled as undergraduate or graduate students at the time of the
conference, or hold a current post-doc appointment.

Grant applications will be evaluated by members of the ISSOTL 2013
conference planning committee. Award decisions will be based on the
applicant’s commitment to the study of teaching and learning, and the
relevance of the conference/ISSOTL membership to the applicant’s career
plans. The committee also seeks to make awards to students/post-docs from a
diverse set of higher education institutions. We anticipate awarding
approximately 35 grants.

Applicants must submit the material listed below via email to Heidi Irhig,
ISSOTL13@elon.edu, by Friday, August 30, 2013. Award winners will be
notified by Thursday, September 12, 2013.

Applicants must submit:

1.     An email (less than 400 words) explaining your interest in ISSOTL and
the conference, and reflecting on how the grant connects to your career
goals. Be sure to include your name, degree status (i.e., undergraduate,
Ph.D. candidate, etc.), institution, and contact information.

2.     Your Curriculum Vitae, attached to the email as a PDF or Word
document. If you are scheduled to present at the ISSOTL conference, please
highlight that on your CV.

3.     Optional: You also may attach one brief recommendation from an ISSOTL
member that endorses your application.

For details about and to register for the conference, please visit:
http://www.issotl13.com

If you have questions about this grant program, please contact Peter Felten,
conference co-chair (pfelten@elon.edu).

——

ISSOTL 2013: Critical Transitions in Teaching and Learning – October 2-5,
2013 – Raleigh, North Carolina, US – http://www.issotl13.com

Convened in a city known for its beautiful public parks and thriving
cultural life, the conference will feature workshops facilitated by leading
scholars in the field, distinguished international plenary speakers
(including Lee Shulman, President Emeritus of the Carnegie Foundation for
the Advancement of Teaching, and also an international trio of TED-like
talks), panel presentations, individual paper and poster presentations, and
ISSOTL¹s signature Conference Commons for informal idea-sharing and
networking. Please join us!

In addition to the energizing sessions in Raleigh, join us for ISSOTL Online
2013, a free online seminar scheduled for the weeks leading up to the
conference. ISSOTL Online 2013 begins September 9, 2013, and continues
through September 28, 2013. To register for ISSOTL Online, visit the
conference web site and click on “programs.”

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