Upcoming DePaul Workshops on Teaching and Learning

The DePaul Teaching Commons is offering the following workshops in September and October:

Commenting on Writing to Encourage Revision

Online: Friday, September 12, 1 - 3 PM

Responding to student writing can be time consuming and difficult to approach strategically. In this interactive online workshop, presenters will offer guidelines for prioritizing comments, composing helpful summary notes, and avoiding over-commenting on student work.

Connecting Your Classroom to the World: Developing Global Learning Experiences

Loop Campus: Thursday, September 18, 12 - 2 PM
Lincoln Park Campus: Friday, September 19, 12 - 2 PM

This workshop focuses on a range of global learning assignments and contexts that can link current local students’ coursework to international perspectives. Participants will learn about internationalizing course materials, online learning technologies that can facilitate cooperative global learning, and teaching partnerships with colleagues in other countries. Lunch will be provided.

Promoting Student Dialogue Through Online Education Modules

Loop Campus: Wednesday, October 15, 2 - 4 PM
Lincoln Park Campus: Friday, October 17, 2 - 4 PM

Using technology to “flip the classroom” and teach concepts online, class time can be maximized for student dialogue and deeper levels of meaning making. Participants will explore best practices for online module design, module integration into live classes, and learning evaluation design. Light refreshments will be served.

Writing and procrastination: What type of procrastinator are you?

Based on the research of DePaul's Dr. Joseph Ferrari, Lifehacker created a flowchart to help you decide what type of procrastinator you are. The site also provides a nice synopsis of Ferrari's theories about why procrastinators procrastinate (and my personal favorite, why "procrastinators hate procrastinators").

When I talk with students about writer's block, I introduce some sort of cool digital tool for invention, draw a cluster or brain map, create an outline and start to flesh out the essay as an example, or direct students to "talk to someone, be observant, read something, and some ideas will develop." When it comes to procrastination, I tend to suggest using a daily calendar, setting small goals, or finding a buddy to be accountable to.

Yet, the following week, I still wind up with several late papers and incomplete work, and then a sour feeling comes over me. I ask them, "What happened?" One third of the guilty will say "writer's block", one third will say "I'm a procrastinator", and the other third will tell me about their sick kid, late nights at work, flooded basement, or one of the ten plagues that came across their path in the last seven days. Are "writer's block", "procrastination", and "my kid was really sick" all variations on the same behavioral pattern?

I'd say there are similar, and possibly more forms of procrastination that are task-specific. When it comes to my experience with academic writing and writers, there are likely several variations of procrastination. A bit of research confirmed my suspicion. According to Onwuegbuzie and Collins, "students apprehension about writing appears to be related to academic procrastination stemming from fear of failure and task aversion. This result is consistent with work of Boice who found that procrastination was one of seven cognitive components of writing block. A reciprocal relationship is likely between these constructs" (562). Boice's seven cognitive components include: (1) work apprehension, (2) procrastination, (3) dysphoria, (4) impatience, (5) perfectionism, (6) evaluation anxiety, and (7) rules. Yep, I'm pretty sure I have experience most, if not all of these, myself during my academic career, so I imagine that some these are just now rearing their ugly heads for adult students returning to college.

More recent research has shown that procrastination and writer's block go beyond the cognitive to the social and affective (Wellington 147). Attitudes, beliefs, history, and culture all contribute to those seven cognitive components. Wellington suggests that solutions to procrastination lie in (1) the support and communities that universities provide for writers, (2) opportunities for giving and receiving feedback, (3) educators helping students think about writing as a form of developing and growing their knowledge and understanding (writing as learning), and (4) confronting and talking about the affective elements of writing such as joy, relief, fear, pain, or stress.

I've realized over the years that the process of learning and writing is more than a classroom, a brain, a computer, and textbooks, and that teachers should be required to take at least a few courses in psychology. Procrastination is a real thing that affects real people in achieving their life goals. While I'm not trained in helping people get through these heavy issues, I can at least talk about them in my classroom and offer some food for thought.

For more guidance on avoiding procrastination, check out Ferrari's new book, Still Procrastinating: The No Regrets Guide to Getting it Done. Just don't wait too long.

Works Cited

 

Boice, Robert. "Cognitive components of blocking." Written Communication 2.1 (1985): 91-104.

 

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J., and Kathleen MT Collins. "Writing apprehension and academic procrastination among graduate students." Perceptual and motor skills 92.2 (2001): 560-562.

 

Wellington, Jerry. "More than a matter of cognition: An exploration of affective writing problems of post-graduate students and their possible solutions." Teaching in Higher Education 15.2 (2010): 135-150.

 

Save the Date

Coming this October: the Month of Writing Challenge. 

Challenge yourself to write as many words as you can. Your words will count toward a scholarship for the DePaul school of your choice. Check back for more details--including a brand-new website--in September.

Until then, feel free to contact snlwriting@depaul.edu with questions. 

Making Laptops a Valuable Teaching Tool

Today's guest blogger is Maria Rodriguez, an SNL student. 

One can find much debate when discussing laptops and their use in the classroom. Some students I have talked to believe laptops are needed in class, and others think they are just a distraction. However, Benedict Carey, in “Frequent Tests Can Enhance College Learning, Study Finds,” thinks laptops can be used as a teaching tool to benefit students.  

In his article, Carey mentions Professors James W. Pennebaker and Samuel D. Gosling, two psychology professors at the University of Texas who conducted an experiment that consisted of asking 901 students to bring their laptops to class so they could take a short and personalized online quiz before class began. Experts believe this approach can help prevent students from failing class, especially students from low-income households, according to Carey.

Dr. Gosling seems to agree with him. According to Dr. Gosling, students with low-income backgrounds who also come from “poor-quality” schools need to be quizzed regularly because too often these students fail the first and second midterms, and this happens, he adds, because they once “were always smartest in class,” so when they don’t pass their first midterm they believe it was a mistake, Dr. Gosling says. He also believes once these students fail their second midterm, chances to pass the class are lost. Therefore, by quizzing them regularly students not only excel in class but also pass the class. In my opinion this experiment shows measurable outcomes. Students’ class attendance increased by 30 percent. Class scores went up 10 percent, and total high grades had noticeable growth. Better yet, students from lower-income households didn’t fail the class, and their grades showed the most improvement.

After learning the results of this experiment, one can say that computers used in the classroom can “act as an aid to teaching.” While students might not like the idea of taking quizzes at the beginning of each class, I would say that the advantage of these quizzes is practice that yields a results. For example, regular quizzing is already being practiced by Community Colleges of Chicago. As a former student of Truman College, I had a few professors who gave our class regular quizzes. Therefore, we knew to be prepared for the following class. Though their quizzes were not personalized as Pennebaker and Gosling’s, this regular testing helped me to retain more information, and as an adult learner it forced me to form good study habits and to develop better study routines. I learned to use collected quizzes as study guides and lessen the stress.

So, while quizzes can be given without the use of computers, I think the use of them (especially the students’ own laptops) cuts any strain between the professor and the student. Students don’t like to be told what to do, yet professors don’t want to waste precious time telling adults what to do. In addition, the use of this technology in the classroom helps preserve the environment and saves the school money on paper, ink, and electricity.  

Work Cited

Carey, Benedict. “Frequent Test Can Enhance College Learning, Study Finds.” New York Times. 20 Nov. 2013. Web. 21 June 2013.

Free Writing Class at StoryStudio Chicago

StoryStudio Chicago is an organization dedicated to providing a supportive community for writers of all levels, and on Wednesday, August 27, StoryStudio is hosting an open house and free class:  

Join us for coffee, tea, and conversation with other writers, and then stay for Your Life As Fiction, a fun, all-levels free class that will explore what happens when you combine personal experience with your imagination.

What: Open House and Free Class
Where: StoryStudio Chicago, 4043 N. Ravenswood, Chicago, IL 60613 
Cost: Free!
Click here for more details and to RSVP.

Students who write about the future are more likely to graduate

by Steffanie Triller Fry

“Who Gets to Graduate?” This is the question posed in a May 15, 2014 New York Times Magazine article by Paul Tough. At SNL, the answer to this question is one-in-three. Roughly one in three students who begin the program will graduate within six years. The rest can take longer, transfer to another school, drop out of school, or take a leave of absence. What makes the difference between those who persist and those who do not? According to the article, writing makes the difference.
Research done by a group of psychologists from Stanford says that fear, anxiety, and doubt about belonging and ability keep students from living up to their expectations, especially at moments of transition – like the moment when an adult student decides to return to college or attempt university-level study for the first time.
    In response, Stanford researchers Greg Walton and Geoffrey Cohen designed an experiment to combat these feelings of doubt through writing. They had first-year college students read essays written by upperclassmen that spoke of their experience as freshmen. The message of the essays was, “When I got here, I thought I was the only one who felt left out. But then I found out that everyone feels that way at first, and everyone gets over it. I got over it, too” (Tough). The first-year students then created their own versions of these essays and videos. And the results were stunning:

It had a transformative effect on the college careers of the African-American students in the study: Compared with a control group, the experiment tripled the percentage of black students who earned G.P.A.s in the top quarter of their class, and it cut in half the black-white achievement gap in G.P.A. It even had an impact on the students’ health — the black students who received the belonging message had significantly fewer doctor visits three years after the intervention. (Tough)

Writing researchers long ago identified anxiety as one of the largest barriers to adult college composition. This comes as no surprise to any faculty member who has been teaching at SNL for any length of time. This anxiety often manifests itself as doubt about belonging. Students will say: “I write emails; I don’t write essays.” “I don’t know how to do academic writing.” “I don’t have any ideas to write about.” And anxiety about ability: “I’m not a good writer;” “I always write ______ (fill in the appropriate grammar problem here)” or “I’m just not good at grammar.”
    Luckily, many of the SNL writing faculty have been doing their own versions of Walton and Cohen’s experiment for years. The Handbook for SNL Writing Instructors contains many excellent versions of Walton and Cohen’s initial writing exercise. Perhaps most kin is Jane Wagoner’s “Welcome Letter.” This exercise begins with modeling: Jane writes her own letter to her students, welcoming them to the course. She then asks that they write their own letter in response, including answers to questions like, “Have you ever taken an online or a hybrid course before?” and “What are your other obligations besides college courses?” By reaching out to her students, Jane first welcomes them to class with the letter, reassuring them that they belong. With her questions, she invites them to share their anxieties about writing and being a college student. This personal communication allows students entry into the sometimes antagonistic world of academia. Other assignments on this site, like freewriting, goal and expectation setting, and self-assessments of prior learning, are all ways for students to immediately engage in the course material, rather than feeling anxiety or lack of belonging.
    These assignments are not only useful in writing courses, they are useful in any course. The more an instructor invites students to write into their difficulties, the more practice students will have in writing about difficult topics. The Washtenaw Community College website has excellent suggestions for instructors in all disciplines who want to invite students to write into their difficulties. This kind of writing can encourage conversations about anxiety and belonging early on, before a student has a chance to decide that a course or a topic is too difficult. If more of our faculty employ such early writing in the classroom, maybe we can tell entering students that their chances of graduating are better than one-in-three.

Works Cited

“Ideas for In Class Writing Activities.” English and Writing. Washtenaw Community College, n.d. Web. 28 June 2014.

Tough, Paul. “Who Gets to Graduate?” The New York Times Magazine. The New York Times Company. 15 May 2014. Web. 28 June 2014.

“Writing at the Start of a Course.” Handbook for SNL Writing Instructors. Digication, n.d. Web. 28 June 2014.

Finals Week at the Writing Center

The finals week schedule at the University Center for Writing-based Learning is up, and appointments are going fast! Please let your students know that tutors are still available to help them wrap up coursework, get help with Digication, or polish an AP or ILP. 

Students can click here to log in to the online reservation system, or click here for instructions on how to set up an account. Receptionists can be reached at wcenter@depaul.edu, 312-362-6726 (Loop), or 773-325-4272 (LPC) to answer students' questions or any you may have. You can also request a report from your student's tutor summarizing the session. 

The UCWbL's locations are listed below, but online appointments or requesting written feedback are options as well. These resources are perfect for online, commuter, or working students. 

Loop Campus

(312) 362-6726

25 E. Jackson (Lewis Center)

Suite 1600

Hours

Monday, June 9, 10am-5pm
Tuesday June 10, 10am-5pm
Wednesday, June 11, 10am-5pm

Lincoln Park Campus

(773) 325-4272

2320 N. Kenmore (Schmitt Academic Center)

SAC 212

Hours

Monday, June 9, 10am-5pm
Tuesday June 10, 10am-5pm
Wednesday, June 11, 10am-5pm