Faculty Study Seminars

Faculty Study Seminars provide a means for faculty with common interests to learn more about a teaching-related topic. Each group meets four times a semester, at times mutually agreed to by participants, to read and discuss a teaching-related book (books provided by OID). Your only obligation is to read and to show up for discussion.

To sign up for a group, e-mail the facilitator noted below with your contact information (e-mail and phone) and a copy of your semester schedule (noting the times you cannot meet). You will be contacted once an initial meeting date is set. For more information about Faculty Study Seminars, contact Anne Kelsch , 777-4233.

Spring 2013

Integrating Multilingual Students into College Classrooms: Practical Advice for Faculty 

by Johnnie Johnson Hafernik and Fredel M. Wiant (Multilingual Matters, 2012).

UND is becoming a more linguistically diverse place. The percentage of UND students coming from other countries has nearly doubled from 3.5% in 2001 to 6% today. And it's not just international students who may use multiple languages—for example, New American and American Indian students may be multilingual as well. This straightforward book provides practical information for helping international and non-native English speakers succeed in college classrooms. The book explains why many non-native English speakers, even though they have passed English proficiency exams, still struggle with the academic demands of college reading, writing, speaking and listening. The author, a professor and expert on English as a second language in the college classroom, provides solid advice for faculty faced with dilemmas such as grading papers, understanding accents, and understanding the different educational and cultural backgrounds of multilingual students.

Anne Walker (Teaching and Learning) and Kathleen Vacek will co-facilitate this Faculty Study Seminar. If you are interested in participating, contact Kathleen Vacek at kathleen.vacek@und.edu or 7-6381.

Academic Motherhood: How Faculty Manage Work and Family

by Kelly Ward and Lisa Wolf-Wendel (Rutgers University Press, 2012).

Academic Motherhood analyzes the stories of over one hundred women who are both professors and mothers, examining how they navigated their professional lives at different career stages. Kelly Ward and Lisa Wolf-Wendel base their findings on a ten year longitudinal study that asked tenure track women how they manage work and family in their early careers (pre-tenure) when their children are under five years old, and then again in mid-career (post-tenure) as their children mature. The faculty studied work in a range of disciplines and at institutions with differing policies regarding family leave and tenure. The book intends to help institutions and the tenure track faculty who teach at them "make it work." Writing for faculty and administrators, as well as scholars, Wolf-Wendel and Ward bring an element of optimism to the topic of work and family in academe. They provide insight and policy recommendations that support faculty with children and offer problem-solving approaches at the personal, departmental and institutional level, as well as addressing the concerns of dual career couples.

Lori Reesor (Vice President for Student Affairs) and Anne Kelsch will co-facilitatethis Faculty Study Seminar. If you are interested in participating, contact Anne Kelsch at mailto:anne.kelsch@und.edu or 7-4233.

Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning

by José Antonio Bowen (Jossey-Bass, 2012).

Referring to PowerPoint as the "most abused new technology," José Bowen makes a compelling case in Teaching Naked for how to prioritize the benefits of the human dimension of learning. While technology is often accused of isolating people, Bowen argues that "a few minutes of questions at the end of an hour covering material from behind a podium is hardly an interactive experience either." He advocates for using technologies to increase student engagement outside of the classroom and "thus prepare them for real discussions (even in the very largest classes). . . . The goal, in other words, is to use technology to free yourself from the need to 'cover' the content in the classroom, and instead use class time to demonstrate the continued value of direct student to faculty interaction and discussion." Bowen's work is part of the ongoing conversation in higher education about the inverted or "flipped" classroom in which content delivery takes place outside the classroom, often utilizing technologies such as podcasting, and classroom time is used for active learning (inverted from the traditional model of class time as lecture or content delivery and homework—thinking or skills based work—done outside class). Bowen argues that if students are going to pay high dollars for campus classes, faculty need to provide more than what can be found online by maximizing their face-to-face time with students. He illustrates how technology can be most powerfully used outside class sessions to ensure that students arrive to class more prepared for meaningful interaction with each other and faculty, and offers practical advice on how to engage students with new technology while restructuring classes into more active learning environments.

Ken Bain (author of What the Best College Teachers Do) writes of Teaching Naked, "Everyone who is concerned about the future of higher education should read it . . . . Bowen makes the most intelligent argument I've encountered about how we should think about teaching and learning and emerging technologies. It is also a powerful guide to more effective teaching and deeper learning."

Lori Swinney (Director of the Center for Instructional and Learning Technology) and Anne Kelsch will co-facilitate this Faculty Study Seminar. If you are interested in participating, contact Anne Kelsch at anne.kelsch@und.edu or 7-4233.

Fall 2012

The Handbook of Scholarly Writing and Publishing

by Tonette S. Rocco and Tim Hatcher (2011)

This faculty study seminar offers an opportunity to discuss the ins and outs of scholarly publishing. It will be suitable for both early-career faculty and more experienced faculty who mentor colleagues and graduate students. We will get the conversation started by discussing readings from The Handbook of Scholarly Writing and Publishing, a recent book described as "a groundbreaking resource that offers emerging and experienced scholars from all disciplines a comprehensive review of the essential elements needed to craft scholarly papers and other writing suitable for submission to academic journals. The authors discuss the components of different types of manuscripts, explain the submission process, and offer readers suggestions for working with editors and coauthors, dealing with rejection, and rewriting and resubmitting their work. They include advice for developing quality writing skills, outline the fundamentals of a good review, and offer guidance for becoming an excellent manuscript reviewer." We will also be sure to learn from the collective experience of the group.

If you are interested in participating in this FSS please contact Kathleen Vacek , University Writing Program coordinator, 777-6381.

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Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

by Susan Cain (2012)

Universities are embracing more student centered learning that often emphasizes student participation, like group discussions, brainstorming, debates and oral presentations. But is this the optimal learning environment for all students? Could we be ignoring the strengths of students who value listening and independent work? Susan Cain's book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, examines the social constructs of "extrovertism," presents studies on introverts and extroverts, and discusses the needs and values of each group in the context of the classroom, the career, and the community.

In this seminar we will evaluate Cain's findings and arguments and will discuss how these findings might make us re-think our classroom pedagogies and practices. We will discuss why society seems to place so much emphasis on developing skills like speaking while de-emphasizing skills like listening, and how this may shape what we value in an educational setting.

If you are interested in taking a closer look at how being introverted or extroverted affects your educational choices and classroom practices as either a teacher or a learner, join the Integrated Studies Faculty who will be facilitating a series of discussions on this book by contacting Tami Carmichael, Humanities & Integrated Studies.

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The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Reconsidered: Institutional Integration and Impact (2011)

by Pat Hutchings, Mary Taylor Huber, and Anthony Ciccone

Examines four "critical areas where engagement with the scholarship of teaching and learning can have a significant effect." This book builds on premises articulated in Ernest Boyer's ground-breaking 1997 book, Scholarship Reconsidered, which offered "a new paradigm that recognize[d] the full range of scholarly activity by college and university faculty and question[ed] the existence of a reward system that pushed faculty toward research and publication and away from teaching." The conversation precipitated by the 1997 book focused on how and why institutions could value the scholarship of teaching and learning in tenure and promotion processes.

Inspired by Boyer's ideas, faculty began recognizing the ways in which they could bring their research skills to bear on the work in their own classrooms, making a difference in the learning of their students and discovering knowledge worth sharing through traditional scholarly venues. Now we have a new book by three highly regarded scholars, recognized for their SoTL experience as much as for their expertise in higher education, which picks up that conversation. In this book, we'll learn how these authors see the future of SoTL, which they predict will rapidly come to have an impact on areas of higher education often viewed as distinct from SoTL such as the evaluation of teaching and assessment of learning, as well as continuing to influence classroom teaching.

What do you need to know about SoTL? How can we ensure that UND, building on a rich history of scholarly teaching developed through our Bush Scholars program of a decade ago, will once again be at the forefront of a field that many view as critical to the future of higher education?

If you are interested in participating in this FSS please contact Joan Hawthorne, Director of Assessment and Regional Accreditation, 777-4684.

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