THE CATALYST SERIES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

FOR “ FOCUS ”, WYSU's PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAM

NOTE: WYSU is currently uploading archived copies of FOCUS programs to make them all available at the WYSU website. When the CATALYST – FOCUS programs are uploaded, the links below will become active, and will take you directly to the WYSU location. You will to have your speakers turned on and at sufficient volume to be easily heard, and you will need a “real media” or other audio player to open and start the recordings.

RECORDING DATE PERSON

DESCRIPTION

9/23/04 Dennis Jacobs

Dennis Jacobs is winner of the 2002 Carnegie “US Professor of the Year” Award. The interview covers that award, his teaching strategies, incorporation of service learning into his chemistry courses, his use of student response systems (sometimes known as “clickers”), and his views as a full-time professor who recently began an appointment as a Vice President for Undergraduate instruction at the University of Notre Dame

10/14/04 Larry Johnson

Larry Johnson is Dean of the “ Early College High School ”, a cooperative project involving YSU and Youngstown City Schools in a program funded by the Gates Foundation and the Kellogg Foundation, in cooperation with Knowledge Works. The interview took place soon after Johnson 's appointment and about three months after the ECHS began operations and enrolled its first class, and he discussed his plans for establishing the ECHS in this unique environment. He also discussed his approach to working with the ECHS students and how to help them take advantage of the YSU campus environment.

12/3/04 Virginia Anderson

“Ginny” Anderson is co-author of a widely read book titled, “Effective Grading” She visited campus to present a workshop on that topic and to meet with faculty participating in a “Faculty Book Club ” that had read her book during the Fall, 2004 semester. We discussed grading, assessment, and teaching and learning issues.

12/22/04 Bob Bolla & John Tullio

This was the second program about the Early College High School . Arts & Sciences Dean Bob Bolla and Youngstown ECHS Coordinator, John Tullio discussed the YSU – Youngstown partnership in this project and we talked about getting started with ECHS and plans for the future.

2/10/05 Paul Kobulnicky

Paul Kobulnicky is Executive Director of the YSU Library. He chaired the Civic Engagement Education Task Force and we spoke about general issues connected with service learning and civic engagement education, as well as the work of the Task Force and YSU's involvement with the American Democracy Project.

3/25/05 Ray Schroeder

Ray Schroeder is a veteran in instructional technology, distance education, educational uses of computers, and on-line education. He visited YSU to work with CAT ALYST and Karen Duda 's OLN-funded “faculty learning community” project. We discussed some of the history of technology and teaching, the current activities in on-line and distance education, and what the future might hold in terms of new technologies and how they could affect teaching and learning as we know it.

4/29/05 Dee Fink

Dee Fink is the author of “Creating significant learning experiences” and Past President of the Professional and Organizational Network in Higher Education (POD). The Spring 2005 Faculty Book Club read his book and he visited YSU to do a public presentation and to meet with the Book Club members. In our FOCUS interview, we discussed instructional design, his taxonomy of significant learning, and strategies for helping faculty and students to get the most of out their courses.

10/18/05 Barbara Walvoord

Barbara Walvoord is an internationally respected writer and researcher, and an authority on assessment, accreditation, and college teaching Her books include “Effective grading”, and “Assessment clear and simple”, which was the choice for the Fall, 2005 Faculty Book Club . Barbara is Chair of the University of Notre Dame re-accreditation Self-Study Committee and a much sought-after national speaker on assessment. We discussed grading, assessment, strategies for using assessment information for course and program improvement, and the status and direction of national assessment and accreditation efforts.

11/16/05 Ed Nuhfer

Ed Nuhfer is a geologist who is also director of the Center for Teaching and learning at Idaho State University . He has developed strategies for creating and using “Knowledge Surveys”. These are measures of students' perceptions of their understanding of course material that can supplement traditional testing and help student to study and learn more effectively. Knowledge surveys can also be used to assess program effectiveness and to identify areas of teaching and learning that need improvement. We discussed his work and the importance of regular exploration not only of what students know, but of what they think they know. Often, students misjudge their degree of knowledge. These tools help students to keep up with their work and to perform more consistently on traditional examinations.