Monday, October 10

Registration for sophomore, junior and senior students

4:00 PM - Deadline to contact Pareena Lawrence about attending Midwest Faculty Seminar "Crime & Social Order"

7:00 PM - Biodiversity in the Amazon Rainforest Lecture presented by Bo Dziadyk
Bo Dziadyk will lecture on the neotropical systems of the Amazon basin
Bettendorf Public Library, 2950 Learning Campus Drive, Bettendorf, Iowa

Tuesday, October 11

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM - Art Exhibit 'Red Memories'
Peter Tong Xiao will exhibit paintings related to his experience of China and being Chinese in America.
Catich Gallery, St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa

10:30 - 11:50 AM - Tuesday Reflection - Colin Johnson, '12
Ascension Chapel, Founders Hall, 2nd floor

4:30 - 5:30 PM - Ekklesia Study Group
Old Main 121

7:30 PM - Bus vs. Train: Ethics in Transit
Laura Hartman examines the use of buses and trains in the Quad Cities from an ethical perspective
Hanson Hall of Science, Room 102

Wednesday, October 12

9:30 - 10:30 AM - Coffee and Conversation
CEC Conference Room, Sorensen Hall, 1st floor

12:00 - 1:00 PM - Bible Study Group "What if Jesus Meant the Stuff He Said?
led by Pastor Priggie, for faculty, staff, and administrators
Bring your lunch and a Bible
Chicago Room, College Center

6:00 - 9:00 PM - Moondance for Kari Rose Kell
$15 per person to benefit the Karli Rose Kell Music Scholarship
Redstone Room, River Music Experience, 129 Main St., Davenport, Iowa

Thursday, October 13

10:25 AM - Augustana Service Awards Program
Olin Auditorium

2:00 PM - "Live United" - Informational Session on the 2011 United Way Campaign
Pledge forms will be available, along with Whitey's malts to celebrate
Olin Auditorium 

2:45 PM - "Live United" - Informational Session on the 2011 United Way Campaign
Pledge forms will be available, along with Whitey's malts to celebrate
Olin Auditorium

5:00 - 7:00 PM - Teaching Abroad Workshop
presented by Jake Tiedge (International Programs) and Karen Eilers (Career Development)
Old Main 122

7:00 - 8:00 PM - Why People Belive Weird Things
Dr. Michael Shermer, founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, will talk about how people form beliefs in this leadership and education series event.
Olin Auditorium

7:00 PM - What's Worth Burning? the culmination of The Read on WVIK, an exploration of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and all it entails. Featuring Meg Gillette, Katie Hanson, Virginia Johnson, Brian Katz and Jason Mahn.
Bettendorf Public Library, 2950 Learning Campus Drive

7:00 PM - Augustana Center for Polar Studies Science Lecture "Birds and Bergs: Twenty Years of Avian Research in Greenland" presented by Dr. Kurt Burnham
Hanson Hall of Science, Room 102

Friday, October 14

4:00 - 5:00 PM - Friday Conversation - Curricular Reform/Course Credits Proposals Discussion
3:30 PM - Refreshments
Wilson Center

4:00 - 5:00 PM - Peter Xiao lectures on his 'Red Memories' Art Exhibit
5:00 - 7:00 PM - Reception
Catich Gallery, St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa

7:00 - 9:00 PM - Augie's Top Voice
Sigma Kappa Tau's largest fundraiser of the year. The entire Augustana community is invited to sing, cheer and join the cause. 100% of the money goes to Habitat for Humanity
Free admission
Wallenberg Hall, Denkmann Building

7:30 PM - Augustana Theatre: Real Girls Can't Win
Scott Irelan, director
Recommended for junior high and oler
$11 general public; $9 senior citizens and students
Potter Theatre, Bergendoff Hall of Fine Arts, 3701 7th Avenue, Rock Island, Illinois

Saturday, October 15

9:00 AM - 2:00 PM - 5th QC Earth Charter Summit: Strengthening & Sustaining our Communities through Local Foods
Advanced registration is recommended as seating is limited. Website: http://www.qcprogressiveaction.org
Adults $10; Students $5
College Center

7:00 PM - "Blending Celebrations in the Rockies: How Midsummer Became American and Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Pioneer Day Became Swedish" presented by Dr. Jennifer Eastman Attebery of Idaho State University
Annual O. Fritof Ander Lecture in Immigration History
Hanson Hall of Science, Room 102

 

7:30 PM - Augustana Theatre: Real Girls Can't Win
Scott Irelan, director
Recommended for junior high and older
$11 general public; $9 senior citizens and students; $7 for students in classes required to attend
Potter Theatre, Bergendoff Hall of Fine Arts, 3701 7th Avenue, Rock Island, Illinois

Sunday, October 16

1:30 PM - Augustana Theatre: Real Girls Can't Win
Scott Irelan, director
Recommended for junior high and oler
$11 general public; $9 senior citizens and students
Potter Theatre, Bergendoff Hall of Fine Arts, 3701 7th Avenue, Rock Island, Illinois

 

3:00 - 5:00 PM - Wesley Acres Produce Open House
2800 Coyne Center Road, Milan, Illinois

4:00 PM - Study Abroad Informational Meeting
Olin Auditorium

 

Volume 9, Issue 8 - October 10, 2011

ACTL

Greetings from the Center for Teaching & Learning.

You may recall that, on the faculty needs assessment survey this fall, I asked you to share new teaching techniques or strategies you have tried recently. Many of you shared successes and failures! I thought you might be interested in the results; I offer them as food for thought:

• Using Prezi rather than PowerPoint for designing lectures; short, frequent writing assignments rather than a long term paper
• Collaborative Art Works
• I have been putting samples of writing for each student (LSFY) in front of the whole class, on screen. We then criticize/evaluate the writing as a class. I tell them they shouldn't be upset if there are several key criticisms for revisions. We try to keep it polite.
• Field trips and hands-on tasks
• Boldly presenting and explaining the course's learning objectives in class in addition to the usual presentation in the syllabus.
• I'm trying out Google Sites for e-portfolios in all my courses this term. Also, I'm using Moodle's gradebook for the first time.
• Personal responders systems, Peer Instruction, Just in Time Teaching, studio style activity instead of lecture, simulation/modeling activities in place of lecture, journal clubs for advanced classes (students present articles regularly), unlimited revisions on papers (won't be doing that again!), about to try mandatory office hours that include oral quizzes (in addition to helping students on homework and as a weekly checkin on progress and concerns)
• Using You Tube as a teaching tool- groups of students competing to find the clips that are most relevant to the topics of class.
• Cutting back on the number of assigned readings in favor of more in-depth discussions and activities during class time (for instance, small-group projects and discussions.)
• More frequent (weekly) but brief quizzes in lecture and sometimes in lab.
• Journal writing
• Exchange of classroom visits with LC fellow instructor.
• The latest is taking the results of Winter term's IDEA feedback to strengthen the Spring term offering - although it was a different course.
• Team teaching, group work with students, allowing students more input in certain areas of the course structure
• I recently put together an online course -- lots of work, but it was fun to use backward design on such a class!
• I've been investing more and more in student presentations--for a non-speech class. To teach a small group of students to teach the day's material takes time and effort, but it has lately begun to pay off. The trick is to really guide them beforehand, and to grade the presentation on very specific criteria. This is not a new idea, of course, but I'm learning to make it work better than I had before.
• Oral exams, individual oral discussions of a primary literature papers
• Positive only feedback.
• Retrospective pre-assessment
• Peer review
• More novel than new: current events presentations (linked to the course readings) and mock Supreme Court role plays.
• I place my students into working groups and assign a group grade based on collective effort. This encourages each student to be accountable for members of their group
• Simulations
• Ubiquitous presenter technology
• Concept inventory assessment
• Blended learning with online lectures

 

If you'd like to follow up on any of these, please get in touch. Until then, have a productive week.

Jon Clauss
Augustana Center for Teaching & Learning