Many of us are well aware of the vast literature on students’ learning styles (e.g. Myers, 1962; Schroder et. al., 1967; Paivio, 1971; Kolb, 1976; Messick, 1976; Dunn & Dunn, 1978; Keefe, 1979; Riding & Sadler-Smith, 1992; Larsen, 1992; Jonassen & Grabowski, 1993; Biggs, 1993; Vermunt, 1996). Far less research has been done on the distribution of learning styles across the disciplines and how they affect the learning behavior of students in different majors and their response to various teaching and assessment strategies. In order to derive the maximum benefit from interdisciplinary teaching, it is essential that we understand such differences. In a collaborative project that involves scholars from five different disciplines, we are asking the following research questions:

1) How are learning styles distributed across different majors?
2) Is there a tendency for students to self-select into different majors based on their learning styles, or are certain learning styles influenced by departmental and cultural pressures?
3) How do students in different majors perform in different learning environments?
4) Is there a correlation between students’ learning styles and how they respond to various assessment techniques?

At the conference, we present preliminary findings from the survey that offers insight into the research questions listed above. In order to answer these questions, we will conduct a survey that measures learning styles and various aspects of learning and assessment both across learning styles and across disciplines. The survey will be administered to majors from architecture, engineering, political science, the social sciences, and urban planning. In order to fully answer our questions, we plan to conduct a four-year panel study that will allow us to observe students in a diversity of majors throughout their career at Cal Poly.

“Wiki: a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Like many simple concepts, "open editing" has some profound and subtle effects on Wiki usage. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users.” http://wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki

Active learning is defined as teaching through experience in a context that is relevant to students. One aspect of active learning includes “Learning by Teaching:” allowing students to teach new content to each other (Martin 1985, Martin/Oebel 2007). In Case Study 1, wikis were used in a large lecture course where students added questions and answers, as well as reading synopses from the required readings. In Case Study 2, wikis were created as editable chapters in developing a single document written by 16 students during the quarter. The presentation will highlight the effectiveness of both wiki organizations and the differences of learning outcomes.

2. IT literacy 3.0 -- skills and concepts for the Internet era

3. Writing for the Internet

a. Writing is important

b. Five types of writing on the Internet

c. Description and examples of exercises for each

Mary Anne Schultz PhD MBA MSN RN mschult2@calstatela.edu

Introduction and Statement of the Problem Numerous sources report that convincing faculty of the benefits of online instruction is challenging. Even as a potential solution to administrative imperatives or even with partial voluntary efforts to deconstruct a curriculum or a course, resistance can still outweigh good intentions and curiosity. Despite several semesters of course reconfigurations based on student concerns about redundant content, student engagement and interactivity in a core course in the nursing major remained lackluster. The innovation discussed speaks to the faculty skill set of instructional methods and technological competencies minimally required for such a successful transition.

Description of Innovation A traditional face-to-face (F2F) junior-level course (Human Development) was changed to a 50% online-hybrid venue for both sections of the Spring, 2007 semester in a public university’s Department of Nursing. During the planning phase for the course, it was decided to devote seat time to student-training and that the two involved faculty would collaborate on the alternating (every other week) F2F and virtual content as well as venues. Strategic use of both Discussion Board and Announcements features of the BlackBoard instructional platform, based on Chickering and Gamson’s Seven Practices as well as the university’s “Ideas for Enhancing Interactivity with Discussion Board” constituted the key pedagogical and technical levers.

Change Brought About by Innovation The main findings were: both student-faculty interactivity and student-student interactivity improved considerably. Other post-only outcomes include: a near-100% weekly participation rate; a typical (for that course over time) grade distribution of largely As, Bs and Cs; formation of efficient and effective student learning teams; purposive early departure of a small student group for a comparable online community college course; relatively small opportunity costs for faculty.

Significance If faculty are to transition from “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side” in traditional settings, they might begin with the most basic and important of the Seven Principles--rapid individualized feedback. Further, tactical use of Announcements and Discussion Board features, as reported here, provide a logical starting point for pedagogical and technical training.

Recommendations: Faculty should consider a) transition to various other forms of hybrid (75-100%) online venues, b) use of enhanced virtual tools such as chat, talking heads, and fourth-space encounter and c) conduction of a full-scale program evaluation research project using each grade element as a variable.

Stress, pain and fear are all related, as any one of these can cause the others, and all produce similar responses in the body and brain. In 1991, an injured back was causing me immense pain. I refused to take strong pain medicine because I had young children at the time - I found that the pain relievers made it impossible for me to give proper attention to them. Further, I had lost the only family income that we had when I injured my back. Needless to say, I was stressed and afraid. Fortunately, a wonderful therapist taught me a technique that was intended to help me “manage” my pain, and also to reduce my stress. It worked. I was once again able to think clearly and to function almost normally in spite of the pain that I endured. This technique is still endorsed by hospitals today (UMMC).

The technique is a full-body relaxation exercise that can be conducted in moments while sitting at a desk. Further, with regular use and practice, one can actually avoid “stress-spots,” such as at the base of the skull, where muscles knot up and cause pain at the end of a stressful day. So, one day last fall I taught this technique to my UNV 101 students and told them to use it before exams. Several students later reported that the technique helped them, and two students wrote in their final reflection-paper that this technique was the most important thing they had learned all semester.

I would like to give a presentation to demonstrate this simple but powerful, at-your-desk relaxation technique to other faculty. I will explain how the logical functioning of the brain is greatly diminished when one is experiencing fear. I will show how I explain this to my students, and the amusing and yet effective way that I demonstrate the technique and teach them how to make use of it. I will also make suggestions about how one might conduct a study about the effects of this technique on student test scores.

References:

Westen, Drew, et al. 2006. “Neural Bases of Motivated Reasoning: An MRI Study of Emotional Constraints on Partisan Political Judgment in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election,” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Vol. 18, No. 11: 1947–1958.

University of Maryland Medical Center. 2007. “Sleep Disorders Center: Relaxation Techniques.” Online at http://www.umm.edu/sleep/relax_tech.htm

May 2, 2009 from 8:30am to 5:30pm at Kennedy Library

Cost: $25

All CSU faculty are invited to attend and to submit presentation proposals about their own work in teaching & learning. Presentation proposals will be reviewed by CSU faculty.