Thursday, April 18, 2013

Pragmatism, Plagiarism, & Integrity - SOARS Event


Every year, students struggle with completing assignments, and the various demands on their time and effort can lead them to take short-cuts or even to cheat.
Especially at this time of year when large projects and writing assignments are due, faculty are faced with making decisions as to whether student submitted their own work or the work of someone else.
During the Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research & Scholarship (SOARS) conference on Friday, April 19th, there will be a couple of events that will address these issues. One is a faculty-student forum at 11:45 - 1:00 in the Student Union Ballroom A-B (at the University of North Florida) on and the other, a Keynote Address by Dr. Donald L. McCabe, Professor of Management and Global Business at Rutgers University, titled Promoting Academic Integrity.
I encourage you to attend these worthwhile and engaging events.
Best,
Dan Richard


Pragmatism or Plagiarism? a SOARS Faculty-Student Forum
Moderator: Dr. Judith Ochrietor, Department of Biology
Panelists: Thomas J. Van Schoor, Student Ombudsman
Natalie Hofmann, OUR Research Fellow
Andrea McLeod, Assistant Registrar
Aaron Leedy, Faculty & Former Student
F. Dan Richard, Director, Office of Faculty Enhancement
During this interactive forum the audience will watch short vignettes in which students discuss writing papers revealing some of the questions, myths, and misperceptions about plagiarism. After each vignette, audience members will be invited to respond to questions about their perceptions of the students’ behavior using their cell phones. Results of these polls will be immediately displayed. The moderator will then help guide a discussion about the audience’s perceptions of the students’ writing approaches, whether or not the students’ approaches constitute plagiarism, and, if so, what the consequences should be. Members of the panel will serve as resources for audience participants by answering questions and clarifying UNF procedures and processes.


Keynote Address
Dr. Donald L. McCabe
Promoting Academic Integrity
Dr. McCabe is a Professor of Management and Global Business at Rutgers University. For more than twenty years he has done extensive research on college cheating, surveying over 250,000 students at more than 220 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. He has also surveyed over 40,000 high school students in the United States during the last ten to fifteen years. His work has been published widely in business, education, and sociology journals and he is founding president of the Center for Academic Integrity, a consortium of over 300 colleges and universities based at Clemson University. Members of this consortium are joined in a united effort to promote academic integrity among college and university students.
Dr. McCabe earned a B.A. in Chemistry from Princeton University (1966), an M.B.A. in Marketing from Seton Hall University (1970), and a Ph.D. in Management from New York University (1985). He worked for over 20 years in the corporate world before joining Rutgers University in 1988. His last corporate position was Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Devro, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Promotion and Tenure Panel


Promotion and Tenure Panel
Wednesday, April 10, 2013, 3:00-4:30 p.m.
Talon Room, Osprey Commons (Bld 16), Room 4202
Register for the Event to ofe@unf.edu


Join faculty from across the campus for the annual Promotion and Tenure Panel discussion. Dr. Mark Workman, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, along with faculty from a variety of disciplines, will discuss the criteria for the awarding of promotion and tenure and will address the many factors that are involved in successfully navigating the tenure and promotion process. Assistant, Associate, and new faculty members are especially encouraged to attend.

Beyond the ISQ - Evidence of Learning


Beyond the ISQ: Evidence of Learning

Friday, April 12, 2013, 1:00-2:30 p.m.
OFE/FA Conference Room, Osprey Commons (Bld 16), Room 3108
Register for the event at ofe@unf.edu

Instructional Satisfaction Questionnaires are used ubiquitously in evaluating teaching effectiveness, yet may people question the validity and usefulness of such instruments in assessing quality teaching and learning. The Office of Faculty Enhancement will offer a workshop on different ways faculty can demonstrate teaching effectiveness and student learning that go beyond the use of the ISQ. Topics will include quantitative approaches to learning data, pre-post strategies, and qualitative assessment of evidence of student learning. Participants will be encouraged to find strategies that will work in their own courses to demonstrate teaching effectiveness and provide assessment of student learning.

Register for the event at ofe@unf.edu

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Summer Research Institute on Community Engagement in Higher Education


Faculty interested in community-engagement may be interested in the Summer Research Institute on the
Future of Community Engagement in Higher Education. See the announcement and call for presentations below.

4th Annual Summer Research Institute on the Future of
Community Engagement in Higher Education

July 17-18, 2013

The Center for Engaged Democracy is pleased to announce its 4th annual summer research institute on The Future of Community Engagement in Higher Education. The summer institute brings together scholars, students, and community participants to engage the theory and practice of what it means to have an “academic home” for community engagement in higher education. It will take place July 17 & 18, 2013, at Tufts University in conjunction with the “Frontiers of Democracy” conference.

·        REGISTRATION: Click Here to Register. (Registration is $70.)
·        CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS: Click Here for the Call for Presentations. (Submissions should include an abstract of 500 words or less.)
·        CRITICAL FRIENDS GROUPS: Click Here for the Critical Friends Groups. (Submissions should include a 1-2 sentence description of the informal session you would like to lead.)
·        AGENDA: Click Here for the Agenda.

DETAILS
This year’s institute will have three presentations tracks:
1. Strengthening Academic Programs in Community Engagement: presentations on developing, supporting, and expanding academic programs focused on civic and community engagement.
2. Core Competencies in Civic Engagement: presentations that make use of, critically engage with, and expand upon the Center’s policy report Core Competencies in Civic Engagement.
3. The Impact of Online Education for Community Engagement: presentations that examine the impact and implications of online education in higher education for the future of “place-based” learning and civic and community engagement.

Additionally, this year’s institute will have several invited sessions focusing on key literature and issues in the field. Confirmed invited sessions include:
·        Marshall Welch, Saint Mary’s College of California and John Saltmarsh, New England Resource Center for Higher Education, Invited SessionBest Practice and Infrastructures for Campus Centers of Community Engagement
·        Ari Hoy, Senior Program Officer, Bonner Foundation, Invited Session: Forthcoming edited book, Deepening Community Engagement in Higher Education: Forging New Pathways.
·        Ashley Finley, Senior Director of Assessment & Research, AAC&U, Invited Session: Forthcoming monograph through Bringing Theory to Practice’s Civic Monograph Series: Civic Learning & Teaching
·        Amy Traver and Zivah Katz, Queensborough Community College-CUNY, Invited Session: Forthcoming edited book, Service-Learning at the American Community College: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives
·        Susan Iverson, Kent State University, Invited Session: Anticipated edited book, Feminist Community Engagement [working title]

Finally, a key theme will be the role of civic and community engagement in an increasingly online world. Paul LeBlanc, President of Southern New Hampshire University, will give the opening keynote talk: “College for America – The Future of Civic Engagement in an Online World.” Read his recent op-ed – “Accreditation in a Rapidly Changing World” – in InsideHigherEd. Read also Dan W. Butin’s recent op-ed – “Does Community Engagement Have a Place in a Placeless University” – in the New England Journal of Higher Education.

Questions: inquiries and questions should be directed to democracy@merrimack.edu.

About the 2013 Summer Research Institute
The 4th annual summer research institute on The Future of Community Engagement in Higher Education brings together scholars, students, and community participants to engage the theory and practice of what it means to have an “academic home” for community engagement in higher education. It will take place July 17 & 18, 2013, at Tufts University in conjunction with the “Frontiers of Democracy” conference. We encourage all attendees to take advantage of the affiliate conferences to be held July 18-20, which are sponsored by the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University, the Democracy Imperative, and the Deliberative Democracy Consortium.

About the Center for Engaged Democracy
The Center for Engaged Democracy acts as a central hub for developing, coordinating, and supporting academic programs – certificates, minors, and majors – around the country focused on civic and community engagement, broadly defined. The Center, which is housed within Merrimack College’s School of Education, brings together faculty, administrators, and community partners to support such academic programs through a variety of initiatives and practices: compiling existing research and documentation to support new and developing programs; sponsoring symposia, conferences, and research opportunities to build a vibrant research base and academic community; and providing a voice and space for dialogue for the value of such academic programs across higher education.


--
Dan W. Butin, PhD
Dean and Associate Professor
School of Education
Merrimack College
dan.butin@merrimack.edu
978-837-5338
www.merrimack.edu/schoolofeducation
office: rm. 203 Austin Hall
mailing address: 315 Turnpike Street, North Andover, MA, 01845


Tara Luparello
Administrative Director, IARSLCE
Tulane University, Alcee Fortier Hall
6823 St. Charles Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70118
(504) 862-3366
(504) 862-8061 (fax)

The mission of IARSLCE is to promote the development and dissemination of research on service-learning and community engagement internationally and across all levels of the education system.

Beyond the ISQ: Peer Evaluation

Beyond the ISQ: Peer Evaluation
Friday, April 5, 2013, 1:00-2:15 p.m.
OFE/FA Conference Room, Osprey Commons (Bld 16), Room 3108
Register for the event at ofe@unf.edu

Providing supportive evidence for one's own teaching excellence can be difficult. More importantly, having an independent evaluation of one's teaching efforts can provide many benefits toward one's continuous improvement efforts in the area of teaching excellence. The Office of Faculty Enhancement will offer a workshop on providing assessment of teaching effectiveness through peer evaluation of teaching. Participants will discuss different motivations and models of peer evaluation and classroom observation. The discussion will include tools to conduct peer evaluations, such as a 100 attribute checklist for effective teaching strategies. Participants will be encouraged to schedule peer evaluation for their own teaching as well as serve as independent peer evaluators for their colleagues.

Register for the event at ofe@unf.edu

Monday, April 1, 2013

IARSLCE Call for Proposals - Community Engagement


For faculty interested in community-based learning, the International Association for Research in Service-Learning and Community-Engagement (IARSLCE) will be hosting a conference for research on service-learning in November 2013. The deadline for proposals is April 12th. Please see the announcement below. 

IARSLCE conference proposals due April 12, 2013

Dot the I's and cross the T's on those proposals for the 2013 IARSCLE Conference in Omaha, November 6-8, 2013! The deadline is April 12, 2013. The theme of this year's conference is Reinvigorating our Process of Discovery: Research Informing Practice in Service-Learning and Community Engagement. For more information about the 2013 conference, to view the call, or to submit a proposal, please visit www.researchslce.org/conferences.

Conference planning is underway and the Omaha committee is looking forward to sharing updates and exciting news about the conference very soon. Be on the lookout for these updates and for registration to open on May 1, 2013.  

Have Money, Will Pass

As online education expands, students are finding ways to credential themselves without paying their academic dues -- by studying. Instead, students in online classes can pay an online service that will take their online courses for them. In a recent Inside Higher Ed article, Alexandra Tilsley discusses an old problem with a new face, cheating to make the grade, but in this case, the cheating is done by identity mimicking. This seems to be the latest in an arms race in which students to find ways to pass without studying and institutions of higher education find ways to promote integrity. Read more on the problem and what institutions are doing to deal with the new threat.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/09/21/sites-offering-take-courses-fee-pose-risk-online-ed