Quality, E-Quality, and Opportunity - AAC&U Annual Meeting

Please see the announcement below regarding the call for proposals for the American Association of Colleges & Universities' (AAC&U) Annual Meeting, titled "Quality, E-Quality, and Opportunity.
The event will be held on January 22nd-25th, 2014 in Washington, DC. Proposals for the event are due by July 15th, 2013.

QUALITY, E-QUALITY, AND OPPORTUNITY
How Educational Innovations Will Make—or Break— America's Global Future
January 22-25, 2014
Washington, DC
Proposals Due July 15, 2013
The Association of American Colleges and Universities invites you and your colleagues to submit a proposal for our 2014 Annual Meeting—“Quality, E-Quality, and Opportunity:  How Educational Innovations Will Make—or Break— America’s Global Future.” 

Proposals can be submitted online through July 15, 2013. In addition to proposals for the Annual Meeting, we are seeking proposals for the Fifth Annual E-Portfolio Forum.  Complete information about submitting proposals is available online.

For More Information about the Annual Meeting

Please contact meetings@aacu.org or call AAC&U at (202) 387-3760.

Open Door Policies

As teachers engage students and become more familiar with students over the semester, the desire to extend the learning outside of the classroom seems natural. Some of the most rewarding conversations between teachers and students can happen outside of the classroom, during office hours, when the student has shown enough interest to discuss ideas further in a more direct way.

One informal policy I have adopted over the years is to have an "open door" before the student arrives and after the student arrives. Closing the door when only the teacher and student are in the office can send the wrong signals and can lead to misinterpretation.

Perhaps it was not misinterpretation when a Communication faculty member at Pasadena City College asked a student to come by the office to look at vacation photos, then closed the office door. Among the photos was a nude image of the faculty member on his boat during the vacation. The student showed minimal interest in the nude photos. The student later reported to officials that his grades suffered because he did not show interest in the instructors photos. The faculty member denies any wrongdoing.

This case brings up a number of issues, let alone policies related to sexual harassment. There are times when, based on the need for student privacy, discretion is the order of the day. I have had students ask, as they want to discus details of their grade and standing in the class, that I close my office door for the sake of confidentiality. If there is something I need to say to a student with my office door closed, I think twice about what I am about to say and question whether a closed door is necessary (often, it is not). I always I make it a policy that anything I need to say to a student should be said behind "open doors."

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 19^th, 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.

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

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.

4^th 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 4^th 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 Session: Best 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 4^th 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)

tluparel@tulane.edu

www.researchslce.org

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