O Teaching Matters

From Debra Ballard:

Faculty and students tend to get overwhelmed by the frantic pace of the end of the semester. One undervalued process that often gets lost in the rush is time for reflection, a metacognitive activity that asks the students to critically think about the course, question concepts, draw conclusions, transfer knowledge, and synthesize. It is during reflection that deep learning occurs. Some teaching tips that support and encourage reflection are:

1. Don’t introduce anything new. Concentrate on reviewing rather than new material that students don’t have time to absorb.
2. Provide a sense of reflective closure by having students write about something they learned during the semester that surprised them or was an unexpected insight.
3. Return to the syllabus and have students review the learning outcomes or goals of the class and consider how well they achieved them.
4. Referring to the syllabus, ask students to argue what grade they think they should get and why.
5. Have students compare work they did in the first week to what they are doing now.
6. Ask students to reflect on how their thinking has been changed or enhanced.
7. Extrapolate by asking students to consider how something they learned in the semester might be used in the future.

From the Katie Phillips:

1. Positive reinforcement is the best teacher.
2. It helps students to have an open, positive and clear discussion with the student when the work fails to meet grading criteria.

From Carol D. Branch, Students with Disabilities Services:

It is the professors, not just the accommodations that ensure success for students with disabilities. The majority of these tips are found in Faculty Training Tips: Guidance for Teaching Students with Disabilities, located in the SRC.

1. Fill out Academic Warnings. Many times instructors are unsure if they are supposed to fill out an academic warning for a student with a disability. The answer is yes. While you should not include any reference to the disability, you should include the student’s progress and any deadlines that you have given the student. Extensions on assignments do not preclude the student from receiving an academic warning.
2. When lecturing, use advance organizers and provide and outline. An advance organizer is when you explain what you will be discussing, how it fits into the previous lesson and why it is relevant. This sets the stage for learning. Outlines, whether on the board, handout, or on O-Space help students be able to see the structure of the lesson and know what to expect.
3. Psychiatric Disabilities – It is perfectly alright to stand close to a student, but do not crowd his/her space when talking with the student. This may cause anxiety.
4. Listen carefully when students speak in class. According to a study by Roxanne Ruzic, students with disabilities put forth more of an effort in the class when they felt “listened to by their professors.”
5. Students with hearing impairments – Talk to the student. If a student uses an interpreter, you still should face the student when addressing him/her. The interpreter is a translator and does not necessarily have to look at you face to face. Talking to the interpreter may cause the student to feel left out.

See also the SDS website: http://my.otis.edu/StudentAffairs/SRC/disabilities.shtml

by Parme Giuntini, Director of Art History

In late October, I attended the annual AICAD (Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design) at the Pratt’s Manhattan campus. I didn’t do this alone; there was a veritable gang of Otis representatives including Debra Ballard, Sue Maberry, Katie Phillips, Randy Lavender, Marcie Begleiter and our intrepid leader, John Gordon. This year’s theme was Core, which meant a particular emphasis on Foundation.

We were all presenters with sessions that ranged from Information Literacy and Art History to Integrated Learning to Student responsibility. Judging from the comments, we were successful. I could go on and on about what we said during those sessions, but I think the more important information is what we learned from them and from each other during that time.

Suffice it to say that all the art colleges present are grappling with the same issues: How to balance acquiring skills with conception and application; what is the role of theory in studio classes and how can it be best addressed? How do we integrate Liberal Studies and studio material to best accommodate our students? What are the challenges of teaching the “millennials” as our students are called; what are their signifying characteristics (apart from an emotional attachment to their cell phones and the annoying habit of surfing the web during class—and no, this does not count as multi-tasking). What does the future of art and design education look like?

Remarkably, or perhaps not since we have all been working on this for some time, we came away from this conference again commenting on how much progress we have made addressing so many of these issues. The collegiality and willingness to collaborate within and across departments, something that we often take for granted at Otis, is an enormous issue in many colleges and often an obstacle to needed change. Being an LAS kind of person, I am always amazed when talking to other faculty to find that there is a very deep valley between the studio departments and Liberal Studies, often one in which no one is willing to consider trekking. Not only that, but even within LAS departments, faculty from different disciplines often are not well informed about each other’s courses.

One of the most rewarding aspects of conferencing is time spent with colleagues and often some really valuable plans and initiatives come from these conversations. I suppose that they would surface sooner or later but there is something about being away and being together that always fosters creative solutions.

Next year Otis and Art Center are jointly hosting the AICAD conference. I would encourage everyone, regardless of department, to consider attending and being a presenter. Not only is there a lot to learn; we have a lot to share.