Google has recently added a nice new feature to Google Docs. I think you'll like it. I know I do.

Until now, you could download only one file at at time. With the new export feature, you can convert, zip and download multiple files. And you can convert them to Microsoft Office file formats.

First, select the files you want to download. Then, click the More Actions tab and select Export.

In the "Convert, Zip and Download Files" window, select the format to convert to (in the example, I've selected Microsoft Word and Excel). Click Continue (not shown).

In a few minutes, a .zip file will be created and downloaded to a location on your computer that you choose.

If you use Google Docs, this will save you a lot of time. Give it a try!

Sam Eneman
Center for Teaching & Learning

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE, pronounced "Nessie") is now ten years old.  UNC Charlotte students have been participating for years, and the results have been circulated on campus.  According to Molly Broad, former UNC system president and current head of the American Council on Education,

...higher education is “not moving fast enough” right now to have in place accountability systems that truly answer the questions being asked of higher education. The best bet for higher education, she said, is to more fully embrace various voluntary systems, and show that they are used to promote improvements.

The danger, she said, is that without such a shift, government entities will set their own standards. She said that right now she sees that potential coming less from the federal government than from states. Those with very high levels of unemployment, Broad warned, “may be tempted to tie their level of support [for higher education] to very specific outcomes tied to job creation.” [h/t Inside Higher Ed]

Point taken.  There is definite value in using our universities to help develop the workforce, but this is not the usual approach we take towards assessing student engagement while they are on campus.  The NSSE could then turn into something very different, I suppose.

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

One of the major projects in the Center for Teaching and Learning for the past two years has been to collaborate with and assist the Spanish department in redesigning their elementary Spanish program (1201 and 1202) to be a hybrid course according to the methodology provided by the National Center for Academic Transformation (a hybrid courses replaces a portion of in-class seat time with online activities).  During this process, we have met with colleagues at Chapel Hill, who had completed a similar project already. 

I now see in Inside Higher Ed that UNC-CH is changing their hybrid course to go fully online.  The driving force is to save money.  They also rebut student objections, saying that the evaluation "data revealed that while students in traditional courses said they thought they mastered the material better than their peers in hybrid courses, a comparative assessment of learning outcomes showed no difference between the two."  [Hmm...no significant difference, you say?  Interesting.]  They expect the evaluation data of the fully online version to closely mirror these results. 

So do I.

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

Here's an interesting idea from Elliot Masie, whose professional focus is on organizational performance and emerging technology. Although he works mostly in the corporate and organizational world, his idea of scouts for learning might have some value for us in higher education teaching and learning.

He suggests that we find two people very different from ourselves to serve as "scouts." One might be a person of a different generation who can give us insight into how others look at learning and collaboration. Another one might be technical or not technical at all to provide fresh perspectives.

This might be a relatively low effort way to keep fresh and challenged. Let's add some scouts to our outlook on teaching and learning.

Sam Eneman
Center for Teaching & Learning
UNC Charlotte

Trends in education show that majority of students today are digital learners, or digital natives as it was referred to in the September 11, 2009 blog post, “Learning On-the-Go.” Our students expect the use of technology in the curriculum; however, are we listening? Are you paying attention to your students? “Pay Attention” is a YouTube video developed to motivate instructors to more effectively integrate technology into their classrooms. Are you engaging or enraging your students? You are encourages to view “Pay Attention” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEFKfXiCbLw (video length 7:42).

Melanie

Melanie Smith | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

If you've been reading this blog, you know I love lists, especially when they contain accumulated wisdom from other instructors on how to manage different aspects of teaching and learning.  This one is about how to manage online discussions:

1. Ground the Learning in Real Experiences.
2. Motivate Through Discussion.
3. Use Synchronous Discussion.
4. Recommend Extra Stuff.
5. Use White Space.
6. Use the Book, But Don't Teach the Book.
7. Don't Always Reply.
8. Expect Tangents.
9. Ask Good Questions.
10. Pre-write.

Those are only the headings, which may or may not be self explanatory.  The author uses some great examples, BTW.  Looking at this list again, it seems to me an all-purpose list for teaching, not just online discusssions.

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

Students are constantly collaborating and communicating with each other through social networks such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. However, how can you encourage your students to collaborate and communication in courses without the use of social networking sites? Google Sites is a great way to have students collaboratively build and share information through a group website or wiki. Most of all Google Sites is free!

Melanie

Melanie Smith | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

So I was on my way home, listening to Science Friday on NPR. The topic was "Building Science Education." How educators are making science more relevant and interesting.

What really caught my attention had less to do with "science" and more to do with "relevant and interesting." Two of the guests - one a Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry at Florida State and the other a high school Biology teacher on Staten Island - spoke about the value of student-produced media. They described how their students learned so much more in the process of creating a video, sharing their excitement about a topic in a blog posting, etc.

I found the segment quite inspiring. Maybe you'll also be inspired to turn your students loose to express their fascination with a topic in your course. There are so many media and online tools available. If science can be exciting, so can your subject.

Here are links to the SciFri podcast and the Florida State Undergraduate projects. Enjoy and share your students' work with us!

Sam Eneman
Center for Teaching & Learning
UNC Charlotte

I can't remember how I discovered this website, but informationisbeautiful.net is very interesting.  The creator doesn't seem to have any particular bent: the displays are all over the place, from plane crashes to pandemics to Afghanistan.  I like how this site takes datasets that would otherwise be presented in a table or numerical form and turns them into appealing visuals.  This could have some application in your classroom.  And if visual design isn't your thing, you could assign your students to come up with something like this.

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

As Billie Hara says in her blog posting, writing groups in composition courses are the norm. She then goes on to propose writing groups for first-year tenure track faculty. Faculty writing groups help:

• Strengthen confidence as academic writers
• Show new professors they're not alone
• Hold people accountable for their work
• Faculty meet colleagues in other departments and disciplines

She also offers a number of ideas to start a faculty writing group. Maybe you'd like to start one here at UNC Charlotte.

Sam Eneman
Center for Teaching & Learning