Q: What are your college’s goals for participating in the Consortium?

A: Teaching is the highest priority category in faculty evaluations at Maryville College. The educational goals of our Core Curriculum focus on “cultivation of transformative habits of mind” and development of “capacity for critical, creative dispositions.” ACUE’s active learning and higher order thinking approaches seem well suited to strengthen faculty’s ability to accomplish these goals. ACUE’s discussion models, problem-solving assignments, and deep thinking challenges support our aim to prepare students “to act as informed and responsible citizens and to assume leadership and collaborative roles in solving the complex problems of an interconnected and diverse world.” Imaginative and rigorous assignments like the ones included in the ACUE program are essential preparation for the world that awaits our graduates. Additionally, we believe that our students are more likely to achieve effective leadership, citizenship, and service goals with solid career guidance.

Q: Given the Consortium’s focus on career guidance and readiness, you decided to collaborate with your Career Center on the implementation. What does this partnership look like?

A: Career Center staff have access to the course content and follow the online discussions. They also participate in our monthly face-to-face meetings. Beginning with the second series of modules, they will offer ideas for career connections specific to each module (connections to the National Association of College and Employers, or NACE, competencies and upcoming events or opportunities for faculty), to be included in the module announcements. Career Center staff report that the partnership helps them:

• gain input and new perspectives from participating instructors on what challenges they face in the classroom, the new concepts they’re learning, and how students are responding;
• feel informed about the teaching culture in terms of what is taking place with faculty and students beyond the Career Center workshops;
• better understand the readings and resources they might offer to faculty; and
• learn through participants’ teaching reflections how to improve their own teaching and organizing in sessions offered by the Career Center.

Q: Why is it important to work cross-functionally across campus departments and offices to impact student success? What does your collaboration with the Career Center add to this program?

A: Working across campus departments and offices on the ACUE program provides structure and accountability as we serve our students’ needs in an integrated, intentional, and strategic way. Combining forces to deliver and learn from our ACUE course experience offers our teaching faculty, Career Center staff, and Academic Affairs administrators concrete opportunities for support, collaboration, and connections. It gives us a common framework as well as a motivating reason to get together and talk about how we might best craft our processes, systems, classes, and programs in ways that serve our students. The experience has also encouraged collegiality, intentionality, and celebration of this inspiring endeavor we are undertaking together as education professionals.

By Amy Clark
During the summer semester, I reached out to learners across my online courses by creating a 5-minute YouTube video encouraging them to communicate with me, which I embedded in directions for a self-reflective, goal-oriented extra credit activity based on the DAPPS model. Per Downing (2011), DAPPS is an acronym for dated, achievable, personal, positive, and specific goals. Creating this opportunity was a response to a trend that emerged in my online classes where a small group of learners was not turning in work and/or was frequently missing assignment deadlines without approved excuses, as compared to the majority of others who were submitting work on time. Along the same lines, those who were not submitting work were not communicating as to whether they were lost, overwhelmed, or needed help.

Due to my late work policy and the asynchronous nature of the course, those who were missing deadlines were at risk of poor overall grades. Furthermore, the summer semester was condensed, and students had less time to complete assignments than they would during the longer semesters. Though I regularly utilized tools in the learning management system to communicate with students via course-wide announcements and emails, there was clearly a pocket of students who needed additional attention and support. Because the semester was almost halfway over, I began to problem solve and consider activities that could increase communication, improve motivation, and reach a population of students who were struggling to meet deadlines and not expressing reasons why.

The assessment was designed to allow students to reflect on their ability to meet deadlines, to explain any challenges or obstacles they faced turning in work, to set a DAPPS goal for performance by the end of the summer, and to optionally boost their total points in the course. The extra credit activity was especially beneficial to potentially underprepared students (Gabriel, 2008). In developing this activity, I drew on my training from the following ACUE modules: Connecting With Your Students, Motivating Your Students, Engaging Underprepared Students, and Developing Self-Directed Learners. Similarly, I reviewed the instructor resources sections of these ACUE modules, including those by the following authors: Brookfield (2015); Chase, Germundsen, Cady Brownstein, and Schaak Distad (2001); Downing (2011); Freeman, Anderman, and Jensen (2007); Gabriel (2008); Legg and Wilson (2009); Meyers (2009); Nilson (2013); Seifert (2004); and Wieman (2010).

Suggestions for Implementation

I created an optional module specifically for the extra credit assessment with my YouTube video embedded, and I created an assignment link where all students could submit the activity. In the assessment description, I also posted a meme with a message that encouraged them not to give up as well as utilized supportive language which mimicked my YouTube video. In grading the assignment, I also posted specific feedback to students in accordance with their reflection and goal, and I acknowledged their feelings.

Outcome

The four courses had approximately 140 students, and about 35% of all the learners completed the extra credit. With that said, the classes had a range of participation from as low as 20% to as high as 66%. In grading the assessment, students who were struggling identified the following overall themes: (a) they were overloaded based on the number of courses they were taking at once and/or the amount of work they were required to complete as a cumulative load in all their classes; (b) they were overwhelmed with personal commitments, which made it difficult to focus on school work; (c) they did not prefer to learn online and/or were tired of being in school in general; and/or (d) they had difficulties managing time based on their work and school schedules. Conversely, those who felt that they were able to meet deadlines identified the following reasons why: (a) they were experienced online learners; (b) they had good time-management skills and/or attempted to complete work ahead of due dates; (c) they were accustomed to balancing work and school schedules; and/or (d) they regularly utilized a calendar system.

Overall, learners seemed to appreciate the opportunity to communicate with me one-on-one apart from sending me an email. Several students expressed their gratitude and belief that I was a compassionate and caring instructor and were thankful for the opportunity. Therefore, I considered this activity to be successful because it fostered additional communication, gave students increased motivation to succeed, and allowed all students, including those who may have been at risk for poor grade outcomes, the opportunity to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses in relationship to meeting deadlines. In the future, I will use YouTube, reflective extra credit activities, and DAPPS goal-setting techniques to improve communication and student motivation in my online courses as well as give learners an option to gain additional points in the course.

References

Brookfield, S. D. (2015). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Chase, B., Germundsen, R., Cady Brownstein, J., & Schaak Distad, L. (2001). Making the connection between increased student learning and reflective practice. Educational Horizons, 79, 143–147.

Downing, S. (2011). On course: Strategies for creating success in college and in life (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Freeman, T. M., Anderman, L. H., & Jensen, J. M. (2007). Sense of belonging in college freshmen at the classroom and campus levels. The Journal of Experimental Education, 75, 203-220.

Gabriel, K. F. (2008). Teaching unprepared students: Strategies for promoting success and retention in higher education. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Legg, A. M., & Wilson, J. H. (2009). E-mail from professor enhances student motivation and attitudes. Teaching of Psychology, 36, 205–211.

Meyers, S. A. (2009). Do your students care whether you care about them? College Teaching, 57, 205–210.

Nilson, L. B. (2013). Creating self-regulated learners: Strategies to strengthen students’ self-awareness and learning skills. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Seifert, T. (2004). Understanding student motivation. Educational Research, 46, 137–149.

Wieman, C. (2010). Basic instructor habits to keep students engaged. Retrieved from http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/Files/InstructorHabitsToKeepStudentsEngaged_CWSEI.pdf

Teaching since 2011, Amy Clark is an adjunct instructor in the Health Studies Department at Texas Woman’s University. She is pursuing her doctorate in Sociology with research interests including the health of undocumented minors and stress associated with the use of reproductive technology. She earned her ACUE credential in May 2018.

Research shows that experimenting with teaching methods can improve student evaluations, and institutions prepare students for their careers earlier in college.

Will Trying New Teaching Techniques Tank My Evaluations?
The fear that experimenting with new teaching methods will hurt student evaluations may be unwarranted, according to a new study by Charles R. Henderson, Raquib Khan, and Melissa Dancy. Their survey revealed that most instructors believed using interactive teaching techniques positively affected their evaluations and active learning methods improved student learning and made classes more enjoyable. (Inside Higher Ed)

Colleges Welcome First-Year Students by Getting Them Thinking About Jobs
Students who begin preparing for work life earlier are more likely to be satisfied with their careers, a survey conducted by EAB found, but few students take this path. Now, an increasing number of colleges are working to address this issue through efforts like networking workshops, connecting students with alumni, career training and advising, and other resources. (The Hechinger Report)

How a Common Course Fosters Teaching Collaboration on One Campus
A required interdisciplinary course at the University of Dayton not only fosters learning in students but also leads to greater faculty collaboration, according to Jackson A. Goodnight, the course coordinator. Instructors attend workshops to help them prepare, meet as a group several times during the semester, observe each other’s classes, and offer one another feedback. (The Chronicle of Higher Education Teaching Newsletter)

Teaching Students to Manage Their Time
Time management is an essential skill that many professionals and students alike haven’t mastered, writes Charlotte Kent. That’s why Kent teaches students the importance of prioritization, being realistic about what time allows, and creating schedules on the first day of class. (Inside Higher Ed)

Ideas Realized: How Programs for Vulnerable Students Began
Programs at colleges and universities across the United States provide support to vulnerable students. For instance, at Western Michigan University, faculty and other employees receive training on how to assist students who have lived in foster care or suffered through adversity. (University Business)

Giving All Students a Voice is Key to More Effective Higher Education
In a lecture at Arizona State University, Cathy Davidson advocated involving students in their own education by having them work together to consider problems facing society. She pointed to the idea of formulating courses around issues and questions rather than disciplines, noting that in Yale University’s history department, students work in cohorts to study issues together. (ASU Now)

Partner News

Broward College: Embedding Certifications Into Degree Programs (Inside Higher Ed)

Delta State University: Delta State University and the Association of College and University Educators Partnership Improves Student Outcomes (Delta State)

Rutgers University: CTAAR Launches Teaching Improvement Program Pilot (CTAAR Newsletter)

By Jeremy Podany

There is an emerging movement of University Faculty and Career Service Staff working together to educate students about their future working life. It looks different than it has in past iterations. It is more thoughtful, sophisticated, and mission centric. And, it’s very encouraging to the students themselves.

The interest in career education being more closely linked to faculty is being stimulated by a big problem and a big desire that have surfaced as of late.

• The BIG PROBLEM is that we, as colleges and universities, are merely making career services available, rather than making a commitment to actually reach and influence the career preparedness of EVERY student. This problem has many dimensions. It can be solved—and now seems to be the opportune time in history—but the solutions are not easy or quick.

• The BIG DESIRE is that students everywhere are now making college decisions related to how well the university prepares them for their future, and they want to lean on faculty and others to help them.

This begs for a new vision for how universities approach career learning on campus. It has prompted a paradigm shift from simply offering career services to actually educating all students about career readiness.

Faculty: The Genesis of Career Learning on Campus

In the early 1900s and prior, university faculty were often found dialoguing with students about their future as productive citizens, about how the life of the mind and meaningful work were intertwined, about those in their network students could connect with for further learning about their future, and about what it took to advance in vocational pursuits over time. Faculty were the ‘go-to,’ and one of the only options for ‘career’ help. This was not only true for career learning but for course scheduling, financial issues, conduct matters, residential housing, and much more. Over time, a few pressing higher education issues detached many faculty from the one-stop shop role, and specifically from this type of mentoring and advocacy about the future of work for their students.

Particularly, the following occurred:

• As access and desire for higher education became more available and sought after by the masses, faculty faced a scale problem in being able to personalize these types of conversations.

• Simultaneously, the role of career advising became a profession, and universities began to drive traffic to toward these new vocational experts.

Faculty never stopped caring, but the system changed.

The System That is NOT Working

This evolution of professionalizing career help has taken many forms, and, as Dr. Farouk Dey and Christine Cruzvergara (2014) referred to it in “Evolution of Career Services in Higher Education,” birthed the eras of placement, then counseling, and then networking. All have been unique, but all centered around driving students to the official career office of the university. This has unfortunately, in many cases, created a binary view of expertise: Students talk to faculty for unique academic expertise, and they talk to career professionals for all career expertise.

Today, this operational paradigm of binary expertise has proven to be inadequate when it comes to educating all students, and has posed some genuine problems. Some of the dimensions we see related to this challenge are:

1. Scale: Universities can’t reach ALL students with high-quality preparation for their future through the career office alone, especially when the ratio of career advisors to students is something like 1 to 1000 or 1 to 2500. The ‘come see us in the career office’ model as a primary approach can only serve a small percentage of the total population.

2. Trust: If you do the math, most teaching faculty spend upwards of 200 times the amount of time with students than do career advisors and, because of this, may often have higher levels of trust with students than career advisors. Students today want insight from people they trust, and they tend to feel comfortable asking faculty questions about their future.

3. Care: Faculty care about the future of their students and are more frequently asking for strategies, resource knowledge, assignments, classroom activities, and experiential activities that make it easier to respond to students’ needs and demonstrate they care about students’ futures.

4. Desire: Students like to get insight and expertise from various parties­­ and resources—alumni, parents, faculty, friends, career staff, short videos, experiences on trips, and experiences in their field. They gravitate toward the people and places they trust the most.

5. Time: Faculty, career staff, and non-career staff alone are strapped for time. They likely don’t want additional job duties, but they still want to be able to easily answer student inquiries.

So, what do we do with this multidimensional challenge?

The Emerging Educational Practices

My team at The Career Leadership Collective has the joy of interacting with hundreds of career services leaders each year. We host an annual series of Think Tanks on a topic that is very important to them, yet without best practices. This year, our topic was Career in the Classroom, and we invited faculty, department chairs, and academic deans to join career leaders in the conversation. It was quite robust, to say the least, and many solutions came out of the effort.  Through conversations, surveys, and activities, we sought to understand a number of research questions. I will highlight two of these questions below:

1. What type of career learning information are faculty most interested in being abreast of on a regular basis? The first big takeaway related to this question is that faculty would very much like to have easy access to quality career-related information. In particular, we learned from career leaders and faculty alike that information on the following will show up in their student conversations, their reflective activities, their field experiences, and class discussions, if they have it:

2. Department-specific data on where their graduates go to work, the types of jobs they have pursued, and salary information; specific alumni spotlights; and geographic, industry, and pathway diversity. Universities today must have this data, and faculty should request it from their career centers or upper administrators.

a. The elements of a great career conversation. If students want to know how to explore possible careers or conduct a job search, what should faculty say? We have helped quite a number of universities empower faculty with this information—and it goes a long way.

b. The most sought-after skills of the future. I recommend the World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs

c. If their department is closely related to an industry, the leading-edge trends in employment in that industry. Again, The Future of Jobs report is a great resource, and there are many more.

3. What educational practices are ideal for career education to most effectively happen inside the classroom? The discussions around this question during our Think Tank were rich with insight and quite extraordinary in detail about how some campuses were choosing to lean in. Here is what we discovered is helping the most:

a. Create faculty champions. Many campuses have found it quite effective to have a group of faculty career champions that gather regularly, and then take information and insights back to their departments. This allows for implementation to be led by faculty, not career staff, and leaves room for translation into unique departmental cultures. We have seen this in liberal arts contexts, at big state schools, and across disciplines. Examples include the following:

• The Walter Center for Career Achievement in The College of Arts & Sciences at Indiana University has a network of nearly 60 faculty and non-career staff involved in their efforts.

• George Mason University certifies faculty and non-career staff, and they become known as part of the Mason Career Influencers Network. They have nearly 200 participants involved.

b. Hold syllabus enrichment meetings. Some campuses have found success by getting faculty from cross-disciplinary departments together prior to the start of the year to do a syllabus enrichment meeting to strengthen objectives and outcome statements related to real-world relevance, sought after skills, and career readiness or reflection. A key example where this is taking place is through the Faculty Champions program at The University of Utah, which is a robust initiative that involves annual faculty awards for unique career education contributions.

c. Encourage faculty to integrate supplemental career assignments into their courses. One trend we hope catches on even more is supplementary online career education for students. Institutions like the University of Wyoming and Mercy College have adopted systems that provide students with short video or interactive training modules about topics such as attending a career fair, preparing for an interview, or building a résumé. Some systems have built-in accountability, where faculty who use these as supplemental assignments can see an administrator view of who has completed the modules. These modules offer helpful pre-made assignments that are simple, short, and effective for faculty to add to their syllabus. They also help to answer a lot of minor career questions that students often ask faculty.

d. Develop collaborative projects between the curricular and co-curricular. In certain cases, we have seen the creation of high-quality resources by focused committees of academics and career staff. One such example is the Carleton College Pathways Project, which is a brilliant repository of information dedicated to certain career pathways. Developing this type of solution takes time and can come in various forms but pays big dividends for students, faculty, and career staff.

The Future Is Bright

As we look to the future, here is what we think career leaders and faculty can expect to see more of:

• Online repositories of career reflection assignments and activities. This will be a big win for universities that are willing to take the time to pull it off. Imagine a 24/7 accessible online library of career reflection assignments and class activities that will make faculty’s lives easier. These resources should be ready to go, easy to use, and moldable to different academic disciplines. There are a few universities pursuing this approach, and we hope to see it become more widespread.

• Virtual alumni panels. We have learned that it is quite helpful for alumni, especially those professors know well, to engage with students about how they are applying certain concepts they learned in relevant courses. This happens too infrequently. We know of start-ups that are in the very early stages of bringing products to market to help scale this virtually. Of course, Zoom, Hangouts, and other technology make this doable now.

• Virtual reality job treks. In-person treks (group trips to visit employers) are quite popular right now, often with student waiting lists. They are educationally invigorating for students, as they allow students to see firsthand what it will be like to work for certain organizations. They take resources and time to plan, and often only impact a few students. We know of early stage start-ups that are pursuing virtual reality solutions for students to explore. If done well, we can see this being a very beneficial tool for faculty to adopt en masse.

I am so delighted for the partnerships that are emerging everywhere. My sincere admiration goes to the many faculty and career staff around the country who are thoughtfully implementing new educational practices for the sake of empowering students in their future pursuits!

Jeremy Podany is the CEO and Founder of The Career Leadership Collective, one of the fastest growing solutions groups in higher ed and career services. In 2017, their first year, The Collective did business with over 300 universities and saw over 20,000 people from 30 countries engage their online blog and video content. Jeremy is an innovation, leadership, and organization growth connoisseur who enjoyed a 17-year career in higher education, leading career services offices, and has helped build six unique start-ups inside and outside of higher education. Jeremy regularly writes, speaks, trains, invents, and consults for universities, businesses, and tech start-ups. He has a BA in English Education from Western Michigan University and a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from Indiana University. Jeremy lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, with his wife and four children and loves hiking in, and gazing at, the Rocky Mountains.

Credentialing faculty in effective teaching and career guidance is one step institutions are taking to help students prepare for their future careers. This week, read about this other ways faculty are supporting their students through instruction—from creating assignments that students can actually complete to fostering communities of trust.

6 Strategies to Prepare Students for Meaningful Careers
From Grinnell College’s “exploratory advisors” to intensive career-development workshops, institutions are rethinking how to prepare students for their futures. One initiative is the Consortium for Instructional Excellence and Career Guidance, a collaboration between ACUE and the Council of Independent Colleges. The program credentials faculty in effective teaching practices and career guidance. (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

How to Hold an Audience Captive
While it’s not an instructor’s job to be entertaining, according to Emma Björngard-Basayne, understanding performance art can help instructors connect with their students. Wayne Trembly, an academic specialist and actor, offers strategies such as using facial expressions to convey enthusiasm for the material, injecting humor into lectures, and sharing personal stories. (UConn)

The First Day!
Although many first classes tend to begin with icebreakers and syllabus reviews, Patrick Bigsby suggests having a more productive and engaging session by sharing introductory course information via email before the first meeting and actually diving into the material to ignite students’ curiosity, among other strategies. (GradHacker)

What a New Professor Learned After His First Class
Garrett Reisman, a former NASA astronaut, discovered that even for accomplished professionals, teaching as a new instructor can be challenging. He is honing his instruction by using journal articles and case studies, borrowing from other institutions’ aviation courses, and injecting his experience into his course to help students apply theory to practice. (The Chronicle of Higher Education Teaching Newsletter)

What Students Say Is Good Teaching
In an event at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, undergraduate students shared their thoughts on what makes teaching effective. Students offered examples such as explaining all the details rather than skipping over steps that may seem obvious to instructors and emphasizing learning over grades, among other perspectives. (Inside Higher Ed)

Will Students Actually Believe They Can Do This Assignment?
“The more students feel that a goal is achievable, the more likely they will be motivated to pursue it,” David Gooblar writes. According to Gooblar, instructors can facilitate this outcome by designing courses with goals in mind, completing their own assignments, being transparent about the grading process, and giving feedback to allow students to self-correct. (Vitae)

I Trust That My Student’s Grandparent Died
When students approach an instructor needing accommodations due to a personal emergency, the instructor should respond with trust, writes Christopher Buddle. While some students take advantage of the system, Buddle believes they represent a minority and that lending support to students who are in need is more important than punishing outliers. (University Affairs)

Partner News

Alderson Broaddus University: Alderson Broaddus University elected to joinnational initiative to support teaching and learning (The Exponent Telegram)

Arizona State University: 16 years into Crow’s tenure, ASU is growing more than ever (The State Press)

Miami Dade College: Miami Dade College celebrates 58 years since opening (7 News)

Rutgers University: The 9 big projects transforming Rutgers campuses (NJ.com)

University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College: How education can bridge the skills gap (Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette)

West Virginia University: WVU and community colleges partnering to benefit students (WV News)

By Santos Torres Jr.

Encouraging student investment and responsibility has been a priority throughout my teaching career. Often, students come to my office hours at the end of a semester or email me to inquire about how they are doing and if I think they will be able to pass the course. After many conversations with colleagues about similar interactions and how students might be encouraged to carefully reflect on their work, preparation, and participation relative to course requirements and expectations, a colleague and I developed a student self-evaluation tool referred to as Evidence-Based Self-Assessment(EBSA)[1] as a means of achieving this goal. We focused on designing a tool that would encourage students to be actively engaged and accountable for their learning.

Creating support for learning is paramount for educational success. The EBSA instrument is used to help foster a learner-centered environment, provide some learner control to the student, and advance critical and creative thinking skills. This assessment tool consists of three basic areas: task completion, preparation, and participation. Assessment is also done across three categories: low, average, and above average. Students are invited to complete the EBSA tool to assess (a) their completion of required work (e.g., readings, assignments, quizzes, etc.); (b) their preparation for the tasks they complete as well as for class sessions; and (c) their participation in class sessions, discussions (online and face-to-face), group work, and other activities that require interaction and participation. In addition to the EBSA tool, students include a written self-assessment summary of their work in the course to that date, which gives their rationale and specific evidence for where they placed themselves with the assessment tool. If students assess any aspect of their work in the course as unacceptable, they are to provide a brief description of their plans to revisit that portion of work and what they plan to do relative to future coursework requirements (including a timeline).

We have used the EBSA tool over the past two years in undergraduate and graduate courses, in both online and face-to-face settings. Students are asked to complete this assignment during the third or fourth week of the 16-week semester and then again around week 12. Results indicate varying degrees of positive student engagement relative to student responsibility for achievement in the course. Use of the tool has supported the continued cultivation of a learner-centered and engaged learning environment. Many of the comments from students demonstrate a positive impact. The two comments[2] below appeared on an EBSA completed for the second time in a semester.

• “In sum, This Evidence Based Self-Assessment (EBSA) tool has been helpful in determining the areas that I am doing well in, average in, and in determining what areas need improvement. It has also been a helpful tool in realizing how much information I have retained, learned, and understood.”

• “After completing the first self-assessment, I was aware of what I needed to work on throughout the course. For me, I knew I needed to work on participation because just coming to class and doing the homework wasn’t going to cut it. Throughout this semester, I put in effort to participate and it made class more pleasant and engaging. Through this self-assessment, I realized I need to step up my game in online discussions. This assignment was very useful and helped me reflect and better myself as a student. “

The purpose of the EBSA is for students to reflect, assess, and explain how they see themselves relative to their involvement and contributions to their learning in the course. Reflective and integrative learning is identified as one of 10 learner engagement indicators in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE; 2013). This indicator is described as requiring “students to personally connect with the course material . . . [and] is characteristic of students who engage in deep approaches to learning” (Nelson Laird et al., 2006 as cited in the National Survey of Student Engagement, 2013, p. 10). Smith and Rabin (2015) demonstrated in their research that giving specific planned opportunities for reflection about not just tasks but also the process “gave rise to a robust and rich collaborative learning environment” (p. 1). Additionally, reflection and self-assessment are described as important mechanisms for engaging “students in successful [individual as well as] collaborative group work” (Smith & Rabin, 2015, p. 1). Assisting students in this process and how they can assess their own investment in their learning provides a learner-centered opportunity to advance student success. This self-assessment aids the student in “checking-in; practicing presentness; trusting in the process; and accepting the wisdom of uncertainty” (Welkley & Torres, 2015, p. 31).

References

National Survey of Student Engagement. (2013). A fresh look at student engagement: Annual results 2013. Bloomington: Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research. Retrieved from http://nsse.indiana.edu/NSSE_2013_Results/pdf/NSSE_2013_Annual_Results.pdf

Smith, G., & Rabin, C. (2015, March). Group work, publicly posted instructor commentary, and self-assessment: A motivating combination in the online environment. Paper presented at the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) International Conference, Las Vegas, NV.

Welkley, D. L., & Torres, S., Jr. (Eds.). (2018). Critical and creative thinking (3rd ed.). San Diego, CA: Cognella Academic.

Santos Torres Jr. is a professor in the Division of Social Work at California State University, Sacramento. His research interests and publications explore school social work, race and ethnicity issues, effective teaching, online learning, effective immersive learning technology, faith-based initiatives in social services, and accessibility of LGBTQ Safe Zone training. He is currently enrolled in ACUE’s Effective Teaching Practices course and will earn his certification this fall.

[1] The EBSA tool is reproduced by permission.

[2] Student comments are reproduced by permission.