Surry Community College - Distance Education

Objective 1: Improve Student Engagement through Critical Thinking

Narrative

The College will use CCSSE survey results, faculty input, and literature to develop and implement strategies for improving learning. Professional development programs that prepare all staff and faculty to become more effective facilitators of learning will be identified and planned. Critical thinking will be the key ingredient in improving student engagement across all disciplines and programs.

SET met in the winter of 2003 to discuss how the College could enhance student engagement in academic tasks campus-wide. Critical thinking quickly became the focus of SET’s efforts, and the Team identified a need for professional development in critical thinking as a key strategy for improving student engagement. A long-term in-service program sponsored by the Foundation for Critical Thinking began on June 9-12, 2003. Additional workshops will be conducted over a three-year period by Dr. Linda Elder and Dr. Richard Paul, who have led successful workshops at over 300 institutions, and will focus on the following:

how to teach all content as a powerful mode of thinking
how to integrate Socratic questioning into instruction
how to teach students to assess their own thinking using fundamental intellectual criteria (such as clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth of thought, breadth of thought, and logic)
how to teach students to work effectively with basic dimensions of thought (such as purposes & goals, problems & questions, information and data, inferences & interpretations, assumptions and presuppositions, concepts & theories, implications & consequences, points of view and frames of reference)
how to teach students to read, write, speak, and listen “critically,” that is, with intellectual command of the processes in which they are engaging
how to teach so that students transfer what they learn from one context or discipline to another, as well as to the problems of everyday life
how to teach so that students take increasing responsibility for their own learning
how to maximize student writing while minimizing faculty time for “grading” papers
how to teach so that students master the fundamental concepts and principles of a subject
how to teach so that students ask probing questions that facilitate their own learning
how to teach so that students take charge of their emotional lives and values
how to organize programs, majors, and curricula so that critical thinking is emphasized throughout
how to establish an assessment program designed around critical thinking

The week of June 9, 2003, Dr. Linda Elder, President of the Foundation for Critical Thinking and Executive Director of the Center for Critical Thinking, conducted workshops on campus for SCC faculty. The workshops emphasized the ways critical thinking promotes active learning and improves student engagement. Faculty engaged in inter-disciplinary discussions about improving student learning using critical thinking concepts and tools. Faculty also worked through key critical thinking concepts such as Elements of Reasoning, Intellectual Standards, Intellectual Virtues, and Deep Questioning. SET members received two days of advanced training with Dr. Elder before the college-wide workshops began.

In the winter of 2003, SET also established a plan for working closely with the Learning Outcomes Team on developing and presenting projects that enhance student engagement:

Learning Outcomes Team drafts pilot rubrics for assessing learning outcomes.
Student Engagement Team develops exemplary “projects,” particularly for critical thinking.
Projects are assessed with pilot rubrics.
Projects and rubrics are refined.
Student Engagement Team presents projects to faculty.

In July-August, 2003, SET members planned and facilitated division-level critical thinking workshops to share activities that foster a culture of student learning and to remodel existing assignments to foster critical thinking. In October, 2003, SET met with division chairs to share division-level critical thinking/student engagement plans, to discuss critical thinking projects in faculty evaluation portfolios, and to discuss possible supplementary questions for SIR II forms related to critical thinking.

SET is currently working on the following projects:

“Project Fair”: creating a means for sharing best practices and exemplary projects campus-wide
Student Engagement Journal: compiling a written collection of SCC faculty projects and best practices that improve student engagement through critical thinking

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Table Summary

Expected Outcomes	SCC Progress to Date
The College will assess present division-level activities that foster a culture of student learning through challenging/meaningful academic tasks.	August 11, 2003: In college-wide critical thinking workshops conducted by SET members, divisions assess current activities and projects and discuss exemplary critical thinking projects and effective teaching strategies for fostering critical thinking in the disciplines. October 16, 2003: SET meets with division chairs to discuss division plans for fostering critical thinking and improving student engagement; division chairs present drafts of their plans for discussion. Computer Science & Electronic Division Plan Humanities and Social Sciences Division Plan Science Division Plan English & Communications Division Plan
The College will provide appropriate incentives and training opportunities that encourage and facilitate planning and implementation of student engagement projects by faculty and staff.	Incentives: Faculty submit critical thinking projects in their 2003-2004 evaluation portfolios. Spring, 2003: The Excellence in Teaching Award, SCC’s annual teaching award is revamped to spotlight instructional techniques and course design that improve and expand student learning. A panel of outside experts interviews the finalists and chooses the winner. The cash award is increased, and a new incentive added: The recipient will be allowed to attend any conference (related to learning) in the U.S. TamaraCarter, Biology Instructor, wins the award. Spring and Fall, 2003: Chair of Student Engagement Team receives a course reduction to focus more time on planning implementation of student engagement projects. Winter, 2004: Faculty and staff report their response to the QEP on "Individual Evaluation" forms and submit to their supervisor and discuss in their annual review (staff and administration) and portfolio evaluation (faculty). Training Opportunities: June 9-12, 2003: Dr. Linda Elder, President of the Foundation for Critical Thinking and Executive Director of the Center for Critical Thinking, conducted four days of workshops for faculty, covering the basic concepts and tools of critical thinking, how to foster critical thinking through active learning, and how to infuse the curriculum with critical thinking. June 25-26, 2003: David Smith and Dr. Rusty Holmes present workshops for DE faculty on student-centerd, authentic learnng and assessment strategies. July 17, 2003: Dr. Terry O’Banion conducted a workshop for faculty on “Highly Effective Classroom Practices to Improve and Expand Student Learning,” July, 2003: SCC Roundtables series launched to provide on-campus opportunities for cross-discipline dialogue on teaching and learning. August, 2003: Vice-President for Instruction conducts a faculty workshop to review critical thinking concepts necessary for development of critical thinking/student engagement projects. August, 2003: Vice-President for Instruction conducts a critical thinking workshop for part-time and evening faculty. June, 2004: TACT members receive advanced training in critical thinking from Linda Elder during a 3-day retreat in Boone, NC. June, 2004: All Distance Education instructors receive training on developing courses which meet SCC's development standards on Blackboard 6.1.
The College will create special staff development programs required of all new staff members to introduce them to key concepts associated with learning-centered education and to assist them in becoming more effective facilitators of learning.	To date, no special staff development programs for new staff members have been created.
The College will create staff development programs for faculty and support staff to assist them in their roles as learning facilitators.	Staff: July 17, 2003: Dr. Terry O’Banion conducted a workshop for staff to discuss their roles as learning facilitators on campus: “Improving and Expanding Student Learning: The Role of Classified Staff.”

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