Committee on Teaching and Learning

Faculty Teaching and Learning Seminar, Dr. Jack Ullom

Student Hub and Syllabus Maker, Mark Ferrer and Jerry Pike

Student Health Survey on Risk Factors, Susan Broderick

SBCC's Transfer Rates, Dr. Andreea Serban

To join the CTL Weekly Email Group, click here. Please enter "Join CTL Email List" in the subject line. Each week a teaching tip, a bit of theory, a practical method, a quote, a mini-story or information related to teaching and learning will be sent to you.

If you would like to share your favorite versions of the above in the weekly email, let us know what they are.

Email messages are welcome! Send in your ideas, suggestions, articles, questions and responses for possible posting on this page.

Santa Barbara City College

Committee on Teaching and Learning

"Creating a dialogue on learning and teaching..."

Fall 2001

CTL's Functions and Responsibilities

1. Identifies and facilitates the incorporation of strategies that enhance student success in the classroom and through campus learning support services (Library and LRC).

2. Works closely with instructional faculty and Student Services to integrate student success initiatives campus-wide.

3. Serves as liaison between faculty and Library staff on policies affecting utilization of the library, its resources and other faculty matters.

4. Serves as liaison between faculty and LSS staff on policies affecting utilization of the LSS, its resources and other faculty matters.

5. Provides oversight and general direction on tutorial allocations, and policies for operation of the LSS (Library/LRC).

Student Motivation

Joe White, Chair of the SBCC Philosophy Dept and Executive Director of The Center for Philosophical Education, presented his ideas on the topic of language and questioning as key factors in positively affecting student motivation to the Committee on Teaching and Learning Nov. 26, 2001. He began by posing a question about the meaning of the statistic that 85% of students at Harvard are in the “A” grade category. Of course, an immediate question arises about grade inflation, or does the statistic represent a higher level of merited student achievement as a college, perhaps compared with the nation? Or could it be a sign of a shift in consciousness away from the competitive model of scarcity that requires winners and losers and be an honest affirmation of the true excellence of the majority of the students accepted to attend Harvard? What do you think?

Joe’s students can often be heard saying they enjoy his class and feel very motivated. How does he achieve this state of high motivation? Joe recommended producing a state of cognitive dissonance by first figuring out what the students believe, and then shaking up those beliefs to get their attention. Challenge them; hook them by “bugging” them. For example, the question about Harvard statistics produced cognitive dissonance within the committee by getting us engaged in thinking of a controversial issue, one that raised other questions.

Joe referred to a couple of the different types of speech acts discussed by Austin in How to Do Things with Words. The illocutionary aspect of speech is how we say something, whereas the locutionary aspect is what we say in words. Some people can be thrown off by how we say things more than what we say. Joe noted that students need to be "invited in" by the instructor to talk and think about the subject, to work with the material, and to engage in dialogue on the subject. This approach contrasts with the flat presentation of the material, which can occur when teachers think they must “cover the material to get the job done”. The illocutionary aspect of speech acts involves subtlety with speech. Thus, Joe’s illocutionary act of inviting students into the subject he is speaking of (the locutionary act) has the perlocutionary effect of engaging students in the class by creating cognitive dissonance.

J.L. Austin's Speech Acts
In order to better understand what is meant by different types of speech acts, the following is quoted from J. L. Austin’s How to Do Things with Words (102):

Act (A) or Locution
He said to me, ‘You can’t do that”.
Act (B) or Illocution
He protested against my doing it.
Act (C.a) or Perlocution
He pulled me up, checked me.
Act. (C.b)
He stopped me, he brought me to my senses, etc.
He annoyed me.
We can similarly distinguish the locutionary act ‘he said that…’ from the illocutionary act ‘he argued that …’ and the perlocutionary act ‘he convinced me that…’

Joe explained that to say something is to do something and this is the locutionary aspect . Thus to say something we make a noise; we make a noise according to a certain pattern peculiar to that language and make a noise with sense (connotation) and reference (denotation). This is, again, the locutionary force within a speech-act.

However, there is the fact that IN saying something we also do something and this is the illocutionary force of the speech-act. To take Austin's example in the above quote, the speech-act, "You can't do that" has the locutionary force of being a "noise" in the English language and has a context of referring to something. However, in saying, "You can't do that", the illocutionary force may be, as suggested by Austin, simply a protest, a suggestion, a command or a threat. Thus the act of saying, "You can't do that" without change of "meaning" can serve, given the speaker's intention, as an incredulous remark about what someone had done, a protest over something done, or a command not to do something. The illocutionary can shift rather radically while the locutionary force remains quite constant. The illocutionary force in the context will then effect the perlocutionary force of the speech-act.

It is not clear in any of this what role emotion has to play with speech-acts along with complex features of speech like cadence, etc. However, as regards teaching, academic competence seems primarily, if not exhaustively, focused upon the locutionary aspects of speech-acts while the success of teaching is primarily found within the illocutionary force of speech-acts. Hence Joe's concern has to do with effecting the illocutionary force while leaving the curriculum undisturbed.

For readers who would like to learn more, Joe's 1997-98 Faculty Lecture, "Adventures on the Frontier of Ignorance...A Truncated Tour", contains more examples and discussion of this distinction as applied to pedagogy.

Engaging Students

Joe said that he is still excited about teaching, which allows him to bring a certain “freshness” to each class, even though his field of philosophy moves forward at glacial speed. He sees teaching as a performance. Joe also shared that it helps to like the students. Sometimes instructors seem annoyed by the students. In addition, it is crucial to feel the subject is important, and let the students know that it is important for them to learn and know the subject.

Questions get others involved in the subject. They must be genuine to truly encourage critical thinking. Some instructors use rhetorical questions as a way of structuring lectures, but this use of questioning is different from the type that involves students in authentic questioning and active thinking.

Peter Rojas, Math, asked what can be done about students who seem to be apathetic? He said it takes him about a third of the class to deal with the students’ attitudes toward math. Joe responded that he has witnessed Peter Georgakis take his students outside to apply math concepts. Keep the students active by moving, and by moving around oneself. Make the students active by getting up at the board and working problems. Joe said to make fun of the students (presumably in a kind-hearted way). Jodi Simpson, Science and Technologies, and Jody Millward, English, gave examples of how they put responsibility on the students and get them engaged in their classes.

Joe recommends creative, innovative use of sound, voice and motion to capture students’ attention. He noted that when teachers talk at the white board, droning on and on in the same voice, students lose interest. Joe integrates a lot of drama in his classes, and uses exaggerated gestures to make them laugh and pay attention, like pointing between his eyes and saying “Look at me!” when someone seems uninvolved. Joe suggested that taking a class in sound, voice and motion might benefit teachers, especially because college professors do not usually receive training in how to teach.

Perhaps one lesson our committee learned from Joe was that by calmly exemplifying the virtue of authenticity in Socratic erotetic (Grk., erotesis, a question, a questioning) dialectic, as opposed to Sophistic eristic (Grk., eris, strife, conflict) dialectic, the teacher leads the student to a deeper understanding of how to learn independently and, ultimately, of truth.

SBCC's Faculty Seminar on Teaching and Learning

Dr. Jack Ullom presented the online Faculty Seminar on Teaching and Learning to the CTL on Sept. 10, 2001. It will become the major mode of training faculty in non-technological pedagogical methods.

Please click here to enter the site. The user name is "faculty" and the password is "seminar". This site will be expanding in the future.

SBCC's Syllabus Maker for Faculty and Student Hub

small spiral Mark Ferrer, Director of the Faculty Resource Center, and Dr. Jerry Pike, Director of Learning Support Services, shared some of the highlights of these rapidly growing sites to the CTL on Oct. 8, 2001. They will be presenting overviews of the online resources available to both faculty and students during Spring '02 Flex Week. Please click on the links below to puruse the sites.

SBCC's Student Hub, offers resources for students, including a connection to a course syllabus or assignment, a task analysis and research tool, opportunities to improve learning and study skills, and much more!

The Syllabus Maker is designed for teachers, with learning theory and methods offered for those who wish to consider such things, CA Cuisine style.

The National College Health Assessment (NCHA) Survey Developed by the American College Health Association

Click on the PPT icon to start the presentation.

Susan Broderick, Health and Wellness, presented a slide presentation on the National College Health Assessment by the American College Health Association on Nov. 26, 2001. 836 students from SBCC took the survey on risk factors in Fall 2000; their results were compared with the national statistics.

Please see her PowerPoint presentation (above) for findings on risk factors, actual vs. perceived incidences of binge drinking, drug use, sexual practice, etc. Her introduction follows.

In Fall Semester 2000, Santa Barbara City College conducted the American College Health Association (ACHA) National College Health Assessment Survey of randomly selected Santa Barbara City College students.
This national survey assesses college health factors which impact academic performance, retention, and campus life. It provides prevalence rates and baseline data for tracking trends on a broad range of health behaviors and illnesses, consequences of behaviors on health and academic performance, and students’ perceptions of peer behavior.

The information from this survey, therefore, allows the Santa Barbara City College to identify risk factors associated with academic performance and student success and determine priority health issues among student populations. It allows stakeholders to plan programs, allocate resources, and identify strategies for intervention to improve student and academic life within the campus community. Finally, the ACHA National College Health Assessment Survey provides a means of measuring progress and effectiveness of intervention strategies.

SBCC's Future Goals

Susan listed the following as goals to work toward in the future, based upon the results of the survey:

1. Dispel student myths about what "typical" students actually do and don't do related to AOD, sex, mental health and health issues.

2. There will be a "student success advisor" hopefully located near the tutors in the LRC.

3. Susan will present this in January '02 in the "Red Flags" flex workshop, with Alyson Bostwick.

4. Students can be referred to the Wellness Services using the blue forms available from Keith McLellan's office.

SBCC's Transfer Rates According to Age, Race and Gender

Dr. Andreea Serban, Director of Institutional Research & Assessment, presented transfer statistics to the CTL on Dec. 10, 2001. The findings were based upon students who attended SBCC during the fall 1998-spring 1999 semesters. The transfer data is accumulated from a three-year period following this timeframe and reflects the first school transferred to after SBCC.

The new database maintained by the National Student Loan Clearinghouse provides more detailed data about transfer schools, ethnicity, gender and number of units completed at SBCC before transferring. You can assess this data and other college research data by clicking on the title of this article.

Major Findings

One of the major findings from the research is that 22% who last attended SBCC have transferred to a four year institution, which is a highly significant number, according to Dr. Serban. Our students have transferred to 39 states in total.

Jody Millward explained to the committee that we now qualify for a Title III grant based on our percentage of Latino enrollment.

CTL Minutes /CTL Weblinks/FRC/ LSS/Library/Student Support /SBCC

CTL Minutes Faculty Teaching and Learning Seminar, Dr. Jack Ullom Websites on Teaching and Learning Student Hub and Syllabus Maker, Mark Ferrer and Jerry Pike Student Motivation, Joe White Student Health Survey on Risk Factors, Susan Broderick SBCC's Transfer Rates, Dr. Andreea Serban To join the CTL Weekly Email Group, click here. Please enter "Join CTL Email List" in the subject line. Each week a teaching tip, a bit of theory, a practical method, a quote, a mini-story or information related to teaching and learning will be sent to you. If you would like to share your favorite versions of the above in the weekly email, let us know what they are. Email messages are welcome! Send in your ideas, suggestions, articles, questions and responses for possible posting on this page.	Santa Barbara City College Committee on Teaching and Learning "Creating a dialogue on learning and teaching..." Fall 2001
		CTL's Functions and Responsibilities 1. Identifies and facilitates the incorporation of strategies that enhance student success in the classroom and through campus learning support services (Library and LRC). 2. Works closely with instructional faculty and Student Services to integrate student success initiatives campus-wide. 3. Serves as liaison between faculty and Library staff on policies affecting utilization of the library, its resources and other faculty matters. 4. Serves as liaison between faculty and LSS staff on policies affecting utilization of the LSS, its resources and other faculty matters. 5. Provides oversight and general direction on tutorial allocations, and policies for operation of the LSS (Library/LRC).	Student Motivation Joe White, Chair of the SBCC Philosophy Dept and Executive Director of The Center for Philosophical Education, presented his ideas on the topic of language and questioning as key factors in positively affecting student motivation to the Committee on Teaching and Learning Nov. 26, 2001. He began by posing a question about the meaning of the statistic that 85% of students at Harvard are in the “A” grade category. Of course, an immediate question arises about grade inflation, or does the statistic represent a higher level of merited student achievement as a college, perhaps compared with the nation? Or could it be a sign of a shift in consciousness away from the competitive model of scarcity that requires winners and losers and be an honest affirmation of the true excellence of the majority of the students accepted to attend Harvard? What do you think? Joe’s students can often be heard saying they enjoy his class and feel very motivated. How does he achieve this state of high motivation? Joe recommended producing a state of cognitive dissonance by first figuring out what the students believe, and then shaking up those beliefs to get their attention. Challenge them; hook them by “bugging” them. For example, the question about Harvard statistics produced cognitive dissonance within the committee by getting us engaged in thinking of a controversial issue, one that raised other questions. Joe referred to a couple of the different types of speech acts discussed by Austin in How to Do Things with Words. The illocutionary aspect of speech is how we say something, whereas the locutionary aspect is what we say in words. Some people can be thrown off by how we say things more than what we say. Joe noted that students need to be "invited in" by the instructor to talk and think about the subject, to work with the material, and to engage in dialogue on the subject. This approach contrasts with the flat presentation of the material, which can occur when teachers think they must “cover the material to get the job done”. The illocutionary aspect of speech acts involves subtlety with speech. Thus, Joe’s illocutionary act of inviting students into the subject he is speaking of (the locutionary act) has the perlocutionary effect of engaging students in the class by creating cognitive dissonance. J.L. Austin's Speech Acts In order to better understand what is meant by different types of speech acts, the following is quoted from J. L. Austin’s How to Do Things with Words (102): Act (A) or Locution He said to me, ‘You can’t do that”. Act (B) or Illocution He protested against my doing it. Act (C.a) or Perlocution He pulled me up, checked me. Act. (C.b) He stopped me, he brought me to my senses, etc. He annoyed me. We can similarly distinguish the locutionary act ‘he said that…’ from the illocutionary act ‘he argued that …’ and the perlocutionary act ‘he convinced me that…’ Joe explained that to say something is to do something and this is the locutionary aspect . Thus to say something we make a noise; we make a noise according to a certain pattern peculiar to that language and make a noise with sense (connotation) and reference (denotation). This is, again, the locutionary force within a speech-act. However, there is the fact that IN saying something we also do something and this is the illocutionary force of the speech-act. To take Austin's example in the above quote, the speech-act, "You can't do that" has the locutionary force of being a "noise" in the English language and has a context of referring to something. However, in saying, "You can't do that", the illocutionary force may be, as suggested by Austin, simply a protest, a suggestion, a command or a threat. Thus the act of saying, "You can't do that" without change of "meaning" can serve, given the speaker's intention, as an incredulous remark about what someone had done, a protest over something done, or a command not to do something. The illocutionary can shift rather radically while the locutionary force remains quite constant. The illocutionary force in the context will then effect the perlocutionary force of the speech-act. It is not clear in any of this what role emotion has to play with speech-acts along with complex features of speech like cadence, etc. However, as regards teaching, academic competence seems primarily, if not exhaustively, focused upon the locutionary aspects of speech-acts while the success of teaching is primarily found within the illocutionary force of speech-acts. Hence Joe's concern has to do with effecting the illocutionary force while leaving the curriculum undisturbed. For readers who would like to learn more, Joe's 1997-98 Faculty Lecture, "Adventures on the Frontier of Ignorance...A Truncated Tour", contains more examples and discussion of this distinction as applied to pedagogy. Engaging Students Joe said that he is still excited about teaching, which allows him to bring a certain “freshness” to each class, even though his field of philosophy moves forward at glacial speed. He sees teaching as a performance. Joe also shared that it helps to like the students. Sometimes instructors seem annoyed by the students. In addition, it is crucial to feel the subject is important, and let the students know that it is important for them to learn and know the subject. Questions get others involved in the subject. They must be genuine to truly encourage critical thinking. Some instructors use rhetorical questions as a way of structuring lectures, but this use of questioning is different from the type that involves students in authentic questioning and active thinking. Peter Rojas, Math, asked what can be done about students who seem to be apathetic? He said it takes him about a third of the class to deal with the students’ attitudes toward math. Joe responded that he has witnessed Peter Georgakis take his students outside to apply math concepts. Keep the students active by moving, and by moving around oneself. Make the students active by getting up at the board and working problems. Joe said to make fun of the students (presumably in a kind-hearted way). Jodi Simpson, Science and Technologies, and Jody Millward, English, gave examples of how they put responsibility on the students and get them engaged in their classes. Joe recommends creative, innovative use of sound, voice and motion to capture students’ attention. He noted that when teachers talk at the white board, droning on and on in the same voice, students lose interest. Joe integrates a lot of drama in his classes, and uses exaggerated gestures to make them laugh and pay attention, like pointing between his eyes and saying “Look at me!” when someone seems uninvolved. Joe suggested that taking a class in sound, voice and motion might benefit teachers, especially because college professors do not usually receive training in how to teach. Perhaps one lesson our committee learned from Joe was that by calmly exemplifying the virtue of authenticity in Socratic erotetic (Grk., erotesis, a question, a questioning) dialectic, as opposed to Sophistic eristic (Grk., eris, strife, conflict) dialectic, the teacher leads the student to a deeper understanding of how to learn independently and, ultimately, of truth.
		SBCC's Faculty Seminar on Teaching and Learning Dr. Jack Ullom presented the online Faculty Seminar on Teaching and Learning to the CTL on Sept. 10, 2001. It will become the major mode of training faculty in non-technological pedagogical methods. Please click here to enter the site. The user name is "faculty" and the password is "seminar". This site will be expanding in the future. SBCC's Syllabus Maker for Faculty and Student Hub Mark Ferrer, Director of the Faculty Resource Center, and Dr. Jerry Pike, Director of Learning Support Services, shared some of the highlights of these rapidly growing sites to the CTL on Oct. 8, 2001. They will be presenting overviews of the online resources available to both faculty and students during Spring '02 Flex Week. Please click on the links below to puruse the sites. SBCC's Student Hub, offers resources for students, including a connection to a course syllabus or assignment, a task analysis and research tool, opportunities to improve learning and study skills, and much more! The Syllabus Maker is designed for teachers, with learning theory and methods offered for those who wish to consider such things, CA Cuisine style. The National College Health Assessment (NCHA) Survey Developed by the American College Health Association Click on the PPT icon to start the presentation. Susan Broderick, Health and Wellness, presented a slide presentation on the National College Health Assessment by the American College Health Association on Nov. 26, 2001. 836 students from SBCC took the survey on risk factors in Fall 2000; their results were compared with the national statistics. Please see her PowerPoint presentation (above) for findings on risk factors, actual vs. perceived incidences of binge drinking, drug use, sexual practice, etc. Her introduction follows. In Fall Semester 2000, Santa Barbara City College conducted the American College Health Association (ACHA) National College Health Assessment Survey of randomly selected Santa Barbara City College students. This national survey assesses college health factors which impact academic performance, retention, and campus life. It provides prevalence rates and baseline data for tracking trends on a broad range of health behaviors and illnesses, consequences of behaviors on health and academic performance, and students’ perceptions of peer behavior. The information from this survey, therefore, allows the Santa Barbara City College to identify risk factors associated with academic performance and student success and determine priority health issues among student populations. It allows stakeholders to plan programs, allocate resources, and identify strategies for intervention to improve student and academic life within the campus community. Finally, the ACHA National College Health Assessment Survey provides a means of measuring progress and effectiveness of intervention strategies. SBCC's Future Goals Susan listed the following as goals to work toward in the future, based upon the results of the survey: 1. Dispel student myths about what "typical" students actually do and don't do related to AOD, sex, mental health and health issues. 2. There will be a "student success advisor" hopefully located near the tutors in the LRC. 3. Susan will present this in January '02 in the "Red Flags" flex workshop, with Alyson Bostwick. 4. Students can be referred to the Wellness Services using the blue forms available from Keith McLellan's office. SBCC's Transfer Rates According to Age, Race and Gender Dr. Andreea Serban, Director of Institutional Research & Assessment, presented transfer statistics to the CTL on Dec. 10, 2001. The findings were based upon students who attended SBCC during the fall 1998-spring 1999 semesters. The transfer data is accumulated from a three-year period following this timeframe and reflects the first school transferred to after SBCC. The new database maintained by the National Student Loan Clearinghouse provides more detailed data about transfer schools, ethnicity, gender and number of units completed at SBCC before transferring. You can assess this data and other college research data by clicking on the title of this article. Major Findings One of the major findings from the research is that 22% who last attended SBCC have transferred to a four year institution, which is a highly significant number, according to Dr. Serban. Our students have transferred to 39 states in total. Jody Millward explained to the committee that we now qualify for a Title III grant based on our percentage of Latino enrollment. CTL Minutes /CTL Weblinks/FRC/ LSS/Library/Student Support /SBCC