1. Let’s Talk About Learning! Summer Training 2011
COL 105: Freshman Seminar
Let’s Talk About Learning!
Summer Training 2011

2. Let’s talk About Why We’re Here
Low persistence/High drop out rates
From “sink or swim” to challenge and support
Profound changes
Inability to adapt = withdrawal
Best predictors for success/persistence
2 year colleges: 54.1% persistence from first year to 2nd/drop-out rates at public 2-year colleges: 47.7%
1/3 of beginning full-time cc students obtain an Associate’s Degree; 39% seeking a bachelor’s degree actually transfer to a 4-year college, and only 8% actually obtain the BA or BS within 5 years.
Is this success? Is this the best we can do? How can we improve?
Students in the first year experience profound academic, social, and emotional changes. An inability to adapt to those changes causes students to withdrawa during or after year 1 or to perform at a lower academic level than expected.
Most departures are b/c students encounter what they see as an “insurmountable problem.” This is often the result of the student’s perception of not belonging to or not being involved with the institutional community.
There are a number of predictors for success in the first year, but we’ll just focus on a few. One is the first-year GPA. Obviously, students with the higher GPAs first year are likely to excel more later in their college careers than those with a poor GPA. Another important predictor is interactions with faculty Another major factor is interpersonal interactions. Another is participation in extracurricular activities. Another is the classroom—small classes, problem-based learning, study groups, focused learning, cooperative learning—learning communities. Another is first-year seminar—one of most powerful predicators.
I hope you can see that what we need to increase success is both academic and social integration.
And that is why we’re here, why this course exists.

3. Let’s Talk About COL 105
Provides an academic, cultural, & social transition
Uses a learning-centered approach
Practical tools for success
This class didn’t just magically come to be. It is based on research, research that shows us that this is what first-year students need. Refer to required materials section of notebooks. Note changes: syllabus—Journal. Faculty/Staff Interviews—explain about using old copies, so it’s instructor’s responsibility to explain changes (maybe post updates interviews on Blackboard). Success Team—added section about consequences in Step 4.
Syllabus, Outcomes, Topics covered, 8 behaviors, Required Assignments

4. Let’s Talk About “Learner-Centered”
Traditional Teaching
Are these students learning?
Is this teacher teaching?
Is this teacher-centered or learner-centered?

5. Let’s Talk about “Learner-Centered”
What do you think it means?
Metaphors
So…we know what it isn’t. The question, then, is what is it?? Sentence Stems: A teacher is (metaphorically speaking).
Popcorn Read: Metaphors

6. Let’s Talk about “Learner-Centered”
Learner-centered teachers “position themselves alongside the learner and keep the attention, focus, and spotlight aimed at and on the learning processes” (76).
“Learner-centered teachers are there every step of the way, but the real action features students and what they are doing” (77).
Teachers are responsible for having classrooms that promote effective learning for all and for being familiar with the instructional techniques that promote effective learning for all.
Weimer, Maryellen. Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. Jossey Bass: San Francisco,
2002.

7. Let’s Talk About What We Know
Certainly, some of this learning falls onto students. But what can we do to use the knowledge we have about first-year students and predictors for success and what we already know about learning to create better learning opportunities for the students in our classrooms.

8. Let’s Talk About What We Know
Learning Styles
OnCourse categories
VARK categories
Other categories?

9. Let’s Talk About How We Do It
7 Principles from Maryellen Weimer
Weimer, Maryellen. Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key
Changes to Practice. Jossey Bass: San Francisco, 2002.
Popcorn Reading…or scavenger hunt for all 7?

10. Let’s Talk About How We Do It
Designing Learner-Centered Education
3 steps of facilitating experiential learning
13 Strategies for Effective Facilitation
Refer to handouts in Teaching and Learning section of notebooks. Popcorn reading: steps for Designing Learner-Centered Education. Design Grids (Groups with specific categories)
Make giant sticky design grids
Share!
Experts: 3 steps of facilitating experiential learning.

11. Idea Buffet
Help yourself to as much or as little as you like!