2NEA LEADERS TO MEET

IN NEW ORLEANSThe annual meetingand RA brings 9,000delegates together.

8REFORM MOVEMENTGAINING MOMENTUMPromoting classroomcollaboration, down-playing competition.

9PROFESSORS ANDSOCIAL MEDIA

Most instructors havean account with at least

one media site.

11MAKE ATTENDANCE

MANDATORY?Are students self-direct-ed and disciplinedenough to skip class?

Vol. 27, No. 6 June 2010National Education Association

… ABOUT THE AMERICAN ASSOCIA-TION of Community Colleges’ (AACC)plans to create the Voluntary Frame-work of Accountability (VFA), withhelp from the Association of Commu-nity College Trustees and the CollegeBoard. At the annual meeting of theAACC last month, it was decided thatthe VFA would act as the communitycollege equivalent of the public four-year college and university’s VoluntarySystem of Accountability.The VFA will provide opportunities

for community colleges to measureoutcomes and processes such ascollege readiness, completion ofdegree or certificate programs, andother “overall success indicators.” Theaccountability system is also lookingfor ways to measure all of thedegrees or certificates awarded inprofessional fields, and ways tomeasure success in continuing andadult education.

…ABOUT THE 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARYof the “One Florida” initiative thatended the consideration of race inadmissions in the state. AlthoughFlorida has seen an increase inminority enrollment over the past 10years, the university system has notkept pace with the growing numberof minorities graduating from highschool.In 1999, approximately 20

percent of the state’s high schoolgraduates were Black, as were 17.5percent of university freshmen. Tenyears later, Blacks accounted for19.5 percent of high-schoolgraduates, but only 14.9 percent ofuniversity freshmen. Likewise, awider gap is seen today amongHispanic high-school graduates andtheir representation in the freshmanclass.

Future ScientistsThe United States andthe world need morescientists. It’s up toteachers to producethem. How? By creat-ing an environmentwhere students canprosper in physics,chemistry, and otherscience classes. This

issue’s Thriving in Academe stresses the importance of inte-grating science students into learning communitiesthrough Modeling Instruction, which promotes scienceindustry experiences. See page 5

VISIT THE NEA HIGHER ED WEB SITE AT www.nea.org/he

N E A H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N

AdvocateThey’reTalking onCampus…

ILLUSTRATION:LINDABLECK

2 NEA Higher Education ADVOCATE

FOCUS ON NEA

White House Initiative on HBCUsNEA participated in the White House funding conference for Historically

Black Colleges and Universities at Alabama A&M University.

A C T I O N L I N E N E A

This spring I made my first trip toAlabama A&M University in Huntsville,along with colleagues Agnes Smith,an education support professional(ESP) organizational specialist withNEA’s Southeast Region, and AlabamaEducation Association (AEA) UniServDirector Natasha Jackson. Our AAMUlocal invited us to do a workshopabout NEA’s professional pay andliving wage campaigns. (Seewww.nea.org/pay).AAMU is AEA’s largest university

local (428 faculty and ESP members).The local is true to AEA’s tradition ofpolitical activism. In our discussionswith AAMU local president andtelecommunications professor ReginaColston, we learned how the local hasadvocated for campus issues beforethe Board of Trustees as well as withcounty commissioners, state legisla-tors, and the governor. Members havemobilized students and alumnithrough on-campus sororities andfraternities as well.The local faces some daunting

challenges: lagging salaries for bothfaculty and ESP members comparedto those at peer institutions; anadministration plan to privatize physi-cal plant staff; and difficulties inobtaining full information about howuniversity administrators spent the firstround of federal stimulus dollars.“The AAMU-EA chapter considers

the visit by the NEA staff historic andenlightening. Already, members areplanning local outreach based on theirmodel,” said Colston.Alabama A&M hosted a recent

White House conference on the newinitiative for Historically Black Collegesand Universities (HBCUs). NEA will beworking with our HBCU locals toadvocate for faculty and staff involve-ment in decisionmaking on theircampuses regarding this initiative.

—Valerie Wilk coordinates NEA’shigher education activities

Leona HiraokaPUBLISHERDoug WalkerPUBLICATIONS MANAGER

John RosalesEDITOR

Paula Chavez-TalleyCOPY EDITOR

Alison StrombergEDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Marsha BlackburnPRODUCTION COORDINATORAlice TruedPRODUCTION

Groff Creative, Inc.GRAPHIC DESIGN

Printed on recycledpaper

Prepared with theassistance of theNEA Office of HigherEducation

Valerie WilkMark SmithCOORDINATORS

Bryant WarrenMANAGER

Dennis Van RoekelPRESIDENT

Lily EskelsenVICE-PRESIDENT

Rebecca S. PringleSECRETARY-TREASURER

John I. WilsonEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The Advocate (ISSN: 1522-3183) is published six times a year, in October, December, February, April,June, and August by the National Education Association, 1201 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036.Periodicals postage paid at Washington, DC. The Advocate is mailed to NEA Higher Educationmembers as a benefit of membership. For members, subscriptions represent $6.58 of annual dues.POSTMASTER: Send change of address to Advocate, 1201 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036.Copyright © 2010 by the National Education Association.

NEA leaders and delegates from state and localaffiliates will gather June 26 though July 6 inNew Orleans, Louisiana, forthe Association’s 148thAnnual Meeting and 89thRepresentative Assembly(RA). The RA is the Asso-ciation’s highest decisionmaking body, and with morethan 9,000 delegates, theworld’s largest democratic,deliberative body.

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel applaudedCongress for passing legislation that includesbillions of dollars for student financial aid andcommunity colleges. NEA played a key role in thehigher education provisions, which will cut banksout of the student loan business, putting thefederal government in charge of directly lending tostudents. The savings from that change will helpfund a new $36 billion allocation for Pell Grants.“Making a college education affordable is a criticalstep in restoring economic growth and stability toour nation,” Van Roekel said. “Increasing both theamount and the availability of Pell Grants andstudent loans is a good beginning and longoverdue.”

Anita Thompson, who works in the Pur-chasing/Procurement Department at theUniversity of Massachusetts, Boston, and is amember of the Classified Staff Union (CSU), hasbeen named Massachusetts Teachers Association’s

(MTA) ESP of the Year for 2010. Thompson washonored during MTA’s annual education support

professional (ESP) con-ference last April in Hyannis.More than 330 ESP membersfrom across the state were inattendance. Higher educationESPs make up approximately13 percent of NEA’s totalhigher education mem-bership (150,00 active mem-bers, and more than 30,000agency fee members).Total

NEA ESP membership is 507,000. More coverageand videos of the conference may be found athttp://facebook.com/mtaesp.

NEA participated in the White House fundingconference for Historically Black Colleges andUniversities (HBCUs). The event was held for thefirst time at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville.Alabama Education Association AssociateExecutive Director Dr. Joe Reed made apresentation on NEA’s work with HBCUs. AAMU-EAlocal president Regina Colston also attended.The purpose of the conference was to provideHistorically Black Colleges and Universities withinformation about obtaining federal grants andcontracts. For more information on the ObamaAdministration’s new HBCU initiative see:www.ed.gov/blog/2010/03/president-renews-white-house-initiative-on-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/.

On the RoadWITH VALERIE WILK

NEA RepresentativeAssemblyNew Orleans, LAJuly 1-6, 2010

AS PINK SLIPS ARE ISSUED TO EDUCA-TORS ACROSS THE NATION, NEA IS INhigh gear advocating for $23 billionin emergency aid to states andlocalities specifically for educationjobs. This federal funding proposal,called the Education Jobs Fund,started as a key component of a“Jobs for Main Street Act” thatpassed the House by a slim marginof 217–212 last December. Projec-tions of layoffs are upwards of300,000 by the fall of 2010, includ-ing both the K–12 and higher educa-tion sectors.The American Association of

School Administrators estimates thatwith these job losses come a collat-eral 82,000 job losses in thosecommunities—jobs that are related toor dependent on, higher employmentlevels in education.With the Massa-chusetts Senate election in Januarytaking away the Democrats’ pivotal60th vote, the prospects for passagein the Senate dimmed considerably.Since then, the Senate has beenaddressing jobs issues in a piece-meal fashion, passing smaller initia-tive and stopgap measures, but notyet taking up the Education JobsFund.The funds would support jobs from

early childhood through postsec-ondary education and would bedistributed through the same fundingmechanisms in states as were theState Fiscal Stabilization Funds fromthe American Recovery and Reinvest-ment Act, passed early in 2009.While some battles will ensue withinstates to secure appropriate fundingfor each of the education sectors, thekey is first to get the fundingapproved in Congress. It’s “all handson deck” for this effort. For informa-tion on how you can help, please goto www.educationvotes.nea.organd www.nea.org/lac.

The Excise Tax on High-Cost Health PlansNEA and other groups fought vigorously against the provision, leading to important improvements in—ifnot the removal of—the tax. Below are key changes to the excise tax in the health care act:

� Tax will not take effect until 2018.� Dollar thresholds were increased to $10,200 for single coverage and $27,500 for family coverage

($11,850 and $30,950 for retirees and employees in high risk professions).� Dollar thresholds are indexed to inflation and will automatically increase in 2018 if the Congressional

Budget Office errs in its forecast of the premium inflation rate between now and 2018.� Stand-alone dental and vision plans are exempt.

I N T H E K N O W

Health Care Reform Now

In what will prove to be an historic victoryfor working families, President Obamasigned the Patient Protection and

Affordable Care Act into law this past March.By making health care more accessible andaffordable, the new law will relieve pressureson higher education institutions and localunions alike.Health care costs have ledmany institutions

to cut benefits to their workforce—scalingback existing plans and increasing theproportion of faculty and staff who do notreceive benefits.While the new law does not require employ-

ers to provide benefits to contingent faculty,the increased availability of affordable cover-age should make it easier to include all facul-ty and staff in plans.Allowing young adults to retain coverage

under their parents’ plans will improve stu-dent health care dramatically. Students can'tlearn unless they come to school healthy.The new law will make health coverage

more affordable to individuals and small busi-nesses, hold insurance companies account-able, provide the security of coverage for theinsured and uninsured, and bring down costsfor everyone.

A brief list of the key benefits for active andretired NEA members and their familiesincludes the following:• Provides 32 million uninsured childrenand families with access to coverage.

• Maintains employer-sponsored coveragefor most Americans who currently have it.

• Allows young adults to stay on a parent’splan until the age of 26.

• Immediately establishes a plan for theuninsured.

• Establishes a competitive health insurancemarket.

• Ends insurance company abuses.• Assists employers providing retiree healthbenefits.

• Ends cost-sharing for preventive services.Some critical benefits will take effect right

away, but much of the impact will take longerto play out. NEA’s Collective Bargaining andMember Advocacy department continues toanalyze the law’s provisions and will pass oninformation to members.These reforms are vital to the nation's eco-

nomic recovery and a crucial ingredient forgreat public education for all students. It willbe important to see how Association localscan use the benefits of the new law to improvetheir contracts over the next few years.

After decades of failed attempts and a year of partisan fightingon Capitol Hill, President Obama signed legislation to over-haul the nation’s health care system. But what will it mean?

June 2010 3

PERSPECTIVE AND Analysis

FLASH POINTS

From Capitolto Campus

The 80-plus faculty at Klamath FallsCommunity College in Oregon recentlyformed the Klamath Community CollegeFaculty Association (KCCFA) and joined theOregon Education Association (OEA). Thenew local represents faculty members whoteach at 0.2 time (nine credits) or more. Atpress time, the contract was still beingwritten after several meetings with collegeadministrators.“We have established ground rules,” says

KCCFA President Jamie Jennings.Oregon is among a minority of states that

allow unions to form based on a “card-check,” which acknowledges an officialbargaining representative if a majority ofemployees authorize it by signing a card.The bargaining unit was formed in

response to the faculty not having hiringprocesses, salary schedules, cost of livingadjustments, or seniority protocols.Also, they had no collective contract with

their employer, and as a result, part-timefaculty members had not received a raisesince 2004. Other than state mandatedenrollment in PERS, part-time faculty had nobenefits. As of 2009, KCC employed 61 part-time and 22 full-time faculty.

Youngstown State UniversityAssociation of Classified Employees(YSU-ACE) and Ohio Education Associationwon an arbitration decision resulting inretroactive (from August 15, 2008) wages tobe paid to as many as 200 of the 390members of the bargaining unit. Thearbitrator found the union’s case “credibleand persuasive.”The university was found to have

deliberately ignored the negotiated formulafor recalculating employees’ wages under anew classification system. The new systemwas intended to save YSU money andremove inequities and upgradeclassifications, but no employee was to befinancially harmed by the conversion.The university is quoted in the Youngstown

press as saying the decision will result inawards of anywhere from a few cents tomore than $1 per hour per affectedemployee.

4 NEA Higher Education ADVOCATE

NEA AFFILIATES IN Action

Investigation of Furloughed CaliforniaInstructors Dropped amid Protests

Phil Lopez, president of the Southwestern College Education Association, addresses one of several ralliesheld after he and three other faculty union leaders at the college in Chula Vista were issued two-week fur-loughs for their involvement in a student protest over cancelled courses. The four professors were chargedwith disrupting campus operations. With campus and community support, the investigation was dropped.

Higher education members attending therecent Texas Faculty AssociationLeadership Conference focused on developingpersonal leadership styles and learning how toorganize and increase Association membership,even in right-to-work states.“There are inherent difficulties in organizing

unions in a state without collective bargainingrights, like Texas,” says Mary Aldridge Dean,TFA’s executive director. Dean says onemessage from the conference was apparent:“Justice is hard to get for individuals, but canbe obtained by groups with power.” Localleaders from three University of Texascampuses and several community collegesfrom across the state attended the event.“As higher education in Texas continues to

face budget cuts, higher student enrollments,and a difficult political environment, it isessential to strengthen our collective voice,”Dean says. “There is power in numbers, so wemust be in a position to advocate for ourstudents and colleagues. We can do this, evenin right-to-work states, through organizing.”

During the last presidential campaign,the University of Illinois ethics officesent a letter to faculty and staff two monthsbefore the election banning certain forms ofpolitical speech, such as campaigning for apolitical candidate or displaying partisanpolitical buttons or bumper stickers. Withindays, university officials issued a retraction.The Illinois Legislature has since passed billsbarring any public institution from prohibitingthe political speech of faculty and staff, andalso clarifying faculty’s right to speak tolegislators on public or private matters.

Oral arguments in the NYSUT lawsuitsto prevent furloughs for thousands ofNYSUT’s higher education members arescheduled for May 26 in federal court inAlbany. In mid-May the court issued atemporary injunction to stop Gov. DavidPaterson’s arbitrarily imposed plan to furloughmany state employees for one day a week untilthe state’s multibillion dollar deficit is closed.For an update, see www.nysut.org.

Organizing Campus Activities Contracts

COURTESY

OFBILLGUY,CTA

June 2010 5

WHITE COPY Yellow Copy

L A I R D K R A M E R , G E O R G E O ’ B R I E N , E R I C B R E W E — F L O R I D A I N T ’ L U N I V E R S I T Y

The Physics of Change

June 2010 5

Laird Kramer, George O’Brien, and Eric Brewe lead the Florida International University Physics Education Research Group.The team has spearheaded institutional change in STEM education reform, for both future scientists and science teachers.Their work focuses on reform in teaching and curriculum, appears in multiple peer-reviewed publications and conferencepresentations, and results from generous support from the National Science Foundation and PhysTEC. The multidisciplinaryteam spans the Colleges of Education and Arts & Sciences. O’Brien is an associate professor of science education(obrieng@fiu.edu), Kramer is an associate professor of physics (Laird.Kramer@fiu.edu), and Brewe is an assistant profes-sor of science education (Eric.Brewe@fiu.edu).

Vol. 27, No. 6 June 2010National Education Association

HOW DID I GET TO WHERE I AM, I.E.PART OF A TEAM THAT IS REDEFININGscience education at an urban publicresearch university? When I try to sortthat out, I look back at the criticalexperiences along my path. Theseshaped my approach to educationreform. But there was a neurosciencecourse about two years ago that was anightmare. It fit my training, but someof the material was completely new tome. So I prepared intensely, learningand researching to fill in the gaps.I went to college expecting to

emerge as an accountant. Lucky forme, a physics professor saw sometalent and suggested switching tophysics, since “The world needs morescientists.” I gravitated towards bigscience, working at several accelera-tors as an undergraduate and mov-ing on to graduate school and postdoc as an experimental nuclearphysicist.My switch to physics education

research came after tenure, althoughthe seed was sown just prior totenure. Frustrated by the lack ofstudent success, I read an educationarticle or two, which led me to asmall National Science Foundationgrant and further opened my eyes tothe possibility of moving towardsdeeper reform.From those beginnings, I am now

dedicated full time to creating learn-ing environments that develop moreand better-prepared scientists.Doing science is also a theme,

both in the way I’ve always worked(large science or in the classroom)and in how I research the impact ofour innovations at FIU.

—Laird KramerFlorida International University

VISIT THE NEA HIGHER ED WEB SITE AT www.nea.org/he

Thriving inAcademeR E F L E C T I O N S O N H E L P I N G S T U D E N T S L E A R N

Student 1: When two cars collide, it’s likethe first one gives its force to the second one.Student 2: Yeah, but the moving car didn’t

carry a force, since it was moving at constantspeed. But the moving car did have kineticenergy it gave to the second car.Student 3: I calculated the energy before

and after the collision, and it’s not the same.Either I made amistake [laughs] or somethingelse is going on. I heard the group next to usmention ‘uumph’; I wonder if there is someother thing going on here.Teacher: You have some great ideas there

—force, energy,and that uumphstuff, all couldbe helpful in ex-plaining colli-sions. Summarizeyour ideas on awhiteboard and

then the class will do a circle-meet.This vignette illustrates how students are

engaged in scientific collaboration as theylearn physics at Florida InternationalUniversity (FIU) using Modeling Instruction.Introductory science courses are the gatewayto developing scientists and offer critical lever-age on their future learning and success. OurModeling Instruction implementation hascreated a comprehensive learning environ-ment that empowers our students throughcommunity building, scientific discourse, useof representational tools, and a focus on

epis temology.Scientific atti-tudes changedthe physics de-partment, andsupported a 1300percent increasein physics majors.

Tales fromReal LifeCONFESSIONS OF A SWITCHER

Integrating Science Students into Learning Communities

MEET LAIRD KRAMER, GEORGE O’BRIEN, AND ERIC BREWE

Imagine hundreds of students clamoring to join your introduc-tory physics class where they are likely to complete the course.

Let’s begin with results: Our Physics Education ResearchGroup (PERG) at FIU has implemented innova-tive curricula and programs, centered in the

Physics Department where students learn sci-ence as scientists; cooperatively build theirknowledge through student discourse; andbecome integrated into a comprehensiveresearch and learning community.Modeling Instruction has been deployedin several introductory physics sections atFIU as the central element of our commu-nity. Modeling Instruction is a guidedinquiry reform curriculum where studentsengage in the process of building, validating, anddeploying models. The modeling process helps drawstudents into the practice of science not just by building andusing models, but also because they need to articulate modelsamong themselves. Modeling replicates the central activity of prac-ticing scientists, providing students with an authentic scientificexperience throughout their introductory course.Modeling Instruction has trans-

formed our physics students’ experi-ence. First, modeling students devel-op deeper understanding of the con-tent, as determined by the ForceConcept Inventory (FCI). Further,they achieve significantly improvedsuccess, averaging a 6.73 percentgreater odds of success (likelihood ofreceiving C-- or better) in the model-ing class compared to lecture. Andperhaps most interesting is that wemeasure improved favorable attitudes toward science for stu-dents in modeling sections—a gateway to improving participa-tion in physics. This result was the first reported increase infavorable attitudes; note that lectures reliably decrease students’favorable attitudes about science. Modeling classes, along withassociated reforms, have led to a 1300 percent increase in thenumber of intended and declared physics majors at FIU, whencomparing three-year averages to the early 1990s. Even morecompelling is that FIU is a minority-serving urban publicresearch institution in Miami, Florida, serving over 39,000 stu-dents, of which 64 percent are Hispanic, 13 percent are Black,and 56 percent are women. Our results reach across gender andethnic boundaries, serving as models for improving participa-tion by diverse student populations.

These innovations have forged ahead, actuallyincreasing in scope, in these most challeng-

ing economic times. FIU is one of 11state universities in Florida, a state thathas seen revenues decline drasticallyover the past several years. FIU hasfaced double-digit cuts in the lastseveral years. Thus change is possi-ble, even when the deck seemsstacked against it.

Start with knowledge of whatworks elsewhere and focus on

your needs.We are academics. Our research builds on the

experiences of our colleagues and those who camebefore us. To save time and frustration, why not bring the sameapproach to our educational endeavors ?In our case, FIU’s diverse student population propelled us

toward methods inclusive of all of our students, thus focusing oncollaborative learning modalities.Prior investigations found that under-represented groups can be isolatedfrom the majority students and notreceive supportive mentoring fromfaculty; hence, our community partic-ipation framework. As academics, wethrive as a result of being integratedinto our community. It is only naturalthat students would thrive beingexplicit members of a community.Research literature confirms this

approach for students (e.g., references by Rogoff, Lave, orWenger).As our foundation, we selected Modeling Instruction, with its

long history of success at the high school level as well as its collab-orative constructivist approach. Rather than starting from scratch,we used an existing curriculum and focused on adapting it to suitour local environment. Multiple reform curricula and techniquesare out there for the taking, so begin by selecting an establishedapproach and adapt it to your needs.When looking for what works, don’t ignore neighbors. Our

expertise, developed over the past eight years, is now being har-vested by FIU’s mathematics, chemistry, earth and environment,and biology departments, as they reform their undergraduateprograms.

6 NEA Higher Education ADVOCATE

THRIVING IN Academe

From Learning Communities Sprout ScientistsSow the seeds for future scientists by leveraging reform education knowledge, implement-

ing what works for you, and creating a feedback loop based on outcomes.

ILLUSTRATION:LINDABLECK

Modeling Instruction is aguided inquiry reform cur-

riculum where studentsengage in the process ofbuilding, validating, and

deploying models.][

June 2010 7

THRIVING IN Academe

Our goal in teaching is to create an environment where stu-dents are motivated to learn. It is well established that learningtakes place when students are actively engaged; thus, providingopportunities for active engagement is crucial to their success.The apex of learning is graduate school, where we develop intoexpert scientists. Learning at that stage is radically different thanthe undergraduate experience. Graduate students are expected todrive their own learning, work in agroup, and engage in scientific dis-course on a regular basis. Why shouldstudents wait for graduate schoolwhen the opportunity can be affordedin introductory courses?If you create an environment

where responsibility for learning isplaced squarely upon the students,and this expectation is clearly estab-lished, then students will rise to thechallenge. One of the unexpectedoutcomes in our efforts is how eager students are to learn, evi-denced both inside and outside the classroom.Modeling Instruction engenders this framework through

inquiry activities that rely on student conjecture, argumentation,and consensus. For example, after developing models in groups,students report out their ideas via portable whiteboards and worktowards consensus based on evidence, which drives their learning.The collaborative environment extends beyond the classroom, asstudents are often found engaged in scientific discourse as theystudy. This illustrates how placing the responsibility of learning onstudents can change how students approach their learning.

Scientific evidence drives the reform feedback loop.You must see the fruits of your reforms, given the effort it takes toimplement them, therefore, evaluation must be integrated intoyour project. The evaluation must be substantial; a faculty membermay think her students learned when no one asks a question at theend of the lecture, yet there is no evidence that learning actuallyoccurred. Evaluation serves a dual function, both to formatively

guide you in your intervention as wellas to garner additional interest,resources, and accolades to expandand continue the intervention.Internally, our results have guided andinspired our team. Externally, we hopethat our results have impressed you,and even motivated you to considerimplementation. They have alsobrought attention to our group, bothlocally and nationally, resulting inadditional extramural funding.

Start small, seize opportunities.Our approach is comprehensive in nature and requires significantresources that originate in both local and federal funding.Initially, the barriers to mounting such an effort may appear insur-mountable from your perspective. Our efforts started with one ofus reading an article on interactive engagement, which led to asmall National Science Foundation grant that we have leveragedfor more than 10 years. In the end, what is vital is thinking criti-cally about what your and your students’ goals are, and how toplant the seeds that will grow into successful scientists.

BEST PRACTICES

Identify an Achievable Goal and Leverage the Outcomes

The collaborative environ-ment extends beyond the

classroom, as students areoften found engaged inscientific discourse as

they study.][

Launching a reform effort may appear challenging,but starting with an achievable goal, movingtowards that goal, and then using the outcome tocreate a cycle of reform can get the ball rolling.We’ll examine one of our efforts—reforming intro-ductory physics labs where our lecture sectionstudents enroll.First you need to begin with an opportunity

assessment: what course/lab can be most easilyreformed? For us, we would like to encouragefaculty moving from traditional lecture to moreactive engagement. Yet, targeting their lecturesalmost assuredly would cause them to confronttheir beliefs about teaching and possibly createfriction within the department.

However, the labs connected to the introductorylectures provided an ideal solution: implement areformed curriculum in the lab, one developedelsewhere with a solid record of improving studentlearning (and based in collaboration and inquiry),and measure the impact on student learning in thelecture sections. Our idea was to use the data, theevidence, to encourage reform in faculty’s lecturesections. And to make it even better, we staged theimplementation over several semesters, so wecould do direct comparisons of students in lecturetaking both the reform and the traditional labs.Thus, we applied a scientific argument to scien-tists, trying to build on their beliefs and not directlyconfront them. Remember, start with small stepsbefore moving on to longer strides.

ILLUSTRATION:LINDABLECK

Boyer, E. L. (1990). ScholarshipReconsidered: Priorities of the Professo-riate. The Carnegie Foundation for theAdvancement of Teaching. San Fran-cisco: JohnWiley and Sons, Jossey-Bass.Brewe, E. (2008).Modeling theory

applied: Modeling instruction in intro-ductory physics,Am. J. Phys. 76, 1155.Brewe, E., Kramer, L., and O’Brien, G.

(2009).Modeling instruction: Positiveattitudinal shifts in introductory physicsmeasured with CLASS. Physical ReviewSpecial Topics—Physics EducationResearch, 5, 013102.FIU Physics Education Research

Group, perg.fiu.edu.Hake, R. R. (1998). Interactive-

engagement versus traditional methods:A six-thousand student survey ofmechanics test data for introductoryphysics courses,Am. J. Phys. 66, 64.Hestenes, D. (1987). Toward a

modeling theory of instruction,Am. J.Phys. 55, 440.J. Lave, E.Wenger, Situated Learning:

Legitimate Peripheral Participation, NewYork: Cambridge University Press, 1991.Lee, O., and Luykx,A. Science educa-

tion and student diversity: Race/ethnic-ity, language, culture, and socio-economic status, in Handbook ofResearch in Science Education, editedby S. K.Abell and N. G. Lederman,(Erlbaum,Mahwah, NJ, 2007), pp. 171-197.B. Rogoff, E. Matusov, C.White,

Models of teaching and learning: Partici-pation in a community of learners, inThe Handbook of Education and HumanDevelopment: New Models of Learning,Teaching, and Schooling, edited by D.R.Olson and N.Torrance, Cambridge, MA:Blackwell Publishers, 1996, pp 388-414.Roth,Wolff-Michael, Teaching and

Learning as Everyday Activity in TheInternational Handbook of ScienceEducation, Barry J. Fraser and KennethG. Tobin, Editors (pp. 169-181), Dor-drecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers,2003.Tinto,V. (1997). Classrooms as

communities: Exploring the educationalcharacter of student persistence.Journal of Higher Education, 68(6), 599-623.E.Wenger, Communities of Practice:

Learning,Meaning, and Identity, Cam-bridge, England: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1998.

I S S U E S T O C O N S I D E R

8 NEA Higher Education ADVOCATE

THRIVING IN Academe

Thriving in Academe is a joint project of the National Education Association and the Professionaland Organizational Development Network www.podnetwork.org in Higher Education. This section isintended to promote ever more effective teaching and learning in higher education through dialogueamong colleagues. The opinions of this feature are solely the authors’ and do not reflect the views ofeither organization. For more information contact the editor, Douglas Robertson, (drobert@fiu.edu)at Florida International University or John Rosales (JRosales@nea.org) at NEA.

THRIVING IN ACADEME

References& Resources Move Reform Forward

Solutions for getting students and faculty on board with your reform environment.

What is a good response to colleagueswho think I don’t cover the standardcontent in my reformed course?It’s not what you cover in a course, it’s what studentsuncover that matters. Remember your goal: studentlearning and empowerment. Introductory courses areabout preparing students for their upper divisionclasses and giving them a panoramic view of the dis-cipline. All students are better served in an environ-ment where they can learn how to be good learnerswhile learning the critical components of the course.Depth is much more important thanbreadth, which meansthat content has to beprioritized with stu-dent learning goals inmind.One response is asking

which is more impor-tant: memorizing lots offacts for the test (andforgetting them within a fewweeks) or developing skills that lasta lifetime? You can also probe stu-dents about a couple of courses in theiruniversity career, comparing and contrastinglarge lectures versus engaging courses.Better yet, if your reformed course deeply

engages students in the beauty of your discipline,and moves nonmajors toward majors, your depart-ment won’t be in much of a position to complain.

How do I move students from acompetitive classroom environment toa collaborative one?Competition, both explicit and implicit, can poison aclassroom environment, undermining collaborativework. Studies have shown this can be especiallydetrimental to underrepresented students, who can

feel isolated in a competitive environment. Further,students often expect competition in the classroom,and may not know how to respond to collaboration.Thus we must take clear actions to promote collabo-rative learning and downplay competition.Banish the grading curve! Grades are the front

line of competition; they set the tone and policy ofthe course (and instructor). Curves send two clearmessages to students: First, grades are random,since student grades include factors that are out oftheir control, including the performance of other stu-dents. Second, better grades come to those whodon’t help their classmates learn, dissuading

students from helping eachother. Replace the curvewith a fixed grade scaleon the syllabus andencourage students tocooperate. Cooperationimproves learning for bothhelper and helpee, whichimproves grades for all.Group management is

another critical tool in a collab-orative classroom; you must set poli-cy that encourages good group dynam-ics. Designating groups is often more

effective than self-selection, as studentslearn from a variety of other students and

don’t only rely on their friends. Designations can takeinto account student ability and demographics toreduce domination and/or isolation of students.Using group contracts and/or assigning specific

roles to each group member are also effective meansto explicitly encourage good group cooperation.Perhaps most important is selecting the appropriateactivity. We often assign activities that are above thecapacity of a single student, thus enforcing the needto work collaboratively.

ILLUSTRATION:LINDABLECK

June 2010 9

HIGHER EDUCATION News

Over 150 representatives of theHispanic Association of Colleges andUniversities (HACU) convened last month toidentify ways to improve Latino studentachievement at the K–12 level. TheAssociation hopes to expand the pipeline forHispanic students entering higher education.According to the Pew Hispanic Center, bysenior year of high school almost half ofHispanic students drop out.HACU is encouraging collaboration

between Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)and public school systems in order toincrease the numbers of Hispanics advancingfrom preschool to graduate school.Furthermore, the organization recommendsthat Congress authorize monies for HSIs toexpand their teacher preparation programs byincreasing the number of teachers of color,and increasing Title V funds for undergraduatesupport at member institutions.

After three years of relatively flatgrowth, U.S. graduate schools haveseen a 7 percent increase in the number ofinternational student applications. Thelargest numbers of overseas applicants arefrom China, up 19 percent from last year.Applications from India and South Korea,the next largest sources of internationalapplicants, have stabilized after sharpdeclines in 2008.The 25 institutions that currently have the

most international graduate enrollmentssaw applications rise 10 percent, whilethose outside the top 100 saw an average4 percent increase.While the report refers to the increasing

figures as “an encouraging sign,” it cautionsthat there is no guarantee the growth inapplications will result in a correspondingincrease in enrollments.

The Obama Administration overturned a2005 clarification that allowed Title IXcolleges to use emailed or Web-basedsurveys alone to prove they are complyingwith equity in athletics while meeting the“interests and abilities” of female athletes.This step strengthens Title IX, while continuingto give institutions a great deal of flexibilityand control over their athletic programs.

Faculty & Staff Professional NewsWorld & NationThe Journal of Collective Bargaining inthe Academy is a new online peer-reviewed journal published by the NationalCenter for the Study of Collective Bargainingin Higher Education and the Professions,housed at Hunter College/CUNY(www.hunter.cuny.edu/ncscbhep).The Journal seeks to: (1) advance research

and scholarly thought in academic collectivebargaining, and (2) make relevant andpragmatic peer-reviewed research accessible topractitioners and scholars.The Journal is supported in part by a

generous contribution from TIAA-CREF, and ishosted by Booth Library, Eastern IllinoisUniversity. The inaugural issue of the Journal ofCBA can be accessed via the National Center’sWeb site at: www.library.eiu.edu/NCSCBHEP/Journal/.The Journal is accepting and publishing

relevant manuscripts of scholarly inquiry,opinion and thoughtful reflection, and notesfrom the field. See the Journal Web page forinstructions on how to submit a manuscript.

Most faculty members use social mediaand nearly all use it to teach, accordingto a new study by Pearson. Of the 939professors surveyed from both two- and four-year colleges, 80 percent have at least oneaccount with a social media site. YouTube wasthe preferred tool for teaching, with morethan a fifth of professors using material fromthe video-sharing site in class. About 10percent of professors required students tocreate content within a social mediacommunity as part of an assignment.

The chart below shows the extent of thecurrent recession compared to theprevious recession, and estimates statebudget shortfalls for FY2011 and FY2012.Balanced budget requirements will requirestates to make significant spending cutsand/or revenue enhancements over the nexttwo years. Even after 2012, most states facestructural deficits because their spending oncurrent public services is growing faster thanrevenues generated by current tax systems.

How Bad Will It Get?TOTAL STATE FUNDING SHORTFALL IN EACH FISCAL YEAR, IN BILLIONS

Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “Recession Continues to Batter State Budgets; State ResponsesCould Slow Recovery,” Elizabeth McNichol and Nicholas Johnson. February 25, 2010 at www.cbpp.org/.For more information, see second column, second paragraph (above).

02002 2003

Last Recession2004 2005 2009 2010 2011 2012

-50

-100

-150

-200

-$40 -$45

-$110-$103*

* Reported to Date

-$180

-$120

-$196

-$75 -$80

Estimate

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Philosophically, frankly, I amopposed to counting atten-dance as part of the final

course grade. But practically, givenmy students, I must make attendancecount. Let me explain. I teach at asuburban community college wherestudents are often underprepared forcollege-level work. Many engage in“magical thinking,” assuming thatsomehow they can grasp the material just by coming to class infre-quently. Without the “stick” of an attendance policy, a sizeablenumber of my students would fall woefully behind in the course,not realizing that thematerial and skill development that theymissin class is integral to their success in the course.Previously, at a similar community college where I taught, atten-

dance was not allowed to factor into students’ grades. The resultwas an attendance rate of about 50 percent and a failure rate ofover 50 percent. At my current post, missing more than a week ofclass may result in failure. This policy does increase student atten-dance—and in doing so, I think, boosts student success in thecourses they take. Since a large percentage of students in my class-es do not intrinsically understand the value of regular attendance,making attendance a significant factor in their course grade takesthe attendance decision away from the student and affords greateropportunity for success.If I taught motivated students who were more prepared for

college-level work, I would be reluctant to make attendance a partof their grade. My current students, however, are underpreparedand unclear about how best to achieve their goals; an attendancepolicy, for better or worse, is vital to keeping them on track tomeetthose aims.

June 2010 11

THE Dialogue

Ianswer against this idea from theperspective of educational psychol-ogy. It is a matter of carrot versus

stick: As a teacher, would I ratherentice my students with a carrot orpunish them with a stick?Probably all teachers recognize that

we personally learn best when we areself-directed and excited about ourproject. Being interested in the topic

engages the curiosity and enthusiasm that drive the learningprocess. Learning becomes easy rather than drudgery—even whenthe topic is difficult.Self-direction keeps us focused so we dig deeper and retain

more. Who hasn’t spent late nights digging deeply into an onlinesearch that started simply and drew us into serious effort and greatresults? Students go through that same engaged process when theyare self-directed.When we draw students in with other techniques to intrigue and

stimulate their own enthusiasm for learning, we offer them theopportunity to learn in the way we all naturally want to learn. Butwhen we use a grading policy to punish them for not coming toclass, we are likely to turn off their enthusiasm and self-direction.They become other-directed and work either to please us or to

thwart us. Their energy for learning is turned into energy for get-ting along with the teacher. The stick approach is negative andrestricting; the carrot approach is positive and freeing.It is possible to use grading in a positive carrot way. Rather than

using a stick to reduce the grade for more than two or threeabsences, turn attendance into a carrot by awarding attendancepoints. Students will at least be self-directed to earn the points—astep in the right direction of becoming more self-directed learners.

Question:Should professors use grading to enforce an attendance policy?

Send comments toJRosales@nea.org

WHERE DO YOU STAND?

Yes,many students engage in “magical thinking,”

assuming they can grasp the material bycoming to class infrequently.

MARTHA KINNEY

Martha Kinney, an assistant profes-sor of history at Suffolk CountyCommunity College in New York, hastaught for five years. She has an MAin European history from CSU-EastBay, and is studying modern Germanhistory at Penn State University.

No,teachers recognize that we personally learn bestwhen we are self-directed and excited about ourproject.

MARY BETH O’HALLORAN

Mary Beth O’Halloran, a philosophyteacher at Century College inMinnesota, has taught, counseled,and worked in TRIO programs atseveral colleges in the Midwest.

When I taught a computer network-ing course last year at Saint PaulCollege in Minnesota, I found that

Open Source (OS) software was a way to sig-nificantly reduce software costs while main-taining high quality production values.I learned this firsthand because computer

networking is one of those courses where“hands on” exercisesare very important.Unfortunately, it isprohibitively expen-sive to give each stu-dent two or threecomputers to doclient-server exer-cises. A few of us usedVirtualBox, an OSoffering from SunMicrosystems. This allowed each student tohave one physical computer running multipleindependent virtual computers. The savingswere substantial.Strictly speaking, “OS” is a term used to

describe a legal contract for the distribution ofsoftware. An OS software contract states,among other things, that the blueprints or“source code” must be part of the exchangeand that the recipient must abide by theseterms to redistribute the software. Though“Open Source” describes a legal contract, mostpeople think of it as the huge collection ofsoftware offerings under this name.Those familiar with OS may have heard

about the Linux Operating System and theOpenOffice.org suite of office software. Theyare distributed under OS licenses. The soft-

ware is free to download and will run on mostPCs. Linux and OpenOffice.org, with theireasy to use graphical interfaces, provide anacceptable alternative to Windows andMicrosoft Office. The popular OS FirefoxWebbrowser is frequently used as a MicrosoftInternet Explorer replacement.At Boston University (BU), Linux runs

on more than a thou-sand computers,including lab ma-chines, servers, anddesktops. The costsavings at educationenvironments likeBU is particularlyimportant these daysdue to nationwidebudget cuts.

Professor Steve Yuen (University ofSouthern Mississippi) has a 68-slide presenta-tion about OS economics and other specifics,including a summary titled, “Why TeachersLike Open Source.”While many faculty members may have

heard of OS, some are still discovering its ben-efits. Above all else, OS software is usually free.Please don’t think “it can’t be very good if it’sfree.” Most OS software is of the highest quali-ty. It’s a solution worth considering.

Save on Software with OSS P E A K I N G O U T

Opinion

THE DIALOGUE QUESTION REGARDINGinterdisciplinary based clusters (AprilAdvocate) is moot for most of us.Except, perhaps, in some large univer-sities, “related” disciplines are fre-quently lumped together for the sakeof practicality. A “History Department,”for example, becomes the home ofsociology, geography, and even psy-chology instructors. Thirty years ago,our History Department includedmath teachers.My institution tried to lump

together “related departments,”including history, English, and psy-chology, under one administrator. Thissystem allowed the college to ignoreits standing policy of promotion todepartment head based on senioritywhile paying big bonuses to politicalhacks amiable to the new administra-tion’s other bizarre ideas. The resultingmess took years to clean up. Today,the college again has independentdepartments with department heads.It solved the promotion problem byabolishing seniority and appointingdepartment heads based on localpolitical connections.Many educators, like the two you

quote, do believe in change for thesake of the students. However, anypositive ideas in education will onlycome when colleges adopt and carryout ethical standards for promotion,budget, administration, etc. that putthe students and taxpayers first.

—Anonymous

Joseph Hesse is a computer con-sultant (Linux training and softwaredevelopment) and former mathe-matics professor who teaches com-puter science at Saint Paul Collegein Minnesota. Contact him atjoe_hesse@actcx.com.

I’d Like To Say!

Open Source softwareis a way to reduce soft-ware costs while main-

taining high qualityproduction values.][

12 NEA Higher Education ADVOCATE

1201 Sixteenth Street, N.W.Washington, DC 20036-3290