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Why I aim to Stamp Out the Use (or Overuse) of Acronyms at DePaul

That’s right, folks, I am on a mission (cue the Mission Impossible music)! That mission is to stamp out the use (and particularly, the overuse) of acronyms at DePaul. All of higher education is plagued with this issue, but DePaul, in particular, seems very fond of its acronyms. Why say the college of liberal arts and social sciences when you could say LAS? Public Relations and Advertising is so many syllables and PRAD is just one! It’s easy to see the genesis of this practice and even why it is so widespread. So what’s the problem? Does being pro-number make me anti-letter? No, my issue with acronyms is akin to my problem with the overuse of jargon. The problem is that these acronyms might not mean very much to those outside of your inner circles. Referring to CSH’s MENP program in NRSG will be perfectly clear to some and gibberish to most. The problem is that as we strive for more and stronger collaborations across our colleges, departments, programs, and courses at DePaul, acronyms will become more problematic. These acronyms, which were very clear in our department’s faculty meeting, might as well be a foreign language to the faculty we’re working with in a different college. They can also be overwhelming to new faculty, staff, and students who are adjusting to so many new things when they start at DePaul. It’s like everyone knows the secret handshake…and if you don’t, do you belong here?

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Increasing Instructor Presence with Weekly Video Updates

How present are you in your classes? If you teach face-to-face or hybrid sections, you may have an easier time responding to this question than if you teach fully online. When physically present in the classroom, it’s easy to take it for granted that students are able to see you, hear you, and respond to you. But in a fully online environment, especially one that doesn’t hold real-time sessions, it can be a challenge to establish your presence as the professor. 

Enter the weekly video update. The authors of a widely cited article published in The Internet and Higher Education report that asynchronous video “made their instructors seem more real, present, and familiar… similar to face-to-face instruction.”  This finding should resonate with instructors, who despite teaching online in increasing numbers still report feeling that online learning is less effective than face-to-face teaching.  

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Review of the Best Free Quiz Games: Kahoot vs. Poll Everywhere Competitions

I’ve been using Kahoot for several years to create competitive quiz games like 21 blitz for my students. It’s a great tool for reviewing previously covered concepts and breaking up lectures with quick knowledge checks. So, when a colleague encouraged me to check out Poll Everywhere’s new Competitions feature, I was skeptical. I have students who literally cheer when I announce that it’s time for a Kahoot quiz. Even hard-to-impress faculty get caught up in the competition during workshops. They overthink their team names, agonize over answer choices, and trash talk their neighbors as points are tallied. I couldn’t possibly abandon Kahoot and run away with another quiz tool after everything we’ve been through, could I?

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Aligning Goals: Simple Structures for Student Transfer and Reviewer Clarity

Since we apply the Quality Matters (QM) rubric to the review of our courses, we typically view the interactions between the elements of the course as “alignment”—the idea that these pieces all flow through or stem from one another, allowing a reviewer and instructor to see the connection of these elements throughout the course. While we have various ways of demonstrating this alignment (numbering and sub-numbering, parenthetical reference, etc.), these tend to be used internally, mostly shared between the instructor, the instructional designer, and the review teams. Rarely do we share this full concept of alignment with students—but why? If we build for structure and scaffolding of the lessons throughout the course, wouldn’t it also be beneficial to students to see ways of connecting the various course objectives with the module objectives, readings, assessments, and other activities?

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Student-Centered Vs. Teacher-Centered Classrooms: Which and Why?

We have all seen the stereotypical version of what a lecture-based classroom looks like in television and movies. Whenever popular media wants to portray school as being dull, we are shown an unfashionable teacher standing at the front of a class speaking in a monotone voice about a dry topic. This (hopefully minus the dull, monotone, and dry parts) is what’s referred to as a teacher-centered classroom. In contrast, there are student-centered classrooms that encourage learning to be directed by the students. Assignments in this format typically involve small group collaboration and/or autonomy for the learner to choose how and what to learn. The student-centered arrangement has quickly been gaining popularity and is considered by many to be a more dynamic method of learning. However, both structures have their advantages, and I will discuss how each can be implemented in order to create an effective learning environment for all.

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3 Simple Ways to Learn Your Students’ Names

Learning the names of your students is often cited as a simple way to create an inclusive environment in your classroom. It shows your students you care and helps to foster a sense of community. Furthermore, researchers have found that students have a more positive attitude about a course if they perceive that the instructor knows their name.

Image of a name tag

I’m the first to admit that I have a terrible memory and have a difficult time remembering the names of people I meet. This means I have to make a concerted effort to quickly learn students’ names when I teach. This can sometimes prove to frustrating and time consuming but it doesn’t have to be. Below are a few quick strategies I use to make learning names a little easier.  

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Imagining the Future with China: A Report of a Study Abroad Course

Riding on a train that whistled 217 miles per hour, sitting in a car that solely relied on solar power, wandering in a bookstore that had no cashiers on site, and viewing a trading system without currency and government involvement. Those were some of the adventures 13 students from DePaul experienced this winter break in a study abroad course called “Imagining the Future with China.”

Pairing “China” with “the Future” is an interesting idea. For a long time, China had been characterized by its ancient history and deeply rooted culture. It is one of the four most ancient civilizations in the world. It has a history of over five thousand years. Its cultural heritage has descended through eleven dynasties. It was not until two decades ago that China started to catch up on economic development. There are plenty of data to show its growth, but as a non-economist and someone who cannot handle numbers, I would use this GDP graph to demonstrate China’s astonishing takeoff:

China GDP Growth
China GDP Growth from 1960 to 2017 (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=CN)

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Page Formatting: Yes You Scan!

Are you reading this?

How about this?

  • This is a little out of the ordinary, but I bet you’re reading.
  • Maybe you aren’t.
  • How can we tell?

Readers scan in very predictable ways and patterns. The basics are pretty simple. We jump to bolded text and don’t expect to see giant, bold statements. We read with a different emphasis when text is italicized. We scan immediately to images  on the page. Big, long paragraphs **like this one** are tiresome to readers and often get skipped while scanning. Formatting text in an unexpected way can throw your reader off, but using page formatting strategically can guide your reader through a page and help keep them engaged. Some of the tactics used in best-practice writing for the web may also be useful for academic writing and assignment construction.

You’re definitely reading this.

Most of the research being done around page scanning patterns is being done so with web content, not academia, in mind. However, some of the research done for web content writing may be helpful as you write or create resources for students.

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3 Questions to Ask Yourself When Designing Your Course

When you work in education, winter break can be a time for reflection and revision. Faculty often use this time to rework their courses and syllabi. Traditionally when one revises a course they:

  1. Find texts and supporting materials
  2. Divide readings and homework throughout the quarter
  3. Determine a method for assessing students’ performance

And, boom! Your course is planned! While this remains the most common way to structure a course, a different approach commonly called Backward Course Design has been steadily gaining in popularity throughout recent years.

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Considering Student Privacy

Your password will expire in 10 days. Your connection is not secure. Would you like to enable two-factor authentication? Do you want to trust this site?

We are frequently reminded that security breaches are not impossible and no captcha is foolproof. Each day our actions impact our digital footprint and as educators, we are doubly tasked with accounting for what we require of students. While all modalities of teaching can take advantage of incredible opportunities provided by exciting and creative digital tools, in the words of the late Stan Lee: “with great power, there must also come great responsibility.”

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