Renton Technical CollegeApril 2004

Office of Instructional Improvement Volume 2 No. 9

Here’s What Worked for Me…

Please send us tips for this section—what’s working for you—inspired by a faculty member’s suggestion that if we pooled our strengths and creativity, it could only benefit our students.

Save a tree

Paul Bader and Rich Brownell of the Major Appliance Repair Program are distributing student handouts on a CD rather than printing stacks of paper. Great idea! To get details mailto:

Four Deadly Sins of PowerPoint

This well-illustrated article describes four features of PowerPoint that are often abused, why not to commit these sins, and how to avoid them.

Addicted to Text in your Presentations

There is always a temptation to put as much text as possible on a transparency or PowerPoint slide, largely for the production of accompanying notes. This article explains why less is often more and uncluttered slides are more effective.

Professional Development QuickTips: How to Use Case Studies
Case studies are effective tools for teaching content and for teachers to experience problems in a variety of professional settings. Here's an article from teachnology.com on how to use them.

TEOMA Search Engine
With so many new web sites around, we often need new ways to find and mine information. Here's how to go beyond Google to find different source materials with a search engine created at Rutgers University named with the Gaelic word for “expert.”

Any Questions?

To the instructor who asks it, “Are there any questions?" might seem like a good way to wrap up a lesson. But it can cause a well-planned lesson degenerate into a questioning frenzy that can get off the point. Barry Croom discusses better ways to rehearse new knowledge in Are There Any Questions on TCRecord’s home page.

Students' New Cell Phones Make High-Tech Cheat Sheets

If you think you have seen it all when it comes to cheating: a tiny cheat sheet tucked up a sleeve. A math formula saved on a calculator. An essay pulled off the Internet. Now, sneaky students have found a new way to covertly ask friends for help on tests. Students can send silent questions and answers to one another, right under teachers' noses, on cell phones with built-in cameras and text messaging. For a closer look at this phenomenon visit:

Just an 8th Grade Education

Jon Pozega, VP for Student Services and Plant Operationsforwarded this 8th grade completion test from Salina Kansas in 1895. It is enlightening to know what it took to have an “8th Grade Education” over 100 years ago. To view the eighth grade test of 1895 click here.

Using Videos Effectively

Videos can be as ineffective as a lecture if not used interactively. These guidelines will help you keep students engaged in the video and better able to recall the important points.

Creating Crosswords

Crossword puzzles are a great way for students to practice the connection between terms and their meaning. Create crosswords, word search and other printable puzzles online from your word and definition list. You can use it from the Discovery School site, or purchase a CD-ROM version

Internet Business Writing Guides

Want resources to support your students as they write business letters or do other business writing? Here is a guide to the best resources on the web, compiled by an instructor who was searching for resources for his own students.

New at the RTC Library

  • The Shaping of American higher education: Emergence and growth of the contemporary system, by Arthur M. Cohen. Jossey-Bass, 1998. (378.73 COHEN 1998)
  • No one to waste: A report to public decision-makers and community college leaders, by Robert H. McCabe. Community College Press, 2000. (378.1543 MCABE 2000)
  • The Code of ethics for health education profession: A case study book, by Jerrold S. Greenberg. Jones and Bartlett, 2001. (174.2 GREENB 2001)

Find these books, and more, at the RTC Library. Access the Library catalog through the RTC Library home page at < >.

Quotable

When people will not weed their own minds, they are apt to be overrun with nettles." ~ Horace Walpole, Lord Orford

For more information regarding the articles in the Faculty Focus or to give input or suggestions of things you would like to see incorporated into this newsletter please contact the Office of Instructional Improvement.

The mission of the Office of Instructional Improvement is to advance educational strategies, seek to improve the quality of learning environments, and support RTC staff as they prepare a diverse student population for work.