About The Teaching and Learning Center
The UW-Parkside Teaching & Learning Center was (re-)established in the summer of 2004 and reports to the provost office. It happily has physical space in the Library and is adjacent to and connected to the Faculy/Staff Lounge. This is an excellent design that allows both spaces to be utilized for larger events like Mini-Conferences and is especially handy for break-out sessions. Another resource is the Learning Technology Center - a state of the art computer lab used for hands on training.
I shared an office with a friend and colleague who had the title of this page as his screen saver. No surprise as, after all, he was the assessment person on campus. Yet each time I walked into our office and past his monitor I found I was always tantalized by the concept. After more years of teaching and revising the curriculum each year in an effort to make it more effective for my students I think I would refine the questions into:
What are my students learning? and How can I find out?
I already felt I knew the answer but to what degree? I used insight gleaned from homework and assessment items to hone the course content if need be. But the interesting part was when I would roam amongst my student during lab sections - a lurker of sorts rather than presenter - and listen to what they said it became clear that their conceptualization of some concepts were not all totally valid. If I could somehow tap into that bit of student thinking I could revise my lectures so that students learned more quickly, accurately and effectively. I could begin to examine the material at an even deeper level or perhaps use alternative methods and cover the same material in a bit less time - and extra time in the classroom is a precious commodity. It is also possible knowing what is inside the students' heads might dictate more remediation of some crucial core concepts and a "loss" of class time. One thing seems clear; not knowing is not good.
Jim Robinson, Director
UW-Parkside Teaching & Learning Center
