Teaching Excellence

Plagiarism case studies can get students thinking about ethical issues and real consequences
Connie Gulick, ECA Introductory English and ESL instructor, was one of the 37 ECA participants who attended Skip Downing's On Course Workshop June 6-8.  Here is an idea she came up with after that workshop:

"In his On Course Workshop, Skip Downing used a few case studies to get us teachers to thinking and discussing the issues in depth.  Seeing how effective case studies can be for pulling out our students' thinking --there are, after all, no wrong answers--I began to look for possible case studies I could use." 

"Here is a site created by Sharon Stoerger that contains case studies for plagiarism, mostly in academic settings.  I had discovered this site earlier, and bookmarked it, when several of my online students argued with me that they did not have to cite information that was not copyrighted.  I never did use the case studies at the time, but now I intend to use them, asking my students to discuss in groups who was most responsible for the end results."

This website contains more than case studies.  It offers many ideas for identifying plagiarism as well.

You can email Connie at cgulick@cnm.edu..

Critical Thinking Exercises by Academic Discipline
This webpage offers a large number of resources for exercising students' critical thinking skills in many different subject areas--the sciences, social sciences, and humanities

Many case studies are included in the exercises. One of the resources, "Biology Case Studies in Multiple-choice Questions," points out the pluses and minuses of testing with multiple-choice questions and explains how "the authenticity of multiple-choice questions can be maximized by framing each question stem as a case example."

"A weakness of multiple-choice questions is their failure to emulate the demands of a workplace in which employees lack access to a fixed list of choices each time a decision is required. Free-response questions, by contrast, require the student to construct a response in the absence of hints or suggestions."

"A strength of multiple-choice questions is that they do emulate a workplace in which colleagues or clients put forth an number of hypotheses which must each be understood, considered, and weighed in arriving at a decision."

Read more about "Biology Case Studies in Multiple-choice Questions."

Quotation 
"If the student hasn't learned, the teacher hasn't taught."
-Siegfried "Zig" Engelmann

Jokes of the Week

☺ If you are a kleptomaniac, is there anything you can take for it?

Q: How many women does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: Two:  one to put in the light bulb and another to say, "It makes you look ten years younger!"

At-your-desk learning
Learn

Here's how to reduce the amount of energy your computer uses
In a recent New York Times article, writer Larry Magid explains how to go about "Putting Energy Hogs in the Home on a Strict Low-Power Diet." 

Magid observes, 'The Department of Energy estimates that in the average home, 40 percent of all electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. Add that all up, and it equals the annual output of 17 power plants."  

In fact, "products that idle in what the industry calls low-power mode, or lopomo, consumed about 10 percent of total electricity in California homes, according to a 2002 study."

And what's true in the home is true in the workplace.  The fact is that a lot of energy is expended by the computers we all use.  To reduce the amount of energy, Magid offers the following recommendations: 

• "If you don’t turn off your PC when it is not in use, make sure it goes into a low-power sleep, suspend or hibernate mode."
• "Consider having [your computer] go into sleep, standby or hibernate after about a half-hour of inactivity. The shorter the period, the more energy you save. Graphic-intense screen savers can actually waste power."
• "Unplug unused external power supplies because they can draw energy even when they’re not connected to a device."
• "If you’re shopping for a new PC, be sure that it meets Energy Star requirements, ideally the ones that go into effect July 20. The new standards require that 80 percent of the power consumed is actually used by the PC."

Read the full article to learn more.

Does your work station give you a pain in the neck?  These puzzles may help relieve it
If you like puzzles, you'll like these on the Cornell University Ergonomics Web that show "good ergonomic work arrangement, "poor posture for phone and keyboarding use," "good ergonomic arrangement for a laptop," and more. 

Then check out the Quick Tips for Body Discomfort to find out more things you can do to relieve pain or discomfort associated with working in front of a computer for long periods of time.

Reminder:  Get your CNM driver recertification fast...
If you already have your CNM driver certification but need to be recertified, you can speed up the process by taking the Drivers Recertification Training this Friday, June 22, between 9am-12 noon.

You'll save time by completing the tutorial at your own pace while having expert support available from John Romisher.. 

About Organizational Learning The Organizational Learning Division's mission is to create professional development pathways for college employees that support the strategic mission of CNM and contribute in meaningful ways to college personnel’s lifelong learning and job enrichment. For more information about Organizational Learning or any of its events, contact
	Jean Montaño Admin. Coordinator	224-4400 jmontano@ cnm.edu
	Greg Casaus Director	224-4244 gcasaus6@ cnm.edu
	Eleanor Radius Director	224-4237
	Timothy Ligon Tech Support	224-4243 tligon@ cnm.edu
	Kayleigh Carabajal Executive Director	224-4401 kcarabajal@ cnm.edu

This newsletter is produced by Nancy King, for the Organizational Learning Division.

News & previews

Meet Eleanor Radius, new Organizational Learning director
Eleanor Radius assumed her new position as Organizational Learning director today, June 18. She joins Greg Casaus as co-director of CNM's training and professional development division, serving staff and faculty.

As an Organizational Learning director, Eleanor will play an active role in faculty development and in increasing organizational capabilities.

Before coming to CNM, Eleanor was a manager in training, organizational development, and operations management at Intel for the past ten years

Eleanor's office is located in S-20, Main Campus, and her phone number, at least tentatively, is 224-4237.  She hasn't been assigned an email address yet.

Forget milk--got IDEAS for CNM workshops and training events?  Share them with Org Learning...
Greg Casaus, Organizational Learning director, would like to hear your ideas for possible workshop topics and training events for the Fall 2007 term.

"The fall catalog is now under development," Greg says, "so please tell us what kinds of training and workshops you'd like to take in the fall."  You can do so by completing the 7-Second Survey, below::

7-Second Survey What kinds of trainings and workshops would you like to see offered through Organizational Learning during the Fall 2007 term (August-December)? List ideas and topics for workshops that you would attend: Thanks for your feedback. It will be used to create the fall calendar of events. Last week, four instructors replied to the 7-Second Survey, answering this question--"What is your greatest challenge as a teacher?" And how do you meet this challenge?" Read their thoughtful responses..

Preview of events for the week of June 18-23
The following events are taking place at CNM during the week of June 18-23.  Register on this webpage.

 

►Ergonomic Training
Tuesday, June 19	10:00-11:00am	Main, S-17
►Conflict Resolution Skills for Managers
Wednesday, June 20	11:00am-12:00noon	WTC, Room 111
►Excel I
Wednesday, June 20	1:00- 4:00pm	Main, TEC S-21
►Camtasia II
Thursday, June 21	12:30- 2:30pm	Main, TEC S-21
►Defensive Driving: Recertification
Friday, June 22	9:00am- 12:00noon	Main, S-20

Preview of events for the week of June 25-30
The following events are taking place at CNM during the week of June 25-30.  Register on this webpage.