MARCH FACULTY DEVELOPMENT NEWSLETTER
University of Hawaii - Honolulu Community College
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Volume 11 No. 2 March 22, 2002
A MESSAGE FROM THE FCULTY DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR
I was recently reviewing a past issue of The Journal of Staff,
Program and Organizational Development and reread the article "Enhancing
Teacher Efficacy in College Faculty" by Regina Miller, Hally
DiBella-McCarthy and Elizabeth A. McDaniel. I believe that many of us can
identify with their discussion and all of us can learn from their
recommendations.
The authors state that at many institutions of higher education,
faculty are challenged and sometimes overwhelmed by a generation of
students who appear to be less prepared for college than those in the
past. They feel overwhelmed by the challenge of teaching these students.
We all know that our attitudes have an effect on our teaching behavior,
and the behavior and learning of our students. One step toward reversing
the effects of low expectations about underprepared students is to
understand the concept of teachers' sense of efficacy and its relationship
to student achievement. The authors describe two faculty members to
illustrate the two major components of teachers' efficacy.
Professor Green and Professor Brown are both respected teachers at
their college and are actively engaged in service activities on their
campus. Since their arrival at the college over a decade ago, both have
taught an array of introductory and upper level courses. Their recent
teaching experiences, however, have led them to develop very different
attitudes about students, teaching and themselves.
Professor Green is not afraid to try new teaching techniques in
classes. For the most part, these techniques are met with student
approval. When they are not, she revises approaches to meet the varying
needs, abilities and backgrounds of her students. Even though colleagues
contend that students are not as prepared for or interested in learning as
they used to be, Professor Green believes that with the right teaching
techniques her students will learn and apply their learning to real life
situations. In her view, the role of the teacher is to motivate
individual students.
Based on past teaching experiences, Professor Brown is confident
in both her mastery of subject matter and teaching techniques. However,
during the past year, she has become disheartened by student responses in
her classes. She attributes recent failures to stimulate enthusiasm for
the class material to students' lack of adequate pre-college preparation
and their low motivation for learning. She spends less time on lesson
preparation and relies more on the textbook to teach. Professor Brown
feels if students can't meet the course expectations, they are not
"college material."
Professor Green is confident in students' abilities to learn (high
teaching efficacy) and in her competence to teach them (high personal
teaching efficacy). Professor Brown, while still believing that she is a
talented and competent teacher (high personal teaching efficacy) doubts
that students can meet college expectations (low teaching efficacy).
Studies comparing teachers with high and low efficacy found that low
efficacy teachers attribute low-achieving students' problems to students'
lack of ability or poor background rather than to teachers' abilities.
Low-efficacy teachers tend to accept greater responsibility for success
than failure.
Instead of blaming ourselves or our students, we can look for
creative solutions to instructional problems. Perhaps alternative methods
and instructional formats might work better for these students than the
lecture method that seemed to work well for previous generations of
students. Perhaps new kinds of assignments and assessment measures would
motivate and challenge students to learn. Perhaps the students are
capable of doing college work if it were presented differently. Perhaps
if more college faculty members believed that students had the potential,
students would have higher rates of success. Several concrete suggestions
for turning student deficiencies into instructional challenges and
successes are listed.
· Assess Students' Motivational, Attitudinal and Academic Entering
Characteristics
· Create a Need to Know
· Help Students Move from Extrinsic to Intrinsic Motivation
· Provide Alternatives to Traditional Lecture to Maintain High Rates of
Student Engagement
· Initiate and Maintain a Program of Frequent Assessment and Feedback
· Identify Instructional Support Systems for Student Referral
An understanding of the concept of teachers' sense of efficacy can be of
great benefit to college faculty. To avoid the trap of blaming students
for their lack of achievement, we need to analyze our own teaching to
identify the elements that produce results and those that can be made more
effective. If you would like more information on this topic or to receive
a copy of the whole article, please let me know.
Jerry Cerny
Faculty Development Coordinator
SEVEN QUALITIES OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE TEACHERS
By Linc. Fisch
In the Fall 2001 Faculty Development Newsletter, the article, "Seven
Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" was printed. In
keeping with a number seven theme, this informative article written by
Linc. Fisch is printed. By themselves, the seven qualities that he
discusses in this article may not be sufficient conditions for teaching
excellence, but they may be pretty close to essential.
The number seven seems to have magical properties that attract
people to it.
The universe was created in seven days, according to Genesis, and
we now have seven days in a week. There are seven theological and cardinal
virtues (faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance).
Likewise, there are seven deadly sins (pride, covetousness, lust, anger,
gluttony, envy, sloth). The liberal arts of the Middle Ages numbered
seven, chunked into a quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music)
and a trivium (grammar, rhetoric, logic). And today, fortunate faculty
members may be granted sabbatical leaves.
On a more mundane plane, seven is the most probably sum when
rolling two dice. Seven digits (such as a telephone number) are generally
all that most people can store in short-term memory. And if you want your
slide or overhead projector transparency to be readable, don't put more
than seven lines on it, with each line no longer than seven words.
So it's not unexpected that an American Association for Higher
Education commission focused on "Seven Principles of Good Practice in
Undergraduate Education," and Steven Covey wrote a best seller Seven
Habits of Highly Effective People. I even read a recent journal article
by an off-beat writer: "Seven Principles of Teaching Seldom Taught in Grad
School" (see Chalkdust, J. Staff, Prog, & Org Dev., Vol. 10, No. 4, Winter
1992, pp. 217-218).
Seven is not quite in the same number league with the three of
Liberte-egalite-fraternite, but it's a good cut or two above the ten of
David Letterman's lists. Propelled by this mystical momentum of the
number, here are my nominations for qualities of highly effective teachers
- seven in number, of course.
1. Highly effective teachers care. They care about their students, their
work, and themselves. They treat others with dignity; they respect others'
integrity. They give high priority to benefiting others. They affirm
others' strengths and beings; it's a kind of love.
2. Highly effective teachers share. They share their knowledge, insights,
and viewpoints with others. Their willingness to share is a way of life
for them. They don't withhold information for personal gain.
3. Highly effective teachers learn. They continually seek truth and
meaning. They seek to discover new ideas and insights. They reflect on
their experiences and incorporate the learning therefrom into their lives.
They are willing to upgrade their skills. They continue growing and
developing throughout their lives.
4. Highly effective teachers create. They are willing to try the new and
untested, to take risks for worthy educational outcomes. Anything worth
doing is worth failing at. They are not discouraged by an occasional
failure; they reframe the error as an opportunity to do better as a result
of the experience.
5. Highly effective teachers believe. They have faith in students. They
trust students and are willing to grant them freedom and responsibility.
They hold high expectations for their students, as well as for themselves.
6. Highly effective teachers dream. They have a vision of success. They
are driven by an image of excellence, the best that their innate abilities
allow. They always seek to improve, never being content with just "getting
by" in teaching or in any other endeavor.
7. Highly effective teachers enjoy. Teaching is not just employment to
them; it is their Work. They throw themselves into it with vigor. They
gain major satisfaction and joy from it. And that joy often infects their
students.
While this particular set of qualities is my own compilation, I've
found in workshops where we've examined what is meant by "good teaching"
that these qualities are prominently mentioned. By themselves they may not
be sufficient conditions for teaching excellence, but they may be pretty
close to essential.
Surely, you say, there are other qualities that should make the
list. What about critical thinking, positive attitude, or calm equanimity,
for example? What about patience? Well, certainly a case could be made for
all of these - and others, I'm sure.
But eleven (though the next prime number after seven) is not such
a magical number. And keeping practicality in mind, it's harder for one to
retain more than seven in memory.
So if you can keep in mind care, share, learn, create, believe,
dream, and enjoy, you may keep them actively in practice. And that will
move you toward becoming a highly effective teacher.
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Linc. Fisch does off-beat writing at his home in Lexington, Kentucky. He
has had 30-some years of experience in teaching and other assignments in
higher education.
Reprinted with permission as originally published in The Journal of Staff
and Program, & Organizational Development.
NEW FACULTY
The following faculty members are new to our campus this fall. As you
meet our new colleagues, please help make them feel welcome. They
include;
Cheryl Bennett, Instructor, Educational Coordinator, Perkins Grant.
Cheryl is currently researching a number of aspects of our
technical/occupational program. Cheryl recently relocated from
Connecticut and comes from a broad background in education. She earned a
BS in Art Education at the University of Buffalo in New York and a MA in
Studio Art and Art Education at the University of Hartford in Connecticut.
She taught in the Connecticut public schools for twenty-five years. She
was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Hartford. She was also
involved in Education Mainstreet, a program designed to involve the
community, public schools and the University of Hartford. She was a
mentor teacher and wrote curricula for the state of Connecticut. Cheryl
also taught and coordinated many adult education programs. In addition
she ran her own art gallery, was a member of a pottery co-op and still is
a producing artist. Her spare time is spent doing triathlons, cycle
touring in Europe, participating in a variety of water sports and spending
time with her family.
Steve Chu, Instructor, Auto Body Repair and Painting. Steve was born and
raised in Oahu, right here in Kalihi. After graduating from Farrington
High School, he enrolled in the HCC Automotive Mechanics Technology
program. Before finishing the program, he decided he would rather do auto
body and painting work than be an auto mechanic. He has worked in the
auto body industry for 29 years. He obtained his auto body skills
on-the-job in several mom and pop body shops. He worked for several years
at a custom body shop and performed auto body work for Chrysler and Cutter
Chevrolet. For the past seven years Steve was the lead paint salesman and
distributor for Island Concepts, a local company that specializes in a
European line of auto body paints. He looks forward to the continuing
challenge of teaching students in our ABRP program. Steve spends his
spare time restoring vintage automobiles.
Naomi Kitayama, Instructor Counselor, Perkins/Student Services. Naomi is
a familiar face on our HCC campus. Beginning in 1996, she spent four
years here as a technical-occupational Counselor supported with Voc-Ed
monies. Naomi was born and raised on Oahu and earned a BA and MEd in
Vocational Rehab Counseling from UH-Manoa. She worked in the DOE as a
high school transition counselor for eight years. Since leaving HCC in
2000, Naomi has been a counselor in a temporary position at Kapiolani CC.
Currently at HCC she is ½ time with the Perkins Vocational Education
project and ½ time as a counselor in Student Services. In her free time
Naomi spends time relaxing with her "animal family" with includes two
dogs, three rabbits and four parakeets.
Tom (Kamaki) Linker, Instructor, Kupu Ka Wai, Title III Transition
Coordinator. Kamaki was born and raised along the rural north coast of
Santa Barbara, California where he was introduced to the mysteries of the
Chumash Tribe and the pleasures of the sea. He attended Lahaina Luna High
School and graduated from Maui Community College before heading to
UH-Manoa to earn a Masters degree in Pacific Island Studies with a dual
focus in Hawaiian prehistory and the material culture of Central East
Polynesia. Kamaki has taught business education and anthropology at Maui
CC, including weekly travel to Moloka'i, where he finally settled,
cultivating a successful research consultancy, and teaching for MCC's
Moloka'i Outreach Program. For the past 18 years Kamaki has lived and
worked in Micronesia, The Cook Islands, Tahiti, Samoa, and most recently,
Saipan. Kamaki lists his passions as cooking, writing, travel and
surfing, and regularly contributes travel and historical fiction to
publications in the US, UK and Australia. He also sits on the boards of
two non-profits in Hawai'i and volunteers time to a third based in
Indonesia. Kamaki moved home to Hawai'i in December 2001 and states that
he is "gratified and humbled by my new position and the opportunity to
serve our Native Hawaiian population whilst contributing once again to our
community college system and the university."
Utkal (Nick) Pandya, Instructor, PCATT. Nick was born in Ahmedabad in the
Gujarat state in the western part of India. He moved to New York City at
age 10. After high school, Nick joined the Navy and served for three
years as a Navy electrician. He is a Gulf War Veteran. Following his
discharge he worked as an electrician for three more years. Nick
graduated from the HCC CENT program. While in the program, he worked as a
salesman at computer retail stores on Oahu and during one year sold over
$1 million in products which was a record at Computer City at the time.
In addition to several Cisco and Microsoft certifications, Nick is
Network+ and A+ certified. Nick will be teaching Cisco and Microsoft
classes for PCATT. In his spare time, Nick likes to surf the Internet and
spend time at Borders reading computer books.
Jeannie Shaw, Instructor, Cooperative Education. Jeannie is currently
assigned the cooperative education duties in the Pearl Harbor
Apprenticeship Program at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. She was born
and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She earned an AS in Community Service
from Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) and a BS in Business
Management from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee. After earning
her BS she returned to MATC where she worked for 21 years before moving to
Hawai'i in 1998. While at MATC she earned a Masters degree in Adult
Education (Developmental Studies) from National-Louis University in
Chicago. Jeannie has studied Polynesian dancing since she was very young
and is currently continuing to learn hula from Mapuana DeSilva in Kailua.
In addition to Polynesian dancing, in her free time Jeannie likes to walk,
hike, bike and swim.
Linda Soma, Instructor, Librarian. HCC and the Library are happy to have
Linda on board as a reference and instructional librarian. She earned a
BA in Liberal Arts and a MLIS, both from UH Manoa. She holds a
certification in Montessori Methods for 3-6 year olds from the Maria
Montessori Training Organization (London). She came to HCC from Kapiolani
CC where she performed reference services, library instruction and library
webpage development and maintenance. In her free time, Linda enjoys
gardening, participating in reforestation projects, reading and tai chi.
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Led by Cynthia Smith, Dean, Academic Affairs, Sharon Ota, Dean, Tech 2,
and Harriet Miyasaki, Dean, Management Information and Research, the
following HCC faculty and staff members gave up their President's Day
Holiday on Monday, February 18, to attend an assessment workshop at
Kapiolani Community College: Jon Blumhardt, Director, EMC, Budd Brooks,
Professor, CA and Tech 2 Chair, Laure Burke, Instructor, Coop Ed, David
Cleveland, Professor, Sociology, Joyce Henna, Associate Professor,
Language Arts, Leilani Hinds, Assistant Professor, Language Arts, Ken
Johnson, Professor, Coop Ed, Xin Li, Librarian, Doric Little, Professor,
Speech, Chris Moore, Lecturer, Philosophy, Lianne Nagano, Associate
Professor, Developmental Studies, English, CSC, James Niino, Counselor,
Student Services, Sherry Nolte, Associate Professor, ECE, Marcia
Roberts-Deutsch, Professor, Art and UC Chair, Jerry Saviano, Instructor,
Language Arts, and Steven Shigemoto, Institutional Analyst.
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
Doric Little, Professor, Speech, has recently had her article "Learning
Differences, Medical Students and the Law" accepted for publication by
Academic Medicine, the leading journal in medical education. She has also
been asked to write an article on the food of Hawai'i for the Encyclopedia
of Food, published by Scribner's Sons.
Jerry Saviano, Instructor, Language Arts, attended the Wo Learning
Champion Professional Development retreat held during the first weekend of
March at the St. Stevens Center.
TECH 2
Paul Jacoby, Instructor, CENT, attended a 2-day Macintosh Computer Repair
Seminar held last fall at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort. The material
he learned at the seminar will be incorporated in the CENT 232, Computer
Repair II, course.
Iris McGivern, Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education, attended
the 4th Annual Leadership Symposium sponsored by the Hawai'i Association
for the Education of Young Children. The Symposium was held during the
fall at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
Aaron Tanaka, Associate Professor, CENT, continues to pass Microsoft
certification exams needed to maintain his status as an MCSE. He passed
three exams last fall. Because HCC has recently been accepted to be a
Microsoft Information Technology Academy Regional Center, he must maintain
his Microsoft certifications to be able to teach official Academy Program
credit and non-credit courses.
Cyndi Uyehara, Assistant Professor, Early Childhood Education, attended
the Hawai'i Early Childhood Conference sponsored by the Hawai'i
Association for the Education of Young Children. The conference was held
during the fall at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
Lisa Yogi, Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education, attended the Wo
Learning Champion Professional Development retreat held during the first
weekend of March at the St. Stevens Center.
COLLEGE SKILLS CENTER
Femar Lee, Instructor, Development Studies, Math, Lianne Nagano, Associate
Professor, Development Studies, English, Earl Nakahara, Associate
Professor, Development Studies, English, and Cory Takemoto, Instructor,
Development Studies, Math, all attended the 2002 Pacific Basin Learning
Disabilities Conference recently held at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel.
PACIFIC CENTER FOR ADVANCE TECHNOLOGY TRAINING
Jerry Cerny, Instructor, PCATT, attended a 3-day seminar at Bellevue
Community College, Washington, in connection with the Microsoft IT Academy
Program. HCC has been selected to be a Microsoft IT Academy Regional
Center and he is the Champion for this initiative. As a Regional Center,
HCC will offer instructor lead training and support to Local Academies who
choose to join in Hawai'i. He also attended the Wo Learning Champion
Professional Development retreat held during the first weekend of March at
the St. Stevens Center.
Nick Pandya, Instructor, PCATT, and Aaron Tanaka, Associate Professor,
CENT, attended four days of Microsoft XP training at Bellevue CC in
coordination with the Microsoft IT Academy seminar in November.
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This final newsletter of the 2001-2002 academic year was organized and
published by the HCC Faculty Development Committee. Members: Jerry
Cerny, (Coordinator, Editor), Keith Crockett, Lei Lani Hinds, Michel
Kaiser, Xin Li, Paul Onomura, Edward Santa Elena, and Alan Uyehara
