Teaching CSUN's First Year Students: What's New
The Freshman Common Reading for Fall 2012: Convocation, Book Groups, and Free Copies
The spring 2012 semester has almost ended. Can fall 2012 be far behind? The Freshman Common Reading Selection Committee has done its part to prepare for next year by choosing One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni as CSUN's 2012-2013 Freshman Common Reading. Divakaruni will be the keynote speaker on Thursday, September 6, 2012, at Freshman Convocation. She will also speak informally with faculty and staff at 4 p.m. that day in the Ferman Presentation Room of Oviatt Library.
A work of fiction, One Amazing Thing is made up of stories told by nine strangers trapped together in a basement office after an earthquake. Each narrator offers "one amazing thing" to help the others deal with fear, hunger, thirst, uncertainty, and ominously rising water inside the basement.
CSUN faculty and staff have been reading and discussing One Amazing Thing with colleagues this spring. There will be at least one summer Book Group for faculty as well. Join us as we develop additional assignments and discussion topics for campus use in a wide variety of classes and contexts. Or contribute anytime to our collection of resources for teaching One Amazing Thing.
CSUN's Freshman Common Reading Program is now entering its sixth year. All members of the CSUN community (faculty, staff, and students) are invited to nominate titles for 2013-2014.
The New Freshmen Are Coming!
The final countdown is under way, with 4,808 first-time freshmen having clicked the online "Intent to Register" button. The official headcount on Census Day (week four of the semester) for registered first-time freshmen (FTF) in Fall 2011 was 5,271. It looks as though the Fall 2012 incoming class will be smaller.
Applying to Teach UNIV 100 in Fall 2012: Priority Deadline Was March 29, 2012
The priority deadline for applying to teach University 100 (the Freshman Seminar) in 2012-2013 has passed. For more information, see http://www.csun.edu/afye/Teaching_University_100.html
The 2011 Freshman Celebration at CSUN: First-Year Projects
Nearly 1000 people participated in the fall 2011 Freshman Celebration in the USU Grand Salon and on Moodle. Take a look at some of the projects created by freshmen enrolled in UNIV 100: visit the still-running Virtual Celebration (on Moodle; you can log in as as Guest) and the photo blog.
Short-short Article on Enhancing Classroom Discussion
The latest issue of The Toolbox (10:3, Nov./Dec. 2011) features eight practical tips for making classroom discussion more successful. Ignore the title ("Value-Added Discussion Enhancers") and learn something new (for instance, why you might want to include background music during class discussion).
Hybrid and Online Class Designations
A new CSUN policy will help students registering for CSUN classes understand whether listed classes are hybrid, online, or traditional before they enroll; the course notes in SOLAR will designate a class as
- OF if the class is "Fully Online" with no campus meetings;
- OC if it is a "Campus Online" class with most class sessions online and any face-to-face sessions usually for orientation, special presentations, or exams; or
- OH if it is a "Hybrid Class" mixing online and face-to-face meetings approximately half and half through the semester.
In addition, CSUN students can now take a short new Student Online Readiness Survey to help them decide whether an online class is a good fit for them. The survey is anonymous and returns results directly to the student on the website at the time the survey is completed. Want to know more? Take the survey yourself.
"Strategies to Improve Student Writing"
This recent short article by David Smit describes how (and why) faculty in all disciplines should teach writing in their classes. He offers specific strategies faculty can use, arguing that "we must recognize that students cannot get sufficient practice in writing if they only write in English classes." (See "Strategies to Improve Student Writing.")
The Toolbox: A Teaching and Learning Resource for Faculty
"The Toolbox is an online professional development newsletter offering innovative learner-centered strategies for empowering college students to achieve greater success. The newsletter is published six times a year, and the online subscription is free."
Recent issues have included topics such as "Organizing Teaching to Promote Learning," "Web-Based Assignment Venues," "If You Are Here, Raise Your Hand: The Attendance Dilemma," and "Going Retro--Teaching Techless" (among others).
Tomorrow's Professor: "Why Students Lose Confidence"
This very brief article (as Tomorrow's Professor explains) "is a report on a study that looks at reasons why many freshman engineering students switch majors or drop out of college entirely. It has implications for many other disciplines as well. The article is by Mica A. Hutchison-Green." Tomorrow's Professor is a mailing list that offers "Desk-Top Faculty Development, One Hundred Times A Year." It is sponsored by the Stanford Center for Teaching and Learning.