Anna Chmiel, Dan Cristman, Matthew Cullen, Rita Ferriter, Susan Godwin – Moraine Valley Community College
College study skills (COS 100) became a co-requisite of the lowest level reading course offered at the college. A unique plan involving several departments was developed to try to maximize the benefits of the course pairings. The synergies between the courses have improved student success.
Your Best Powerpoint Presentation Today!
Jason King, Moraine Valley Community College
Powerpoint, and related programs, are probably here to stay. This being said, most of our Direct Lectures that use Powerpoint present to our students a number of conflicts, and are often not the ideal method of Direct Instruction Presentation. We will be exploring a number of choke points related to student retention in common Powerpoint presentations and what can be done to mitigate some of the issues Powerpoint presents.
Academic Misconduct: The Battle Against Cheating in the Writing Classroom
Lara Hernandez Corkrey, Moraine Valley Community College
Sweeping changes in technology have wrought sweeping changes in cheating as well. Gone is the stash of term papers from older siblings waiting to be resubmitted under a new name. In its place are online paper banks, custom essay mills, sharing sites, and even shadow students. As writing teachers, we are on the front line of the war on academic integrity. We are not only the recipients of suspect papers, but we are also considered the experts in identifying the markers of cheating in written work. Let’s get together and discuss the new threats to academic integrity.
ZipGrade - An Alternative to Scantron
Christopher Riola, Moraine Valley Community College
In this session, we will explore the power of a mobile app known as ZipGrade. Available for Android and Apple devices, users can harness the power of their smartphone or tablet to grade student papers. A limited-use version is available for free, and the full app is available for a nominal yearly subscription. We will cover the basic functionality of the app, as well as creating exams, answer keys, customized answer sheets, and more.
The Best of Both Worlds: Successfully Implementing Corequisite Developmental Writing courses
Lisa Crizer, Adriane Hutchinson, Ellen Morton, Kathy Young – McHenry County College
We now know the benefits of corequisite courses in developmental education. But what happens when we make the switch from traditional, stand-alone developmental courses to a corequisite model? How do we successfully deal with the challenges that comes with implementing these courses? In this session, we will discuss the changes we’ve made to the developmental writing program at McHenry County College. We will share the challenges we’ve encountered, both inside and outside the classroom, and the many ways we’ve worked together to deal with these successfully.
Not Just a Dime a Dozen: Stretching Vocabulary Instruction to Support Students
Michelle Duffy, Jennifer Theriault – Northern Illinois University
This presentation is geared toward developmental educators interested in the area of vocabulary instruction. As vocabulary is an important aspect of comprehension, instructors need to help build students’ independent word learning strategies. Yet, readily available and college-level appropriate resources for vocabulary instruction for postsecondary educators may be difficult to find. The presentation begins with a theoretical foundation and overview of existing research on postsecondary vocabulary instruction before sharing possible strategies for vocabulary instruction at the postsecondary developmental level. Come see how particular vocabulary strategies can be utilized to stretch students’ learning and success.
Why Don’t They Study?
Jason King, Moraine Valley Community College
From the standpoint of many in Developmental Education, it can be easy to ask why our students don’t do the things we know would make them more successful – ask questions, study, complete homework, and buy the book. Why, so often, do our students not complete these? In this session we will explore what Transtheoretical Psychology, a psychological school often used for behavior modification, can tell us – and what steps we can take to help our students succeed.
Better, Faster, Stronger: Developmental Writing and the Pressure to Reform
Lara Hernandez Corkrey, MVCC
Formerly seen as the gateway to higher education for underprepared students, developmental education is now commonly referred to as a barrier keeping those same students from completion. States all across America are looking into what they call “remedial reform.” Some states have eliminated stand-alone developmental courses while others are investigating ways to accelerate the progress of these students through bypass options or course compression.
Is your department re-evaluating your approach to developmental writing? What changes have you made to your developmental writing curriculum? How are they working? Let’s discuss both the challenges and opportunities this national dialogue presents.
A Glimpse into Developmental Reading at MVCC
Jennifer Lee, Rita Ferriter, MVCC
Developmental reading courses are structured to maximize comprehension and to build a toolbox of comprehension strategies to apply in textbooks of other college courses. Participants will be given a glimpse inside of a typical developmental reading course at Moraine Valley. An interactive approach will be utilized in the presentation.
Lesson Plan Open Mic Night (by discipline)!
Have a great lesson plan? Let's get together and share some ideas! Be ready to discuss your great idea, bring in reproducibles if you'd like, and talk about how you implement it for a few minutes. Then, it's someone else's turn! After we're all done you'll have some great activity ideas and you'll walk out with some cost-effective shared lessons that are ready for you to implement!