Charles J' Ansorge

1
Thinking Small Strategy for Improving Teaching
and Learning

• Charles J. Ansorge
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• April 11, 2008

2
Using Technology to Affect Change

• A strategy that has worked for me to affect
  change
• A major focus throughout my career has been to
  improve my teaching and my students learning
• Demands of career in higher ed have forced me to
  be more efficient with my time
• Have sought tools to help accomplish teaching,
  research and service goals
• Whats benefitted me in my efforts to achieve
  personal and professional goals?

3
Context for My Journey

• Former department chair and currently program
  head for Quantitative, Qualitative and
  Psychometric Methods program at University of
  Nebraska
• Teaching responsibilities include beginning and
  advanced statistics
• Teaching includes face-to-face and distance
• Asked about 15 years ago to be the campus point
  person for using technology effectively in the
  teaching and learning process
• Very much involved in the TLTR movement in middle
  90s

4
More Background

• Long-time fascination with technology and have
  been an early adopter since the 1980s
• Comfortable with change always looking for some
  new and improved tools that might help me teach
  and help my students learn
• Promoting link between technology and teaching on
  my campus highlight of career
• Early experiences with colleagues led me to
  believe the importance of early success
• Assisting colleagues take small steps that
  resulted in incremental change was my most
  successful strategy

5
Thinking Small

• Journey as a professor filled with problem
  solving
• Whats an effective way to share course content
  with students?
• Whats an efficient way to comment on student
  papers and send responses in a timely manner?
• Is there a good way to test students that reduces
  chances of students not doing there own work?
• How is it possible to schedule meetings,
  excluding face-to-face, with students enrolled in
  a distance offering that helps them feel as if
  they are connected with others in the class?

6
Solving Problems and Helping Others

• The combination of problem solving interest and
  helping others has been a driving force for me in
  career
• Provides motivation for my work
• Finding a cure for cancer would have been nice
  but helping one new colleague solve a problem
  with technology or one student understand a
  statistical concept sufficient for me
• The turtle may not be the swiftest in a race
  against a rabbit, but the turtles pace is
  generally steady and in a straight course. The
  rabbit hops around hither and yon.
• Im probably more a turtle than a rabbit

The Tortoise and the Hare, illustrated by Milo
Winter in a 1919 Aesop anthology
7
Lessons Learned

• Great supporter of LTAs (Low-Threshold
  Applications) and BHWs (Brief Hybrid Workshops)
• Both are consistent with my philosophy of
  thinking small or incremental change
• Around eight years ago that journey as a
  professor intersected with Steve Gilbert and
  involved the pursuit of building a collection of
  LTAs
• The collection was built over a period of years
  and now numbers 50
• Recently resurrected and now available on TLT
  website

8
Low Threshold Applications (LTAs)

• Collection has moved from place to place
• Began at UNL
• Moved to TLT home site
• Then to Maricopa Community College
• Back home now on TLT server thanks to work of
  Lisa Star
• All of the LTAs were created to be shared with
  others
• Each of the LTAs had a different expected outcome
• All were expected to be relatively easy to learn
• Inexpensive
• Perhaps save time during a busy work day

9
LTAs

• Current location of LTA collection
• http//tltgroup.wordpress.com/low-threshold-applic
  ations/
• The collection has room to grow

10
Early LTAs

• Motivation forces for creating selected LTAs
• LTA 1Tracking Changes in Microsoft Word
  Documents
• LTA 2Instant Messenger
• LTA 3Creating a Grade Roster in Excel
• LTA 5Adding Audio Narration to PowerPoint
  Slides
• LTA 10Creating Low Threshold Animations for
  Teaching and Learning
• LTA 14--Creating Type-able Printable Forms for
  Collecting Information

11
Recent Journey Experiences

• Applying what learned related to technology
• Focus for past two years has been the significant
  update of the two distance learning statistics
  classes
• Have incorporated new tools to improve learning
  experience for students
• Have switched from CD technology to DVD
  technology
• Have incorporated the use of Adobe Connect and
  Adobe Presenter in my classes

12
More Experiences

• Beta testing a new online assessment system on
  our campus that is much improved from previous
  software
• Taping brief student-faculty encounters with the
  idea in mind that they might become part of an
  FAQ for a class
• Attending the latest events and reading as many
  postings as possible related to the new tools
  and new ideas that are related to technology and
  teaching

13
Winding Down a Career

• Is thinking small a good strategy to pursue?
• Should the strategy be recommended to others
• Is the strategy likely to result in the
  accomplishment of important career goals?

14
Discussion Items

• Thinking big versus thinking small where do you
  stand?
• What strategy is most likely to affect change on
  a college campus?
• How many big projects on campuses have made a
  difference and how many have resulted in a report
  on a shelf or in a file cabinet that have been
  ignored because the promoter of the project no
  longer is employed by the college or university?
• Does career experience affect strategy for
  implementing change?