Faculty assesses effectiveness of methods of instruction at discussion

By: Corinne Speckert

Posted: 12/4/08

Annette Nellen, an accounting and finance professor, said findings from a campus study said students "thought they would be more challenged" at SJSU than they currently are.

Amy D'Andrade, an assistant professor of social work, said the SJSU study is mindboggling because her students often complain of being too challenged.

"I think I've been lowering my bar," she said. "I'm teaching graduate students and they're like, 'We need a study guide.' They just want everything so laid out for them. So that's why I was surprised to hear they're not challenged."

Professors and faculty gathered Wednesday to tackle the questions: What does it mean to be educated? Is it percents and letters or does it go beyond grades, academic challenge, student willingness and comprehension of the subject to determine an educated student?

Wednesday's discussion was part of a series of informal forums titled "Campus Dialogue." These meetings, which began in 2003, work as an outlet for educators to meet and discuss concerns and issues about SJSU students.

Among some of the issues discussed were how to increase student motivation, how to transition new students into college level studies, the necessity of students fully understanding course subject matter and the role of academic challenge and student engagement.

"At the core of it is the question of what is an educated person." said Mary Fran Breiling, interim associate director for the Center for Faculty Development. "What we have been doing is meeting to discuss what does that mean in terms of the curriculum that might be offered."

Jackie Snell, the director of assessment, said that in attempts to assure students are qualified graduates, the school has discussed implementing academic plans, one of which is similar to President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, an effort to improve academic performance.

Snell said there hasn't been much discussion about implementing a similar plan because SJSU and accreditation agencies want to develop their own academic plans that would give the college more freedom in deciding what students should learn.

Nellen said expectations of challenge among students are tough to obtain because students expect to be challenged more upon entering a university, but when they're not, they assume they won't be challenged for the rest of their college career.

"Are we setting the bar low that first year, and then from that point on that's what they expect?" she said. "The challenge for us when looking at first-year students is that while they're expecting to be challenged more, are they ready to be challenged more? So we see that they're not ready, so we lower the bar, then at the same time we're lowering their expectations for the future."

Snell said accrediting agencies are looking at assessment tests to determine the efficiency of the faculty.

"Assessment is really looking at 'What are our students learning?' not 'What is faculty teaching?'" she said. "We've been scrambling to get that in place on this campus."

According to the National Survey of Student Engagement, which studies student behavior and campus characteristics, students are more engaged when presented with a higher level of academic challenge. The study further found that students who are engaged are more likely to succeed.

The survey also said that while students are more engaged when they're challenged, but meeting attendees addressed the difficulty of engaging students through challenging them because the amount of challenge needed varies per student.