Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a Macmillan webinar titled “Working with Divided Student Attention: Engaging Learners in A World Full of Distractions.” Professor Christin Monroe (Landmark College) and I shared some of our experiences working with diverse student populations in our respective fields, chemistry and history. We heard from lots of faculty participants from all over the country during the webinar who asked questions and shared experiences from their own classrooms. Most helpful for me was our discussion of what it means to be “distracted” and how to tell if a student truly is not paying attention. As we seek a better understanding of how the brain works and how much information we can process at one time, these kinds of conversations are critical for faculty seeking to make the most of the in-person time they have with students.    I’m happy to share a recording of the webinar below and welcome the opportunity to continue this conversation in a future blog. Comments are welcome through the comment box below or to me via email at suzannekmccormack@gmail.com   Working With Divided Student Attention: Engaging Learners In A World Full of Distractions (macmillanlearning.com) ... View more

This week's Quick Watch provides a demonstration of the Primary Source assignments available in Achieve, which are some of my favorite items to use for discussion and low-stakes quizzing. Questions? Please ask!    ... View more

As Professor Scribner notes, it's not always easy to have historians explore new digital features! However, LearningCurve adaptive quizzing provides improved results for students without extra stress. Listen as he discusses the most popular digital asset combination to get students to come to class prepared and having done the reading: Learning Curve adaptive quizzing + eBook within Achieve! ... View more

Over the past year I have transitioned all of my US history courses to either Achieve or Achieve Read & Practice. This week I've created a short (5 minute) video to show how easy it is to get started creating a course. In subsequent posts I will share some of my favorite Achieve-based content to use in history courses.   ... View more

On October 11th, various significant events have taken place throughout history. Here is a summary of some notable occurrences on this day: 2002 - Jimmy Carter Awarded Nobel Peace Prize Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 11th, 2002, for his efforts in promoting peace, democracy and human rights worldwide. 1971 - Release of John Lennon's "Imagine" On October 11th, 1971, John Lennon's iconic song "Imagine" was released. The song, with its powerful message of unity and peace, has become one of Lennon's most recognized and enduring works . 1975 - Bruce Springsteen's First Pop Hit Bruce Springsteen achieved his first pop hit on October 11th, 1975, with the release of his album "Born to Run. " The title track gained widespread popularity and solidified Springsteen's status as a rock music icon. 1962 - Vatican II Opens Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council, also known as Vatican II, on October 11th, 1962. This historic event brought significant changes to the Catholic Church, including liturgical reforms and increased engagement with the modern world. 1899 - Boer War Begins The Boer War, a conflict between the British Empire and the Boer states in South Africa, commenced on October 11th, 1899. The war lasted until 1902 and had a profound impact on the region's history and the future of South Africa . These are just a few highlights of the events that have occurred on October 11th throughout history. Exploring these moments allows us to appreciate the diverse tapestry of historical milestones and the individuals who have shaped our world. SOURCES: This Day in History - October 11 Jimmy Carter - Facts, Presidency & Nobel Prize ... View more

The community college at which I teach is designated a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), which means that at least 25% of our students are Hispanic. Many of our students are first-generation college students making it imperative that we provide a curriculum that affords them an opportunity to explore their cultures as well as examples of people from their communities who have been successful in their professional pursuits. Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 to October 15th, is a great time to review our courses and extracurricular offerings to ensure that we are meeting the needs of these valued members of our academic communities.   This past summer our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council reached out to the Rhode Island Latino Arts (RILA), a statewide cultural institution, to connect with a Dominican-American filmmaker. Alberto Genao grew up only five miles from our campus in one of the communities from which many of our students graduate high school. He visited campus last week to share his work in documentary and narrative filmmaking, as well as his efforts to document the Dominican and Colombian communities in our state.   Students had an overwhelmingly positive response to Genao’s visit and his message encouraging them to network in both their home communities and the collegiate environment. Having a professional filmmaker show students music videos he has made with performers in the Caribbean was motivating and inspiring, allowing them to see the possibilities that exist beyond the boundaries of their neighborhoods and the success of a man with a shared socio-economic background. Many of the students in the room during Genao’s talk could identify directly with his upbringing and the familial and cultural challenges he faced as he pursued a non-traditional career path.    Anyone in the Macmillan Community looking for an engaging speaker to connect with students during Hispanic Heritage Month, is encouraged to reach out to state cultural organizations such as RILA who can introduce students to speakers with whom they can directly identify. Just as we want students to see themselves reflected in a diverse teaching faculty, community members’ participation on our college campuses can present valuable role models for our students as they navigate the challenges of higher education. ... View more

Historian and professor Vaughn Scribner explains Achieve in his own words and why it's changed his classroom for the better. ... View more

We’ve had the good fortune this calendar year of welcoming two new faculty to our department, both of whom are newly-minted PhDs. Having fresh f aces to interact with has added energy to our department while also making us all a bit more aware of how important it is to “check in” on one another.    As we met in our opening-day department meeting I reflected on my first faculty meeting as an assistant professor on the tenure track in 2007. Diversity in hiring has been a priority of my community college for some time now. On that day in 2007, however, I was one of only two female faculty in a department of 15. Sixteen years later our department of 18 full-time faculty includes seven women and six people of color. We are the most diverse department on campus and our students notice. Increasingly they see themselves reflected in their teachers and that is meaningful. So many of our students are first-generation college students and seeing a diverse faculty provides them with examples of who they could become. They look to us as examples for their professional careers and to share with us the challenges they are facing as students and human beings.    I sent texts to our new faculty members a few days into the school year just to “check in”: how is it so far? What challenges are you facing? One commented that they were having trouble asking for assistance from our wonderfully helpful administrative assistant because in their head they were “still a graduate student.” We chatted about this transition from student to faculty, which gave me an opportunity to think about my own experiences so many years ago.   As we start this new semester, check in on your colleagues – young and old, new and seasoned. Yesterday one of our younger faculty members stopped by my office to ask how my semester is going. The “ask” gave me an opportunity to vent about a frustrating interaction with a student and I felt noticeably lighter when the conversation ended.    So this year, as always, whether it’s online in the Macmillan Community or in our brick and mortar offices, we as faculty can be amazing allies and support for each other. Keep your doors open and remember to keep checking in. ... View more

This week I had the opportunity to participate in New Student Welcome Day at my college. Beyond helping them to learn the ins and outs of the campus, the students were introduced to the college’s Pathways program and had the opportunity to eat lunch with a faculty member who teaches within their chosen academic path.    Participation in such a program by faculty is always voluntary at my community college. For me, New Student Days are an important way to help forge a personal connection to the physical space of the college while also being introduced to the intellectual shift that needs to take place as they become college students. While the idea behind the lunch was to provide students an opportunity to talk about possible career paths available to them with specific majors, the best part of the experience for me was listening to the general concerns that the student expressed.    I participated in this week’s event as a “history professor” but in reality what the students needed was a safe space in which to ask what they deemed “stupid questions.” This realization occurred about five minutes into my lunch group’s discussion when a student interrupted my talk about academic majors to ask what the difference is between calling an instructor “Professor” versus “Mr. or Mrs.” What followed was a series of “This is a dumb question but ….”    I was reminded during that one-hour discussion that many of my students are first-generation college attendees. Unlike myself, they did not grow up hearing their parents tell stories about college experiences. They likely do not keep one of their father’s college textbooks on their bookshelves like I do – a relic of my father’s life as a young man but also evidence of my family’s history of higher education. I don’t remember ever wondering why college-level teachers are called “professors” … but I do have memories of my father describing a particularly difficult professor at the institution we both attended.    As much as I tried to talk about career paths, what the students wanted was to discuss the basics: schedule, calendar, textbooks, bookstore, and general interaction with faculty. In other words, they could not yet envision career paths because they need to get over this first hurdle of experiencing the environment of college.   As we prepare for the first days of the new semester, let's try to hold some extra space and empathy in our hearts for those young people who are very likely to soar academically, but only after they stumble the first few weeks in an environment that is entirely foreign to them. Recognize that what feels so natural to those of us who teach, may feel cumbersome and riddled with anxiety to a person who has no previous connection to higher education. In other words, while our expertise may lie in an academic area, many young people need us more simply to be their bridge to that space that is unknown and uncomfortable. Best wishes for the new academic year!  ... View more

Even after teaching college students for twenty-plus years, I'm still searching every summer for tips and tricks to make the upcoming year's courses more meaningful for both myself and my students. This summer I was fortunate to participate in an assessment workshop at my college to evaluate our student learning outcomes (SLOs). Faculty from nearly every academic department worked in small mixed-discipline groups to consider necessary changes to our SLOs and discuss implementation of changes during the upcoming academic year. At the conclusion of the workshop each group shared observations for their assigned SLO in a seminar-wide discussion.    The strongest take-away for me from this workshop was the importance of helping students to understand the “why” in my assignments. From the simple (“why are we reading these textbook chapters?”) to the more complex (“why can’t we use unvetted web sites in our history research projects?”) it was demonstrated to me time and again as I listened to the challenges colleagues face in their classrooms that we as faculty need our students to buy-in to our assignments. They must see the value in completing the work as a component of their personal success rather than simply checking a box.    I’ve blogged before about the challenge of convincing students to engage with  assigned readings. Reality is that if students believe they can complete a course without reading the text, they will do so. My students are assigned various types of quizzes (Summative Chapter or Learning Curve) available with Achieve to prepare for class. While I can’t be certain that they have read every word of the chapter, I can generally see from their quiz grade whether the student has engaged even minimally with the material before coming to class. Having those quizzes combine to equal one exam grade gives some weight to the reading as well and undoubtedly increased the quality of class participation and discussion.   While many Macmillan Community members may already be familiar with the so-called TILT framework for creating course assignments, I am sharing the link this week because until this summer’s faculty seminar, TILT was a foreign concept to me. A research project originally begun at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign, TILT provides a framework for transparency in student assignments. The web site linked in this blog provides an explanation of the framework as well as opportunities for faculty to participate in on-going research studies of student assignments. In our faculty seminar we shared assignments from previous semesters and made suggestions to each other, using the TILT concepts, for how our goals for SLOs could be better conveyed to students through our instructions. The experience was incredibly valuable! As you prepare for the semester ahead, TILT is just one more resource to consider adding to your academic tool box.   Tips for the new school year? Please share!   ... View more

If you’re anything like me and love summer movies, you might be excited for the upcoming release of “Barbie” (Warner Bros). And while I’m not going to claim there is any historical value in seeing the film, I do think that the mere existence of the film is a great opportunity for conversations with students about a variety of topics: the history of children’s toys, the history of childhood, as well as personal reflection and even nostalgia.   The character “Barbie” is no doubt iconic in American life. Since the 1950s millions of children worldwide have dressed their dolls, imagined life in their “Dream Houses,” and zoomed their Barbies in pink cars on playroom floors. The public debate about the image projected by Barbie has also been ever-present: a blonde haired, blue-eyed woman sculpted with an unrealistically “ideal” body. Over the years, Mattel has sought to mitigate Barbie’s image problem by creating new Barbies that are more diverse and seek to inspire girls, in particular, to believe that any dream is a possibility.    I’ve been reflecting on Barbie, and toys in general, as a potential topic for US history classes this week as marketing ramps up for the film’s release. As crazy as this claim may sound, I do not remember ever owning a Barbie. My mother assures me that this was not the case and that for a time as a child I was just as immersed in Barbie’s imaginary world as the rest of my cohort of 1970s-born American girls.   While I certainly don’t expect to remember everything from my personal history, I do have strong memories of my favorite childhood possession: a two-sided chalkboard. For a time as a child I remember my father writing very short stories (two or three sentences) on the board after I went to sleep at night so I could read them in the morning. My father was a history teacher then and I remember visiting his classroom and him letting me write on the board at the front of the room. I also vividly recall that later I lined up my stuffed animals in a classroom formation on my bedroom floor to teach them “lessons.”    My own children are grown (enough) that I can make connections between their professional goals and their childhood passions. My oldest, who was never without a colored pencil and a drawing pad, is now an illustrator. My youngest, who wrote stories for us that he “bound” with multiple rows of staples, is studying film and writing. When I reflect on these memories with my children and share the historical evidence of their youthful work, I’m reminded of how often our college students forget subjects/areas of interest that they were passionate about once they arrive in college. The focus on career/income goals often completely takes over any discussion of their actual interests.   So, back to “Barbie” … what if we ask our students to think about the toys that brought them joy as children and imagine a way in which they could find that same joy as they pursue career choices? An in-class assignment might include students conducting research on their favorite childhood toys – they might, like me, have to ask the adults who raised them for some insight. A student who loved Barbies or GI Joes, or Matchbox Cars, for example, could engage in the history of their chosen product, its controversies and evolution over time. Ultimately, however, we as teachers could ask them to think about how that toy provoked joy and what they are/could be doing in their lives today to find that same spark. Questions will be raised about their personal childhood histories while also considering some of the popular culture of the eras in which they were raised.   As a graduate student I took a seminar called “History of Childhood.” This experience was the first time I had ever considered the extent to which young people’s lives have changed dramatically over the course of history. The topic made me more conscious about including children’s experiences in my general US History classes – and recognizing those experiences as historically valid and meaningful.   So let's toy (sorry) with this question: has anyone out there in the Macmillan Community included a study of toys/childhood in their survey history courses? Please share. ... View more

My summer term students were taking their final exam for US History I today when the Supreme Court announced the ruling that effectively ends affirmative action in college admissions. I can’t help but wonder about the long-term impact of the decision for community college students like mine, many of whom come from disadvantaged school districts where most residents are non-white. The two years of free community college provided to new high school graduates by the state in which I teach is only a small step towards closing the enormous economic gaps that exist in our socio-economic hierarchy. The reality is that nearly all well-paying jobs require a four-year degree nowadays. Every May as I watch students walk across the stage in jubilation as they receive their hard-earned associates degrees, I can’t help but think about all the academic and economic challenges that still lie ahead.   How, then, do we talk about the SCOTUS decision to our students of color? I long ago embraced the ideology of “teaching the truth.” Students in my classes reckon with the horrible realities of our history and the ways in which racial discrimination and notions of white supremacy have shaped all of our national institutions. I emphasize to my students that we study subjects like chattel slavery, the destruction of indigenous communities, and the internment of Japanese-Americans so that we can remind ourselves that the so-called “playing field” of American life has never been even. People of color in the United States have historically struggled against discrimination and oppression, and many have achieved incredible successes in spite of historically-present roadblocks. Rather than feeling defeated by those struggles, my students are often buoyed by the resilience of individuals and groups. These stories provide the students with a foundation from which to better understand the nation in which they live and, I hope, to recognize our nation is still a work in progress.   Now, however, my students face a new obstacle as they seek to transfer to four-year colleges. Race can no longer be considered in admissions, in spite of the fact that it is truly a factor in every aspect of American life and has been since the beginning of settlement in Jamestown, New Amsterdam, and Plymouth. I’m struggling with how to talk to students about this monumental decision. Many wonder how it will impact them individually. Will colleges that today are vowing to continue to strive for diverse student bodies be able to legally achieve their goals? Or will the hands of admissions committees be tied by the ruling? Anyone who has worked in a community college understands that it is simply impossible to ignore the harsh realities of growing up in non-white communities in America today, where educational opportunities for even our youngest children are not equal to those available in predominantly white neighborhoods. How do we keep students from being deterred by this ruling from pursuing their academic dreams? I feel fortunate to have two months to mull over the implications of this monumental decision before my students return to the classroom.   Conversation welcome. ... View more

In previous blogs I’ve mentioned that I use inclusive access in all of my on-campus and online classes. Some faculty are not familiar with this practice and have asked me to share some observations of this (relatively) new academic tool. Contained in this blog are my personal views with the caveat that some colleges/faculty have not adopted inclusive access for a number of reasons. My intent is not to debate the practice but to share the overwhelmingly positive experience I’ve had using inclusive access during the last three academic years.     Prior to the Pandemic our college had a traditional bookstore with both physical books and access codes available for students to purchase. As someone who has long used a publisher-based learning management system in conjunction with the one that my college provides to all students, I found the first couple weeks of class challenging. Students would need to purchase an access code and then connect to the publisher’s materials to get started with our course assignments. Although theoretically this task should be rather simple, it was unnecessarily difficult for a number  of reasons. The main stumbling point for my students was the use of financial aid at the bookstore. Many students did not adequately understand the financial aid process as it relates to book purchases and as a result missed key deadlines for getting course materials. These same students then missed assignments at the start of the semester.    In addition, some students struggled with the use of access codes. Again, we might see this as a non-issue in the 21st-century student’s life but the reality was something different. I had students lose codes, mis-type codes, choose the wrong text to which to match their code … all simple errors that resulted in a delay in the start of their participation in the course.   For me, the single greatest asset of inclusive access is having the course materials already loaded into our college’s learning management system on day one. My students, in fact, do not need to visit the bookstore for any of our course materials. Example: for US History I and II I use The American Promise with Achieve. I work with my Macmillan sales representative about two weeks before the start of classes to make the relevant connections (I’ll discuss these in a future blog) and when my students log in to our LMS they are already connected to needed materials. For those classes that meet in person I am able to show the students at our first meeting exactly where everything is. For online classes I provide an instructional video to show them where/how to find what they need.   This summer I am teaching a six week intensive US History I. Our IT department provided my students with laptops for our first meeting and they were able to immediately get working with course materials. No trip to the bookstore. No financial aid questions. The cost of the course materials is billed directly to the students with their tuition, which means no additional financial aid concerns/deadlines. Having no delay between the start of class and access to course materials meant that the very first week of class my students were able to read two chapters in the eBook and complete course assignments for both. This instant access has been extremely valuable this summer as we strive to complete an entire semester in six weeks.   I’d love to hear from those of you who have not yet tried inclusive access: what are your concerns? And those who have used it, what are your experiences? Please share. ... View more

This week I’m transitioning my US History I class from LaunchPad to Achieve   Summer session begins on Tuesday so I’m quickly educating myself on the differences between LaunchPad and Achieve, in preparation for working with students in the classroom. This week’s blog will share some of the materials I plan to use as we start Summer Session. I’ll follow up later in the month to share how things are going so far!    First things first: I use The American Promise (9th edition) for both sections of my US history survey classes. Summer Session One at my college is six weeks long. We meet in person twice per week for three hours and ten minutes each meeting.   I don't expect the transition from LaunchPad to Achieve to be an issue for the students as many of them are in my classroom for the first time and are not wedded to the LaunchPad system as I am! Nonetheless, to help us all with the technology I’ve requested a cart of laptops from our IT Department for our class meeting times so that each student will be able to complete these first assignments in our physical class space, getting help when necessary. This is something I hope to continue doing with future semester students – taking some of the “lecture” out of class time and replacing it with students completing work on their own or with a partner in class. This, I hope, will provide those who need additional support an opportunity to ask questions while we are sharing physical space.    Since our first meeting will be 3 hours long with the students not yet having access to their textbooks or any assignments beforehand, I plan to utilize two Achieve tools on the first day to help the students get to know the software and me to get to know the students.   Here are two short videos sharing the resources I will use on the first day of class: the Achieve Orientation Quiz and the Intro Survey. Bear with me as this is the first time I've added video to my blogs!     I'm excited to read the student surveys after our first meeting and hopeful that they will help guide me in the kinds of assignments I use with students during the semester.  Stay tuned!       ... View more