Sandra Herbert, History, Named Christ’s College “Distinguished Visiting Scholar”
Sandra Herbert, professor of history and resident Darwin scholar, was selected as the “Distinguished Visiting Scholar” in Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, for 2006-07, a significant honor since Christ’s College was Darwin’s College. Herbert has also been invited to Cambridge to help them plan for the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth and the 800th anniversary of the University. The celebration will take place in 2009.

Ellen Handler Spitz, Honors College, Publishes New Book
Ellen Handler Spitz, Honors College professor of visual arts, recently published a book, The Brightening Glance: Imagination and Childhood, (Pantheon Books/Random House), which examines how children learn and use their imaginations to travel through life. Spitz appeared on CN8 Nitebeat (New England TV) in Boston on Feb. 24. She has been invited to readings in Charlottesville with E.D. Hirsh, Cincinnati, Champaign-Urbana, Chicago, San Francisco and locally, in Rockville and Baltimore.

In addition, Spitz lectured on “Reaching Young Minds: Jewish Books for Jewish Children” during the University of Cincinnati’s Annual Beatrice Winkler Lecture Series in Judaic Studies on Feb. 20. While there, Spitz appeared on “Cover to Cover,” a radio program on WRRS-FM and ICN 6 Television Studios (Northern Kentucky). To find out more about Spitz’s lecture, visit http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.asp?id=3615.

J. Lynn Zimmerman, Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives, Named 2006-07 American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow
J. Lynn Zimmerman, vice provost for academic initiatives, is one of 38 university administrators to be named an ACE Fellow for the academic year 2006-07. Candidates for ACE Fellowships are nominated by the president or chancellor of an institution. Awards were given based on the nominee’s academic credentials and potential for administrative leadership, the recommendations of professional colleagues, the judgment of interviewing teams of senior administrators and overall qualifications as measured against the standards of the Program.

The ACE Fellows Program, established in 1965, is designed to strengthen institutions and leadership in American higher education by identifying and preparing promising senior faculty and administrators for responsible positions in college and university administration.

Each Fellow will focus on an issue of concern for his or her institution while spending time working with a college or university president and other senior officers at a host institution. Fellows will attend seminars on higher education issues, participate in interactive learning opportunities, visit campuses and will be placed at another higher education institution to condense years of on-the-job experience and skills development into a single semester or year. Zimmerman, along with the remaining ACE Fellows, will also be included in the highest level of decision-making while participating in administrative activities and learning about an issue that will benefit their schools.

Rebecca Boehling, History, Wins David Baumgardt Memorial Fellowship
Rebecca Boehling, associate professor of history and director of the Honors College, and her co-author, Uta Larkey, are the winners of the David Baumgardt Memorial Fellowship, administered by the Leo Baeck Institute for the Study of History and Culture of German-speaking Jewry. The pair will receive $3000 to help with the transcription and travel expenses for their book project based on Leaving No Stone Unturned: A German-Jewish Family's Struggle to be Reunited, 1938-1948.

Fellowships are awarded to scholars whose research projects are connected with the writings of David Baumgardt or his scholarly interests, including ethics, Wissenschaft des Judentums and the Modern Intellectual History of German-speaking Jewry.

2/17/06

M. Appa Anjanappa Issued Patent For Invention
M. Appa Anjanappa, professor of mechanical engineering, was issued a patent, U.S. 6,991,698, on Jan. 31. “Magnetostrictive Film Actuators Using Selective Orientation,” relates to a method of making films of magnetostrictive material that exhibit a bending moment in an applied magnetic field or of making layers of magnetostrictive with regions pre-aligned in different directions. View the patent in its entirety on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Web site at http://www.uspto.gov. For more information about patents, copyrights, trademarks or start-up companies, visit the Office of Technology Development, located at 5523 Research Park Drive Suite 310, or http://www.umbc.edu/otd.

Lynne Schaefer and Joan Kennedy Cody Join Spring Grove Hospital Task Force
Lynne Schaefer, vice president for finance and administration, and Joan Kennedy Cody, director of community and government relations, are members of the Spring Grove Hospital Task Force. The group, comprised of community leaders, business workers, university representatives and others, will advise state officials on the future of the hospital, which occupies state-owned property.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_county/bal-md.co.digest14feb14,0,2130838.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

Greg Payne, Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Named Associate Director for UMBI’s Biosystems Center
Greg Payne, professor of chemical and biochemical engineering, was named associate director for the Center for Biosystems Research at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI). Payne joined UMBI in 1987, as a joint appointee for UMBC's Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering.

Samuel R. Reid, Jr., ’99 Computer Science, Receives Modern Day Technology Leaders Award
Samuel R. Reid, Jr., ’99 computer science, will receive a Modern Day Technology Leaders Award during the 2006 Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) conference, Feb. 16-17 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Reid, who also received a master’s in computer science from The Johns Hopkins University, is a fellow software engineer in the Test Engineering Systems department at Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems. Modern Day Technology awards are given to promising young men and women who are shaping the future of engineering, science and technology.
http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/news.html?d=93578

2/10/06

UMBC Staff and SGA President Publish Article in About Campus Magazine
David Hoffman, coordinator for leadership and engagement initiatives in the Office of Student Life; Diane Lee, vice provost and dean of undergraduate education; Lee Hawthorne, associate director of student life; Jordan Hadfield, president of Student Government Association and Patty Perillo, assistant vice president for student affairs, published an article on student engagement in About Campus, a prominent national higher education publication. As a result of the article, colleges and universities nationwide have inquired about UMBC’s work to encourage student participation at all levels.

On Jan. 26, the UMBC group presented their work during the Association of American Colleges and Universities conference in Washington, DC.

Keri Burneston, ’99 Visual Arts, in “Love Hurts Valentine’s Day”
Keri Burneston, ’99 Visual Arts, also known as Trixie Little, heats up the stage with her partner, the Evil Hate Monkey, in “Love Hurts Valentine’s Day,” a semi-burlesque production at the Historic Patterson Theater in Baltimore on Feb. 11.
http://trixielittle.com/calendar.html

Christoph Irmscher, English, to Deliver Longfellow Birthday Lecture
Christoph Irmscher, professor of English and chair of the English department, will deliver the annual Longfellow Birthday Lecture on Feb. 25, in Cambridge, Mass. The event is sponsored by the National Park Service, the Longfellow National Historic Site, Friends of the Longfellow House and the Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery. (http://www.nps.gov/long/pphtml/eventdetail21517.html)

Irmscher recently received a special award from the Friends of the Longfellow House for his research activities. His new book, Longfellow Redux, will be published this spring by the University of Illinois Press.
(http://www.press.uillinois.edu/s06/irmscher.html)

He was also quoted in J. T. Rigelhof's review of Eden Robinson's novel, Blood Sports, which appeared in The Globe and Mail, Canada's largest English-language daily newspaper, on January 13. (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060113.bkeden1301/BNStory/SpecialEvents/)

2/03/06

Robert Freedman, Judaic Studies, Featured Panelist for CenterStage Event
Robert Freedman, part-time professor of Judaic studies, will also be a featured panelist for the “Political Science” discussion at CenterStage on Feb. 1. In last week’s Kudos, Insights Weekly reported Professor Emeritus of Political Science Lou Cantori would be a part of the three-member panel. The event is held in conjunction with CenterStage’s production of “The Murder of Issac,” a play by Motti Lerner based on real life events surrounding the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.
http://www.centerstage.org/production.php?prodID=23

Public Policy Students Offer Solutions to Reduce Teen Driving Accidents
At the invitation of Del. James Malone, public policy master’s students Paul Patrick, Juliana Thirolf and Mari Wepprecht presented results of their research to Maryland legislators on Thursday, Jan. 26. The findings stem from a new study, “Limiting Death, Injury and Loss Due to Teen Drivers in Maryland: A Policy Analysis,” which includes policy options to reduce Maryland teen driving accidents. The students summarized the report during a presentation to the House Environmental Matters Committee. The committee is considering new laws to promote teen driver safety. Working with Dave Marcotte, associate professor of public policy, and Amy Davidoff, assistant professor of public policy, the students prepared the policy analysis as part of their Public Policy Capstone seminar. The study is available online at http://www.umbc.edu/pubpol.

Tom Schaller, political science, in the Washington Examiner
Tom Schaller, associate professor of political science, wrote a Feb. 17 column, “Former Gov. Warner’s Got a Long Road to Walk” in the Washington Examiner. In this opinion piece, Schaller looks at whether former Va. Gov. Mark Warner will use South Carolina to advance his candidacy for the 2008 South Carolina Republican primary.
http://www.dcexaminer.com/articles/2006/02/17/opinion/op-ed/14oped17schaller.txt

UMBC Athletics Department in NCAA News
On Feb. 13, the UMBC athletics department’s community service program was highlighted in NCAA News. In “The Takeaway on Giving Back,” Athletic Director Charlie Brown stated, “It is a requirement of all of our coaches and student-athletes. During the recruiting process, we make it clear that it is part of what our teams do.”
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/newsdetail?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/NCAA/NCAA+News/NCAA+News+Topics/Centerpiece/The+takeaway+on+giving+back+2-13-06+NCAA+News

2/17/06

Kwame Ansah-Brew, Dance, in the Baltimore Sun
Kwame Ansah-Brew, dance instructor, was mentioned in a Baltimore Sun article published on Feb. 10. Ansah-Brew is part of the West African dance duo, Anansegromma. “Spreading the Beat of A Native Drum” highlighted the group’s performance of drumming, songs and games at the Maryland City Branch in Laurel, Md.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-ar.drums10feb10,0,1007510.story?coll=bal-local-arundel

Sheldon Broedel, ’84 and ’90, in the Daily Record
Sheldon Broedel, ’84 biological sciences and ’90 MS biological sciences, and his company, Athena Environmental Sciences, Inc., were profiled in a Feb.10 Daily Record story about its first commercial product, MagiGlue. MagiGlue is “an all-natural non-toxic glue composed of organic polymers, completely free of petroleum and animal by-products.” As for its namesake, add water and the glue loses it stickiness, making it an ideal product for temporary uses.
[Subscription Required to View.]

“Extraordinary Bodies” Exhibit in The Chronicle of Higher Education
"Extraordinary Bodies: Photographs From the Mütter Museum," a Library Gallery exhibit, was featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “The Human Condition, Disassembled” on Feb. 17. Although the artistic displays of human bodies were originally intended as teaching models for aspiring physicians, the public now “finds fascination in the museum's examples of nature's challenges to human life and to medical understanding.” “Extraordinary Bodies” runs through March 12.
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i24/24b01901.htm

In Vitro Technologies, techcenter@UMBC, in the Baltimore Sun
In Vitro Technologies, a techcenter@UMBC company, was mentioned in a Feb. 14 Baltimore Sun article on the success of incubator companies. In “Boosting Tech Companies,” Paul Silber, president and chief executive of In Vitro, said being a business incubator helped develop his company.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.incubator14feb14,0,4741696.story?coll=bal-business-headlines

Amos Levi, Hillel, in the Baltimore Jewish Times
Rabbi Amos Levi, director of Hillel, was mentioned in a Baltimore Jewish Times article about a Feb. 12 conference, “Getting Hooked -- Jewish Dating Today," on finding a Jewish soul mate. Levi spoke at the conference as noted in “Looking for Love;” published on Feb. 8.
http://www.jewishtimes.com/scripts/edition.pl?now=5/25/1999&SubSectionID=30&ID=5399

Roy Meyers, Political Science, in the Baltimore Sun
Roy Meyers, professor of political science, was quoted in a Feb. 7 Baltimore Sun story on Maryland’s budget surplus. In “Taxes, Fees Found to be Key to State’s $2 Billion Surplus,” Meyers says Ehrlich’s surplus claim is a result of a “political budget cycle.”
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.fiscal07feb07,1,1229129.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

Don Norris, Director of MIPAR, in the Baltimore Sun
Don Norris, professor of public policy, was quoted in a Feb. 12 Baltimore Sun story about the possibility of Baltimore City Council President Shelia Dixon becoming mayor if Martin O’Malley wins the gubernatorial election. However, in “Political Baggage Grows Heavier,” Norris said Dixon’s ethical behavior could impede her chances of gaining the city’s top job.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.dixon12feb12,0,2478837.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

On Feb. 16, in “Ehrlich Wary of Voting Method,” a Baltimore Sun article, Norris was mentioned for conducting research that studied whether or not the state’s voting machines would work effectively with a voter verification system.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.elect16feb16,0,4246329.story?page=1

In the Feb. 15 Baltimore Sun’s article, “A Raft of Dueling Legislation,” Norris said democrats and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich will battle for bragging rights in the upcoming fall elections. Norris said despite the expected partisan spats, the public will not care whose ideas prompted adopted bills.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.coopt15feb15,0,745097.story

Also, on Feb. 15, Norris was quoted in the Baltimore Sun’s “Now it's Ed Norris, Political Kingmaker.” Norris said Ed Norris, Baltimore’s former chief cop, who was convicted of misusing city money, will not sway voters’ decisions for the governor’s race.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.vozzella15feb15,0,7655180.column

Phoenix Dance Company Performance Chosen as Critic’s Pick
The Baltimore City Paper named the Phoenix Dance Company’s concerts as a Critic’s Pick, The concerts, performed Feb. 8-11, featured hardcore/punk choreography by Carol Hess, chair of the dance department; Doug Hamby, assistant director of dance; and Sandra Lacy, dance instructor.
http://www.citypaper.com/calendar/event.asp?whatID=69085

UMBC in The Catonsville Times
UMBC was mentioned in “Local School Passes Test at Black Saga Tourney Competition,” a Feb. 8 Catonsville Times article about a Black History Month tournament in Baltimore County. The first competition of its kind in the county, Black Saga, was sponsored by state and local organizations, including UMBC.
http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=351&NewsID=695424&CategoryID=8381&show=localnews&om=1

2/10/06

President Freeman Hrabowski in Stockton, Calif. Record
UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski was quoted in a Jan. 30 Stockton, Calif. Record story on the evolving values of African-Americans. The article, “Different Values,” contrasted the values of the Civil Rights Movement with those of today's Hip Hop Generation.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060130/ENT/601300305

Hrabowski later was quoted in the Feb. 1 Baltimore Sun story, “Marylanders Remember King as Leader, Role Model,” about the death of Coretta Scott King. Hrabowski said King was the most recognizable leader for people born after the Civil Rights Movement.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.kingreact01feb01,1,4769517.story?coll=bal-news-nation

CAVC in the Washington Post
The Center for Art and Visual Culture has “emerged as a leading curatorial force in our area,” according to Jessica Dawson a Washington Post reporter. The article was printed on Feb. 5 and profiled several venues in the region.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/03/AR2006020300962.html

CWIT in the Daily Record
Claudia Morrell, executive director of CWIT, was quoted in “UMBC Center Makes Sure Women Have a Place at IT Table,” a Feb. 3 Daily Record article. Morrell cited several stereotypes that hinder women from obtaining viable positions in the field. She further explained the Center’s programs designed to increase the interest of girls in IT and provide professional growth opportunities for women.
[Link unavailable.]

Tim Finin, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, in the Baltimore Sun
Tim Finin, professor of computer science and electrical engineering, was quoted in “Every Move You Make” in the Baltimore Sun. The report, published on Feb. 6, explores monitoring systems that track a person’s movement through computers, cell phones and other electronic devices.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bal-to.spy06feb06,1,3473325.story?coll=bal-features-headlines

Public Policy Graduate Students in the Gazette
A study conducted by several public policy graduate students that examined better safety measures for Maryland teen drivers was highlighted in “UMBC Report Urges More Safety Steps for Teen Drivers” on Feb. 3 in the Gazette.
http://www.gazette.net/stories/020306/polia%20s201109_31914.shtml

Don Norris, Public Policy, in the Baltimore Sun
On Feb. 1 in the Baltimore Sun’s “House Race is Still a Crowd,” Don Norris, professor of public policy and director of MIPAR, said too many candidates in any political race can confuse voters. Norris’s comment was based on the crowded congressional race for the 3rd district.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.third01feb01,1,2621446.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

In another Baltimore Sun article on Feb. 1, Norris appeared in “Mfume Lags in Funding for Senate Campaign.” Norris predicted that Mfume’s senatorial race may soon end due to insufficient campaign funds.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.senate01feb01,1,1027922.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

The Feb. 5 Hagerstown, Md. Herald-Mail article “Every Vote Counts - The Question is How to Count Them” examined a MIPAR study, led by Norris, which concluded there is not enough time to install paper trail technologies to Maryland voting machines before November elections.
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=130349&format=html

Eric Perlman, Physics, in Science Magazine
Eric Perlman, research associate professor of physics, is working with a team of scientists whose research quashes the theories of quantum foam around a quasar. The report was printed in Science magazine’s Feb. 3 article, “Ring Around a Quasar May Deflate Quantum Foam After All.”
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/311/5761/594a

Kevin Kallagher (“KAL”), Imaging Research Center, in the Washington Post
Kevin Kallagher (“KAL”), current artist-in-residence at the Imaging Research Center, provided a cartoon for a Washington Post article, “I Walk the Line,” on Feb. 5. KAL is an editorial cartoonist for Economist magazine.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/04/AR2006020400222.html

Tom Schaller, Political Science, in the News
Tom Schaller, associate professor of political science, was quoted in a Jan. 29 Washington Post article on campaign fundraising. According to Schaller in “Duncan Fundraising Suffers Narrow Base,” the amount of money a candidate collects shows the type of support the candidate has gained.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/28/AR2006012801057.html

Schaller’s second column for the Washington Examiner, “Looking to the Palmetto State,” was published on Feb. 2. Schaller’s column examined the likely impact and influence of South Carolina’s 2008 primary election on the presidential race.
http://www.dcexaminer.com/articles/2006/02/02/opinion/op-ed/34oped2schaller.txt

UMBC in the Baltimore Sun
UMBC and other University System of Maryland universities were mentioned in “Schools Play Name Game in Their Efforts to Stand Out,” about marketing techniques used to develop branding. The story appeared in the Baltimore Sun on Jan. 30.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-md.colleges30jan30,1,2820602.story?coll=bal-education-top

UMBC Researchers in the Baltimore Business Journal
UMBC researchers will receive financial assistance from area businesses to develop technology-related products thanks to $2.4 million in funding by the University of Maryland's Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program and the participating companies. The Jan. 31 Baltimore Business Journal article detailed how a group of UMBC scientists will work with Baltimore-based CryMed Technologies Inc. to develop treatment for esophageal cancer and Next Breath LLC, a techcenter@umbc company, will team with University of Maryland, Baltimore researchers to build a new inhaler for asthma medicine.
http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2006/01/30/daily12.html?jst=b_ln_hl

2/03/06

CAVC and AOK Library Gallery in Baltimore Magazine
The Center for Art and Visual Culture (CAVC) and the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery made Baltimore Magazine’s It List. CAVC’s “What Sound Does A Color Make” and the Library Gallery’s “Extraordinary Bodies: Photographs from the Mütter Museum” were both mentioned in “Catch It.”
http://www.baltimoremag.com/default.asp?sid=it_list3

NextBreath LLC, techcenter@umbc, in the Washington Post
NextBreath LLC, a techcenter@umbc company, was profiled in the Washington Post’s Start Up section on Jan. 30. The emerging business is developing a new inhaler that improves drug delivery. NextBreath LLC also tests other pulmonary devices.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/29/AR2006012900805.html

Don Norris, MIPAR Director, in the Washington Times
In “Mfume Recruits Ex-Aides to Dean,” Don Norris, director of MIPAR and professor of public policy, said Kweisi Mfume’s chances of winning a senatorial seat may end if he fails to raise substantial money for his campaign by April. The story was published in the Washington Times on Jan. 31. http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20060130-115819-1862r.htm

On Feb. 1, Norris appeared in “Paper Trail for '06 Voting Impossible, Panel Told,” in the Baltimore Sun. A study conducted by MIPAR concluded that adding printing devices to Diebold voting machines was not feasible. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-voting0102,1,6196224.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

February 17, 2006

To: The UMBC Community

Fr: Ralph Pollack, Chair, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Re: Passing of Professor Donald Creighton

I am deeply saddened to inform you that Professor Donald Creighton passed away yesterday after a long bout with cancer.

Professor Creighton came to the Department of Chemistry in 1975 after postdoctoral stints in the laboratories of Nobel Prize winner Irwin Rose and Judith Klinman at the Institute for Cancer Research. Before that he received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at UCLA. He was a UMBC Presidential Teaching Professor from 1993 to 1996.

In spite of the pain that he endured throughout his illness, Professor Creighton continued to teach and conduct research on the development of anti-cancer drugs. His research was internationally recognized as being at the forefront of enzymology.

According to his wishes, there will be no service or funeral. Professor Creighton is survived by his wife (Arlene) and daughters (Diane and Christine), who may be reached at 2 Monroe Field Ct., Catonsville, MD., 21228.

The family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Donald Creighton Scholarship Fund. Please make checks payable to the UMBC Foundation and send them to Dennis Cuddy in the chemistry department.

By Jack Prostko, Director, Faculty Development Center

(Please feel free to add comments and/or information on your own experiences with independent learning at the end of this article.)

When we think about or discuss our own teaching, we often focus on the “performance” aspect--for example, how well we’re doing in our lectures or how lively the discussions are. Yet as we know, the most significant aspects of teaching are not always easy to see and often very difficult to assess. The really lasting impact of our teaching has less to do with how well we perform in the classroom and more with the effect we have on the future performance (and learning) of our students. And we know that in order to have some control over this impact, we first have to clarify for ourselves what we really want students to take away from the class.

In his excellent book Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses, (and an excellent 33-page summary available online) Dee Fink outlines an approach to creating courses that begins with six kinds or areas of goals--what he calls his Taxonomy of Significant Learning:

1. Foundational Knowledge (‘understand’ and ‘remember’ learning)
   
2. Application (thinking: critical, creative, practical (problem-solving, decision-making)
   
3. Integration (making ‘connections’)
   
4. Human Dimensions (learning about and changing one’s self; understanding and interacting with others)
   
5. Caring (identifying/changing one’s feelings, interests, values)
   
6. Learning How to Learn (becoming a better student; learning how to ask and answer questions; becoming a self-directed learner)
   

The first three of these goals are present in almost every class students take at the university, and the others are present to a greater or lesser degree depending upon the discipline and the location of the course in the overall curriculum. The final goal, though, often gets much less attention than it truly demands--we tend to imagine that this goal will be reached, but we have a tough time determining how to measure or assess students’ progress toward it.

One crucial method of developing more independent learners is to help students examine and reflect on the skills they are using in a course. How aware are they of the mostly unconscious habits they bring to problem-solving or research tasks? Have they experimented with a variety of techniques for developing paper topics, or do they rely on a hit-or-miss method that has mostly succeeded in the past? Have they discussed their study techniques with a tutor or a friend who has been particularly successful in their major? If instructors don’t raise these issues, then students are likely to ignore them, and proceed as best they can with often insufficient methods of work and study. And if we are going to raise these issues, it is especially important to focus on them in the first half of a semester, when students have a chance to improve skills that they are depending upon to help them with upcoming exams and projects.

As instructors, we can help students develop independent learning skills if we build into our assignments some requirement for self-analysis and reporting. For example, in problem-solving disciplines, ask students to describe how they went about solving the problem and what difficulties they encountered along the way. Students working in pairs can often help document each other’s work by listening to and noting down the methods their partner attempts to use in working through a problem. Or we can ask students to create sample test questions that will allow you to judge their ability to analyze, synthesize or evaluate information with the proper degree of depth and sophistication. These and other Classroom Assessment Techniques can provide the kind of feedback that helps students refine their thinking skills rather than concentrate solely on memorizing content or procedures. And focusing on how students are learning particular kinds of content helps us to teach better while also contributing to the scholarship of teaching and learning in our disciplines.

Finally, in an article on the course syllabus in Insights last September I included a list of ten items a syllabus should contain to be a useful teaching tool. The final item on the list may have struck some teachers as unnecessary or the idea too obvious to include formally: “10. Suggestions for achieving course goals and meeting academic expectations." (What have students done in the past to help them perform well? What academic resources exist to help students?)” Yet while this item appears on few syllabi, it can be one of the most significant aids to a student who is trying to develop independent learning skills. Point students in the right direction from the outset of the course and give them constructive feedback early to make sure they have found a path to succeeding.

Please feel free to add comments and/or information on your own experiences with independent learning below.

Resources Available at the Faculty Development Center

Angelo, Thomas A., & Cross, Patricia. (1993). Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass).

Fink, L. Dee. (2003). Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass).

Riordan, Tim & Roth, James. (eds.). (2005). Disciplines as Frameworks for Student Learning: Teaching the Practice of the Disciplines. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Weimer, Maryellen. (2002). Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass).

We have just learned that a UMBC student, John Gaumer, is charged with a murder off campus in Baltimore County. He has withdrawn from the University. We also have learned that the victim of the crime had no connection to UMBC, and there is no evidence to indicate a threat to the safety of the UMBC community.

This is a tragic event, and our thoughts are with all of the families involved. We will continue to keep the campus informed.

February 8, 2006

TO: The UMBC Campus Community

FR: Chief John Cook

RE: Recent News Reports

UMBC police have been cooperating with the the Baltimore County Police Department, which is conducting a missing persons investigation. I want to assure the UMBC community that there is no evidence that a UMBC student has been a victim of crime and that there is no threat to the safety of the UMBC community. We will keep the campus informed as more information is available.