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An occasional newsletter from the Office of the Provost
“If you read it here, take it with a grain of salt”
According to a recent article in the Chronicle, frequent quizzes reinforce learning better than a few tests?
The Provost’s office is going digital? We are restructuring our new webpage so now the department chair’s handbook and the faculty handbook will all be found on the web and only on the web. This year we will be working to go as paperless as possible. Our goal is to make the provost’s website a place where you can easily get all the information you need.
The on-line course evaluation pilot was a smashing success this summer? There was a good response rate among students in participating summer classes, they loved doing the evaluations on line and faculty couldn’t believe how easy it was. Stay tuned as we roar into the digital age this fall.
Goodpaster Hall is gorgeous? I got a tour last week when it was 98 degrees in the shade! The drywall is going up, the rooms are taking shape. It is going to be a knockout. My favorite spaces include 1. the castle keep, 2. the balcony with the best view on campus, 3. the small, cozy spaces where people can just sit down and talk to each other.
We had the first ever graduation of Master’s Degree students June 30? The ceremony was beautiful and everyone was very excited to finish officially. Now the new cohort is at work. Ardith Harle says there are interesting pairs of students; two of everything so no one is by themselves in their particular field.
Last week we had 22 students and families/friends here for College 101? The mentors reported “great growth” in the incoming students’ confidence levels and understanding of what it means to “do college” by the end of their time on campus.
The SIGMAA on RUME (don’t ask me what this means- I just report) is pleased to announce the winners of the Best Paper Award for the 2007 Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education are David Kung and Natasha Speer for their paper “Teaching Assistants Learning to Teach: Recasting Early Teaching Experiences as Rich Learning Opportunities.”
Weather report for those who have been gone- dry, dry, and dry; the last rain I recall seeing on campus was June 26th. Somehow every storm in the area has missed us. Don’t be surprised when you come back to lawns that look like straw. Imagine a southern Maryland summer where the humidity is 25%- see what I mean?
The results of the survey are in!! 238 students (out of 253) who completed SMPs this spring filled out our survey asking them all kinds of questions about the SMP, the support they received, what they thought of their mentors and the experience.
In response to the question “I am happy to have been able to work with my mentor and would recommend him or her as a mentor to other students.” The average “score” was 4.4 out of 5- and that was their opinion as they were turning in their SMP!!
73% of the students reported spending less than $200 on their SMP, 15% did not respond to the question and 12% reported spending more than $200.
In an open-ended question asking what additional help would have made their SMP even more successful, I was surprised that the most frequent response could be characterized as “more work with others.” Students said they would have liked a second professor to talk to or to read their SMP, group meetings with fellow students to discuss SMPs and peer review of their writing, access to experts in the field, etc.
Next most frequent response was more introduction of/classes/ other instruction in research methods in their field before they took on the SMP. Some said they wished they had had to practice writing an SMP-type paper in their FIRST YEAR? Gee- maybe we need a first year seminar.
Our best to Joey Titus, husband of Frances as he recovers from surgery. We’re all thinking of you, sir.
‘Tis quiet here at the bend in the river- lots of people are working furiously but they seem to be doing it quietly. It’s quiet in the Great Room most days now that the soccer, sailing, swim camps are done. New student days last week were a whirlwind- a small disaster every day it seemed and yet the students were great- we look forward to welcoming them back soon. Since then a hush has fallen over the campus. Sometimes you can walk down the path and see nary a soul. The phones don’t ring too often- maybe it is the hum of the air conditioning drowning out the sounds of human endeavor. It’s that time of the year when you can anticipate with joy the changes coming soon- the busyness, the noise, the bustling- but know it’s not here yet.
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