The Storm Report, a newsletter produced by Nathanael Gough, Phil Tietjen, and Dori Lloyd.
September 30, 2021 | Issue 6
Table of Contents:

  • Deep Processing: Laptops and Note Taking

  • New Sociology Instructor: Denise Linton

  • International Education: Ireland

  • Center for teaching and Learning: Professional Development Funds Available!

  • Growth Opportunities!

  • From the Editors: Stories

  • Teaching, Learning, and Global Engagement Programs Offerings

  • Resource Highlight of the Week
Deep Processing:
Laptops & Note Taking
As technology becomes more pervasive it’s commonplace to see laptops in classrooms. Yet from an educational psychology perspective, is this good?

Some obvious objections may be students getting distracted on social media or distracting others (I can recall sitting in a class watching a student browse Amazon), but—per educational psychologist Paul Kirschner—there’s a deeper reason they may serve as a hindrance: Many people today can type as fast as the instructor talks, they can type a verbatim of the lecture.

This may sound good, but what it means is they’re only processing on a shallow phonemic level. Contrast pen and paper, where they’re required to paraphrase, abbreviate, and distil the substance of what’s being said. This is a deeper, semantic form of processing. It turns out, a laptop may be better for typing everything that’s said, but typing everything that’s said may—counterintuitively—impede learning.

Maybe this ship has already sailed, and maybe there are other factors to consider for positive or negative—regardless, thinking about how tech affects our teaching and learning can be insightful. For more info on this topic check How Learning Happens: Seminal Works in Educational Psychology and What They Mean in Practice, and if you’d like assistance with anything related to instructional design don’t hesitate to contact us at
New Sociology Instructor: Denise Linton
Denise Linton
Denise Linton, a new adjunct faculty member teaching Sociology at Davidson-Davie, was born in Miami, Florida. Her parents were teachers, which meant they had the summers free. Her mother’s family was from Lexington, North Carolina, so the family spent every summer here.

When it came time for college, Denise moved to Danville, Virginia, to attend Averett College. Her favorite high school teacher was Mr. Robinson, who introduced her to Sociology, thus influencing her decision to take degrees in Social Work and Sociology. “My dream was to be a juvenile judge but after a required internship, I felt led to go into the field of working with children who had been abused and neglected. After working at a children’s emergency shelter for five years, I decided to go back to school. I attended University of North Carolina Greensboro to study Sociology with a concentration in Criminology. My end goal was to teach Sociology, but that would not come about until 13 years after I graduated.”

Coming to Davidson-Davie Community College as an instructor made sense because of the connections she had made with the area during childhood. It was a return to a place remembered. Of teaching Sociology here, she says,” I am passionate about teaching Sociology to students. I feel privileged to be able to open their eyes to the world around them with the goal of helping them to take off their blinders to their small part of society. It brings me joy when a student shares in their posts or writing assignments that they never thought to look at society in a different way before.“

In her non-academic life she enjoys her family consisting of a 21-year-old son and three dogs: Jasmine, Chance, and Mazikeen. She admits to a unique hobby. “I like to visit zoos across the United States. I hope to visit at least one zoo in every state and then move on to visiting zoos across the world. I have learned how to find cheap airline tickets and will jump on a plane in the morning, visit a zoo and return home that evening or the next morning.”

Please make sure to welcome Denise to our community here at Davidson-Davie.
International Education: Ireland
Our Ireland study abroad trip has been postponed from Fall break to January 1-9. So, Aaron Prillaman and I are hoping to recruit a few more students, faculty, staff, and/or community members to join us. Along that line, we would greatly appreciate it if you could share this Ireland study abroad promo video in your classes if you are faculty. Otherwise, please share the flier attached below. We're also happy to provide you with a printed copy of the flier to post in your office. Your help is greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,
Debra Ford, PhD
Associate Professor
Center for Teaching and Learning
Greetings, DDCC colleagues! Here’s this week's news from the CTL.

  1. The CTL is pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for professional learning funds. The funding is available for individual faculty members or small groups of 2 to 5 faculty. Please see this information sheet for details; or fill out the application.
  2. The NCCCS and the NC Student Success Center are again providing funding for NC community college faculty to earn ACUE micro-credentials. There are three micro-credentials to choose from this year: Designing Student-Centered Courses, Promoting Active Learning Online, and Inclusive Teaching for Equitable Learning. Read this document to learn more.
  3. The NC Student Success Center is looking for faculty who are interested in sharing their work with other faculty across North Carolina. If you are interested in the possibility of sharing your work through the NC Student Success Center as part of their Spring 2022 professional development offerings, please complete the interest survey by 15 October.

Happy teaching and learning!

Gloria.
2021-2022 CTL Advisory Board

At Large: Michael Lui (FT)
Arts, Science, Business, and Technology: Grant Jolliff (FT) and Aaron Prillaman (PT)
Davie: Dee Edwards (FT) and Katrena Wells (PT)
Health Sciences: Datra Delk-Patrick (FT)
Teaching, Learning, and Global Engagement: Nathanael Gough (FT)
Faculty Chair: Gloria Johnson (FT)
New Growth Opportunities!
A green new shoot of leaves from a branch.

Looking to build your professional network or teaching repertoire? Check out these new opportunities!

  • New OER Community! The openNCCC is launching a brand new community group dedicated to Open Educational Resources (OER) that will meet monthly to highlight new OER materials and foster collaboration across the NCCCS system. The first meeting will be held on October 7th at 11:00am. OER Meeting link Subsequent meetings will happen monthly on the first Thursday of the month.
  • NC3ADL Conference: The NC3ADL will be hosting a virtual conference on October 19-20. It will include sessions on topics such as HyFlex course design, high engagement strategies and managing stress. It’s free to members and $25 for non-members.
  • Expanding Your Horizons with the VLC: The North Carolina Virtual Learning Community is offering a wide variety of professional learning opportunities such as Setting up a HyFlex Classroom and Getting Started with openNCCC. See the VLC website for more information.
From the Editors: Do You Have a Story to Share?
We are looking for faculty stories! We want to keep the focus of your newsletter on you, the faculty. Would you please help us find those stories? Here are the kinds of things we are looking for:

  1. Faculty who have globalized their courses.
  2. Faculty who are doing something creative in class
  3. Faculty who have received awards
  4. Faculty reporting out on what they got from their professional development (could be written, video, podcast, etc.)
  5. Faculty who have received a new degree
  6. Faculty who are retiring
  7. Faculty Division Chair / Program Director Bios
  8. Faculty sharing their experiences of teaching in an active learning classroom
  9. Faculty Senate initiatives
  10. Faculty who have led overseas trips with students

Please contact one of the editors (Nathanael Gough, Phil Tietjen or Dori Lloyd) if you have ideas or referrals for stories.
Teaching, Learning, and Global Engagement Program Offerings
Calendar
For This Week:
Resource Highlight of the Week:
Disability Access Services
In meeting the needs of all students at Davidson-Davie, it is important to understand how to work with students with disabilities. Demetria Nickens, Coordinator of Disability Access services, prepared a video for new faculty that gives information on what faculty should do once they are notified that one of their students needs accommodations due to a disability. Watching this video will answer the questions faculty may have in how to accommodate their students with disabilities.

Teaching, Learning & Global Engagement