AFACCT proceedings '12

1. The Effortless Change in
Students and Faculty
Within Education
Professor Daphnie V. Campbell
Frederick Community College Adult
Education
AFACCT ‘12 Conference, Montgomery
College, Rockville, Maryland
Session 2.13 (Room SW-127)
11:40am – 12:50pm
daphnie.campbell@gmail.com
240-529-2847

2. Introduction
• It sounds impossible but that’s what education
reveals. Education is the seed that can change
your life. Most people view change as a
difficult, painful, and labor-intensive process. To
their way of thinking, it takes a huge amount of
effort to change their thoughts, actions, and
circumstances. Due to this, change is something
they resist. During this seminar, I want to share
with you some truths about measuring up as
educators and leaders that will totally transform
the way we understand and approach
educational change.

3. Internal
Change
Attitude
Thoughts
Expectations

4. STUDENT ATTITUDE
• The typical college campus is a friendly place;
but it is also a competitive environment. The
education you receive there, and the attitudes
you develop, will guide you for the rest of your
life. Your grades will be especially important in
landing your first job, or when applying to
graduate school. To be a successful student
requires certain skills; but, these are skills that
can be learned.

5. Student Attitude Cont’d
• Prioritize your life: Doing well in school should
be your top priority.
• Study: There is no substitute.
• Always attend class.
• Do all of the homework and assigned reading.
• Develop self-discipline.
• Manage your time.

6. Self-Discipline Made Easy
• Human beings are creatures of habit. Therefore, form a
habit of doing what you reason you should do. Is it not
foolish for your behavior to contradict your own
reasoning? And what could be more harmonious than
finding yourself wanting to do what you know you
should? Train yourself so there is an immediate
reaction-mechanism within you:
• You reason that you should do something, and thus
you do it. Other people who seem to have less
difficulty with self-discipline probably have simply had
more practice at it, thereby making it less difficult;
because, practice is what it takes.

7. Time Management
• No matter how you slice it, there are only 24 hours in a day. Good
time-management requires: Not taking on more than you can
handle.
• Reasonably estimating the time required to perform each of the
tasks at hand.
• Actually doing what needs to be done.
• Only you can do these things. A couple of thoughts, though, that
may help spur you on: A minute now is as precious as a minute
later. You can't put time back on the clock.
• If you're not ahead of schedule, then you're behind schedule.
Because, if you try to remain right on schedule, then any mishap
or misjudgment will cause you to fall behind---perhaps right at the
deadline, when no recovery is possible.

8. Introspection
• Understand, and be honest with, yourself. All else follows from this.
• Be both athlete and coach: Keep one eye on what you are doing, and one
eye on yourself.
• Take command of, and responsibility for, yourself.
• Face your insecurities head-on. Some common signs of insecurity: Asking
a question to which you already know the answer; being artificially
social with instructors or other students, when the real reason is to
temporarily kill the pain.
• Form a positive self-image: Those students who are first entering college
will probably have doubts about how well they will do. Try to do well
immediately to instill an expectation of continuing to do well. Settle for
nothing less. Nevertheless, try not be restricted by your past
performance and experiences, good or bad. Learn from the past, but
don't be bound by it. Seek out your weaknesses and attack them. Be
realistic about your limitations; but, don't let this lead to becoming
satisfied with them.

9. Student Attitude Suggestions
• Unify and simplify your knowledge: A textbook presents the subject in a
particular form, as does an instructor. By their very
natures, however, textbooks and lectures tend to present subjects
sequentially. Take the extra step of understanding the material in your
terms, which may involve recognizing relationships that could not be
conveniently expressed in the order presented in the text(s) and lectures.
• Remember, almost every logically consistent topic is simple at its
foundation. Try to recognize the simple underlying relationships in the
subject at hand; these are often left unstated by instructors and
textbooks.
• Try to learn general principles and methods. Learning by examples
(putting the new in terms of the familiar) can only take you so far.
• Learn as many methods of problem-solving as you can. This is especially
helpful for exams, when time is of the essence.
• Ask yourself questions. Why didn't the instructor or text(s) do this or that?
Explore your own ideas. Try to understand the course material in detail.

10. Cont’d
• Successful students force themselves to
understand. They do not merely go through the
motions of attending class, reading the
text(s), and doing the homework, expecting these
actions to necessarily suffice. Rather, they are
continually asking, "Do I really understand what's
going on here?" They ask this question of
themselves honestly, applying an internal
barometer formed from experience to detect the
slightest lack of understanding, be it ignorance or
confusion. And, if the answer is "No", then the
situation is viewed as unacceptable, and more
effort is the response.

11. FACULTY INTERNAL CHANGES
• As an educator, I have changed on the inside and
immediately everything in my life began to
change on the outside.
• External changes began to manifest on the
outside when I started to change the way I
though on the inside.
• If you want to see change outwardly, it has to
begin on the inside. If you change the way you
think – the way you are on the inside – then you’ll
see a change on the outside-effortlessly!

12. Planting the Educational Seeds
• People typically respond to tough circumstances and
situations by blaming someone or something else.
• However, education makes it clear as an educator that
your experience, surroundings, everything about you-is
basically a result of the way you think.
• Ex: If I came over to your house one day to see your
garden, I wouldn’t have had to be with you when you
sowed the seeds to know what you planted. All I would
have to do is observe.
• Same is true for your classroom – whatever is growing
(students knowledge), is what you planted or allowed to
be planted within them. You sowed that educational
seed!

13. Faculty Reality
• This is a simple truth we are discovering, but its profound.
In fact, most educators miss is because it’s so
simple, thinking, No – it must be more complex than that.
• You can turn any educational circumstance in your life
around by changing the perspective of that situation.
• Instead of just focusing on the fact that another faculty
member has just pushed your hot buttons, you recognize it
• So instead of reacting, your thinking first
• I have met so many people that have been in situations and
know how to survive them now, but are afraid to take risks
so the changes externally can happen. You have to tell
yourself I’m going to do what ever it takes to see these
changes happen in my classroom, with my students, etc.

14. Faculty Attention Focus
(Students need instruction and impartation)
• A secure, stable environment with flexibility for individual
growth during this transitional period in student life
• Structured and clear guidelines within which students can
find their "voices" and learn to express and exercise
freedom responsibly
• Academically challenging student-centered
instruction, imparted by a team of caring, committed
teachers, enriched and extended to prepare students for
life
• Attention to individual student needs, balanced with an
emphasis on the value of challenge and fostering of self-
reliance as students grow and mature
• Broad experience of education to equip students to live in
a global society, at the same time grounded firmly in
traditional values of enquiry, hard work, integrity, respect
and reverence

15. Transformation
(Teaching experiences and mind renewal)
• Instructional methods are only as good as their
contribution to the achievement of learning
objectives. Sometimes it helps to think of the
teaching methods used as roads which lead to
cities (objectives) and of training materials (visual
aids, case study, scenarios, role play, etc.) as the
materials with which the roads are
constructed. Our students travel a variety of
different “roads” in order to learn. They learn by
doing, observing, hearing, reading, and
combinations of the four.

16. Transformation
(Teaching experiences and mind
renewal cont’d)
• Group discussions and the use of case studies are two active tools to use when
engaging learners, and the addition of these to your teaching methods will allow
you to more fully focus the attention of your students and help them invest
themselves more in the course..
• Students learn best when they are fully cognitively
engaged, interested, involved, connected to what they are learning, doing what is
best for them, or teaching others. We facilitate learning by providing these
opportunities.
• Providing positive reinforcement to your students as they become involved in
active learning is a powerful tool. However, remembering to provide the positive
reinforcers while experimenting with active learning can be
challenging. Attempting to facilitate more activity from your students requires a
change on your part, too.
• How can you make your lectures more brain-friendly? Lead off the topic with a
good story, perhaps. Give students an initial problem to solve, a scenario, or a
case study. Be sure to recap at the end of class each session. Students will begin
to expect that and will plan to have something to add in subsequent class
periods. Students won't remember if their brains don't have to do any work.

17. Cont’d
• Build Interest: Provide an interesting anecdote, cartoon, story, etc.
to capture the students' attention. Present a problem around
which you will provide information. Ask an initial question about
the topic, and be sure to address the answer in the information you
present.
• Maximize Understanding and Retention: Reduce the major points
to key words and provide examples. Compare what you know
about the topic with what the students already know. Using flip
charts, PowerPoint, etc. will help the visual learner, and require that
students hear and see the material.
• Involve Students in the Lecture: Stop twice to have the students re-
cap the material. Ask the students to give examples of the
topic. Put short activities that emphasize the topic into the class
time.
• Reinforce the Lecture: Pose a problem or question, based on the
material, for students to solve.

18. Faculty/Student Relationship
• When student and instructor acknowledge
that they’re both learning, the instructor’s
offering becomes more dynamically
connected to the student.
• Open -Supportive –Comfortable- Respectful
Safe- Enjoyable Envirnoment

19. Personalize Your Classroom
• What type of educator are you:
• Facilitator-enhances student learning by encouraging active participation
in discussion and by helping students to see education as meaningful and
relevant
• Expert-who communicates expertise through lectures and discussions, and
is able to stimulate students without overwhelming them
• Formal Authority – who helps students by establishing boundaries such as
acceptable conduct and dates of submission of materials
• Socializing Agent – who has contacts within the larger academic
community, and as such can be helpful to students in providing such
things as letters of recommendation and links to research and publication
sources
• Ego ideal – charismatic and shows commitment and enthusiasm not only
to the subject matter but also to the students themselves
• Person – who demonstrates compassion and understanding of student
needs

20. Good Teaching
• Good teaching, I believe, is about modification
and adjustment, in relation to the perceived
needs of each individual student in the class at
any time throughout the semester. Teaching
should be a two-way process in which both
students and teachers learn from one
another; as long as teaching conditions
facilitate two-way interaction.

21. Bringing Out the Best in Our Students
• This does not imply giving each of them loads of
attention, or even the same type of attention, as
some might do better with more responsibility
for individual work
• Just as a parent does not treat each child
identically, but reacts to needs and personality
traits of each, so too should the instructor do this
with each student.
• It is all a question, therefore, of getting to know
one’s students.

22. Closing
• You don’t need a tree to just drop out of the
sky to plant those educational seeds. Take
your seeds, plant them, nurture
them, water, feed them, and let them grow.
• That education will produce and be fruitful
right in the midst of you.

23. Smile
• Before we leave……..lets remember to smile
and let our smile be heard through our voices
in teaching and to our students