There are good people all around you. Recognize them!

The long-awaited MAC trophy!

A year ago, I was named the 2022 Ball State University (BSU) institutional winner of the Mid America Conference (MAC) Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success. The trophy company the MAC used apparently still had a significant backlog due to COVID supply-chain issues, so the trophy just recently arrived on the BSU campus so it could be presented to me. This post is partially about me, but it's really about all the good people around us, so I encourage you to keep reading.

The MAC Outstanding Faculty Award recognizes one full-time faculty member nominee from each of the twelve MAC institutions that has demonstrated a dedication to student  success. From these nominees one faculty member that has gone above and beyond in their dedication to student success is honored as the winner of the MAC Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success. That was not me last year, but I was recognized as the BSU institutional winner.

This student-focused award is distinguishable from academic or research-based awards as it celebrates the commitment of the MAC to a holistic student experience and the creation of an environment that supports success in school and in life.

My remarks

A few days ago, BSU held a celebration in my honor at which they presented the trophy to me. What follows are the remarks I made at that event.

This award focuses on student success. So, what actions do I take that I believe contribute to student success? I don’t believe there is any one big thing, but rather lots of little things that all add up to student success. Things like…

• Using active learning to keep class engaging
• Using flipped learning by recording videos for learners to watch outside of class, and doing activities in class when they can ask me questions
• Being learner centered
• Having learners do reflective writing
• Being aware of disabilities, and doing what I can to support those learners
• Doing what I can to keep diversity, equity, and inclusiveness as part of the conversation
• Using alternative grading, primarily specifications grading, so learners can grow from their mistakes
• Emphasizing the workforce competencies they are indirectly learning
• Mentoring immersive learning projects to provide participants a rich learning experience

I make myself very available to learners during class, via email, and in my office (both physically and online) at a variety of hours during the day, since leaners often have questions after 5:00 PM. My goal always is to find a way to help learners understand, learn, and retain the material.

I often tell learners who are regular visitors to my office: “I’ll work at least as hard as you will, to help you learn this material.” What I’m telling them is that if they are trying, I’ll be right there with them—but they must put in some effort.

But this recognition is not fully about me. It’s about all of us in this room, and across campus. I happen to be the one who has a very supportive department chair, Jennifer Coy, who submitted the award nomination that was selected to be the BSU institutional winner last year. But I would not be the faculty member I am today without the interaction, training, guidance, and support of scores of other faculty, staff, administrators, students, and family, all of whom I’ve learned something from over many years. I’ve borrowed tips and techniques from uncounted others, many of whom are in this room today. I firmly believe there are many faculty who are just as deserving—perhaps more so, but are yet to be nominated. I just happen to be the one nominated last year.

I sincerely thank the faculty and students to wrote support letters for me, and everyone who has interacted and shared with me over the years, thus allowing me to learn something from you. I appreciate all of you for taking time out of your day to come to this event.

President Mearns presenting the BSU
Outstanding Faculty Award to me

Good fortune strikes twice!

I also had the good fortune of being nominated by Kara Duquette for the 2022 BSU Outstanding Faculty Award last year. This award is given in recognition of demonstrated composite excellence in teaching, scholarly or creative productivity, and service by a faculty member who has an academic record at Ball State University of more than five years. Eight individual faculty, staff, and administrators from across the breadth of the university took the time to write and submit letters of support for my nomination. Submitted along with the 25-page nomination dossier, Kara and Robbie Mehling produced a four-minute video highlighting why I was being nominated for the award. Ultimately, I was selected from the nomination pool, and was presented the award at Ball State University's fall 2022 faculty convocation. Again, I believe there are many other faculty who are just as deserving—perhaps more so, but are yet to be nominated.

So what!?

So, last year was a good year for me. I received two significant awards within a year's time. I am extremely appreciative of this recognition! While I believe I do a good job, I also suffer a bit from imposter syndrome. I don't see myself as being that good. However, others around me do, and submitted award nominations on my behalf. They saw the worth and merit of being supportive of those around them and chose to expend significant time and effort to recognize someone in whom they believed. To be the recipient of that level of support not once, but twice, is a bit humbling for me.

I ask that you take a look around you. Yes, do it now. Who do you interact with that is doing a good job? Maybe it's as simple as they're doing what they're supposed to do, day in and day out—they're dependable. Let them know that you appreciate them. If their effort, ability, or attitude is rising above others, let them know that you noticed. If there is an award for which you can nominate them, do it. Regardless of being selected as the winner or not, simply being nominated is recognition in itself. 

Letting people know that you appreciate them, support them, and believe they are doing good, will likely be returned to you. I know I'm more inclined to go above and beyond what is needed or expected when I'm feeling appreciated by those around me. How about you?

So, who are you going to recognize this week?

Image credits:

MAC trophy photo by David Largent

BSU award presentation photo by Kara Duquette 

Popular achievements in CS 222: Fall 2019 edition

I'd planned to write this post each spring, after completing an academic year. However, I'm not scheduled to teach CS 222 next semester, so I decided to report on the last two semesters now. As discussed in my previous post, one of the assessible items in CS 222 (Advanced Programming) is something we call achievements. Achievements are designed to encourage student’s independent exploration of relevant course topics they choose from a provided list. Each student must complete a certain quantity of achievements if they expect to receive an A for the course, and reduced quantities for lower grades.

Originally, I set the threshold for an A at four achievements. To be more learner-centered, starting with the fall 2018 semester, I had the students collectively negotiate the threshold with me. Depending on the semester, it has been three to five achievements for the A level.

The list of available achievements has remained the same and is detailed in my original CS 222 achievements post, with the addition of Learning to Learn, introduced for fall 2018, and discussed in my spring 2019 post.

The following table presents statistics from the most recent six semesters I’ve taught the course, along with a couple of summary columns. I find it interesting to look through the table to see what is popular (and what is not). For example, considering all semesters, the Diversity Seeker and Reflective Practitioner achievements have clearly been the most popular. Coming in next are the Crystallizer and Studious achievements. These four remain in the same relationship as last spring, although Crystallizer has gained slightly in popularity. Looking at the last year, the top three remain the same, but Studious has dropped down the list, and is replaced by Rereader. Looking at individual semesters, the Fair-minded, Judge, and Learning to Learn achievements have also been very popular. The recently-added Learning to Learn achievement has proven to be quite popular, ranking fifth during the last year.



Five achievements (Campus Leader, Didact, Filmmaker, Jammer, and Open Source Contributor) have Continued to be the least popular. I have chosen to leave these as options for students with interest or skill in one of those areas, but will likely drop (some of) them the next time I teach the course. Note that the Third-part Librarian achievement was removed from the available options after the summer 2016 semester.

Lastly, I’ve found the number of achievements students choose to complete interesting. While a great many students do complete the required quantity, the majority do not. As shown in the table, the average for all semesters is just over three completed achievements per student. Due to a one-submission-per-week limitation, and their poor planning, some students simply run out of time to get all of them submitted. The slight increase for the spring 2019 semester is likely due to the threshold for an A being at five, as compared to four for other semesters. However the fall 2019 threshold was four, and resulted in nearly the same level of submissions. The threshold for the Summer 2019 semester was three, with all students meeting it.

I believe the achievement system continues to meet its intended purpose within the course. I do not observe any substantial changes in popularity as reported in my original report and last spring's report. My colleague, Paul Gestwicki, is teaching the course in the spring, and has chosen to make some adjustments to the achievement options, which I believe will be a positive change. You can read about his preparation for CS 222 in his blog post.

Popular achievements in CS 222: Spring 2019 edition

As discussed in an earlier post, one of the assessible items in CS 222 (Advanced Programming) is something we call achievements. Achievements are designed to encourage student’s independent exploration of relevant course topics they choose from a provided list. Each student must complete a certain quantity of achievements if they expect to receive an A for the course, and reduced quantities for lower grades.

Originally, I set the threshold for an A at four achievements. To be more learner-centered, starting with the fall 2018 semester, the students collectively negotiated the threshold with me. Depending on the semester, it has been four or five achievements for the A level.

The list of available achievements has remained the same and are detailed in my previous post, with the addition of one new option this last year.

Learning to Learn: For discovering better ways to study. Visit the BSU Learning Center and talk with someone there about general study habits. Write an essay relating what you find to apply to CS course work.

The following table presents statistics from the most recent six semesters I’ve taught the course, along with a couple of summary columns. I find it interesting to look through the table to see what is popular (and what is not). For example, considering all semesters, the Diversity Seeker and Reflective Practitioner achievements have clearly been the most popular. Coming in next are the Crystallizer and Studious achievements. The order is slightly different if we just look at the last year, but it is still the same four achievements. Looking at individual semesters, the Judge, Rereader, and Seeker achievements have also been very popular. 

The recently-added Learning to Learn achievement has proven to be quite popular, and I suspect it will creep into the most popular list next year.

Five achievements (Campus Leader, Didact, Filmmaker, Jammer, and Open Source Contributor) have Continued to be the least popular. We have chosen to leave these as options for students with interest or skill in one of those areas. Note that the Third-part Librarian achievement was removed from the available options after the summer 2016 semester.

Lastly, I’ve found the number of achievements students choose to complete interesting. While a great many students do complete the required quantity, the majority do not. As shown in the table, the average for all semesters is just over three completed achievements per student. Due to a one-submission-per-week limitation, and their lack of planning, some students simply run out of time to get all of them submitted. The slight increase for the spring 2019 semester is likely due to the threshold for an A being at five, as compared to four for previous semesters.

I believe the achievement system continues to meet its intended purpose within the course. I do not observe any substantial changes in popularity compared to last year’s report. I will find it interesting to see if the popularity of individual achievements changes during the next year.