Eileen Morgan

March 7, 2024 - March 10, 2024

Panels
Instructional Design to Develop Confidence: Making Students the Experts
NEMLA Annual Conference
Boston, MA

Most students do not resort to cheating when they are feeling confident about meeting expectations and learning goals. When they feel overwhelmed, unable to comprehend assignment goals, or lack confidence in their analytic or writing skills, some students reach for AI writing tools or papers from the Web.

My student population in fall semesters is 100% first year students; two of my classes are skill development courses and one is honors composition. I have found my students from the developmental class lack confidence, have a history of feeling that they do not belong and cannot contribute academically, and frequently face significant out of class challenges that hinder their ability to succeed. My honors students are adjusting to college level challenges, frequently with high expectations for themselves but only moderate study and time management skills—they did not need those skills to excel in their high schools. Both groups of students have resorted to using the web or AI technology when stressed and afraid that their work quality would be unacceptable.

I’ve been pivoting my course assignments to help develop confidence and needed soft and hard skills. My journal topics now allow students to put themselves in the expert seat instead of asking them for literary response papers, and we work towards analytic work in smaller steps. I will present some of my assignment prompts and discuss student responses and learning gains.

March 23, 2023 - March 26, 2023

Panels
Student Expectations Vs College Reality: Developing Appropriate Assignments and Strategies
NEMLA Annual Conference
Niagara Falls, NY

Many of my arriving freshman have written very few papers, conducted no research, and not sat for exams since the onset of the pandemic. One of my Honors English students told me he did not write a single paper between eighth grade and his senior year of high school, when he fortunately opted for AP English and had to write research papers that his peers in the regular English class did not. Students in my skill building developmental courses confidently tell me that they have been writing papers and are good writers, but when questioned usually these turn out to be three or fewer 1-2 page papers, no research, that they spent weeks developing. Often these students admit to just reading online summaries in order to get good grades in high school. These students are often overwhelmed by college reading and writing expectations, and their past strategies for success are ineffective and leave them struggling.

My presentation focused on how to help students master college work expectations through in class and at home activities.

March 10, 2022 - March 14, 2022

Panels
Discovering Voices: Working to Empower Diverse Students
NEMLA Annual Conference
Virtual

Not feeling that they fit in or that they are "college material" is cited as a cause for leaving college by many students fully capable of being successful; research shows that imposter syndrome inhibits success. Students seeing themselves and those with experiences like them represented in readings, as well as completing writing assignments that require them to draw on their unique experiences and perspectives, are more likely to feel that they belong in a university setting. Helping our students to find their voices requires us as educators to value their experiences and guide them towards understanding that diverse perspectives are indeed academic.

We will be discussing reading selections and writing assignments that help students see the value of their diverse backgrounds and helps combat imposter syndrome.

March 10, 2021 - March 14, 2021

Panels
Developing Grit: Role Models in Developmental Writing Humanity Courses
NEMLA Annual Conference
Virtual

March 5, 2020 - March 8, 2020

Panels
Developing Cultural Awareness and Providing Seats at the Academic Table
NEMLA Annual Conference
Boston, MA

We know that many students who are first generation, economically
challenged, or identify with a minority often leave undergraduate studies due
to feeling that they are not “real” college students rather than because they
lack academic ability. Part of retaining these students, and helping not only
them but also their peers to recognize their significant value inside the classroom
and out is to develop cultural literacy in all of our students through
readings, assignments, examples, and discussion that showcase a number of cultural
experiences, both traditional and less traditionally academic.
I will give examples of assignments, both written and reading, plus discussion topics, that facilitate better cultural literacy.

March 21, 2019 - March 24, 2019

Panels
'This reading is actually relatable!': Appealing to a Diverse Student Population
Northeast Modern Language Association Annual Convention
Washington, DC

In freshman Basic English and Rhetoric and Composition classes we see a wide range of students from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, with a variety of languages spoken in the home. An important part of student engagement and retention is helping students not only think critically about their backgrounds while learning about peers' backgrounds, but also seeing themselves and their experience modeled and explored through reading, class discussion, and assignments. Selecting broad readings, discussion themes, and assignments that are personally meaningful as well as academically challenging help students discover their place in academia.

April 12, 2018 - April 15, 2018

Panels
Bringing Global and Local Spaces into the Composition Classroom: A Roundtable on Increasing Student Engagement Using Local Color and Exotic Global Exploration
NEMLA 2018
Pittsburgh, PA

In this roundtable we discussed ways in which either local communities or global outreach can enhance student development in composition classrooms, whether they are developing essays about their specific communities or creating projects while researching new and different cultures.

March 24, 2017

Panels
"Developing Successful Writers: From Basics to Discipline Specific Advanced Writing Courses"
NEMLA Annual Conference
Baltimore, MD

Increasingly, due to university placement policies changing with economic pressure and demands to move students to degree completion within five years, we have students who in previous years would have been tracked into Basic Writing placed into Rhetoric and Composition underprepared and with little chance of success. To facilitate success for both students who are still placed into Basic Writing, a course in danger of being dropped by the university, and those who are now placed directly into Rhetoric and Composition, we have developed a one credit tutorial and created a robust writing lab to increase student success and retention. We would like to discuss how we partner as a tutor and teacher to each other’s students to develop them from struggling writers to successful students in our upper level writing courses in their final semester.

October 1, 2015

Presentations
Facilitating Academic Success and Invcreasing Retention for Students on the GI Bill
Pennsylvania College English Association: "The Land Has a Story"
Scranton, PA

Our presentation explored the unique and often fragile population of students attending on the GI Bill and provided suggestions for increased retention and success; while many faculty and support staff assume that these students have past experience that will ensure success, potential PSTD, common family situations which result in a young adult selecting the military for a career, plus all of the complex family, financial, and time issues faced by most adult learners provide challenges specific to this population.

October 3, 2014

Presentations
"All You Zombies: Awakening Student Engagement in the Wake of NCLB"
State College, PA

Presented with Charles Dewald about why students are in college, the unique challenges they face in the wake of mass standardized testing, their expectations for what will make them successful, and bringing them to a more involved and engaged learning experience.

March 27, 2014

Papers and Oral Presentations
"Developing Summer Success Programs: Limiting Remedial Course Needs"
Horizons: What's Past is Prologue
Baltimore, MD

Charles Dewald and I presented on our results from two summers of offering a skill building workshop for students who almost placed into English 15, thus helping them to avoid taking the remedial English 4 class.

April 13, 2012

Presentations
Developing a Spring Break Travel Embedded Course: An English Professor Discovers Puerto Rica and Belize Through Student Research
A Scranton Party: History, Humor, and the Spark of Imagination
Scranton, PA

I led a panel of four students in a presentation of how to put together a travel embedded course and developing student research and enriched experience during travel.

April 12, 2012

Presentations
Getting Them in the Door: Creating and Maintaining an Effective Writing Center for Underclassmen
A Scranton Party: History, Humor, and the Spark of Imagination
Sranton, PA

Charles Dewald and I presented strategies for developing a successful Writing Center.

March 20, 2004