Notes on Teaching and Learning

If you’re looking for some great books to read over the break, please check out our library for a wealth of teaching resources to help you make next semester your best yet.  From all of us at the Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning, we wish you a happy and safe holiday season!

At the beginning of the semester, we invited you to Rock the First Day.  As the end of the semester draws near, it is now time to ROCK THE LAST DAY!  The last day of class is your opportunity to reinforce what students have learned over the course of the semester, provide students with an opportunity to reflect upon those experiences, and to say goodbye.  Therefore, rather than spending your last day of class simply reviewing for the final exam, here are some suggestions to help you Rock the Last Day:

• As a class, take a look at the learning goals presented in your syllabus and have a discussion about whether those goals were met.  This not only helps to wrap up the course, but also serves as a review (as students can weigh in on what they learned related to each goal).
• Relatedly, give students a chance to extend what they learned beyond the classroom.  As a class, brainstorm ways to apply or extend course material and concepts to the “real world” and encourage students to follow through.
• As suggested by Noelle Christiane Boucquey of Stanford’s Teaching Commons, “have students write a letter to next year’s class with advice on how to succeed in the course.”  This information will be beneficial to your future students, but can also help your current students by having them reflect upon how to study best for the final.
• Check out this blog post on preparing for the last day of class.

How are you going to rock the last day?

Additional Resources to Help You Rock the Last Day:

• “What to Do on the First and Last Day of Class,” University of Wisconsin-Madison
• “School’s Out! Almost. Strategies for the Last Day of Class,” Stanford Teaching Commons
• “Teaching Tip: Ending a Course,” Ball State University

The Kaneb Center’s recent workshops on Effective Lecture Strategies highlighted some of the important considerations when delivering a lecture in the classroom.  Here are a few of the takeaways from these workshops:

PREPARATION

• Have between 3-5 main points.  Think “less is more.”  The best lectures only cover a limited number of topics, as then they can be covered in sufficient detail without being exhaustive.  If you have 9 points that you want to make, find out a way to chunk them into 3-5 to help students process it all.
• Avoid writing lecture like a script.  When composing a lecture, your impulse may be to script your lecture word-for-word.  However, with a scripted lecture, the inclination becomes reading it, as opposed to producing it from memory or presenting it in a conversational way.  One way to combat this is to not write the lecture like a script, but instead to write out bullet points for those main points.

• If you’re particularly nervous and are driven to script your lecture for fear that you will get in front of students and freeze, then we recommend scripting the first 4-5 minutes of your talk (to help you ease into your lecture) and to only use that script as a safety net if you need it.  A few minutes into your lecture, you’re likely to feel more comfortable and won’t need your notes as much.  You can also keep your bulleted notes in presenter view in PowerPoint, so you can still make sure that you’re covering what you intended.

• Practice, practice, practice!  Before your lecture, practice your lecture in real time at least a few times out loud.  Your words are likely to sound different in your head rather than when you’re practicing out loud.  This form of practice will also give you an idea of timing, as you can test how long your lecture is and whether you have too much or too little content for your designated lecture period.

DELIVERY

Before the Lecture

• Post incomplete slides online (if using PowerPoint).  There are some clear benefits to posting slides online before the start of class.  First, rather than focusing on writing down what’s on the slides, students can focus on what you’re saying and write down what’s truly important.  Second, if slides are incomplete, coming to class will be integral to students’ success in the course, as the online slides are a poor substitute for all that will be covered during the actual lecture.  In general, slides should have enough information to help students organize the content, but not so much information as to be exhaustive.
• Engage students in conversation.  Arrive early to set up and then spend the last few minutes before class talking with students as they’re walking into the classroom.  Davis (2009) suggests that using your voice informally before the lecture will help you continue to use your voice conversationally during your lecture.  Therefore, use this time to get to know your students and to “warm up” for your lecture.

Starting the Lecture

• Start with outline and learning goals.  Rather than just diving in head first, give students (and yourself) a minute to warm up to the lecture and to help them mentally organize the material by starting with an outline.  Once you’ve presented your outline of topics, it’s a good idea to present your learning goals for students.  This gives them an idea of which concepts are the most important and to help them figure out what they should be taking away from today’s lecture.  This also helps them make sure to focus on those points.
• Don’t be afraid to wander.  The best lecturers know how to work the room and one of the best ways to do so is to create some distance between yourself and the podium.  Using a clicker, you can lecture from nearly anywhere in the classroom, so feel free to wander about, disperse eye contact around the entire classroom, and lecture like a seasoned professional.
• Body positioning and voice.  If using the white board, make sure to open your body up to the classroom equitably.  Specifically, be conscientious about not speaking to the board, but opening your shoulders to the classroom and speaking to students.  Moreover, when opening up, make sure that you’re not consistently putting your back to the same side of the classroom, as these students are not getting the same lecture experience then as those students to whom you’re facing.

ACTIVE LEARNING

The average student’s attention span is between 15-20 minutes (Bligh, 2000).  Considering such, in a 50- to 75-minute lecture, incorporating active learning 3-5 times throughout the class is a good way to maintain students’ attention and increase learning.  In fact, increased student engagement and interactions leads to greater gains in learning and retention (Knight and Wood, 2005).  Below are some active learning techniques to consider in your classroom when lecturing.

• Jigsaw.  In this method, break students into groups with each team being responsible for a different article, question, or part of a problem.  After each team figures out their piece and they become “experts” in their part, mix the groups so that one person from each team is in each new group (see diagram below).  Then have each team member teach their piece to their new group and together they can complete the puzzle by combining their knowledge.

• Online polling.  Websites like polleverywhere.com and tophat.com allow you to engage students by having them respond to online polls using their cellphones or computers.  Responses can be multiple choice or write in, anonymous (with Poll Everywhere) or tracked over the course of the semester (with Top Hat Monocle).  For more technological teaching tools, check out this blog post from Kaneb on “Technology in the Classroom.”
• Think-Pair-Share.  After posing a sufficiently difficult question, instead of asking for volunteers to answer the question, have students think about the question silently for a minute.  Then have them pair up and discuss the question with their partners.  Then ask for students to share their perspectives with the whole class.  For more on this and other activities to keep students engaged, check out this blog post from Kaneb on “Keeping Students Engaged in the Classroom.”

To learn more about lecturing–including more active learning strategies, incorporating multimedia, and ending your lecture on a strong note–keep an eye out for our Effective Lecture Strategies workshop in the future.

Additional Resources:

• What’s the Use of Lectures? by Donald A. Bligh
• Tools for Teaching by Barbara Gross Davis
• How to Give Highly Effective Lectures by Columbia University
• Twenty Ways to Make Lectures More Participatory by the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University
• Teaching Strategies: Large Classes and Lectures by Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, University of Michigan
• Lecture Strategies by the Oregon Health & Science University Teaching and Learning Center
• Teaching with Lectures by the Teaching Center, Washington University at St. Louis

There are many great ways to incorporate technology into the classroom to enhance students’ learning experiences. We’ve listed a few options below. What is your favorite way to incorporate technology in the classroom?

1. In Class Polling – There are many great resources that allow in class polling. You create a poll online and students use their cells phones or computers to answer the poll in class. Real time data is available to show the class. Check out Poll Everywhere or Top Hat Monocle to get started.
2. Blogs – Check out this post on using blogs in the classroom. Notre Dame faculty, staff, and students and can create free blogs here.
3. YouTube – Showing relevant Youtube videos in class can be a great way to keep students engaged in the classroom while demonstrating an application or example of a topic that was covered in class.
4. Creative Presentations – Tired of using the same old powerpoint presentations? Use Prezi to create a zoomable campus to add some variety to in class presentations.
5. Comics – “Developing an idea within the confines of a comic is more challenging than it might seem. Explaining or illustrating a concept concisely in three or six panels is one way to have students demonstrate their understanding.” Use Pixton to make online comics and check out this post for more information.
6. Classroom Chat Rooms– Today’s Meet is a resource that allows online discussions. Here are some ideas on how incorporate Today’s Meet in the classroom.
7. Customized Videos – Check out this post on how to use Animoto to create videos for your class.
8. Digital Bulletin Boards – Use lino to create a digital bulletin board for your class.
9. Word Clouds – A word cloud is a visualization of text. Words that are used more frequently in the text are larger in the word cloud. Check out this post on word cloud sites and ideas for using word clouds in the classroom.
10. Google Docs – Use Google Docs to create a document that all students have access to, so that they can work together to write a document. This is a great way to have the student work together to make a class study guide.
11. Google Forms – Google forms creates an online form and collects responses. Check out 12 Ways to Use Google Forms in the Classroom.
12. Computational Software – Mathematica software is available for download on the OIT website. This computational software can be used to visualize mathematical functions and scientific data.

Are you interested in learning more about using technology in the classroom? Check out NspireD2 and the Kaneb Center’s Teaching Well Using Technology Certificate program.

The following entry from the 2014-2015 Teaching Issues Writing Consortium: Teaching Tips was contributed by Debi Griffin, Assistant Director of the Faculty Development Center, Bellarmine University
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Creative thinking and critical thinking are both important aspects of problem solving. The “Six Hats” exercise described below provides a framework for students to practice both.

Six Thinking Hats is a technique developed by Edward De Bono. This parallel thinking technique provides a structure for students to explore six distinct perspectives of a complex issue or scenario. The group exercise can easily be adapted to many disciplines.

Using “high school drop-out rates” as a sample topic, the “Six Hats” and perspectives are represented as:

• White Hat: focuses on data, facts, information known or needed. (e.g., What is the current high school drop-out rate in our state? How does the rate in our community compare to the national data? What specific programs are currently in place?)
• Black Hat: focuses on difficulties, potential problems, why something may not work. (e.g., What issues contribute to the drop-out rate? What are obstacles to improvement? What mistakes do we need to avoid?)
• Red Hat: focuses on feelings, hunches, gut instinct, and intuition. (e.g., Do you have any emotions around this issue? Put yourself in the shoes of a high school student considering dropping out and imagine your fears and concerns.)
• Yellow Hat: focuses on values and benefits: why something may work. (e.g., What are we doing right?)
• Green Hat: focuses on creativity: possibilities, alternatives, solutions, new ideas. (e.g., What’s a new approach? If we reduced the drop-out rate by 25%, how could that impact our community?)
• Blue Hat: focuses on process control, timing, next steps, action plans. (e.g., What’s the next logical step? Who needs to be included?)

A quick Google and YouTube search for “Six Thinking Hats” will supply dozens of charts, images, videos, and exercises using this technique. You can also find an excellent slide show by Edward de Bono on the Six Thinking Hats technique.

Resources:

DeBono, Edward (1999) Six Thinking Hats: An Essential Approach to Business Management, Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company.

Submitted by:
Debi Griffin, Assistant Director
Faculty Development Center
Bellarmine University
dgriffin@bellarmine.edu

Are you interested in incorporating active learning activities in the classroom? Do you want to promote critical thinking and problem solving skills? You may want to consider Inquiry Based Learning!

What is Inquiry Based Learning?

In this experiential teaching method, the instructor facilitates learning though student problem solving. A lecture could be used to pose a problem or question. The instructor then guides the students through the process of discovering ways to solve the problem rather giving a traditional lecture where the instructor tells the students how to solve the problem.

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is a method of instruction that places the student, the subject, and their interaction at the center of the learning experience. At the same time, it transforms the role of the teacher from that of dispensing knowledge to one of facilitating learning. It repositions him or her, physically, from the front and center of the classroom to someplace in the middle or back of it, as it subtly yet significantly increases his or her involvement in the thought-processes of the students.

– E. Lee May of Salisbury State University

Why use Inquiry Based Learning?

There are many benefits to Inquiry-Based Learning. Some of the benefits listed by the Centre for Excellence in Enquiry-Based Learning (EBL) include:

• Fundamentally, students are more engaged with the subject. Learning is perceived as being more relevant to their own needs, thus they are enthusiastic and ready to learn.
• Students can expand on what they have learned by following their own research interests.
• EBL allows students to develop a more flexible approach to their studies, giving them the freedom and the responsibility to organize their own pattern of work within the time constraints of the task.
• Working within and communicating to a group are vital for a student’s employability. Self-directed learning not only develops key skills for postgraduate study, but also leads to original thought that contributes to larger research projects, papers and publications.
• For teaching staff, developing an EBL module helps to understand the learning process and the changing needs of students.

How can I use Inquiry Based Learning in my classroom?

Consider the following when planning an Inquiry Based Learning activity:

1. Think of a question or problem you would like to pose to the class. This should be a challenging problem where the students do not know the solution right away.
2. Decide if you want the student to work on this individually, as small groups, or as an entire class.
3. Come up with a few ways that you might help to facilitate the problem solving process if the students get stuck. It may help to establish guidelines for problem solving.
4. Discuss your plan with a colleague or schedule a consultation with the Kaneb Center to get feedback on your plan before implementing in the class room.

For more information on Inquiry Based Learning, check out these resources:

Centre for Excellence in Enquiry-Based Learning

Benefits of Experiential Learning

The Academy of Inquiry Based Learning

University of Florida – Inquiry Based Instruction

Psychologists have identified two distinct forms of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic.  Intrinsic motivation refers to an inherent interest in pursing a topic (“learning for learning’s sake”).  These individuals find a subject enjoyable and they naturally desire to learn mastery of it.   Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, refers to a desire to pursue a subject for reasons outside of the individual, such as rewards, grades, parental or instructor approval, etc.  These individuals are motivated to learn a subject not because they want to learn it, but because learning the material will get them good grades, parental praise, or because jobs in that field pay well; all of which are external rewards.

As an instructor, there are multiple ways for you to foster intrinsic motivation in your students.  Some of these include:

1. Create a student-centered classroom.  When students are involved in their own learning, they are more intrinsically motivated.  Allow students to have a say in the course where possible and try to incorporate an active learning activity every 15-20 minutes.
2. Promote a mastery goal, rather than a performance goal.  If students are motivated to gain mastery, rather than simply aiming for a performance goal, they are more likely to invest more effort into their own learning.  Therefore, try to foster in students a goal of becoming fluent in Spanish, rather than having them focus on getting an A in the class.  In addition, de-emphasize grades and emphasize the intrinsic rewards of learning.
3. Encourage students’ actions, not their character or person.  By using statements of encouragement like, “your answers showed thought” as opposed to “you are a good thinker,” students are more likely to remain intrinsically motivated (Ginott, 1972).  Focus on their effort, not their innate ability.  With that, avoid using statements that suggest that innate ability is all that is required to complete a project.  Direct students’ attention to the process of completing the project and the effort involved, rather than on the end product.
4. Provide learning goals.  Research has shown that when teachers give learners a goal, students experience a boost in self-efficacy (Bandura, 1988; Elliot & Dweck, 1988; Schunk, 1991).  By providing clear learning goals at the beginning of class or before an activity, students may be more intrinsically motivated to work toward those goals.
5. Have high, but realistic expectations for students.  Davis (2009) noted that instructors’ expectations can have a powerful effect on students’ performance.  She notes that standards should be set high enough to challenge students and motivate them to do their best without being so high that students feel they are unattainable.  If students believe achievement is within their grasp, they will work toward that goal.

Additional Resources:

• Motivating Students (Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching)
• Motivating Students (Karin Kirk, SERC, Carlton College)
• Encouraging Students’ Intrinsic Motivation (Kathleen McKinney, Illinois State University)
• Tools for Teaching (Barbara Gross Davis, 2009)

Be sure to check out the Kaneb Center’s upcoming workshops (and keep an eye out for the Spring schedule).  Intrinsically motivated?  Come to our workshops to learn about teaching for the sake of learning.  Extrinsically motivated?  If you attend 5 workshops and write a 2-page reflective essay, you can earn a teaching certificate.

In addition, please consider applying for the Kaneb Center’s Graduate Associate position (information below).

With the semester half over, many students may be experiencing the dreaded mid-semester slump.  However, there are tons of great activities you, as the instructor, can incorporate into your classroom to pull students back in.  In Teaching What You Don’t Know, Therese Huston notes multiple wonderful activities that instructors can have on-hand to nip lackluster student engagement in the bud.  To name a few:

Activities of Two to Five Minutes

Comparative Note-Taking

• In pairs, have students take 1-2 minutes to compare their notes with a neighbor.  This will help students whose attention was waning to re-focus, as well as give them an opportunity to rework notes that aren’t clear while ideas are still fresh in their minds.  Once students have had time to talk with their neighbor, open the floor for questions and take a few minutes to clarify ideas which were unclear to students.

Intentional Mistakes

• Individually or in pairs, have students find and correct the errors in an incorrect proof, weak argument, inaccurate statement, or illogical conclusion which you have presented to them.  This is a good way to draw attention to the common mistakes that students often make or a topic that students often find confusing.  Once students have composed their notes, have them share their suggested corrections and reasons why the original is wrong with the class.

Activities of Seven to Fifteen Minutes

Think-Pair-Share

• As the name suggests, this activity includes asking students a question and giving them a minute or two to think about it and possibly jot down a few ideas.  Then, students pair off and compare their answers with one another.  Finally, after a few minutes, bring the class back together and ask a few students to share what they learned.  This activity is a handy one for those moments when you pose a question to the class and are met with only a few blank stares.  By giving students time to not only compose their thoughts but also to compare those ideas with another student, they are more likely to share their ideas with the larger class.

Activities of Fifteen to Thirty Minutes

Video Predictions

• For this activity, either before watching a video or pausing at a key point, ask students in small groups (3-4 students each) to predict what they think will happen.  Groups should write their predictions on a single sheet of paper (requiring the group to work together) and should provide specific details about what they expect will happen in the video.  This will serve to focus their attention and, after which, they watch the video to see if they predicted correctly.  Whether students were able to predict what happened or not, have them explain their thought processes that led them to think that would happen and, if their expectations were inaccurate, have them talk about why it didn’t work out as they expected.  By contradicting students’ expectations, they’re likely to learn a lot from the experience.

Additional Resources:

• Teaching What You Don’t Know (Huston, 2009)
• Engaging ideas: The professor’s guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom (Bean, 1996)

This Fall Break, take a BREAK and FALL into a good book!  What better way to spend Fall Break than with one of the many books on teaching and learning from the Kaneb Center’s extensive library?  If you have a specific pedagogical question, we can also help guide you to some helpful selections.

Beyond brushing up on your knowledge of pedagogy, if you’re looking to diversify your teaching portfolio and gain additional professional development experience, you should consider applying for the Kaneb Center’s Graduate Associate opening (see the call below for more information).

Call for Applications: 2015 Kaneb Center Graduate Associates 

The Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning seeks graduate students with Notre Dame teaching experience to serve as Kaneb Center Graduate Associates for the spring of 2015 and the 2015-2016 academic year. Kaneb graduate associates facilitate workshops on effective teaching, develop teaching resources, and contribute to other activities to help graduate students develop as teachers.

Graduate associates will receive training (required) to prepare them to serve as workshop leaders and mentors. In addition, they attend weekly meetings with Dr. Kristi Rudenga, assistant director of the Kaneb Center, during which they contribute content and ideas for Kaneb Center program planning. Throughout the semester, Kaneb graduate associates contribute 6-10 hours per week, depending upon availability, and receive a stipend commensurate with hours worked ($3600-$6000 per academic year).

Applicants should be at least in their 4th year of graduate study while holding this position.

To apply, please submit the information below to kaneb@nd.edu by November 7, 2014.

• Name 
• Address 
• Phone 
• Email 
• Department 
• Current year in Graduate School 
• Description of professional development activities (teaching workshops, panel discussions, reading groups, etc…). 
• A 1-2 page summary of your teaching experiences, strengths, and strategies. 
• Description of a workshop or seminar you would like to implement. These may be current programs that you will revise or programs that are brand new to the Kaneb Center.

Have a wonderful Fall Break!

With midterm exams just around the corner, it is important to begin thinking about test construction.  Regardless of question format (multiple choice, short answer, essay, etc.), the best tests are constructed using “backwards design.”  This assessment philosophy is driven by well-developed learning goals/objectives (for either a teaching unit, course, or program) that state with clarity what the student should understand and be able to do.  Therefore, questions on an exam should be used as supportive evidence of whether students are meeting unit or course goals/objectives outlined in the syllabus.  In other words, exam results should provide acceptable evidence of student competency of leading to completion of course outcomes.  With this idea in mind, we have compiled a list of short tips and resources to help you construct your midterm exam.

Tips

• Write an exam to assess what students do know, not what they don’t.  When designing an exam, focus on what you want students to have learned, rather than trying to find holes in their understanding.  Take some time to think about the most important concepts or skills from your course (e.g., ones you hope your students will still remember in 5 years) and formulate questions to assess students’ knowledge of those.
• Use the course goals/objectives from your syllabus as a starting point.  Since the course goals in your syllabus outline what students should be able to do or what they should learn by the end of your course, design your test to assess their progress with these objectives.  Direct assessment of students’ progress will also allow you as the instructor to see where they’re at on this journey and what (if anything) needs more work to help students get there.
• Consider adding a performance task.  Performance tasks, as noted by Jay McTighe, require students to apply their knowledge to new situations as a means of measuring whether or not they understand underlying concepts.  Therefore, rather than asking students to produce a definition or formula, have them apply what they learned by interpreting new data or in a new context.  When students can extend their understanding to new situations, they likely have gained a deep understanding of course material and by using a performance task, we can assess whether or not they have done so.
• Decide on whether to use a objective or subjective test method.  Callahan and Meixner note that objective methods (multiple choice, true-false, matching) and subjective methods (essay, short answer) each have their advantages and disadvantages.  Considering such, it is up to you as the instructor to determine which (or which combination) best suits your course objectives.  Also make sure that whatever test you design can be completed during your designated testing period.

Additional Resources

• How do I Create Tests for my Students? by Mekiva Callahan and Micah Meixner.
• Creating Assignments & Exams by Jim Wilkinson, Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning.
• Understanding by Design by Jay McTighe.

For more on backwards design, also check out our blog post on the Fundamentals of Course Design.