Notes on Teaching and Learning

With a constant influx of fancy new technology at our finger tips, many instructors jump at the opportunity to incorporate these new tools into the classroom.  Each tool boasts an impressive resume of improving student learning, building a sense of community, and fostering student discussion.  What they don’t tell you is that instructing students to blog, build a wiki, or start their own discussion board isn’t enough.  The instructor needs to actively engage students by providing prompts, examples, and intellectual fuel for students to become engaged and benefit from some of the perks of technological tools in the classroom.  The type of technology the instructor chooses to incorporate into the classroom will also have a large impact on the instructor’s success.  Here we briefly focus on the role of blogs in the classroom.

Blogs and Author ownership: Specifically, blogs provide a customizable environment that belongs to the author.  Unlike discussion boards, a blog focuses on the authors themselves and their reaction or information regarding a topic, and less on the interaction with the blog’s readers.  The blog itself remains as a historical record of the author’s opinions and information open to any audience who is interested.

Reader/Writer interaction: In general, readers are allowed to comment following a blog post.  However, if the purpose of the blog is to promote discussion of a specific topic it may be better suited to a discussion board.  Because blogs focus on the author and not the interaction of those reading the post, blogs do not inherently promote discussion or set up a community with the readers (though this may happen with avid author/reader commentary).

Grading of student blogs: When blogs are incorporated into classrooms, instructors usually require interaction between students to occur as part of a participation grade.  It is easy for an instructor/TA to record how frequently a student posts or even comments on a peer’s blog but the intellectual value of each post and comment can be difficult to determine.  Luckily resources exist to help evaluate/grade the student blogging experience (Chronicle blog, Blog rubric).

Overall blogs are one of many great tools available for instructors.  With the appropriate preparation and engagement, blogs can become a useful tool in the classroom – but only if the shoe fits.

Peer-led Team learning (PLTL) is a method commonly used in undergraduate science courses where students who have completed the course and done well are recruited to become peer-leaders to the students the following year.  These peer-leaders then interact with current students promoting critical thinking through group problem solving.  This method has gained significant momentum in general chemistry courses at the undergraduate level. “Retention and Reform: An Evaluation of Peer-Led Team Learning” is a study focused on the benefits of PLTL in Introductory Chemistry classes at Kennesaw State University. The study found that classes taught using PLTL had higher percentages of students taking the final exam as well as passing the class. The author also found that minority groups had a larger positive benefit from this method of learning.

This article addresses the difficulty in isolating causes behind improved learning. The author used identical professors to teach PLTL and non-PLTL classes, compared SAT scores for incoming courses, discussed the distribution of points for grading with regards to both types of classes, and even possible differences in motivation to come to class. However he could not control differences in class time distribution (two 75 minute courses vs. three 50 minute courses) as well as if the same impact could have occurred by having the students work problems during the course moving away from straight lecture based learning.

The author does provide sufficient support for reform and movement away from lecture based learning toward a learning method with increased engagement but questions whether these increases will translate into increased retention in the sciences when students return to lecture based learning. The article concludes by saying that while PLTL has increased the number of students passing the chemistry course, research needs to be done regarding what aspects of PLTL contribute to this increase. He leaves us with two of many possible explanations:  Is it changes in self-concept – in how the student views themselves?

Are the students working in the zone of proximal development –extending what the student can learn on their own through adult/peer assistance?

What do you think?

By Katie Grayshan – Kaneb Center Graduate Associate and Amanda McKendree – Kaneb Center Assistant Director

On March 3, Dr. Keith Davis, director of the Digital Visualization Theater (DVT), offered a workshop on how to utilize the impressive technology of the theater to enhance student learning. The DVT is a digital projection system that displays visualizations on a 50 foot diameter dome located in the Jordan Hall of Science.

The DVT enhances student understanding and enthusiasm by creating an experience that immerses students in course content. As Keith mentioned during the workshop, “Professors can explain the concepts to students, and the DVT allows students to experience them.” Keith also provided demonstrations that highlighted the differences between viewing visual content (movies, graphics, etc.) on a standard rectangular screen versus on the dome. The audience compared these presentations and an interesting pattern emerged. When audience members spoke of the small screen presentation, they referred to the information shown to them on the screen – “When you showed us the inside of the skull, … .” In contrast, when discussing the same material on the dome, individuals spoke of the what we did – “When we flew into the skull, … .” These comments made it quite apparent that the dome offers a unique experience for its audience unlike that often available in the classroom. The Digital Visualization Theater offers the academic community a medium to simultaneously educate and excite students about the information we wish to share with them.

The workshop concluded with participants articulating educational goals for their courses with Keith offering ideas about how the DVT could help accomplish these goals. For example, one participant interested in teaching students about demographic data could use the Geographic Information System (GIS) data currently available to visualize in the theater. Keith provided additional individual advice and suggestions, all the while modeling effective teaching practices throughout the entire workshop.

Faculty from several disciplines including Creative Writing, Philosophy, Physics, and Biological Sciences have partnered with the DVT to create presentations in the dome. For instance, Philosophy Professor Katherine Brading has collaborated with the DVT to develop models of the universe through Johannes Kepler’s eyes to supplement the history of science portion of her class. Professor Lara Phillips, from the Physics Department, worked with DVT to custom-make several classes which highlighted various cosmological principles. For instance, she illustrates the existence of a supermassive black hole by zooming in incrementally at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Chemistry Professor Olaf Wiest oversaw the development of a 30 minute presentation utilizing both live models and prerendered animations which demonstrated how the digestive enzyme Chymotrypsin breaks up molecules.

The DVT staff is continuously expanding the theater’s repertoire by working with professors to create new content, improve old content, and find new ways to use the technology. They offer a wide range of possibilities to the Notre Dame community- offering services that take very little time to prepare to those that can involve years of collaboration.

To read more about the DVT, see http://science.nd.edu/jordan/about/digital-visualization-theater.shtml