John Tingerthal, EdD, SE, PE
\n2\/13\/2017 1:09:18 PM<\/p>\n
I think that it is safe to assume that college faculty are interested in improving the learning experience for students.\u00a0 There is substantial literature on overall course re-design models that supplement or fully replace traditional lectures with technology, online or emporium-style resources. ‘Flipping’ a class, in which content delivery is moved online allowing students to actively engage with that content in class, has received considerable attention at NAU.\u00a0 But the reality is that the demands on our time only allow\u00a0for such dramatic redesign in select cases. Fortunately, there are small changes that you can make that can pay large dividends in student achievement.\u00a0 The intent of this post is to stimulate reflection on your own teaching practice and consider how you can make your class more learner-centered with minimal additional effort.<\/p>\n
A recent series of articles<\/a> in the Chronicle of Higher Education by James Lang (2016) proposes some small changes that can have a powerful impact on student learning.\u00a0 Lang suggests techniques that are easy to implement are supported by the research on learning and get at what Chickering and Gamson (1997) classified as seven principles for good practice in higher education:<\/p>\n Techniques suggested by Lang include the following elements:<\/p>\n For instance, leveraging the minutes before class to informally connect with your students and create wonder about the day’s topic can set the stage for engagement with the content.\u00a0 In the first five minutes, opening the class with questions about the previous class or homework reading instead of spending time on administrative tasks can also work to engage the students by getting them active in the process.<\/p>\n It is well documented that experts (read: instructors) organize information differently from\u00a0novices (read: students).\u00a0 Lang discusses some techniques that can help students make connections between the course material and their everyday lives, <\/strong>which can assist them in formulating their own ideas.<\/p>\n Research on learning also supports the notion that we can only take in so much information at once.\u00a0 Spacing out the content and assessments while including some cumulative questions along the way can keep the information present and active.<\/p>\n In the last five minutes of class, it may be futile to try to cram in new content.\u00a0 Instead, use this time for students to reflect on the day’s work and process it in the context of their own experiences and learning.\u00a0 A simple technique called the ‘minute paper’ has the students summarize most salient point of the class and codify any confusion that remains on the topic.\u00a0 These minute papers can be collected and quickly reviewed as to assess the effectiveness of the day’s lesson, prompting the preparation for the next class meeting.\u00a0 Classroom Assessment Techniques<\/em> by Angelo and Cross (1993) is a handbook that provides other ideas for real-time assessment.\u00a0 This book cross-references techniques to individual disciplines and provides a measure of the required effort associated with administering each.<\/p>\n Giving students control can be a scary proposition. It can be a simple as soliciting questions for inclusion on quizzes and examinations or as involved as letting the students collectively design an assignment.\u00a0 I have gone so far as to use a technique called Specifications Grading (Nilson, 2014),\u00a0which makes every assignment pass\/fail, but gives students the opportunity to select which assessments to complete.<\/p>\n There is no lack of advice on ways to improve student learning. In fact, I would argue that there may be too many ideas, with the difficulty being in having the time to evaluate the appropriateness of these ideas for your students and discipline. I therefore suggest starting small. Here are a few things that you can do right now:<\/p>\n It is in making small changes that we can make a difference for our students.<\/p>\n Additional online resources:<\/p>\n References:<\/p>\n John Tingerthal, EdD John Tingerthal, EdD, SE, PE 2\/13\/2017 1:09:18 PM I think that it is safe to assume that college faculty are interested in improving the learning experience for students.\u00a0 There is substantial literature on overall course re-design models that supplement or fully replace traditional lectures with technology, online or emporium-style resources. ‘Flipping’ a class, in which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-practices","category-skills","category-teaching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/teaching-academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/teaching-academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/teaching-academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/teaching-academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/teaching-academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/teaching-academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":303,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/teaching-academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions\/303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/teaching-academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/teaching-academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/teaching-academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\n<\/strong>Acting Director, Faculty Professional Development Program
\n<\/em>President\u2019s Distinguished Teaching Fellow
\n<\/em>Box 4131, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011
\n928-523-5217<\/a>
\nJohn.Tingerthal@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"