Adult Students as Learners: Creating Effective Learning Environments
Often what is most effective in creating an environment conducive to learning for college students is seen as the most challenging to the instructors. For example, most professors know that multiple choice exams don't require students to use much critical thinking, but they use these scantron exams to cut down on the burden of grading. Though I think Powerpoint presentations can be used very effectively, there is something to the "Tyranny of Powerpoint". It reminds me a bit of an episode of The Simpsons when Lisa steals the teacher's editions of the school textbooks, and classes came to a screeching halt. Would we, college instructors, be able to deliver our material without powerpoint? Why are we doing all the work and the students remain passive? How could we better engage the students? To create effective learning environments, we need to think about how to teach and how to get students to participate in their learning experience.
Artifact #1: I attended a workshop as part of the college teaching certification institute at Michigan State University. The following are some notes I took pertaining to what I found helpful and interesting. My reflections and thoughts on the usage of what I learned from this workshop can be found below.
Artifact #2: An example of a lesson plan that I have implemented in the classroom in an effort to have a more effective learning environment.
Artifact #2: An example of a lesson plan that I have implemented in the classroom in an effort to have a more effective learning environment.
Creating and Assessing Effective Writing Assignments Across the Curriculum
by Trixie Smith
Teaching Workshops, May 10, 2012
In this workshop, we brainstormed on why we as teachers are afraid of assigning writing assignments and we discussed what kind of writing we have done as students in class and what they were meant to accomplish. Finally, we were given some helpful suggestions for alternative writing assignments:
What kinds of assignments are we giving? What are these assignments meant to accomplish? |
-- In most college classes, the only type of writing assignments given are traditional term papers |
What we should be thinking about before we create assignment to give to students: |
--What do you want the students to get out of the assignment- can you make a rubric of your expectations? |
Ideas for different types of assignments: Why so many research papers? Outside of those who will go on to grad school, after students graduate, they won’t be writing term papers. Why not brochures, posters, wiki/blogs, step-by-step manuals. Audience, purpose, and situation should help determine the mode. |
--Mike’s Growth Biology Class- how does osteoporosis and bone turnover happen? 2 pages double-spaced, written for a high school bio class, may include pictures and diagrams, use examples. “Bones are like roads...” Then he has actual HS students critique the assignments and determine which was the most effective. |
Reflections and Applications of Teaching and Learning
Session: Creating and Assessing Effective Writing Assignments Across the Curriculum
What skills and techniques did I learn that will help me become a better educator?
We discussed how term paper assignments are so ubiquitous, yet term papers are not a task that most people will be doing after they graduate. Instead, try small writing assignments, creative writing assignments. I think the idea of having a rubric for writing assignments is really important. I have been in classes and taught classes where a rubric is not given, so then how can we be surprised when the outcome didn't match our (unclear) expectations?
What things am I still uncertain about regarding this topic that I need to investigate further in the future?
Students’ feelings toward these types of assignments. My fear is that, if they are used to writing nothing but term papers, assigning them a 2 page brochure or blog writing assignment will make them feel like they are not being taken seriously or that the assignments are a waste of time. I also worry about the application of these types of assignments to really large (100+) classes. I am interested in using peer review to give feedback on drafts of writing assignments, we do a lot of this in my graduate level classes and forums, but I worry that this would require a lot of training in order to be useful in the undergraduate setting. However, since this workshop, I have been picking up more tools for giving student feedback. Taking some time to teach students reverse outlining and then have then peer review each others' papers in this way could be very useful, for example.
How can I apply materials from this session to my own class to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning?
I will try short, applicable assignments like brochures or short skits to create movement and engagement (plus, both help in memory consolidation).
This idea of non-traditional writing assignments in the science classroom really resonated with me, and I immediately implemented these ideas into the course I was assisting. In previous semesters, students had 4 short writing assignments and 1 term paper assignment, and all 5 assignments were the same, the traditional science paper. I decided that it would be worthwhile to introduce some other types of assignments. I took out two of the shorter traditional writing assignments and substituted them with an informational pamphlet and a science news article. These changes formed the basis of my Mentored Teaching Project. You can learn more about these changes and the outcomes by going here.
To follow up, I have gotten positive feedback on these alternative assignments from students. I think part of the positive viewing of the assignments occurs when the students can see the value in the assignment.
We discussed how term paper assignments are so ubiquitous, yet term papers are not a task that most people will be doing after they graduate. Instead, try small writing assignments, creative writing assignments. I think the idea of having a rubric for writing assignments is really important. I have been in classes and taught classes where a rubric is not given, so then how can we be surprised when the outcome didn't match our (unclear) expectations?
What things am I still uncertain about regarding this topic that I need to investigate further in the future?
Students’ feelings toward these types of assignments. My fear is that, if they are used to writing nothing but term papers, assigning them a 2 page brochure or blog writing assignment will make them feel like they are not being taken seriously or that the assignments are a waste of time. I also worry about the application of these types of assignments to really large (100+) classes. I am interested in using peer review to give feedback on drafts of writing assignments, we do a lot of this in my graduate level classes and forums, but I worry that this would require a lot of training in order to be useful in the undergraduate setting. However, since this workshop, I have been picking up more tools for giving student feedback. Taking some time to teach students reverse outlining and then have then peer review each others' papers in this way could be very useful, for example.
How can I apply materials from this session to my own class to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning?
I will try short, applicable assignments like brochures or short skits to create movement and engagement (plus, both help in memory consolidation).
This idea of non-traditional writing assignments in the science classroom really resonated with me, and I immediately implemented these ideas into the course I was assisting. In previous semesters, students had 4 short writing assignments and 1 term paper assignment, and all 5 assignments were the same, the traditional science paper. I decided that it would be worthwhile to introduce some other types of assignments. I took out two of the shorter traditional writing assignments and substituted them with an informational pamphlet and a science news article. These changes formed the basis of my Mentored Teaching Project. You can learn more about these changes and the outcomes by going here.
To follow up, I have gotten positive feedback on these alternative assignments from students. I think part of the positive viewing of the assignments occurs when the students can see the value in the assignment.
Classroom observation
Dr. LaDuca’s Chem II class, Michigan State University
I sat in on an undergraduate chemistry class where the professor was known for using a lot of instructional technology in his course. The class was made up of about 115 students.
The entirety of the class session was spent asking students ‘Clicker’ questions. He generally asked the same question stated in different ways, which seemed to help the students get it, meaning more and more students selected the correct answer as they went along. For a new question or a more challenging question, Dr. LaDuca encouraged the students to talk it through with their neighbors before entering their answer. They were usually allowed 1 minute for the question. For basic questions that he felt they should know for sure, he didn’t allow discussion, and gave the students less time to come up with the answer. Along the way, Dr. Laduca wrote a few concepts or terms or ideas on the whiteboard, but other than that there was no formal ‘lecture’.
After class, some of the other observers and I stayed behind to talk to the professor. I asked if this was a typical class, or if this followed a full lecture the class before. He informed us that all his classes are like this, but the students also have online questions to help solidify the learning when they get back home. Furthermore, he told us that his exams are not like the clicker questions, but he designs exams to get the students to think deeper and show understanding.
I was really surprised how interactive the class was and that there wasn't a traditional lecture portion. But what I was really surprised about, was that when I was listening in on the students, they all stayed on task really well. The discussed the problems with each other and helped the students that were lost, or if they did not agree with each other, one student would explain how they came up with the answer. I think the key here was that the professor kept the time short so they only had enough time to work through the problem and not switch to socializing.
As a new instructor, I don't think I would be able to have a class as fully interactive as this one, but I would like to incorporate some strategies he uses. I like that he openly encourages discussions on the more difficult questions, and through the use of Clickers, there is no shame for getting the question wrong but you can still gauge where you are in understanding the material.
The entirety of the class session was spent asking students ‘Clicker’ questions. He generally asked the same question stated in different ways, which seemed to help the students get it, meaning more and more students selected the correct answer as they went along. For a new question or a more challenging question, Dr. LaDuca encouraged the students to talk it through with their neighbors before entering their answer. They were usually allowed 1 minute for the question. For basic questions that he felt they should know for sure, he didn’t allow discussion, and gave the students less time to come up with the answer. Along the way, Dr. Laduca wrote a few concepts or terms or ideas on the whiteboard, but other than that there was no formal ‘lecture’.
After class, some of the other observers and I stayed behind to talk to the professor. I asked if this was a typical class, or if this followed a full lecture the class before. He informed us that all his classes are like this, but the students also have online questions to help solidify the learning when they get back home. Furthermore, he told us that his exams are not like the clicker questions, but he designs exams to get the students to think deeper and show understanding.
I was really surprised how interactive the class was and that there wasn't a traditional lecture portion. But what I was really surprised about, was that when I was listening in on the students, they all stayed on task really well. The discussed the problems with each other and helped the students that were lost, or if they did not agree with each other, one student would explain how they came up with the answer. I think the key here was that the professor kept the time short so they only had enough time to work through the problem and not switch to socializing.
As a new instructor, I don't think I would be able to have a class as fully interactive as this one, but I would like to incorporate some strategies he uses. I like that he openly encourages discussions on the more difficult questions, and through the use of Clickers, there is no shame for getting the question wrong but you can still gauge where you are in understanding the material.
Classroom Observation
Dr. Casey Henley's Session on Kennedy's Disease, Michigan State University
Dr. Henley was a guest speaker in the course for which I am a course assistant, PHM 480 (Neurobiology of Disease). Dr. Henley started with a few powerpoint slides with some background about Kennedy's disease- the incidence of disease, some symptoms, etc. That was pretty standard for this course. However, what she prepared for the rest of the class blew me away. The students were given several pages of figures from published research articles which some background information about how the studies were done, and the students went through and studied the figures and discussed what they meant, and in this way they constructed what we understand about the etiology and sequence of events in the progression of Kennedy's Disease. For example, they looked at figures that described the role of androgen receptors, testosterone, neurogenic versus myogenic models of disease progression, and on. The students were engaged the entire time and were fully capable of working through the figures and the corresponding questions Dr. Henley prepared for the to answer (i.e. What does this figure demonstrate? What does this tell us about X aspect of the disease?). The last page of the worksheet packet was a summary of what they had learned.
I was very impressed with this method, and look forward to using it in my future lectures. Though it may seem like she didn't need to prepare much and had this students do all the work, finding the right figures and research to direct students to the learning you hope to achieve can be time consuming.
I was very impressed with this method, and look forward to using it in my future lectures. Though it may seem like she didn't need to prepare much and had this students do all the work, finding the right figures and research to direct students to the learning you hope to achieve can be time consuming.