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Engaging with Learners

This resource will help you better understand how to engage with your learners. Topics include philosophical approaches to active teaching as well as practical suggestions for several common modes of engagement (discussions, active learning, experiential learning, etc).

Site: myMHU
Course: Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning
Book: Engaging with Learners
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Date: Thursday, November 21, 2024, 5:13 PM

Table of contents

1. Pedagogy and Learning-Centered Teaching

Pedagogy: Learning-Centered Teaching

The pressures to cover material are real, but if our students do not learn the material we cover, what is the point?

Judging by the qualifiers that accompany the word “teaching” these days, it seems that simply teaching is no longer enough.  We have transformative teaching, inclusive teaching, responsive teaching, and so on. One of the qualifiers that generate some pushback is learner-centered teaching. Some professors interpret its exhortation that we put students at the center of our teaching to mean that we cater to their every whim and feeling of entitlement. Learning-centered teaching also sets up a dichotomy by creating the opposite straw man concept of teacher-centered teaching, seen by some as a narcissistic exercise. To avoid that kind of confusion, we prefer the clarifying term learning-centered teaching. 

When we make learning the focus, we realize the original aim of teaching:  creating significant learning experiences (Fink 2013). Conversely, Tom Angelo and Patricia Cross (1994) remind us that “teaching without learning is just talking.” Unfortunately, the traditional model of education tends to make coverage of content the goal. As a result, educational experiences exist on a continuum from content-focused to learning-focused (Palmer, Bach, and Streifer 2014). The pressures to cover material are real, but if our students do not learn the material we cover, what is the point?

In order to put learning at the center of the educational experience, we need to start with a solid understanding of the insights from learning sciences, or pedagogy. Equipped with that understanding, we can undertake the work necessary to intentionally situate our courses toward the learning end of the continuum. 

As a starting place, it might be helpful to understand the philosophical underpinnings of the learning-centered philosophy. Mary Ellen Weimer (2013) has distilled this pedagogy into 5 shifts.  

  1. Shift in the balance of power. In traditional courses, most if not all of the power is in the hands of the instructor. We decide the schedule, the assignments, the policies, the grading, and more. It is true that learning is a transformative experience and professors, who have already made that journey, are in a good position to make course decisions. But if we are serious about starting from learning science, we know that students are more likely to persevere in their journey and arrive at the learning destination when they are motivated. Autonomy, control, and choice are great motivators. Incorporating student input on ground rules, choice of topics for papers or presentations, or peer feedback, are but just a few of the ways instructors can share power with students but still retain final responsibility for course decisions. In addition, Paulo Freire (2000) points out pedagogies where students have no control only reinforce existing patterns of societal oppression. Conversely, our courses can become “radical spaces of possibility” (hooks 1994) if we open them up to our students. 

  2. Shift in the function of content. “Coverage is the enemy,” Nobel prize and founder of learning science Herb Simon used to say. When coverage is our starting point, the immediate mode of engagement with the material is memorization and regurgitation. If we want our students to acquire meaningful understanding, learning science tells us first we must find out what students believe about the content and dispel any misconceptions. We must provide opportunities for students to arrive at their own understanding through inquiry and discovery. We must allow different perspectives to be shared. We must check student’s evolving understanding and correct emerging fallacies. All these necessarily take time away from coverage, and require rethinking how we use our time both inside and outside of the class. In a learning-centered course, learning to relate to the content by asking good questions and drawing connections is just as important as remembering it.

  3. Shift in the role of the teacher. The traditional curriculum emphasizes the teacher’s role as the expert and the gateway to course content. Learning-centered teaching underscores that instructors play a plurality of roles that are all equally important (Pratt and Smulders 2016). Some times the instructor is the content expert and focuses on content transmission. Other times the instructor is the embodiment of the discipline and focuses on apprenticeship, acculturating students in it (like in a science lab, teaching students how to “do” science). Instructors can also focus on developing learners, building their critical thinking skills. At times, instructors can play a nurturing or mentoring role, stemming from an awareness that students learn better with encouragement, especially traditional-age students who are transitioning to adulthood. And some instructors have a keen awareness that they are communicating not just the content, but the disciplinary, institutional, and societal values behind it, such as leadership, citizenship, civility, and collaboration.

  4. Shift in the responsibility for learning. Many instructors complain that students do not take responsibility for their own learning. Responsibility is the flipside of the power coin. When we share power with our students, the stage is set for them to take responsibility for their own learning. Still, learning science advises us that students who fail to take responsibility for their learning aren’t just recalcitrant. They genuinely do not know what it means or how to do it. Responsibility unpacks into a variety of learning skills (e.g., self-assessment, planning, monitoring, reflection, adjusting). The traditional curriculum does not teach these skills, but we know that skills acquisition works through practice, feedback, and more practice (Ambrose et al 2010). Learning-centered teaching emphasizes learning-how-to-learn next to the content itself.

  5. Shift in the purpose of evaluation. Traditionally, evaluation comes at the end of teaching, with the purpose of measuring learning and translating it into a letter grade. When we put learning at the center of our teaching, however, everything else is in service of learning - including assessment, which therefore has a dual purpose:  to measure and to extend learning. This conceptualization is realized in a multiple ways. multiple assignment types are used, including summative and formative, graded and ungraded, high stakes and low-stakes assignments. The evaluation has a 360 degree focus and can include instructor evaluation, peer evaluation, and self-evaluation. The assessments are conducted in a variety of ways, designed to match the learning objectives as closely as possible. Authentic assessments are prioritized, those that ask students to use the knowledge gained in ways that mirror what will actually happen in real life. And finally, assessments are transparent, meaning that students understand why they are being assigned and how they are supposed to be carried out successfully (Winkelmes et al. 2016)

References

Ambrose, S., Bridges, M., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M., and Norman, M. (2010) How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 

Angelo, T., & Cross, P. (1994) Classroom Assessment Techniques: A handbook for college teachers (2nd ed.) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Fink, D. (2013) Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 

Freire, P. (2000) Pedagogy of the oppressed. Bloomsbury Academic.

Palmer, M. S., Bach, D. J., & Streifer, A. C. (2014). Measuring the promise: A learning-focused syllabus rubric. To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, 33(1), 14–36.

Weimer, M. (2013) Learner-Centered Teaching: Five key changes to practice (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 

Winkelmes, M., Bernacki, M., Butler, J., Zochowski, M., Golanics, J., & Weavil, K. (2016). A Teaching Intervention that Increases Underserved College Students’ Success. Peer Review, 18(1/2). Available online at https://www.aacu.org/peerreview/2016/winter-spring/Winkelmes


Article adapted from:  Pedagogy: Learning Centered Teaching 

2. Principles of Learning

How Learning Works: The Seven Learning Principles

The biggest investment we can make to enhance our teaching is to understand the learning process in order to tailor our efforts to produce maximal learning.

By Michele DiPietro (Kennesaw State University)

Our teaching is only as good as the learning it produces. As experts in our respective fields, we already possess deep content knowledge, but that is only half of the story. What we try to pass on to students has to be interpreted and processed through their filters, often with unpredictable and surprising results. Therefore, the biggest investment we can make to enhance our teaching is to understand the learning process in order to tailor our efforts to produce maximal learning. Learning science is a very interdisciplinary field, drawing from cognitive, motivational, and developmental psychology; education; organizational and group learning; diversity and inclusion studies; and several other disciplinary perspectives. Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett, and Norman (2010) reviewed the literature on learning published over the course of the past 50 years or so and organized it into seven principles that can guide us in our teaching.

Ambrose, et al. (2010) have organized their findings into seven interrelated principles:

  1. Students’ prior knowledge can help or hinder learning.
  2. How students organize knowledge influences how they learn and apply what they know.
  3. Students’ motivation determines, directs, and sustains what they do to learn.
  4. To develop mastery, students must acquire component skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply what they have learned.
  5. Goal-directed practice,  coupled with targeted feedback, enhances the quality of students’ learning.
  6. Students’ current level of development interacts with the social, emotional, and intellectual climate of the course to impact learning.
  7. To become self-directed learners, students must learn to monitor and adjust their approaches to learning.

 

Each of the seven principles is summarized below; click on each principle for more information. 

1. Students’ prior knowledge can help or hinder learning.

We think of prior knowledge as the foundation and the building blocks for new knowledge. This is usually true, but in some cases prior knowledge can interfere with learning and performance. Sometimes, prior knowledge is demonstrably inaccurate, yet strongly embraced by the learners, as is the case with some misconceptions in the sciences. Learners can’t make progress until they unlearn what they think they know (Minstrell 1989). In other situations, their prior knowledge is accurate, but it might be applied in inappropriate ways. For instance, in practicing a second language, a learner might apply sentence constructions from the native language that are inappropriate in the target language and impede her ability to communicate. Other times, prior knowledge might be insufficient. Learners might know how to do something by rote but not understand the conceptual underpinnings, resulting in overconfidence in their prior knowledge. And finally, even when people do possess the necessary prior knowledge, they can fail to activate it and bring it to bear on the current problem.

2. How students organize knowledge influences how they learn and apply what they know.

To learn something means to connect new knowledge with existing prior knowledge in long term memory. The brain is wired to do just that and it does it even without our awareness, creating networks of concepts connected in various ways. Unfortunately, not all connections are equally useful. Experts’ networks are rich and meaningful. They have more nodes, because they know a lot. They also have many more connections, although the brain does not have the capacity to connect each node to every other node. Therefore, experts make strategic connections among nodes, organized around the underlying principles in their domain, and useful to solve problems. Novices, too, organize their knowledge in networks. Their networks are predictably smaller and with fewer connections. But the connections are more often built around superficial features, like visual similarity, and less likely to help in problem solving (Chi et al. 1981). The good news from this line of research is that novices too can develop productive connections, with the appropriate support.

3. Students’ motivation determines, directs, and sustains what they do to learn.

Motivated learners display certain behaviors that are known to aid learning and performance. They make choices based on their motivation. They exert effort. They persist in the face of challenges. They seek help when they are stuck. Research shows that even though learners start with their own levels of motivation, educators can affect them based on two levers: goals and expectations (Wigfield & Eccles 2000). It is a truism that we are motivated to do what we consider important. If educators can affect the perceived importance of a topic or a task relative to others, it will cause a shift in motivation for learner. Common strategies to tap into involve activating relevance, novelty, and complexity of the material, as well as social and emotional goals.

In addition, we are motivated to expend our limited energies on tasks where we have a reasonable expectation of success. This expectation can be affected by establishing a clear linkage between the task and the learner’s goals, by bolstering the learner’s confidence in their own abilities, and in creating an environment supportive of their efforts.

4. To develop mastery, students must acquire component skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply what they have learned.

Many of the skills we teach at the college level are complex and involve several sub-skills. Writing well, for instance, requires knowledge of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and syntax, as well as an appropriate style, a good organization of ideas, and the ability to tailor the output according to specific purposes, audiences, and genres.

In order to master any skill, learners must master each sub-skill and learn to integrate them through a process that balances isolation and synthesis. Finally, learners must acquire the ability to decide which sub-skill is needed in a specific situation. For instance, mastery of data analysis involves knowing each specific statistical tool (regression, ANOVA, Chi square), and knowing which tool applies with certain types of data. While this description seems straightforward, teaching skills can be complicated. Experts have automated their processes, and often lose the ability to verbalize them. This speeds up their performance, but can hinder their ability to unpack complex skills into component skills for the benefit of the learners if they are not vigilant against their expert blind spot (Sprague & Stuart 2000).

 5. Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback enhances the quality of students’ learning.

We commonly say that practice makes perfect, but that is not necessarily true. One could be practicing and reinforcing bad habits that hinder learning and performance. Learning scientists have identified the characteristics of the kind of practice that makes indeed perfect, which they call “deliberate practice” (Ericsson et al. 2003).  

Deliberate practice is informed by clear and measurable goals stated at the outset, so that learners can direct their effort appropriately. Deliberate practice hinges on constructive feedback—frequent, timely, and focusing on strengths as well as concrete steps for improvement. Just as important is the opportunity to incorporate feedback into further practice and iterate the cycle until mastery is achieved.

6. Students’ current level of development interacts with the social, emotional, and intellectual climate of the course to impact learning.

Each student in our courses is going through a process of maturation. As educators, we want our students to mature intellectually, developing more sophisticated conceptions of what it means to learn and to know something, of their role as learners and of our role as teachers. But students are more than their intellect, and they are simultaneously developing socially, emotionally, inter- and intrapersonally, interculturally, morally, and in their identity as members of dominant or minority social groups. Research has established clear links between levels of development and learning (Patton & Renn 2016). In addition, students will all be at different points in their developmental trajectories, creating a spectrum in the classroom. The course climate that results from those interactions has also been shown to impact learning (Whitt et al. 1999). As educators, we cannot force development, but we can encourage it, and we can certainly affect the course climate to make it conducive for learning.

7. To become self-directed learners, students must learn to monitor and adjust their approaches to learning.

Once instruction is over, we want our students to keep learning independently and strategically. For this to happen, student must develop their metacognitive skills. In order to be strategic about their own learning, when faced with a new complex task, learners must be able to:  assess the task; evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in relation to the task; plan an appropriate approach; execute the approach and monitor the results; reflect and modify their approach as needed, in a cycle of improvement (Zimmerman 2001). At the center of the cycle rest their beliefs about intelligence and learning (whether intelligence is fixed or incremental and whether learning is fast or gradual). Research shows that people are in general weak at most of those skills, but that these skills can be taught successfully.

  

References

Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How learning works: 7 research-based principles for smart teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Chi, M.T.H., Feltovich, P. J., & Glaser, R. (1981). Categorization and representation of physics problems by experts and novices. Cognitive Science, 5, 121–152.

Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tescher-Romer, C. (2003). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100, 363–406.

Patton, L. and Renn K. (1998). Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Minstrell, J. A. (1989). Teaching science for understanding. In L. B. Resnick & L. E. Klopfer, (Eds.), Toward the thinking curriculum: Current cognitive research. Alexandria: ASCD Books.

Sprague, J., & Stuart, D. (2000). The speaker’s handbook. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt College Publishers.

Whitt, E., Nora, A., Edison, M., Terenzini, P., & Pascarella, E. (1999). Women’s perceptions of a “chilly climate” and cognitive outcomes in college: Additional evidence. Journal of College Student Development, 40(2), 163–177.

Wigfield, A., & Eccles, J. (2000). Expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 68–81.

Zimmerman, B. J. (2001). Theories of self-regulated learning and academic achievement: An overview and analysis. In B. J. Zimmerman & D. H. Schunk (Eds.), Self-regulated learning and academic achievement (2nd ed., pp. 1–38). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

 




Source Article: How Learning Works: The Seven Learning Principles 

3. Attendance and Example Syllabus Statement

Attendance matters, and should be encouraged.  Attendance can be the strongest predictor of student grades.  Does this mean that attendance in class should be mandatory, or that students should lose points for missing class?  What is the balance between student autonomy and your role in encouraging student engagement with the class?  This can be a tricky balance to find.  The article linked here, Attendance Matters, covers many of the considerations you should think about when crafting your attendance policy.

Perhaps the most important part of an effective attendance policy is making sure the policy is transparent and understandable to your students.  Attendance policies should be stated clearly and at the opening of the semester, and should be detailed in your syllabus for students to reference.  Below is an example of an attendance statement for a syllabus.


Example Attendance Statement

(adapted from UTC draft policy and samples from other institutions)

Attendance:

Over the past few months, we have all learned the need to be flexible and adaptable as we deal with changes in the situation related to COVID-19. This fall semester, we must continue to be flexible. It is possible that we will conduct this course in several different ways — face-to-face, online, some combination of those modalities, etc. — and use technologies that may initially be new and somewhat daunting. In order for us to successfully navigate a changing environment, we will need to work together and to place emphasis on effective and clear communication. We can work together to create a solution to almost any situation if you communicate with me. 

It is my expectation that you will attend class, in whatever form that day’s class will take (see below for examples of what “attendance” might look like in a remote situation). However, it is vital that you DO NOT attend class in person if you are experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19, have been in direct contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19, or if you have been asked to isolate or quarantine. If you are experiencing any symptoms or if you think you may have been exposed, please contact the MHU Student Health Center, located in Nash Hall, immediately at 828-689-1243. Please call first and someone there will perform an initial assessment over the phone. If you are unable to attend class due to illness, please contact me immediately, and we will develop a plan for you to complete your work in this course.  

In a remote learning environment (online), I will be conducting this course through Moodle, and all information on how that will work will be provided on Moodle. It is expected that, unless you are ill, you will continue to engage with and participate in the course by accessing course materials, participating in discussion forums, and completing assignments.

If you have technology limitations that negatively impact your class participation, please communicate with me and contact ITS at 828-689-1444 or helpdesk@mhu.edu.  ITS has a variety of solutions for students with technology issues. 

I will be conducting office hours via Zoom. Please visit my Zoom Room during office hours by following my Zoom Link: https://mhu.zoom.us/my/dr.cain.  When you enter the Zoom Room, you will be placed in a waiting room. I will admit you to the Zoom in the order that you arrive in the waiting room. I am also available via Zoom or phone by appointment; if you would like to talk with me or to work on course material, please email me for an appointment. 

 

Example of what constitutes “attendance”

Official course attendance is defined by any of the following activities:
 
  • Physically attending a class where there is an opportunity for direct interaction between the instructor and students 
  • Attending a virtual class via Zoom where there is opportunity for interaction between the instructor and students
  • Submitting an academic assignment 
  • Completing an activity in Moodle 
  • Taking an exam, an interactive tutorial, or computer-assisted instruction 
  • Attending a study group that is assigned by the course instructor 
  • Participating in an online discussion related to course content 
  • Initiating contact with a faculty member to ask a question about the academic subject studied in the course 
Official attendance does not include logging into an online class without active participation. 

4. Leading Dynamic Discussions

In this resource we will examine best practices around dynamic discussion.

Classroom discussions about practical applications of study can be accomplished in all disciplines, even highly analytical disciplines like math and statistics. Studies show that when students apply and interact with the facts they are learning, that learning is more likely to be understood and retained. But good discussions do not just happen; they require careful planning and lots of modeling. Penn State’s Lolita Paff suggests that conducting discussions requires:

  • Observing and keeping track of what happens during discussion
  • Differentiating between content and process of discussion
  • Developing a tolerance for the messiness and unpredictability of interaction
  • Recognizing students’ central role in discussion
  • Accepting that discussion leading is a learnable skill

Discussion styles

Discussion styles can take different forms in the classroom. In recitation, the teacher asks close-ended questions and students give right or wrong answers. In conversation, discussion is so informal that it has no real academic agenda. And in seminars, interactions fall somewhere in between (Filene 2005).

  • Recitation acts like an oral quiz, focusing on lower-order questions—those that test students’ ability to remember and understand ideas. Asking who, what, where, when, why, and how questions can be an effective as a drill, but it does not encourage learning beyond rote memorization.
  • Conversation is much more relaxed but can be unfocused and meandering. This strategy is great for building rapport but may not be conducive to higher-order thinking because of the haphazard and informal way material is addressed.
  • Seminar aims at a substantive and probing analysis of a specific topic and includes issues and perspectives that will challenge students’ thinking. This style can take some time to learn to orchestrate, but it is a valuable tool for encouraging student engagement (with one another and with texts) and higher-order, critical thinking.

Seminar-style discussions that encourage higher-order thinking 

One way to urge students to think beyond the obvious is to use Bloom’s Taxonomy of thinking skills to formulate higher-order questions for discussion (see the other Bloom’s-related links below). A systematic method of disciplined questioning—be it Socratic questioning, the Harkness philosophy, Bloom-focused questioning skills to engage students, or other higher-order questioning techniques—will also help students think deeply about a topic. Classroom discussions conducted using this method have a clear goal and keep participants focused and engaged. See Examples of Socratic-style questions for ideas on how to word strong questions.

Leading dynamic discussions is a skill, and it requires practice to improve. Try several question types based on the systematic approaches suggested here to see which work best for your discipline, teaching style, and classroom community.  Lower-order questions may be useful to prompt students' memories of important facts that will be required to address more detailed questions, but focus your efforts on the more difficult task of crafting higher-order questions that require students to engage with the material in new ways.  Keep track of what works and doesn't work for you, and with practice, you'll gain confidence and intuition about what question style to use in what situation.


Resources and links:


5. Promoting Student Engagement

Author: Kadian M. Callahan (Kennesaw State University)

This article shares ideas for how to elicit and use student thinking to foster learning in university classrooms.  Suggestions are made for making instructional changes that enhance both shorter-term and longer-term learning opportunities.

With an increased emphasis on actively engaging students in the learning process (e.g., Bonwell & Eison, 1991; Meyers & Jones, 1993) and a shift toward learning-centered instructional strategies (e.g., Doyle, 2011; Weimer, 2013), the ways that faculty foster student learning needs reconsideration.  According to Meyers and Jones (1993), active learning may take any of the following forms:

  • Talking – articulating your ideas so others can make sense of them
  • Listening – listening carefully to others’ ideas so you can understand their thinking
  • Writing – expressing your thinking in written form
  • Reading – reading carefully to be sure you understand what you are seeing
  • Reflecting – thinking about your ideas, comparing them to others’ ideas, making sense of the ideas for yourself

Research studies identify many advantages of using learning-centered pedagogical practices that actively engage undergraduates in the learning process through talking, listening, writing, reading, and reflecting irrespective of the content area.  Engaging students in these opportunities can stimulate higher-order thinking and promote knowledge retention, (e.g., Biggs & MacLean, 1969; Bonwell 1996; Bransford et. al, 2000; Meyers & Jones, 1993; Smart, Witt, & Scott, 2012), encourage students to become responsible for their own and their peers’ learning (e.g., Astin, 1999; Ebert-May & Brewer, 1997; Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1991; Pucha & Utschig, 2012), and influence their level of commitment to complete undergraduate study (Braxton, Milem, and Sullivan, 2000). 

One aspect of consideration for actively engaging students in learning is the way in which faculty elicit and use student thinking to foster meaningful learning.  In particular, learning-centered teaching strategies create opportunities for faculty to gather information through formative assessments that can be used to further support students’ learning (e.g., Blumberg, 2009; Driscoll and Moyer, 2001; Mansson, 2013). Incorporating students’ ideas makes the learning more personal and meaningful to the students and can have a profound impact on the ways that students engage with course content. 

 

Strategies for Eliciting and Using Student Thinking

 

Summative Assessments

There are many ways that faculty might elicit student thinking. However, once faculty have elicited students’ thinking, we need to decide what to do with those ideas and how to use it to shape the learning experience. Summative assessments such as tests, term papers, and final projects can provide useful information about student thinking that can be considered when planning changes to a course in a subsequent semester.  

For example, after reviewing students’ term papers, an instructor might realize that students do not understand how to provide supporting evidence for arguments that they are making.  The faculty member could then use this information to plan for how to develop future students’ understanding of and experience with providing supporting evidence for arguments prior to submitting their term papers.  This might be addressed by integrating requirements for providing supporting evidence into assignments earlier during the semester or perhaps by providing examples and non-examples as a resource to guide students’ work.

 

Formative Assessments

Formative assessments such as quizzes, exam wrappers, discussions, think-pair shares, and short papers can be used to make instructional changes in a current or subsequent class meeting during the same semester.  Some formative assessments produce artifacts that can be examined after a class meeting (e.g., responses to in-class writing assignments, quizzes, or online discussion prompts).  Faculty can examine these artifacts for evidence of student learning and use the information they gather in subsequent course meetings and assignments.   

For example, when reviewing a minute paper, did many students misinterpret the central point of class discussion?  When given a conceptual problem, did several students fail to apply principles that were covered earlier in the class?  The faculty member could use this information to determine whether topics need to be covered again due to misunderstandings among students, or to decide what other material students still need to practice.


During Class Meetings 

A more challenging, but also more impactful, way of using student thinking occurs during class meetings.  In this context, faculty gather information about student thinking or personal experiences during class activities or discussions and make decisions about how to incorporate those ideas into the current lesson.  While this may seem intimidating, faculty may find this approach changes the way that students engage in and take responsibility for their learning because they begin to see that their ideas are valued and serve as an important component of the learning experience.  To do this well, faculty will find it helpful to:

  1. Be intentional in the design of activities and tasks to ensure that the activity/task will encourage students to be thoughtful about the content and will encourage them to share their thinking about that content
  2. Anticipate how students will respond to tasks/activities, and plan for how to incorporate those responses into the lesson to meet the learning goals
  3. Ask good questions (and at that right time) to generate the types of thinking and discussion that are central to the learning goals
  4. Listen carefully to student thinking and make note of which ideas to bring to the forefront of whole class discussions and the order to discuss those ideas relative to the learning goals
  5. Faculty may also find it helpful to create opportunities for students to share their thinking with their peers directly (as opposed to filtering those ideas through the faculty member)

Regardless of how faculty decide to elicit and use student thinking, doing so can shift knowledge development and sense-making into the hands of the students in ways that can support active learning and organizing knowledge in more meaningful ways.

 

Examining Teaching and Learning in Two University Classrooms

 

Activity

The following activity is designed to encourage faculty to consider and examine what eliciting and using student thinking might look like in university classrooms.  As with any pedagogical strategy, this activity should not be implemented without consideration of what and how to support students’ learning the material in meaningful and authentic ways.  Some things work well in certain classrooms and not so well in other classrooms.  Consider if and how a strategy might be used effectively to meet the learning goals in your particular context.

Watch the videos (linked below) with the following questions in mind.  Then consider your own context.  How might you elicit and use your students’ thinking in your particular context?  After each video are some thoughts about what is happening in the video.  You may certainly notice other things than those listed.  Consider:

  1. What do you notice about teaching and learning in this classroom?
  2. What is the instructor doing?  What are the students doing?
  3. What evidence is there that learning is occurring?
  4. To what extent are students’ ideas or ways of thinking incorporated into this lesson?
  5. What do you think students will take away from this lesson?

 

Classroom 1 (Teaching Stage Performance Course – watch from beginning to 9:38)       

Reflection
  • The instructor engages students in an exercise on the first day of class that begins to develop their skills as they would use them in an authentic context. 
  • The instructor provides specific formative feedback to students about what they are doing well and what they are not doing well and why it is important.
  • He often directs his feedback to the entire class and reiterates what the students should be doing and why.
  • Sometimes he turns to the students to ask for their thoughts on what the performing students are doing.
  • The instructor is enthusiastic about the course.
  • Students are paying attention to their peers.
  • The instructor is supporting students to strengthen their skills while students are practicing their skills.
  • After receiving feedback, oftentimes students are asked to try again.  They implement the instructor’s suggestions, and he comments on their efforts to do so.
  • Students should walk away with a better understanding of some of the important components of a performance.

                         

Classroom 2 (English Language Course - watch from beginning to 9:48)        
Reflection
  • The instructor begins the discussion by providing a picture that shows two people who appear to be communicating in some way, but it is not clear what they are communicating about. 
  • The instructor asks students questions about the picture to begin generating ideas about what might be happening in the picture, and then puts the students into pairs to explore three questions about the picture.
  • When students share their ideas, the instructor does not repeat what they say, but instead comments on their ideas.
  • While students are discussing the picture in pairs, the instructor listens to each group and writes a few notes from time to time.
  • The pairs report their ideas back to the class.  Students appear to be listening to each other; they take turns sharing their ideas.
  • The instructor listens to the students’ pronunciation of certain words and highlights the annunciation of those words.  She checks in with different students to make sure that they are able to pronounce the words correctly.
  • The instructor asks student about the parts of speech for different words and records their responses on the board.  She also writes annunciation notation for each word. 
  • The instructor seems to be embedding the instruction around learning to speak English into the task of figuring out what is happening in the picture.

We encourage you to share information about what you tried – both those that succeeded and those that need to be further refinement.  If you have a video to share, please do!  We can all learn from each other.

  

References

Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How learning works: 7 research-based principles for smart teaching. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, CA

Astin, A. (1999). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. Journal of College Student Development, 40(5), 518-529.

Biggs, E., & MacLean, J. R., (1969). Freedom to learn: Active learning approach in mathematics. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley

Blumberg, P. (2009). Developing learner-centered teaching: A practical guide for faculty. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Bonwell, C. C. (1996). Enhancing the lecture: Revitalizing a traditional format. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 67, 31- 44.

Bonwell, C. C., & Eison, J. A. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 1. Washington, DC.

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press

Braxton, J. M., Milem, J. F., & Sullivan, A. S. (2000). The influence of active learning on the college student departure process: Toward a revision of Tinto’s theory.  [Electronic version]. The Journal of Higher Education, 71(5), 569-590.

Doyle, T. (2011). Learner-centered teaching: Putting the research on learning into practice. Stylus: Sterling VA.

Driscoll, M., & Moyer, J. (2001) Using students’ work as a lens on algebraic thinking. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 6(5), 282-287.

Ebert-May, D., & Brewer, C. (1997). Innovation in large lectures – Teaching for active learning. [Electronic Version] Bioscience, 47(9), 601-608.

Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R. T., & Smith, K. A. (1991). Active learning: Cooperation in the college classroom. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Mansson, D. H. (2013). Assessing student learning in intercultural communication: Implementation of three classroom assessment techniques. College Student Journal, 47(2), 343-351.

Meyers, C. & Jones, T. B. (1993).  Promoting Active Learning:  Strategies or the College Classroom.  San Francisco, CA:  Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Pucha, R. V., & Utschig, T. T. (2012). Learning-centered instruction of engineering graphics for freshman engineering students. Journal of STEM 13(4), 24-33.

Smart, K. L., Witt, C., & Scott, J. P. (2012). Toward learner-centered teaching: An inductive approach. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4), 392-403.

Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-centered teaching: Five key changes to practice.  Second Edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.


Adapted from: Eliciting and Using Student Thinking 



6. Activities to Boost Student Engagement

https://my.mhu.edu/pluginfile.php/21301/mod_book/chapter/138/Boost%20Student%20Success%202021_Handout.docx