March 26, 2013

Improve group dynamics by clarifying and assigning roles to group members

Instructors can improve dynamics in small groups by facilitating a discussion to clarify norms for effective group work before they create groups. Assign each group member a specific role for the group activity. This preparation enables students to avoid typical pitfalls of small group work such as uneven participation and difficulty keeping members on task. 

Before Groups Begin Working

Facilitate a class discussion of group work norms. The discussion should include the following topics: 

• Define and practice active listening skills.
• How to ask for help when needed, but don’t ask others to do your work for you.
• Provide help when asked, but don’t do other people’s work for them.
• Each person is responsible for understanding and playing their assigned role.

Introduce and explain group roles. The instructor can tweak assigned roles to fit their needs for the activity planned.

Randomly assign students to groups and roles in the group. You can distribute cards from a deck of playing cards (use multiple decks for large classes). Assign students to groups of 4 by the type of card they receive (aces of all suits will be in one group). Assign roles in the group by the suit of the card (e.g., the person holding the card with hearts will take the role of scribe). 

Roles for a project include:

• Leader/editor
• Recorder/scribe
• Fact checker (ensure accuracy of data, sources, graphics)
• Spokesperson

Roles for a discussion include:

• Facilitator
• Timekeeper
• Summarizer
• Reflector
• Elaborator

Other group roles:

• Facilitator (get team started, organize team, make sure all understand their roles)
• Resource monitor (collect information from team members to determine resources (books, notes, materials, people) needed; consults with instructor about team questions)
• Product monitor (make sure all members understand the work, record data, report on team progress, make sure all member’s work is included in final product)
• Equity monitor (encourage participation by all members, enforce use of team norms, make sure all members are heard, ask members to explain their thinking and ideas, promote listening skills among team members)

Get feedback from the students as to how the process went – either through discussion, anonymous written feedback or some combination of methods.

Adapted from Elizabeth Cohen’s Designing Groupwork: Strategies for the Heterogeneous Classroom. 

A description of functions carried out by each role can be found at Starting Point: Teaching Entry Level Geoscience (Carleton College).
http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/cooperative/roles.html

This tip is based on a teaching strategy submitted to the Teaching Issues Writing Consortium by Erin Hill, Ph. D., Karen Rosenberg, Writing Center Director, and Dr. Robin Angotti, Associate Professor of Education, University of Washington Bothell (www.uwb.edu/writingcenter).

WKU Writer’s Consortium

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March 5, 2013

Use clicker questions as prompts for peer instruction

Instructors can use clicker questions to initiate a pair-share activity or peer instruction.  When using peer instruction, faculty pose a question about a concept that many students have difficulty understanding.  When presented as a ConcepTest clicker question, the answer options include statements of erroneous beliefs and misconceptions many students have about this topic.  Before displaying the correct answer to the question, instructors ask students to discuss their answer with another student and try to persuade one another of the correct answer.  When the question is posed a second time, more students will answer correctly, based on information they learn through discussion with peers.  Instructors should follow a peer instruction activity with a discussion of why alternatives that represent misconceptions are wrong.  They can elicit these comments from students.  This activity creates unambiguous feedback about the correct response and reinforces the value of the peer learning activity.

Faculty in STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) have developed extensive collections of questions designed to probe student understanding of difficult concepts.  Conduct a Google search on the terms ConcepTest and the name of your discipline to locate resources and examples of ConcepTest questions.  Research on the impact of peer instruction activities supported by discussions of these questions indicates that peer instruction promotes deep and enduring learning.

Constructing questions that probe difficult concepts and identify common student misconceptions can be a daunting task.  Fortunately, many faculty who use clicker questions for peer instruction collect their best questions and share these with other instructors.  An excellent collection of clicker question collections is posted on the Concordia University Centre for Teaching and Learning Services website:

http://teaching.concordia.ca/resources/teaching-with-new-technologies/using-clickers/question-banks/?ct=enable,t(),t(29515336)&WT.mc_id=ExactTarget,29515336

The site provides links to databases of clicker and ConcepTest questions for the following disciplines:

Astronomy Chemistry (4 databases) Geoscience Mathematics (2 databases) Philosophy Physics

Many of these clicker questions use the ConcepTest format pioneered by Eric Mazur for implementing peer instruction in physics classes at Harvard.  The Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (University of British Columbia) has an excellent set of resources for the use of clickers to promote student learning.  This site also provides links to collections of ConcepTest and clicker questions for STEM disciplines.

http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/clickers.htm

The American Association for the Advancement of Science hosts a collection of questions that assess conceptual understanding of concepts in the sciences and identify common misconceptions held by students (with data on the percentage of students in grades 6-8 and 9-12 who endorse these misconceptions).  The site also includes an archive of scholarly publications that document the existence of these misconceptions.

http://assessment.aaas.org/topics

A related initiative associated with Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) examines how POGIL methods can be implemented through clicker questions.  A discussion of this work in college courses in STEM can be found on the POGIL site.

http://www.pogil.org/post-secondary/large-class-pogil

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February 5, 2013

Flipping Your Class with a Combination of a Case-study, Role-play, and Collaborative Learning

Instructors who are interested in experimenting with a “flipped class” format can use this activity to structure the pre-class preparation assignment and in-class active learning.  This activity combines a case study with in-class role-play and collaborative learning to promote student learning.  This activity is time-consuming and requires some preparation, which makes making it a good choice for a “flipped classroom” experience.  Assign preparatory readings to students as pre-class homework.  Plan to devote an entire class period for the group collaborative learning activity. 

The case study component is a narrative that addresses a realistic issue and provides a basis for student discussion of important topics and problem-solving strategies. Cases can be based on actual events or a scenario you create to include key elements you want the class to discuss. 

In the role-play component, each student assumes the role of one character in the case scenario.  Players take responsibility for acting out roles in the case narrative, either through literal acting or by taking responsibility for making the decisions typically made by that character in the decision-making process enacted in the scenario. 

The collaborative learning component of this activity is a Jigsaw technique.  Students work in a small group to discuss the topic assigned and develop strategies for explaining the topic to others.  Each group works on a different aspect of the case to become the “experts” on their assigned topic.  Students then leave their expert group and join a new group comprised of one member from each expert topic group.  In the new group, each student must teach his/her topic to the other members of the group.  Finally, students rejoin their original group, discuss their experiences in the second group, and prepare to share their reflection on the case in a discussion with the entire class.  

Pre-class assignment to prepare students for in-class activity 

Assign a case for the students to read (with supporting documents as needed).  The case should provide sufficient information on the topic to support a rich discussion.  Assign the reading for the case (including supporting documents) ahead of class so students are prepared to learn from the class activity.  Materials for the case study can be obtained from multiple sources:

• Cases published through educational resources (MERLOT, NCCSTS, or other published cases)
• Construct your own case based on a recent news event
• Write a hypothetical case yourself
• Provide students with materials and references (for example, news clippings or web links) that you assemble for them to study. 
• Ask students to research the topic themselves as a short paper assignment prior to the collaborative activity. 

Collaborative learning activity during class meeting

• In class, create equal sized groups of 4-6 students.  The number of groups depends on the number of perspectives that could be taken in the case.  Assign each group member a number.
• Assign each group a role or perspective based on the characters in the case and/or the different perspectives.  It is probably best not to assign the roles prior to class to ensure that each student prepares for all possible roles and has a broad understanding of the case.
• Each group discusses the case from their assigned character or perspective.  Allow up to 10 minutes for this activity.
• Reorganize groups by student number so that the new groups have at least one member who can represent each perspective.
• Students in the new "jigsaw" groups discuss the case for 20 minutes.  Each student should present the perspective of the role they are playing (based on their “home” group) and consider and analyze the perspectives presented by other group members.
• Students return to their original group and share the multiple perspectives they learned about in their jigsaw group discussion.  Students should discuss how they now think about their original position.  Allow up to 10 minutes for this activity.
• The exercise could culminate with a class discussion about the topic.  Each student, having now heard multiple perspectives on the issue, could be assigned to write a short position paper (in class or as homework) on what stance or action he or she would personally take in this case, writing the paper from their own perspective and not from the perspective of the role that they played. 

For example, if an environmental issue were to be addressed in the case study, different students could argue from the perspectives of a member of the general public, a representative from the business community, a scientist, a politician, or other relevant roles.  This technique works well for case studies in disciplines that address multiple points of view (e.g., medical, political, economic, ethical, scientific, or other perspectives). 

Barkley, E. F.  (2010).  Student engagement techniques:  A handbook for college faculty.  San Francisco, CA:  Jossey-Bass. 

Brislin, T. (1995).  Active learning in applied ethics instruction.  Journal on Excellence in College Teaching. 6, 87-95. 

MERLOT is a program of the California State University, in partnership with higher education institutions, professional societies, and industry.  The MERLOT site archives peer reviewed teaching and learning materials in Arts, Business, Education Humanities, Mathematics and Statistics, Science and Technology, Social Sciences, and Workforce Development.

http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm 

The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, located at the University at Buffalo, houses an award-winning collection of peer-reviewed case studies for multiple STEM disciplines that faculty can download and use in their courses.  The work of NCCSTS has been supported by the National Science Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and the U.S. Department of Education. 

http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/

This tip is based on a teaching strategy submitted to the Teaching Issues Writing Consortium by Bill Burke, Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT), University of Kentucky (http://www.uky.edu/celt/). 

WKU Writer’s Consortium

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October 16, 2012

Promote active learning and critical thinking skills in STEM by teaching with case studies

Schools of medicine, law and business have a long tradition of assigning cases to help students learn critical concepts and apply them to real-world applications. 

Cases can be used to structure class discussion of critical issues or they can be assigned as projects for small group structured learning activities (team learning, problem-based learning, and other types of collaborative learning).  A well-written case study will introduce students to essential disciplinary content and concepts.  Case studies require students to use disciplinary thinking skills to analyze and propose effective solutions to real-world problems.  Thus, students get practice using critical thinking skills on problems that connect course content to important issues and problems they may encounter in current news.

If you are new to using case studies and unsure about how to write a good case study or structure a learning activity based on case studies, you can find an outstanding collection of peer-reviewed cases on the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS) web site (sponsored by the National Science Foundation).  Case materials include the case handout (materials students receive when they begin the case study assignment), teaching notes (background material, suggestions for classroom management, discussion of critical learning outcomes for the case, and scholarly references), and an answer key or rubric to help instructors evaluate student work.

The NCCSTS collection includes analysis cases, dilemma/decision cases, cases that include discussions guided through clicker questions, cases for laboratory work, cases designed specifically for problem-based learning, guided discussions, debates, mock trials, jig-saw group learning activities, and role-play activities.

All cases archived on the NCCSTS site are peer reviewed.  Faculty at UWF who develop their own case materials might consider submitting their work to NCCSTS as a component of their scholarship of teaching.

Visit the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science and search their collection peer-reviewed cases:
http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/ (Link is inactive)

The data base is searchable by keyword, STEM discipline (identified as subject heading in the search engine menus), educational level (lower-division undergraduate, upper-division undergraduate, graduate, professional school, etc.), type of case, or topic area (ethics, scientific method, pseudoscience, social issues, legal issues, etc.).

Look under the Teaching Resources section to find publications, including downloadable PDF files with guidelines for writing and using case studies in teaching.

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February 15, 2011

Consider differences between experts and novices when creating teaching activities

After years of graduate school and academic teaching, we may no longer recall the experience of being a first year student enrolled in the introductory course for our discipline.  The difference between the expert knowledge of faculty and the novice understanding of students (and in some cases, the naïve and erroneous assumptions novice learners bring to a discipline) can create challenges to effective communication between experts and students.  Bransford, Brown, and Cocking (2000) identify several important characteristics of the knowledge and processing skills that distinguish experts from novices.  

Differences between Experts and Novices
(Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000)

• Experts notice features and meaningful patterns of information that are not noticed by novices. 
• Experts have acquired a great deal of content knowledge that is organized in ways that reflect a deep understanding of their subject matter. 
• Experts’ knowledge cannot be reduced to sets of isolated facts or propositions but, instead reflects contexts of applicability: that is, the knowledge is conditionalized on a set of circumstances. 
• Experts are able to flexibly retrieve important aspects of their knowledge with little attentional effort.   
• Though experts know their disciplines thoroughly, this does not guarantee that they are able to teach others. 
• Experts have varying levels of flexibility in their approach to new situations.

 

These differences have important implications for teaching and learning: 

• If students aspire to become experts in a discipline, they must not only acquire relevant content knowledge, but they must learn how the components of this knowledge relate to one another and organize their new knowledge in appropriate ways.  Mere repetition and memorization will not ensure that students create meaningful organizations for their new knowledge.  Learning activities should encourage students to identify meaningful relationships between newly-learned content (including material learned in multiple classes) and build an organized representation. 
• When students acquire and use new information using a variety of modalities, they increase the number of strategies and cues that will enable them to successfully retrieve this information.  Testing situations that simulate the disciplinary work contexts and situations in which students will use information provide opportunities to practice successful retrieval that will be more likely to transfer to future contexts. 
• The fluid and rapid disciplinary thought processes that characterize expert skill may lead experts to omit intermediary steps from their explanations.  Group work can be a helpful teaching strategy because more knowledgeable students may discover these intermediary steps on their own and will include these steps in their explanations to other students.  These students can “translate” and explain difficult material in ways that might make more sense to other students than the sparer explanations given by experts. 

 

Based in part on a teaching tip submitted by Barbara Millis, Director, Teaching and Learning Center, University of Texas at San Antonio

Resources
 
Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds). (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

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January 25, 2011

Improving student skill in critical evaluation of media
 
Media literacy has been defined as a framework to guide the access, analysis, evaluation and creation of messages in a variety of forms, including print, video, images, and web-based media.  Media literacy entails articulating the role of media in society and developing the inquiry and communication skills necessary for functioning effectively as citizens of a democracy (Center for Media Literacy). 

The core concepts of media literacy include the following:

1. All media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules.
2. Different people experience the same media message differently.
3. Media have embedded values and points of view.
4. Most media messages are organized to gain profit, power, or exert influence over others.

The following activities can be assigned to help students develop media literacy skills:

Each student should select an example of a message delivered through visual media and answer each of the following questions:

• Who created this message?
• What creative techniques were used to attract attention to this message?
• What values, lifestyles and points of view are represented in (or omitted from) this message?
• Why is this message being sent?  What is the purpose of this message?

Illustrate the way a complex media message functions with discussion of a short film clip or short video.

• Present the message to one group of students with access to the visual image only.
• Present the message to a second group of students with access to the dialogue only.
• Create pairs of students (one person in each pair saw the image, one heard the dialog).  Ask each student to react to their media piece individually. 
• Have students in each pair compare their reactions to each piece and then to their reaction to the full message (audio and visual).  How does the complex media message differ from each component in isolation? 
• Share the comments of student pairs with the class in a report-out discussion.

Based on a teaching tip submitted by Taimi Olsen, Ph.D., Assistant Director, Tennessee Teaching and Learning Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
http://tenntlc.utk.edu/
 
Resources

MediaLitKit.  Center for Media Literacy.
http://www.medialit.org/cml-medialit-kit

Visual Thinking.  Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University.
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/resources/teaching_resources/activities/vizthink.htm#stories

International Visual Literacy Association http://www.ivla.org/drupal2/index.php

Film Vocabulary Flashcards.  Quizlet. 2010.
http://quizlet.com/168298/film-vocabulary-flash-cards/

Potter, J. (2004). Theory of media literacy:  a cognitive approach. Thousand Oaks, CA:  Sage.
 
Davis, B.  (2009). Tools for Teaching ( 2nd  Ed.).  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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March 16, 2010

Engaging Students through Problem-Based and Collaborative Learning Activities

Activities that actively engage students with course content, provide opportunities to practice and apply discipline-based skills, and enable students to collaborate with one another to encourage peer instruction are effective methods for improving student learning and connecting students with one another and their institution.

The Center for Teaching & Learning at Brigham Young University hosts a web page on collaborative learning in which 5 faculty members describe collaborative learning activities they use in their courses, discuss their rationale for using these strategies, and share their observations of the benefits for student learning.  Individual videos are short (the longest is about 7 minutes long) and include videos of students engaged in the activities described.

Topics discussed in these videos include:

William Baker, Management Communication
Video describes collaborative learning strategies in a Business Communication course, including the use of teams, peer instruction, peer review, and a capstone project.

Deborah Hines, Nursing
Video describes problem-based learning activities with peer coaching in a clinical setting.

Matthew Mason, History
Video describes active learning strategies that engage students with primary resources and develop communication skills.

Janet Young
Video describes the use of a short writing activity at the beginning of class to promote student preparation for class and support in-class discussion.

Center for Teaching & Learning, Brigham Young University
Videos of faculty discussing their use of a collaborative learning strategy
http://ctl.byu.edu/teaching-tips/collaborative-learning

 

Updated 04/23/13 cdw