expanding learning inside and outside of the classroom: issues of culture, pedagogy, and technology...

Expanding Learning Inside and Outside of the Classroom: Issues of culture, pedagogy, and

technology

Tom Hinckley

College of Forest Resources

Dedicated to Virginia Travers and Donald H. Wulff

Two very important individuals who have helped me become a better

teacher

Pedagogical Goals

• To improve student engagement in learning.

• To improve instructor engagement in teaching

• To have fun

• To discuss with a broader audience

Instruction Path: ExperimentsGroup Projects Yakama Nation Field Trip Tablet PCs-CP Software

Field experiences: Cultural

Use of technology in the classroom

Core Course Goals

• Course Goals– Increase student involvement in course &

course material– Use of active-, group-, & project-based

learning• Technology Goals

– Move beyond paper/pencil or overhead/pen

– Both instructor & student friendly– Effective

Group Projects Yakama Nation Field Trip Tablet PCs-CP Software

Group Project

• Goals: Groups of four students represent the stakeholders in some major issue facing a large watershed (e.g., major insect outbreak)

• Each group assigned a stakeholder• Understand the problem• Learn the position of the stakeholder• Prepare for an all watershed negotiation• Powerpoint Presentation by the team


How to define the Project

• Invent a watershed (including its geological, vegetation, indigenous, and current stories) OR

• Use a real problem (e.g., Proposed Big Sky Wilderness)

• Students identify the stakeholders

• Students given stakeholder to represent


Outcomes

• Student commitment initially stronger to real problem

• Clarity of stories and issues better with simulation.

• Student presentations better focused in simulation.– On stakeholder– On options– On understanding negotiation

• Faculty effort greater on simulation



Yakama Nation Field Trip: Why?

• Invitation by alumni of the UW• Desire to incorporate cultural diversity

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Camas Patch, Pah’to, wild horses, traditional place to harvest roots


Reduce density: reduce insect & fire riskGenerate revenue & jobsRe-create earlier forest structure

Meadow restoration: Introduce beaver, road removal,raise stream bed

Stream & riparian habitat, fish passage

History, culture, learning, stories


Students Learned

• Role of culture, place and history in land stewardship

• Contrast with private and public land management

• How tradition, culture, & stewardship are merged• A different culture’s perspective (respect)

“Papuchan Papasapsikw’at ku Papatmaakt”“To Teach and Respect Each Other.”


Faculty Learned

• To leave the instruction to the tribal members

• To increase the amount of time on the reservation

• To prepare the students– Respect– Opportunity to learn

• To honor the students existing knowledge


Field to Classroom• Lecture: 80 to 100• Discussion: 1 to 4• Use of Tablet PCs• Use of Classroom Presenter™


• What is seen by the instructor

Tablet PC & Classroom Presenter™

Student submissions

SCROLL BAR

Student submissions

Powerpoint Present.

Original PPT Slide

Face of Tablet PC Forward or Back

in PPT SlidesComment

Option

New slide


• What is seen by the student

Tablet PC & Classroom Presenter™

Eraser

Pen Send

Eraser

Students are alerted


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Process

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Traditional Approach• Describe to students the various parts of the slide.• Draw lines from one part to another• Perhaps ask students which one is correct and

then either wait a fraction of a second and answer or truly wait until someone puts their hand up

Classroom Presenter Approach• Students work individually or in groups on question.• Students submit answers• Instructor reviews answers (as they are submitted)• Instructor decides on a strategy for presentation• Student answers are presented and discussed


Student Evaluations

Positive• More engaged in class (4.32)• What promoted learning?

• Doing the activity (4.41)• Discussing ideas with others (4.62)• Seeing other people’s answers(4.7)

• Would not have answered without technologyNegative• Breakdowns in technology • Inappropriate use of technique


Value of Classroom Presenter™

• Provides rapid, anonymous feedback

• Can be done individually or in groups ≤4

• Provides mental breaks at timely intervals

• Can be used in a number of ways: assessment, collective brainstorm, discovery, engagement, group & individual activity, reinforcement,

• Impact on lecturer: Forces greater organization & clarity


Next Steps

• Large classroom: Clickers

• HP Classroom Support Grant (Fridley): Connect the three campuses in the Restoration Ecology Capstone series of courses.


National & International Meetings

Refereed Publications

Lessons Learned

• Goals are extraordinarily difficult to achieve.

• Trying is both rewarding and frustrating

• Experimentation and observation, two hallmarks of the scientific method, are difficult.

• Lessons are translated in part or their entirety to other academic endeavors


Acknowledgements

• Faculty, graduate and undergraduate students from across the campus

• Linda Brubaker, Kern Ewing, Jim Fridley, Dean McManus and Reini Stettler

expanding learning inside and outside of the classroom: issues of culture, pedagogy, and technology...

Documents

use of tablet pcs

student engagement

classroom lecture

issues of culture

student presentations

instructor engagement

large watershed

real problemclarity