lateupload - engaging students in large classes_mon_100and200_hill

26
Engaging Students in Large Classes Tessa Hill Eric Peterson Monday July 29, 2013

Upload: serc-at-carleton-college

Post on 25-May-2015

1.220 views

Category:

Education


0 download

DESCRIPTION

Engaging Students in Large Classes Slides

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Engaging Students in Large Classes

Tessa HillEric PetersonMonday July 29, 2013

Page 2: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Engaging Students in Large Classes (Outline)• Setting the stage• You, your students, your team• Goals for the course• Promoting thinking and learning

• The interactive lecture• Delivering the Lecture• Engagement Triggers• Engaging non-majors• Presentations & Assessment

http://gallery.ilstu.edu/bonestudentcenter/main.php?g2_itemId=1882

Interactive lectures: “classes in which the instructor breaks the lecture at least once per class to have students participate in an activity that lets them work directly with the material.”

Page 3: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Setting the stage• You, your students, your team• What is large? 50, 100, 200, 500?• Do you have teaching assistants?• Define their role and your expectations to the TAs• Explain the TAs role to class

• Identify your teaching style – Informer, Questioner, Entertainer, etc.• Play off your style (strength) but incorporate other

deliveries.

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com

Page 4: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

How do you prepare for big lectures?

• Suggestions• Identify your main

points (2 to 3)• Determine how each

slide advances these• Prepare your visuals• Practice your unfinished

talk; revise… • Write out sentences that

need to be precise• Focus on your slide

transitions• Print out notes

• Keep track of time• Don’t install new

software right beforehand• Don’t be rigid in

delivery, adapt as needed• Take notes on how you

would improve for next year• Use a lecture

preparation checklist

Page 5: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Preparing the teaching team• Detail your expectations in writing• Explain TA duties: lecture attendance, office hours,

proctoring exams, maintaining grades, setting up projectors, participation in in-class discussion, running review sessions, punctuality.• Team work: make clear division of labor, set up

regular meetings• Records: TAs must keep records of all

communications and assignments, but not keep personal student data on their computers (security).• If co-teaching a class: make sure each professor has

clear responsibilities

Page 6: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Goals for the course• What is the purpose of the course• Major vs Non-Major• General Education• Content vs Process• Content – Breadth vs Depth

• Develop an informative syllabus (set the expectations)• State the goals of the course• Explicitly express policies and procedures for grading,

attendance, late homework, missed tests, office hours, etc. Making up rules as you go along sets a bad precedent.

• Publish all important dates at the beginning of the class, with a clear plan for students who miss exams

• Send a welcome email to the class before it starts• Identify all resources that will be used and have them ready for the

class• Describe your email policy in advance

Page 7: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Engaging students in large classes

• Identify a large class that you might teach (see worksheet)

• What are your top 5 goals for what students will learn in this class?

Page 8: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

The Interactive Lecture• Delivering the Lecture• Engagement triggers• Engaging non-majors• Presentation & Assessment

Page 9: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Delivering the Lecture• EXPRESSIVENESS is the most basic and most direct

way to keep students’ interest• Vocal variation, facial expressions, movement, gesture, style

variation• Is more interesting and easier to understand• Yields contagious enthusiasm• Improves retention of material• Is more about communication than about entertainment (is

compatible with the content coverage and high academic standards)

Tomorrow's Professor Msg.#790 How to Create Memorable Lectures - http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/posting.php?ID=790

Page 10: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

• Interpreting Graphs• Making Calculations• Demonstration/making

predictions• Brainstorming• Reading to solve a

problem• Physical prop• Evocative visual/picture• Cartoons• News Clips & Articles

• Clips from movies or tv shows

• Think-Pair-Share• Minute paper• ConcepTests• Question of the Day• Small group discussion• iClicker• Google Earth (or other

tech)

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/earlycareer/teaching/LargeClasses.html

Engagement Triggers

Page 11: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Example - In-Class Activity• In a 10-20 minute breakout:

• Break into groups of 5-10 (works even in auditorium seating)

• Provide a single question, set of questions, or exercise that students need to discuss.

• The question(s) can be used as an introduction or as an assessment of presented material. Each group independently discusses the question and negotiates a group answer.

• You and the TAs monitor and guide groups. Collect each group’s answer (a singular assignment with everyone's name listed).

Page 12: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Example - Daily Question• The core (center) of the Black Hills of South

Dakota is composed of granite. The Columbia River Plateau of Washington and Oregon is composed of basalt. Using a Venn Diagram, compare and contrast the two locations highlighting the composition of the rocks, the texture of the rock, and the location (depth) where the rocks formed.

Black HillsColumbiaRiver

Page 13: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Interactive LecturesIndividual work

Please spend the next few minutes on an activity that you’d like to use in your class. • What concept do you want students

to better understand? • How will you engage the students?

• How will you know it is working?

Page 14: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Interactive LecturesGroup Brainstorm and Sharing

Now share your idea with a partner and provide each other with feedback.

Page 15: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Interactive LecturesGroup Brainstorm and Sharing

•What are some of the potential problems or concerns you do, or will, face using these and other interactive activities in the classroom?

•How can you overcome them?

Page 16: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Engaging non-majors• Many large lecture classes serve as a breadth

requirement and have many non-majors who are not necessarily engaged in the topic. This is your opportunity to get them interested and excited in geoscience:•Make it relevant to their lives•Make pop culture work for you• Recognize different learning styles• Bring in your personal experiences

Page 17: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Make it relevant for their lives• How has geoscience been

involved in your daily activities?• Water• Electronics• Vehicles• Buildings• Weather & Climate

• Food• Energy resources• Hazards

Page 18: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Pop culture: Have lecture soundtracks (music to start your lecture)

• Ring of Fire, Johnny Cash• Four Seasons, Vivaldi• The Tide is High, Blondie• Blowin’ in the Wind, Bob Dylan• Dust in the Wind, Kansas• Black water, Doobie Brothers• Water, The Who• Volcano, Jimmy Buffett• After the gold rush, Natalie Merchant• Eye of the Hurricane, The Alarm

Page 19: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Pop culture: Analyze the scientific facts/fiction in a popular movie

• Day After Tomorrow• Dante’s Peak• Volcano• The Core• Jurassic Park• Andromeda Strain

(don’t need to show whole movie – select a ~10-15 minute clip that exhibits facts & fiction and ask students to analyze)

Page 20: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Recognize different learning styles• Visual: pictures, diagrams, spatial understanding• Auditory: by sound, including music• Verbal: speech, reading, writing• Physical/kinesthetic: use of your body,

including hands & touch

• Also, “social” vs. “solitary” learning styles

Page 21: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Example – Kinesthetic Learning• Ekman

transport: A rotating column of water that forms when surface water moves at an angle to the wind direction due to Coriolis Effect.

Page 22: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Bring your personal experiences to the classroom• Where have you done fieldwork?• What inspires you?• What environmental issues keep you up at night?• Where have you traveled?• What is the societal relevance of your work?• What career path did you follow and what

experiences shaped that?

Page 23: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Presentation StylesWhat works best in a large classroom? (discuss!)

• Blackboard / whiteboard can be useful• Check to see if students in the back can see what you are writing!

• Mix of videos, slides, blackboard• Powerpoint - students write down everything

on your slides!     • Post your powerpoints online (before class)           • Post partial powerpoints online, students fill in what is missing            • Post lecture outlines or main points online, • or ….post nothing!           

Page 24: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

With any of these techniques, it is a good idea to….           

assign textbook/ reading ahead of time           ask students to review vocabulary / conceptual ideas

as part of their reading (outside of class)

….then spend more time on activities, discussions, interpretation, analyses during your lecture

Consider a "flipped" classroom, where in-class time is as active and thoughtful as possible: http://www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom/

Presentation StylesWhat works best in a large classroom? (discuss!)

Page 25: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Assessment that is consistent with your engaging style…• In "large" classes, you can use a variety of techniques,

depending upon the # of students and how much TA support you have:            • Multiple choice/ scantron            • Online quizzes/tests            • Short answer / short essay           • Fill in the blank            • Matching (vocabulary)            • Diagrams that you've used in class - fill in blank or

interpretation 

• Familiarize yourself with Bloom's Taxonomy, and aim for students to be working at the "top" of the pyramid in class, and in your exams, as much as possible

• Consider collaborative exams!

Page 26: LATEUPLOAD - Engaging Students in Large Classes_MON_100and200_hill

Final Words

• Be flexible and adaptable• Not everything will work: failures can be learning

experience• The literature is clear: students learn more

when they are actively engaged in their learning.

Again, visit http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/interactive/index.html(or http://serc.carleton.edu/ in general)

Materials were adapted and modified from Randy Richardson, Michael Wysession, Andrew Goodliffee, and Robert Rhew