Marguerite Helmers, PhD

Department of English

University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

Presented at the University of Nizwa

This presentation will address:� What is Student Engagement?

� What are Challenges to Student Engagement?

� How does Active Learning engage students?

� How will Student Reflection engage students?

Your Outcomes� Identify challenges

� Practice active learning strategies

� Design reflective questions for student work

Student Engagement� Student engagement

� Related to student success

� Indicates the extent to which students activelyparticipate in classes and college life

� Signals the degree to which students play an active role in scholarly interactions

� Student to student peer research groups

� Student and faculty collaborative inquiry

‘Examining Student Engagement at Illinois State University, www.cat.ilstu.edu/resources/teachTopics/tips/examEngage.php

Challenges to Student Engagement� Cultural & Social Factors:

� Family background

� Family commitments

� Access to materials

� Learning styles

� Uncertain personal goals

Challenges to Student Engagement� Classroom Based Challenges:

� Reluctant to talk in class

� Hesitant to ask questions of the professor

� Not “thinking for themselves”

� Not confident writers, readers, researchers, or speakers

� Limited knowledge about the subject

What Challenges Can You Identify?

Please take a few minutes to list some of the challenges to student learning and engagement in

your classes.

Goal: Active Learning� Problem-based learning

� Inquiry based learning

� Collaborative learning

� Cooperative learning

Goal: Active Learning� Active Learning enhances student engagement

� Students move from summary comprehension of subjects to planning, writing, and defending arguments

What is Active Learning?“Active learning is anything course-related that all

students in a class session are called upon to do

other than simply watching, listening and taking notes.”

Richard Felder & Rebecca Brent

“Active Learning: An Introduction.” Felder & Brent (ASQ Higher Education Brief 2009)

What is Active Learning?“A shift in classroom culture toward a community of

enthusiastically engaged thinkers and learners.”

Harvard University Project Zero Initiative

Visible Thinking

http://pzweb.harvard.edu/Research/ResearchVisible.htm

Active Learning� Students are involved in the classroom

� Pose questions

� Answer questions

� Work together to solve problems

� Peer to peer interactions

� Increase social skills

� Enhance academic abilities

� Improve fluency when dealing with opposing points of view

Active Learning Ideas� Groups explain a complex concept

� Pairs of students create a flow-chart of a process

� Partners solve a problem and present it on the board

� Groups critique a proposal

� Groups design a project

� Individuals brainstorm ideas and share with the class

Active Learning Ideas� Harvard Project Zero: Visible Thinking

� Three Questions: Think, Puzzle, Explore

� What do you think you know about this topic?

� What questions or puzzles do you have?

� How can you explore to gain more information?

Practice� Think, Pair, Share

� Think

� Take one minute to list your assignments or lectures that can be introduced with Think, Puzzle, Explore questions.

� Pair

� Compare your ideas with the person next to you. You have 3 minutes.

� Share

� Open discussion.

Lymna, F. (1981). "The responsive classroom discussion." In Anderson, A. S. (Ed.), Mainstreaming Digest, College Park, MD: University of Maryland College of Education.

“Think-Pair-Share.” Wisconsin Center for Education Research. http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/archive/Cl1/CL/doingcl/thinkps.htm

Student Reflection“Active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of

the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends.”

John Dewey, American philosopher (1859-1952)

How We Think (1933)

Student Reflection� Students establish questions for inquiry at the start of

the project

� Think, Puzzle, Explore

� Students perform a careful self-assessment at the end of the project or at a mid-term checkpoint

� Think, Puzzle, Explore questions return

Lower to Higher Order Thinking

Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains

Sample Reflective Questions� Identify what you knew about the topic at the

beginning of this project.

� Describe the strategies you used to acquire information and solve the problem.

� Evaluate the success of your strategies:

� Did you answer your questions?

� Did you discover new ideas?

� Did you uncover new methods for collecting information?

Key Words for Educators� Practice

� Share

� Explore

� Feedback

� Problem Solving

Active Learning Benefits� Students

o Plan and organize research and thinking

o Improve listening, reading, writing, and research skills

o Learn to lead

o Teachers

o Learn what students are thinking while projects are in process

o Learn where thinking falters and research strategies are ineffective

Practice� Select one of your typical assignments

� Create two reflective questions for students to complete

Bibliography & Resources� www.english.uwosh.edu/helmers/Teaching&Learning