Designing Effective and Innovative Courses

1. Designing Effective and Innovative Courses Audio access: Call in 1-800-704-9804 Access code: 78331341 Please mute your phone by pressing *6 Alternate number: 1-404-920-6604 (not toll-free) Technical problems? Contact Monica at mbruckne@carleton.edu Program begins at 12:15 pm, Thurs. May 27 For this afternoon’s session, you will need printouts from the zipped folder that you downloaded for homework yesterday – be sure that you have them at 12:15! You can download them at http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/coursedesign2010/program.html

2. Link between course goals assignments • Course goals – things that we want students to be good at doing by the end of the course • Students need repeated practice • Timely feedback • Increasing independence • Assignments/activities are an important part of that practice

3. Role of effective assignments/activities • What do we want? • That students make progress toward the goal(s) • That students learn from the assignment/activity • That we can determine what students have learned • Design of the assignment or activity is crucial to both

4. What makes an effective assignment/activity? • Students learn best when: • They have a context for new knowledge and new experiences • Their interest is captured • They use what they know to tackle problems • They have the opportunity to synthesize and reflect on what they have learned

5. Task: evaluating a sample activity • How well does it promote student learning? • Could it be better, and, if so, how?

6. Task: evaluating a sample activity • Goal is to have students • Interpret the sediment record • Determine what the environment was like • Draw conclusions about the nature and timing of rainfall changes in the Sahara • Student background: they know that • Lakes accumulate sediment eroded from the surrounding areas • Sediments can preserve features that reflect the nature of the environment (e.g., fossils)

7. Task: evaluating a sample activity • Handout sheets that you’ll need: • Rainfall Changes in the Sahara • Evaluating the quality of your own assignmts • Read the activity, paying attention to: • How the activity starts • How the activity ends • The flavor of the questions and what students are asked to do • Don’t get bogged down in the details • Arrive at scores for student learning only, starting with How well does this activity engage students and promote learning?

8. Polling using Elluminate • When we ask for a poll (don’t do it now!!), select your answer by clicking on the A, B, C, or D below the participant list. • For our rubric: • A = 4 • B = 3 • C = 2 • D = 1

9. Revising the assignment • We’ll look at several specific teaching strategies that could be used to improve this assignment • Preparatory assignment • Follow-up assignment • Jigsaw classroom technique • Gallery walk classroom technique • Concept sketch technique

10. Preparatory assignment • Use a homework assignment to • Bring everyone to the same level in terms of needed background • Uncover and address misconceptions • Help students put the upcoming work into context of what they already know • Engage students even before the activity starts • All improve learning connected with the assignment/activity • Handout: Pre-class prep assignment

11. Follow-up assignment • Aunt Tillie statements – a quick strategy to improve learning • “Explain the most important point(s) to your Aunt Tillie in three sentences.” • Even if you don’t have time to revise the assignment in any other way, an opportunity to reflect and synthesize makes a big difference in what students learn and take away from the assignment.

12. Follow-up assignment • Bio of Aunt Tillie • Born: 1920 • Education: B.S., 1942, Chemistry, Simmons College • M.S., 1944, Chemistry, Vassar College • Career: organic chemist at Eastman Kodak Company • Smart, very smart. Loves to learn new stuff. Reads a lot but allows as how she rarely reads novels. Says she’s getting old and figures there’s too much nonfiction out there for her to learn from to waste the time she has left on reading novels. Apt to point out bad grammar, even in your emails. Can’t wait to read your statements.

13. Follow-up assignment • A follow-up assignment that asks students to use what they have learned for another task will improve learning even if you don’t change the original assignment much • More independent or open-ended analysis • Synthesis with new information • Prediction based on what they learned • Handout: Follow-up for Paleolakes…

14. Jigsaw technique for revising the assignment itself • Prepare several different assignments for the class • Divide class into teams • Each team prepares one of the assignments

15. Jigsaw technique for revising the assignment itself • Divide class into new groups with one member from each team • Individuals teach group what they know

16. Jigsaw technique for revising the assignment itself • Group task puts picture together • Critical – big difference between: and

17. Value of the technique • Handout: Paleolakes Jigsaw Assignment • Students must know something well enough to teach it • Gives students practice in using the language • Students can learn one aspect/example well but see a range of aspects/examples without doing all the work • Well-structured group activity

18. Critical elements of jigsaw • Students must be prepared and not be wrong-headed • You must be happy that each student knows his/her assignment well and the others much less well • The group task is crucial - without it, it’s not a jigsaw • Some type of individual follow-up is valuable

19. More info on jigsaw • http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/jigsaws/index.html • Examples, more tips for success, results of research

20. The Gallery Walk for revising the assignment itself • Prepare several posters each with a different question, data set, or an object to observe and interpret • Hang the posters around the room • Divide the class into as many teams as there are posters • At first station, team makes observation/interpretation, writes it down • At second station, team reads existing observations/interpretations, makes additions and corrections, and adds a new one. • Back at first station, team summarizes and reports to class; class wrap-up.

21. Value of the technique • Handout: Paleolakes Gallery Walk • Gets students up and moving • Students can work directly with a range of examples without having to do all of the analyses on all examples • Incorporates critical analysis, synthesis, and presentation • Generates a written record of student thinking • Well-structured group activity

22. Critical elements of Gallery Walk • Topics/objects must be broad/complicated enough for multiple teams to comment • You must be happy that each student knows his/her final topic well and the others much less well • The synthesis and reporting at the end is crucial • Some type of individual follow-up is valuable

23. More info on Gallery Walk • http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/gallerywalk/index.html

24. Concept sketches for revising the assignment itself • More than a labeled sketch • Includes processes, concepts, observations, interpretations, interrelationships

25. Using concept sketches • Any central graphic object will work • Sketch • Photo • Illustration from text or paper • Map • Graph, data set • Equation • Homework/lab prep, in-class activity, exams, field work

26. Value of concept sketches • Students have to organize their knowledge and convey it to others • Have to do more than paraphrase and parrot back • Easy to tell whether students know what they’re talking about • Quick to grade

33. More on concept sketches • http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/coursedesign/tutorial/strategies.html

34. Review activity • Leave Elluminate on; hang up your phone. • Program Page > Jump Down to Review Assignments, and click on the activity link next to your name. • Read the assignment/activity sheet, and download and read the assignment itself and any materials provided. • Use the rubric Evaluating the Quality of Assignments and Activities to evaluate the assignment; provide feedback to the author on each item in the rubric. • What are the particularly strong aspects of the assignment? • What suggestions do you have for improving the assignment itself? the handout/instructions for the assignment? • Enter your review and feedback in the "Add to the Discussion" box on the activity sheet. • Call 1-800-704-9804 at 12:15, using access code 78331341.

35. Homework assignment • Explore additional teaching strategies: • http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/coursedesign/tutorial/strategies.html • http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/pedagogies.html • http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/index.html • http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/protocol.html • Make revisions in your assignment/activity; in the “Add to Discussion” box on your activity page, indicate what revisions you made. • Upload the revised version.