The Teaching Professor - What's New

What Classes and Small Groups Have in Common

2012-03-02T13:06:00.003-06:00

I’ve been collecting good articles on teaching and learning since the early ’80s. I use the file almost every day, and in the process of looking for a particular article, I regularly stumble onto others whose contents I remember when I see them but have otherwise forgotten. I ran into just such an article recently. It’s old, published in 1986, but it was the first article I remember reading where the content of the discipline (in this case sociology) was used to explain certain instructional dynamics. In this article, Billson compares the classroom to a small group. She applies the principles of small group dynamics as they are studied and understood in sociology to what happens in the classroom.

Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Too Much Focus on Facts?

2012-03-02T13:05:00.005-06:00

The content of many courses is too focused on the facts—those details that students memorize, use to answer test questions, and then promptly forget. That criticism has been levied against many introductory college-level courses, especially by those of us who think faculty are too focused on covering content. But is it a fair criticism? Do introductory courses ignore the higher- level thinking skills, like those identified on the Bloom taxonomy? Is the evidence empirical or anecdotal?

Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

The Final (Office) Hours

2012-03-02T13:05:00.000-06:00

The final portfolio of student work (be it writings, drawings, or a collection of different kinds of work) presents the instructor with a conundrum. As the culmination of student work, it needs to be submitted at the end of the course, but feedback opportunities then are severely limited. Those of us who use portfolio assignments do provide feedback at multiple points throughout the semester, but when the portfolio is completed, the course has ended and this final version cannot be discussed with students. Worse than that, for years, I cringed as I saw the graded portfolios accumulate outside my office. Some were never picked up. Interested in a better alternative, I initiated “the final hour,” an open office hour for any student interested in conversing about his/her graded portfolio.

Newsletter Article Written by Gary R. Hafer

Online or In Class?

2012-03-02T13:04:00.000-06:00

Online course offerings continue to grow. In 2006, experts (cited in the article referenced below) were estimating that some 2,000 major universities and colleges were offering online/Web-based courses, enrolling more than 5 million students. And that was 2006. As experience with online education grows, the opportunity for learning from that experience grows as well. Highlighted below are findings from a study that examined business student perceptions of college-level online courses.

Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Millennial Students: They Aren’t All the Same

2012-03-02T13:03:00.002-06:00

“A disservice is done to any student cohort when they are globally defined by a single set of character traits. Within any generation, there is diversity and in the Millennial Generation, there is considerable diversity in background, personality and learning style.” (p. 223) So concludes a lengthy and detailed article that seeks, among other goals, to “demystify” the characteristics commonly attributed to students belonging to this generation. “Analysis of research data suggests that these students may not be as different from other generations in the fundamental process of learning as is regularly proposed.” (p. 215) These authors believe that’s important because “it is crucial to accurately assess which specific ‘stable characteristics’ truly impact the learning process and should be targeted for consideration in instructional design.” (p. 215)

Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Exploring the Impact of Institutional Policies on Teaching

2012-03-02T13:02:00.005-06:00

Here are three questions of interest to those of us concerned with institutional support of teaching: 1) Is the strength of an institution’s “culture of teaching” or policy support for teaching and learning reflected in faculty members’ pedagogical practices? 2) Are “cultures of teaching” more prevalent at institutions with “learner centered” policies? 3) Do the relationships between institutional policies, faculty cultures, and teaching practices differ across institutional types?

Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Cell Phones in Class: A Student Survey

2012-03-02T13:01:00.005-06:00

Cell phones in the classroom—it’s a topic that generates much consternation among faculty. Are policies that prohibit their use enforceable? Are students texting in class? If so, how many? If a student is texting, does that distract other students? Are students using their phones to cheat? Are there any ways cell phones can be used to promote learning? The questions are many and the answers still a long way from definitive.

Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Assessing Critical Thinking Skills

2012-03-02T13:00:00.005-06:00

The guidelines suggested below propose how critical thinking skills can be assessed “scientifically” in psychology courses and programs. The authors begin by noting something about psychology faculty that is true of faculty in many other disciplines, which makes this article relevant to a much larger audience. “The reluctance of psychologists to assess the critical thinking (CT) of their students seems particularly ironic given that so many endorse CT as an outcome…” (p. 5) Their goal then is to offer “practical guidelines for collecting high-quality LOA (learning outcome assessment) data that can provide a scientific basis for improving CT instruction.” (p. 5) The guidelines are relevant to individual courses as well as collections of courses that comprise degree programs. Most are relevant to courses or programs in many disciplines; others are easily made so.

Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Active Learning: Changed Attitudes and Improved Performance

2012-03-02T12:58:00.000-06:00

Too often, active learning activities are isolated events in a course. They happen every now and then but aren’t a regular part of the course. The intermittent use of active learning raises the question of how much is needed to accrue gains in learning outcomes, like higher exam scores and course grades.
Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

‘What Works’ in the Messy Landscape of Teaching and Learning

2012-02-02T14:41:00.002-06:00

The title is borrowed from text in an excellent article that challenges our use of the “what works” phrase in relationship to teaching and learning. Biology professor Kimberly Tanner writes, “... trying to determine ‘what works’ is problematic in many ways and belies the fundamental complexities of the teaching and learning process that have been acknowledged by scholars for thousands of years, from Socrates, to Piaget, to more recent authors and researchers.” She proceeds to identify six reasons why the phrase hinders rather than fosters an evidence-based approach to teaching reform (in biology, her field, but these reasons relate to all disciplines). “Language is powerful,” she notes. We use it to frame issues, and when we do, it guides our thinking.
Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Developing Students’ Self-Assessment Skills: Is It Possible?

2012-02-02T14:39:00.002-06:00

Here’s an interesting thought: as students complete their assignments, they are assessing their work—asking themselves if they have written enough, whether their solution is correct, if they’ve used enough references, for example. They answer those questions, thereby giving themselves feedback. If students are already assessing their own work, why aren’t we working to build those abilities?

Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Group Testing: A Study Finds It’s Not Effective

2012-02-02T14:36:00.005-06:00

Across the years, a number of articles on group or team testing have been highlighted in the newsletter. Some of these have described the mechanics of letting students do exams or quizzes in groups, and some have been research-based, exploring the impacts of this strategy on test and course grades as well as student perceptions of the activity. An email from a reader indicated that most of the articles reviewed claimed positive benefits for the strategy. The reader attached a copy of the article referenced below. Research reported in this article did not find that a team testing experience positively affected direct measures of learning, in this study, defined as quiz and final exam scores.

Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Millennial Students and Middle-aged Faculty: A Learner-centered Approach toward Bridging the Gap

2012-02-02T14:35:00.001-06:00

The problem is my age. It relentlessly advances while the faces staring back at me in the classroom remain the same, fixed between late adolescence and early adulthood. In short, I grow old while my students do not. And the increasing gap between our ages causes me some concern, pedagogically speaking.
Newsletter Article Written by Joan Flaherty

The ‘I Deserve a Better Grade on This’ Conversation

2012-02-02T14:33:00.001-06:00

It's a conversation most faculty would rather not have. The student is unhappy about a grade on a paper, project, or exam or for the course. It's also a conversation most students would rather not have. In the study referenced below, only 16.8 percent of students who reported they had received a grade other than what they thought their work deserved actually went to see the professor to discuss the grade.
Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Why Doesn't Teacher Feedback Improve Student Performance?

2012-02-02T14:31:00.001-06:00

Sometimes feedback leads to better performance, but not all the time and not as often as teachers would like, given the time and effort they devote to providing students feedback. It's easy to blame students who seem interested only in the grade-do they even read the feedback? Most report that they do, but even those who pay attention to it don't seem able to act on it-they make the same errors in subsequent assignments. Why is that?
Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Using the E-Portfolio to Validate Student Learning

2012-01-04T13:28:00.000-06:00

As teachers, how do we get students to understand that the work they do in our classes—such as team projects, community service, technical papers, and even research—is relevant to what they will be doing after they graduate? How do we encourage them to keep their materials and use them to validate their work as students? I think I have an answer. Teaching an e-portfolio capstone course for several years has given me a perspective that I believe should be the framework for validating student learning outcomes across all institutions of higher education.
Newsletter Article Written by Ken Scott

The Effects of Collaborative Testing

2012-01-04T13:26:00.000-06:00

Although letting students work together on exam questions is still not a common instructional practice, it has been used more than might be expected and in a variety of ways. Sometimes students work together in groups; other times with a partner. Sometimes those groups are assembled by the instructor and sometimes students are allowed to select their partners or group members. Sometimes the groups share multiple exam experiences; other times they work collaboratively only once. Sometimes the group submits one exam with everyone in the group receiving that grade; other times students may talk about exam questions and answers but submit exams individually.
Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Test Review Sessions: A Better Design

2012-01-04T13:25:00.000-06:00

Terence Favero begins where many teachers are with respect to review sessions. Students request them. Teachers don’t like to give up class time to essentially go over material they’ve already covered. It’s difficult to find a time that works for everyone—students don’t want to come in early, and professors don’t want to review at bedtime. Then there’s the issue of who shows up for the review session. Usually, it’s not the students who most need to be there. And finally, there’s how review sessions are generally structured. Students ask questions, which the professor answers, while the students take notes. Favero notes, “Rarely does this approach lead to deep learning or prepare students for an exam.”
Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Students and Textbooks: Not A Good Relationship

2012-01-04T13:23:00.000-06:00

Are your students doing their reading? A survey of 311 psychology students who were queried as to their perceptions regarding the role of the textbook in their psychology courses offers some interesting evidence and insights about how students do and don't relate to their textbooks.
Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Student Presentations: Do They Benefit Those Who Listen?

2012-01-04T13:14:00.000-06:00

Almost everyone agrees that student presentations benefit the presenter in significant ways. By doing presentations, students learn how to speak in front a group, a broadly applicable professional skill. They learn how to prepare material for public presentation, and practice (especially with feedback) improves their speaking skills. But those of us who have students do presentations in class know there’s a downside—and that’s how the rest of the class responds to these presentations. When the teacher talks, students more or less have to pay attention, at least some of the time, but when their classmates present, they can be comatose. Not only does this make it more difficult for the presenter, it means the students listening are not likely having any sort of learning experience.
Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Ruberics: Worth Using?

2012-01-04T13:12:00.000-06:00

Use of rubrics in higher education is comparatively recent. These grading aids that communicate "expectations for an assignment by listing the criteria or what counts, and describing levels of quality from excellent to poor" (p. 435) are being used to assess a variety of assignments such as literature reviews, reflective writings, bibliographies, oral presentations, critical thinking, portfolios, and projects. They are also being used across a range of disciplines, but so far the number of faculty using them remains small.
Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Capstone Courses: Many Options

2012-01-04T13:09:00.000-06:00

Capstone courses are now a requirement in many departments, programs, and college curricula. They vary across different dimensions, indicating that although their value is universally recognized, they share few common features. For starters, they are offered at various levels; at the department level for students in a particular major, at the college level, say, for students in engineering, and at the university level as a general education integrative experience

Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Reading Groups Get Students Reading

2012-01-04T13:04:00.000-06:00

Given how difficult it is to get students to do their assigned reading, we continue to share strategies that encourage students to read, that develop their reading skills, and in this case, that also develop their abilities to work with others in groups.

Newsletter Article Written by: Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Writing Better Teaching Philosophy Statements

2011-12-02T12:51:00.000-06:00

Teaching philosophy statements are now prepared for a variety of reasons: as part of a job application process; to be included in a promotion and tenure dossier; for a teaching award; or to foster reflection about how and why you teach. Regardless of purpose, the goal ought to be preparation of statements that reveal those beliefs and practices characteristic of an individual teacher.
Newsletter Article Written by Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D.

Why I’ve Stopped Teaching

2011-12-02T12:49:00.000-06:00

I can’t remember when it happened; I just know that it did. I changed vocations in 2003, becoming a full-time academic after being president of a heat treating company in Ohio. I had long dreamed of being a college professor and imagined I’d be joining a collegial community where faculty would help each other improve as teachers. But that didn’t happen. Instead, I discovered that professors are just too busy teaching to help one another become better teachers.
Newsletter Article Written by Keith Starcher