Brain, Intuition, Heart Good Teaching At the University Level: Research and Practice Sally M. Reis Vice Provost for Academic Affairs.

Brain, Intuition, Heart

Good Teaching At the University Level: Research and Practice

Sally M. ReisVice Provost for Academic Affairs

Creating

Evaluating

Analyzing

Applying

Understanding

Remembering

Teaching with the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

How People Learn:

Brain, Mind, Experience and

School

John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking,

Editors National Academies Press

Learning is:• Acquisition and integration

of new information

• Developing expertise

• Becoming a member of a community of practice

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Understanding by Design• What learning goals do

you have for your students?

• How can you assess whether students have

met these goals?

• Wiggins & Mctighe (2006), understanding by design

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Understanding by Design•What activities can you design that will

support your definition of learning and your assessments

of whether your students have

learned?

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7 principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate EducationBy Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson

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1st

Interaction with Students skills and

their Encourage as

much student-faculty

interaction as possible

bution to their

growth

Interaction and Student Contact

• Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of classes is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement.

• Faculty concern for students keeps students on track.

• Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students’ intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about their academic future

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Examples that work:• Discuss your own past experiences, values, and

attitudes.• Encourage students to come to your office hours • Get to know your students by name • Attend, support, and sponsor events led by student

groups.• Ask how students are doing.• Hold “out of class” review sessions.• Use email regularly to encourage and inform.• Encourage students to attend external lectures or

other events in your field.11

2nd

Demonstrate your passion and enthusiasm for your content

Experts--Dr. Manos Anagnoustou• Dr. Anagnostou is internationally

recognized for his research storm model prediction

• Research informs utilities and governments of resilience strategies

• Recipient of the Marie Curie Excellence Award for water and energy cycle

• 126 journal articles with over 2,000 citations and over $10M in research grants

Dr. Manos Anagnostou, Northeast Utilities Professor

of Environmental Engineering

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Encourage

student

cooperation and

Interaction

3rd

Examples that work:

• Ask students to share information about each other’s backgrounds and academic interests—create small groups within your class

• Encourage students to study together for classes or exams.• Create study groups (virtually or live) within your course.

http://studygroup.uconn.edu/• Ask students to give constructive feedback on each other’s

work and explain difficult ideas to each other.• Use small group discussions, collaborative projects in and out

of class, group presentations, and case study analysis.• Ask students to discuss key concepts with other students

whose backgrounds and viewpoints are different from their own.Acadia Institute for Teaching and

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4thUse Active, not Passive Learning

Students learning is improved when they study, have learning goals, and receive appropriate feedback..

Active, not passive, learning

Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much as much when they sit in classes and listen--spitting out answers. They learn when they talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They learn when they do projects and when they are more actively involved in constructing their own learning.

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Active learning helps students construct authentic knowledge

StudentInfo Know

A few examples:• Have students present their work to the class.• Give students concrete, real life situations to

analyze.• Ask students to summarize similarities and

differences among their results.• Model asking questions, listening behaviors, and

feedback.• Have students correct each other’s brief quizzes or

writings in class. • Use technology to encourage active learning.• Encourage use of internships, projects, service

learning and clinical opportunities.• Use class time to work on projects and active

learning approaches

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5thFeedback is essential

Students need feedback

• Give appropriate feedback on performance to IMPROVE• Help students assess existing knowledge and competence.• Give more frequent opportunities to show their knowledge and

receive suggestions for improvement. • Create opportunities for students to reflect about they have learned,

what they still need to know, and how to assess themselves.”\

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Appropriate and timely feedback is critical

Understand the cycle of learning

Material

Feedback

• Return quizzes and assessments as promptly as possible, preferably within a week—or collect quizzes and share correct responses in class

• In smaller classes, schedule brief meetings with the students to discuss their progress.

• Give frequent assessments and homework assignments to help students monitor their progress (even in large classes)

• Provide students written comments on the strengths and weakness of their tests/papers.

• Give students focused feedback on their work as early in the term as possible.

• Use some type of mid-term assessment or progress report.• Be clear in relating performance level/expectations

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6thExplain the Importance of Time and Practice

Barry Zimmerman (1989) defined self-regulated learning as regulation of three general aspects of academic learning.

First, self-regulation of behavior• active control of various resources students have available-

such as time, study environment-where they study• use of peers and faculty members to help

Second, self-regulation of motivation and affect • controlling and changing motivational beliefs such as self-

efficacy and goal orientation• controlling emotions and affect in ways that improve learning.

Third, self-regulation of cognition• controlling various cognitive strategies for learning such as

deep processing strategies for better learning.

Does “practice make perfect”?

Think about practice in the context of sports or music: Is it sufficient to tell students “just

play”?

To become self-directed learners, students must learn to monitor and adjust their approaches to learning.

Specific ideas that help!• Communicate to students the amount of time they should spend

preparing for class.• Expect students to complete their assignments promptly.• Underscore the importance of regular work, steady application, self-

pacing, scheduling.• Meet with students who fall behind to discuss their study habits,

schedules.• Refer students to learning skills professionals on campus.• Use technology to make resources easily available to students (ppts

on line, taping lectures, etc)• Find appropriate content to reinforce course content (Ted Talks—

lectures from other professors)

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7thCommunicate your high expectations

Communicate high expectations

“Expect more and you will get it. High expectations are important for everyone—for the poorly prepared, for those unwilling to exert themselves, and for the bright and well motivated. Expecting students to perform well becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when teachers and institutions hold high expectations for themselves and make extra efforts.”

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Celebrate success

You hit what you aim for (or at least come close)

• Make your expectations clear at the beginning of the course both in writing and orally. Tell students you expect them to work hard.

• Periodically discuss how well the class is doing during the course of the semester.

• Encourage students to write; require drafts of work. Give students opportunities to revise their work.

• Set up study guidelines or study groups on line or in person• Share the best examples of student work on a course

website. This often motivates students to higher levels of performance (sharing excellence breeds excellence).

• Be as enthusiastic and positive as possible in your interaction with students.

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8thUnderstand Diverse Backgrounds, Talents, and Learning Styles

Learning Differences in Students: Why and How (Reis)

*Aptitude and Ability *Achievement *Academic background—poor preparation and limited exposure *Culture—second language, interaction style differences*Affect (enthusiasm level and personality) *Knowledge of Study Skills

and Self Regulation*Effort (effort vs. ability issues)*Styles of learning style(visual, auditory, concrete, hands-on)*Interests

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Students’ prior knowledge can help or hinder learning-

9thVariety Matters-- Change the Ways You Teach

Good practice incorporates diverse teaching strategies and respects different ways of learning—

There are many roads to learning and many good types of teaching. People bring different talents and styles of learning to college and good teaching incorporates variety into our classs:

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2011/03/20-coolest-ted-talks-for-engineers/

http://oli.cmu.edu/teach-with-oli/review-our-free-open-courses/

http://oli.cmu.edu/courses/free-open/engineering-statics-course-details/

http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/

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http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/detail.asp?case_id=430&id=430

So, What is it that Engineers Do, Anyway? • In this case study, new engineering students are introduced to the discipline of engineering by illustrating the roles of various types of engineers in a large engineering project, the intelligent transportation system, that has the potential to impact many aspects of society. This case is designed to be used in a freshman introduction to engineering course, in which students are typically introduced to a variety of concepts across engineering disciplines.

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A few examples that work:• Use varied teaching activities to address the learning needs of your students—(my own divide a class into 3

strategy)

• Provide additional material or activities for students who lack essential background knowledge or skills—additional readings, videos, background info—(examples of watching films or brief clips)

• Use different teaching activities in class – videos, discussions, lecture, groups, guest speakers, brief reactions, quizzes, pair-work.

• https://www.nbclearn.com/portal/site/learn/campusperspectives/View+by+Topic/STEM+%26+Innovation

• https://www.ted.com/topics/engineering

• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL27E877E8206F196B&feature=plcp

• Employ varied and different assessment and assignment methods – written, oral, projects, etc. – so as to engage as many ways of learning as possible (e.g., visual, auditory).

• Give students a real-world problem to solve that has multiple solutions--give examples and questions to guide them

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