Terms of Engagement Elizabeth F. Barkley Sinclair Community College Understanding and Promoting Student Engagement
Jan 07, 2016
Terms of Engagement
Elizabeth F. BarkleySinclair Community College
Understanding and Promoting Student Engagement
No ‘Magic Bullet’
Three Main GoalS• GOAL 1: Share a theoretical model of student
engagement that ‘makes sense’ to you and can guide you in your thinking about promoting engaged learning, especially with yearOne students.
Barkley, Cross and Major
(Jossey-Bass, 2004)
Barkley(Jossey-Bass, 2010)
THREE Main GoalS• Goal 2: Help you think ‘broadly’ as you consider
student engagement from the course, program, and institutional perspectives.
Three Main GoalS• Goal 3: Build a “Knowledge Repository” that will give you
ideas that you can apply on your campus in ways that ‘make a difference.’
•
Don’t be miserly - contribute to the knowledge repository.
If you don’t know where you’re going...
...how will you know when you get there.
What IS Student Engagement?
K. Patricia Cross and Moi
What Does “Student Engagement” Mean?
• “...the greater the student’s engagement...the greater his or her general cognitive development.” (Pascarella and Terenzini, 1991)
• “...we need pedagogies of engagement that will turn out the kinds of resourceful workers and citizens America now needs.” (Edgerton, 2001)
• “Learning begins with engagement.” (Shulman, 2002)
• “the frequency with which students participate in effective educational practices.” (NSSE/CCSSE, 1997-present)
• “Rather than being concretely defined in the literature, the concept of engaged learning emerges from multiple frameworks and educational practices.” (Swaner, 2007)
“an explicit consensus about what we actually mean by engagement or why it is important is lacking.” (Bowen, 2005)
International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
(ISSOTL)
FOUNDERS OF SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP ON STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
Sample Affect/Motivation-Based Responses
•“...students really care about what they are learning - they WANT to learn.”
• “...students are passionate and excited about learning.”
Sample Cognitive/Active Learning-Based Responses
•“...students are trying to make meaning of what they are learning”
•“...students are involved and using higher order thinking skills.”
Student Engagement
Engagement
Motivation
Active Learning
Motivation
•“The level of enthusiasm and the degree to which students invest attention/effort in learning” (Brophy)
Behaviorist Model
Needs Models
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Contemporary Theory
Expectancyx ValueMotivation =
How were you as a student?Do you recognize these patterns in
your own students?
Success-OrientedOver-Strivers
Failure- Avoider
Over-Strivers
Failure-Accepting
The Complexity of Expectancy
•Is it due to general, pervasive low self-esteem?
•Or is it contextual?•If contextual, what are the influencing factors?
From Theory to Practice
Point Accrual Grading SystemOut of 4000 available points, students earn 2000 for an A, 1500 for a B, 1000
for a C.
Example in my own teaching
“In most of my classes you accumulate points, but in order to get an A, you need almost all the points. My other classes have a very slim margin to mess up in a grade. If you miss points on something early, it is so demotivating. In this class you stay motivated to learn and work hard because success is up to you.”
Anonymous (Student Survey)
STUDENT VOICES
“The accumulative points systems is something I have never had in a class before. I love it because I really feel in charge of my grade. For example, my psychology class has 2 tests: a midterm and a final. Each is 50% of my grade. I worry that if I’m sick or tired, I won’t be able to demonstrate my true knowledge of the subject. In this class that worry never crosses my mind. I feel confident my strengths will come through and my points will reflect that.”
Anonymous (Student Survey)
STUDENT VOICES
Knowledge Repository
Prompt Number (e.g., 1)
Column Identifier (e.g., A)
Continue on back, identifying
Prompt/Column (e.g., 1A)
Knowledge RepositoryPrompt 1A
Continue on back, identifying Prompt/Column
(e.g., 1A, 1B, 1C)
Populations to Consider
Native Freshmen
Transfer Students
Under-Represented Students
Students Enrolled in General Education Courses vs. Major Courses
Motivation
Prompt 1: ExpectancyWhat are ideas for helping students expect
that with effort, they will succeed?
Value
Product: What They’re Learning
VALUE: LEARNING
College/Course is Obstacle or Stepping
Stone
Value
Product: What They’re Learning Process: How They’re Learning
Value: How They’re Learning
VALUE: How THEY’RE LEARNING
Johannes Brahms
EXAMPLE IN MY OWN TEACHING
“You make the topics come alive.”
Anonymous (Student Survey)
STUDENT VOICES
Knowledge RepositoryPrompt 2
Continue on back, identifying Prompt/Column
(e.g., 2A, 2B, 2C)
populations to consider
Native Freshmen
Transfer Students
Under-Represented Students
Students Enrolled in General Education Courses vs. Major Courses
motivation
Prompt 2: ValueWhat are ideas for helping students value
their college experience and what/how they’re learning?
Value & Expectancy
If a student…DOESN’T expect to succeed and...
DOES expect to succeed and...
DOESN’T value the task...
resistance, rejection, resentment and anger at being coerced into a perceived unpleasant, pointless activity
evasion, do minimum, attention drifts to competing interests
DOES value the task...
make excuses, pretend to understand, deny difficulties, focus on protecting the ego
engagement, happy to focus on developing knowledge & skill
Valu
e
Expectancy
Value & Expectancy
If a student…DOESN’T expect to succeed and...
DOES expect to succeed and...
DOESN’T value the task...
resistance, rejection, resentment and anger at being coerced into a perceived unpleasant, pointless activity
evasion, do minimum, attention drifts to competing interests
DOES value the task...
make excuses, pretend to understand, deny difficulties, focus on protecting the ego
engagement, happy to focus on developing knowledge & skill
Valu
e
Expectancy
Value & Expectancy
If a student…DOESN’T expect to succeed and...
DOES expect to succeed and...
DOESN’T value the task...
resistance, rejection, resentment and anger at being coerced into a perceived unpleasant, pointless activity
evasion, do minimum, attention drifts to competing interests
DOES value the task...
make excuses, pretend to understand, deny difficulties, focus on protecting the ego
engagement, happy to focus on developing knowledge & skill
Valu
e
Expectancy
Value & Expectancy
If a student…DOESN’T expect to succeed and...
DOES expect to succeed and...
DOESN’T value the task...
resistance, rejection, resentment and anger at being coerced into a perceived unpleasant, pointless activity
evasion, do minimum, attention drifts to competing interests
DOES value the task...
make excuses, pretend to understand, deny difficulties, focus on protecting the ego
engagement, happy to focus on developing knowledge & skill
Valu
e
Expectancy
Motivation
Motivation is internal and individual - we can’t ‘motivate students,’ but we can create a
context that a larger percentage of students will find motivating.
Teaching And Learning
Active Learning
Collaborative
LearningUndergrad
uate Research
Service Learning
Problem-Based
Learning
Body Cells vs brain cells
Brain iscomposed of
Neurons
New learningstarts withsearch for
connections topast learning…
All learningpreserved asnetwork ofconnections
betweenneurons
Transfer
Existing Knowledge and Understanding
New Experiences and Information
•Positive Transfer: “Mucho” in Spanish similar to “Much” in English and means the same.
•Negative Transfer: “Librairie” in French similar to “library” in English, but means bookstore.
Novice to Expert
• All learning is preserved as network of connections.
• The more we ‘know’ about a topic, the easier it is to ‘learn’
Similarity and Differences
Theory to practice
Impact on Learning
Impact on retrieval
The Role of Memory
Short Term Long Term
Research has shown that adults (on average) can store 7 items of information in working
memory.
Sometimes We Just Overload Students with
information
Short Term Long Term
•LTP (Long-Term Potentiation): Time needed for neurons to synthesize proteins
•Encoding takes place during sleep
•If remembered after 24-hours, likely to be permanent
Active Learning
Making connections - between what we already know and what we
are learning, and integrating this in a personal way that is
both meaningful and valued, and hence retained.
EXAMPLE IN MY OWN TEACHING
Autobiography - “My music heritage...”End-of-Lecture Journal Writing - “The three key points I hope to remember from today’s class
are....”
Knowledge RepositoryPrompt 3
Continue on back, identifying Prompt/Column
(e.g., 3A, 3B, 3C)
Populations to Consider
Native Freshmen
Transfer Students
Under-Represented Students
Students Enrolled in General Education Courses vs. Major Courses
Active Learning
Prompt 3What are ideas for helping students
connect what they are experiencing/learning here at Illinois State University to what they already know and
understand?
Engagement
Motivation
Active Learning
Condition One: Appropriately Challenging
Learning
Been there,
done that
Dazed and confused
Vygotsky’s “Zone of Proximal Development”
(ZPD)
Lev Vygotsky
The difference between actual development and potential development under guidance
or collaboration
EXAMPLE IN MY OWN TEACHING
Providing students with choice from a menu of different learning activities
that range in level of challenge and point
values.
“I love the flexibility. It gives you time to enjoy the class and its contents rather than stress over having to do things you don’t like. I hate worksheets, for instance, but I love reading the chapter and taking the quizzes, so it works perfect for me.”
Anonymous (Student Survey)
STUDENT VOICES
“This is great because you can choose and pick what activities you want to do. On the other hand, you have to push yourself because you are not pressured by in-class tests. But this is college, so people should be mature enough to know what they want and do what is needed to get it.”
Anonymous (Student Survey)
STUDENT VOICES
Optimal Challenge
Prompt 4What are ideas for helping students work at
their optimal challenge level?
Condition Two: Sense of
Community
•“Team Orientation” one of 7 core traits of Millennial Generation college students (Howe and Strauss)
Student Preferences
What’s the Message on Your Web Site?
Reality on most campuses
Base Groups
EXAMPLE IN MY OWN TEACHING
From Theory to Practice
Prompt 5What are ideas for helping students feel like
they are valued members of a learning community?
populations to consider
Native Freshmen
Transfer Students
Under-Represented Students
Students Enrolled in General Education Courses vs. Major Courses
Condition Three: Learn Holistically
Cognitive Domain
Affective Domain PsychoMotor Domain
Moral Domain
Condition Three: Learn Holistically
Wide Variety of Assignments
EXAMPLE IN MY OWN TEACHING
From Theory to Practice
Prompt 6What are ideas for helping students engage in multiple domains: cognitive, affective, psycho-
motor, moral/ethical?
Populations to Consider
Native Freshmen
Transfer Students
Under-Represented Students
Students Enrolled in General Education Courses vs. Major Courses
Motivation
Active LearningConditions Promoting
Synergy
•Appropriately Challenging•Community•Holistic
The “Theoretical Model”
Education in America seems to be the only commodity of which the customer tries to get as little as he can for his money.
Max Forman
Education is going forward from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty.
Kenneth G. Johnson
Education is one of the few things a person is willing to pay for and not get.
William Lowe Bryan
He was so learned that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on.
Benjamin Franklin
Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.
William Butler Yeats
Engaged Learning
•Motivation
•Active Learning
•Task is Tough (but not Too Tough)
•Community
•Holistic LearningLight a match to pass the torch
Review✦ GOAL 1: Share a theoretical model of engaged
learning that ‘makes sense’ to you and can guide you in your thinking about effective teaching and learning.Motivation
Active Learning
Task is Tough (but not Too Tough)
Community
Holistic LearningLight a match to pass the torch
Review• Goal 2: Help you think ‘broadly’ as you consider
student engagement from the course, program, and institutional perspectives.
Review• Goal 3: Build a “Knowledge Repository” that will give you
ideas that you can apply on your campus in ways that ‘make a difference.’
•
Don’t be miserly - contribute to the knowledge repository.
Thank You!
Terms of Engagement
Elizabeth F. BarkleyIllinois State University, yearOne Mini-Conference Faculty Workshop
Tuesday, March 8th 1:15-3:00 p.m.
Three Main Goals• GOAL 1: Build upon the theoretical model of student
engagement that I introduced in the keynote.
Barkley, Cross and Major
(Jossey-Bass, 2004)
Barkley(Jossey-Bass, 2010)
THREE Main Goals• Goal 2: Guide you in the identification of strategies to
address two of the ‘low benchmark’ NSSE results as well as other student engagement challenges you face.
Three Main Goals• Goal 3: Add to the “Knowledge Repository” we developed in
the keynote so that you will have a variety of ideas that you can apply to your teaching in ways that ‘make a difference.’
•
Don’t be miserly - contribute to the knowledge repository.
Also: If you have specific questions of me, raise your hand during group work
or talk to me after the workshop.
NSSE Lowest Performing Benchmark
• 1A: Asked questions/contributed to class discussions.
Why is it sometimes hard to get students to participate in whole class discussion?
FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE
CoLT: Think-Pair-Share
•Think •Pair (Decide who’s A/B)•Share: A starts; switch when I say “switch”
Metacognition•How did this activity help/hinder your learning?
•Can you imagine how you might adapt this to your own teaching?
NSSE Lowest Performing Benchmark
• 1A: Asked questions/contributed to class discussions.
PERCEPTION VS. REALITY
EXAMPLE IN MY OWN TEACHING
Base Groups for Post-Lecture DiscussionsPerception: Making it explicit why they are in
groupsReality: Round Tables, Think-Pair-Share
From Theory to Practice
What are ideas for increasing student participation in discussion?
NSSE Lowest Performing Benchmark
• 1Q: Received prompt written or oral feedback from faculty
• ‘
PERCEPTION VS. REALITY
WHAT ARE YOUR GRADING CHALLENGES?
Reflect and write them down.
EXAMPLE IN MY OWN TEACHING
Grading Policy in SyllabusPerception: 20 Point “Late Grading’ BonusReality: 20 Point “Early Submission”’ Bonus
Computer Graded for Basic Knowledge
Acquisition
Peer Review
EXAMPLE IN MY OWN TEACHING
ALTERNATIVE ASSIGNMENTS
Rubrics
• Able to offer more complex, challenging assignments.• Grading can be more consistent and equitable• Anguish of grading is reduced• Less time is needed to grade assignments and to justify grade• Core goals and expectations can be reinforced• Rubrics help teachers communicate with each other and
students.
Four Components1. Task Description
2. Components of the Task
3. Descriptions of the range of performance for each component
4. Scale to rate how well or poorly any given task has been performed
Task Description Combined
with Components and Range
Scale
From Theory to Practice
What are ideas for increasing grading efficiency and effectiveness?
“Today was awful. My teacher...
...assigned us to group work.
What do you do when something in your course just isn’t
working?
Challenges to Engaging Students
“COLT 4: ROUND TABLE”
LONGEST AT ISU: TIME KEEPER/FACILITATORSHORTEST AT ISU: RECORDER
SET 27: Send-A-Problem• Description and Purpose: Groups of students receive a
problem, try to solve it, and then pass the problem and solution to a nearby group. It helps students brainstorm and practice/learn together the skills required for problem solving.
• Example: You will brainstorm solutions to your identified teaching challenges.
• Process: (1)Choose a recorder.
(2)Brainstorm solutions to the problems on the card.
(3)Pass cards when I say “pass.”
Metacognition•How did this activity help/hinder your learning?
•Can you imagine how you might adapt this to your own teaching?
‘subjective’ indicators
‘Objective” Indicators:Course Growth
If ever there was a cause, if ever there can be a cause worthy to be upheld by all toil or sacrifice that the human heart can endure, it is the cause of Education.
Horace Mann