© CLAUS BRABRAND BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG) OCT 25, 2005
CLAUS BRABRAND
© BRICS 2005
Department of Computer Science
University of Aarhus, Denmark
INTRODUCTION TO UNIVERSITY DIDACTICS
”Teaching/Learning: What the students do when we teach”
© CLAUS BRABRAND[ 4 ]
OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Talk Structure
Introduction: Empathy Teaching/Learning “Susan and Robert” Cognitive levels (“The SOLO Taxonomy”) Alignment Definition: Good Teaching Beyond Good Grades A bit of Assessment- and Evaluation Theory “Bag of Tricks”
© CLAUS BRABRAND BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG) OCT 25, 2005
INTRODUCTION
Empathy Teaching/Learning
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Consider the following alphabet (60”):
Exercise: Now write my office phone#: 89425771 ?
Exercise one
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 0.
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Exercise one (cont’d)
Suppose I showed you:
Exercise: Now write my office phone#: 89425771 ?
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Exercise one (cont’d)
So what is the point? Random information is really hard to remember We learn (efficiently) by associating (building)
new unknown information / with (on) old know known information
1. (One of the many) roles of the teacher is to build on known* knowledge (empathy)
2. Knowledge is constructed as a result of the learner’s activity
*/ assumed prior knowledge
Constructivism = base teaching on what the learner does
© CLAUS BRABRAND[ 9 ]
OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Empathy
About helping/teaching others:
Basically: empathy! Know/anticipate what your students know (/don’t know)!
"At man, når det i sandhed skal lykkes en at føre et menneske hen til et bestemt sted, først og fremmest må passe på at finde ham der, hvor han er, og begynde der.
Dette er hemmeligheden i al hjælpekunst. Enhver der ikke kan det, han er selv i indbildning, når han mener at kunne hjælpe en anden.
For i sandhed at kunne hjælpe en anden, må jeg forstå mere end han - men dog vel først og fremmest forstå det, han forstår. [ empathy! ]
Når jeg ikke gør det, så hjælper min mere-forståen ham slet ikke. Vil jeg alligevel gøre min mere-forståen gældende, så er det fordi jeg er forfærdelig stolt, så jeg i grunden i stedet for at gavne ham egentlig vil beundres af ham.”
-- “Brudstykker af en ligefrem meddelelse”, Kierkegaard, 1859
© CLAUS BRABRAND[ 10 ]
OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Running Example (Semantics’05)
Introduction [background]: Prerequisitional Math // 1 week
Part I: From imperative/functional SOS // 3
weeks
Part II: From SOS new formalism (CCS) // 1 week
Part III: From CCS program equivalences // 1 week
Practice [link to real world]: Semantics in Practice / Industry // 1 week
© CLAUS BRABRAND BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG) OCT 25, 2005
IMPERSONALIZATION
A language for teaching impersonalizes teaching
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
A taxonomy / language for teaching impersonalizes teaching
Emotional detachment (aka. “dissociation”) The teacher is good/bad
identity: good/bad teacher The teaching methods are good/bad
knowledge: good/bad method behavior: good/bad method
With dissociation: more capable of dealing with critique => better to listen
to constructive advice (…just like with our research)
Impersonalization
identityconvictio
nsknowledgebehavior
“Neutological levels”
[model of the mind, “NLP”]
ethics
experience
reactions
© CLAUS BRABRAND BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG) OCT 25, 2005
“SUSAN AND ROBERT”
Good student vs. Bad student
Depth learning vs. Surface learning
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Let’s look in the Auditorium
Auditorium:
“Robert”
“Susan”
When is the
break …?
This is interestin
g …!
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Consider two Students
Susan: Robert:
“It’s just the way the students are; either good or bad”
Note: this labelling (conveniently) defers reponsibility: In particular, we cannot do anything about it!
Good student
Bad student
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Levels of Thinking about Teaching
Level 1: what student is “Blame-the-students” (Good vs. bad students)
Exam = sorting good from bad students after teaching
Level 2: what teacher does “Blame-the-teachers” (Good vs. bad teachers)
Acquiring an armoury of teaching techiques and tricks
Level 3: what the student does Maximize likelihood of students using deep approach Minimize likelihood of students using surface approach
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
“Blame-the-Students”
Unfortunately a predominant view: “Blame-the-students”:
“My students are lacking the ability to learn…!” “Why won’t they learn the interesting bits?” “So many bad students; they just don’t understand!”
Deferring responsibility: “Nothing’s wrong with my teaching; I state things clearly!” “I taught them (right); they didn’t learn!”
Now, let’s instead focus on learning process and outcome (what the student does):
© CLAUS BRABRAND[ 18 ]
OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Returning to Susan & Robert:
“Susan” Homo Sapiens Goal: likes to get to the
bottom of things; to reach understanding (often reflects about possibilities/ implications/applications..)
Characterized by: predisposed for depth
learning; spontaneously uses the
higher cognitive processes
(almost teaches herself)
“Robert” Homo Sapiens Goal: just wants to pass
exams; get a degree and get a decent job (doesn’t really care about learning in itself)
Characterized by: predisposed for surface
learning; will only apply higher
cognitive processes if he really has to
(will cut any corner)
Now we can do something about it (= Robert’s learning)!
© CLAUS BRABRAND[ 19 ]
OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Let’s look in the Classroom
Auditorium:
“Robert”
“Susan”
Wait, isn’t this the same as …
except for … ?
Wait, is that a colon or a semi-
colon ?*
*/ if he asks questions at all
© CLAUS BRABRAND BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG) OCT 25, 2005
COGNITIVE-LEVELS
“The SOLO Taxonomy”:
- to memorize vs. to theorize
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
“The SOLO Taxonomy”
Cognitive levels of understanding: SOLO 1 (aka. “prestructural”):
no understanding: misses point !
SOLO 2 (aka. “unistructural”): identification, memorization, simple procedures, …
SOLO 3 (aka. “multistructural”): enumerate, describe, perform algorithms, …
SOLO 4 (aka. “relational”): compare, analyse, relate, apply, …
SOLO 5 (aka. “extended abstract”): theorize, generalize, hypothesize, …
dee
pe
r u
nd
erst
and
ing
surfaceunderstanding
depthunderstanding
Often, examiners and censors distinguish “good” and “bad” student performancebased directly on this taxonomy, and often, without being consciously aware of it!
S.O.L.O. (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome)
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Course Objectives
“What are the students supposed to learn”? State explicitly (as verbs) the skills they are to acquire
Makes it clear what they are supposed to be able to do and they are able to check themselves against it
…and at which cognitive level: to recite … // SOLO 2 to describe … // SOLO 3 to explain … // SOLO 3 to compare / relate … // SOLO 4 to prove … // SOLO 4 to apply … // SOLO 4 to hypothesize … // SOLO 5d
eep
er
un
der
stan
din
g
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Example (Semantics’05)
Course Objectives (aim & goal)
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Running Example (dSem’05)
Introduction: Prerequisitional Math // 1 week
Part I [describe/explain/analyze]: Structural Operational Semantics // 3
weeks
Part II [compare/reason]: Concurrency and Communication (CCS) // 1 week
Part III [compare/prove/apply]: Equivalence: Bisimulation and Games // 1 week
Practice: Imperative Features + Sem in Practice // 1 week
© CLAUS BRABRAND BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG) OCT 25, 2005
ALIGNMENT ()
Course objectives = exam assessment
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Alignment ()
$2000 Question: “How do we make the students learn what we want
them to”?
Answer: “Alignment”:
Course objectives = exam measurement
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Alignment () Unaligned Course: Aligned Course:
Teacher’sintention
Student’sactivity
Examassessment
Teacher’sintention
Student’sactivity
Examassessment
e.g.- explain- relate- prove- apply
e.g.- memorize- describe
e.g.- memorize
Phenomenography = learner’s perspective (not teacher’s intention) defines learning
“dealing with the test” CS: “it commutes”
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Example (Semantics’05)
Assessment = Objectives (i.e., Alignment):
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DEFINITION: GOOD TEACHING
Maximize #students doing (cognitively) high-level learning
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Definition: “Good Teaching”
“Definition”:
“Teach so that Robert behaves like Susan”
Good news: You should now know how to do this:
Explicitly defined course objectives (as verbs) Alignment!!! avoid surface-encouraging aspects add depth-encouraging aspects Better with depth than breadth of coverage
”Good teaching is getting most students to use the higher cognitive level processes that the more academic students use spontaneously”
-- “Teaching for Quality Learning at University”, John Biggs, 2003
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Year 2030
Susan and Robert graduated 20 years ago (and both became teachers):
Susan has 20 years of teaching experience Reflective teacher (aka. reflective practitioner) Reflects: pre, during, post
Robert has 1 year of teaching experience (repeated 19 times)…
Ok no need to change Bad Blame-the-students / blame-the-administration
© CLAUS BRABRAND BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG) OCT 25, 2005
MOTIVATION BEYOND GRADES
Explain how the knowledge impacts life
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Motivation Beyond the Exam
Motivational problem (why bother learn it?): Tell them why it is important to learn these things…
What would they be able to do (with the investment) How could it benefit them in their work/life/…
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Example (Semantics’05)Program world
Model world
ConcreteAbstract
~
P
P’
M
M’
1. P ~ P’ ?2. abstract
3. M ~ M’ ?
4. relate
5. M ~ M’ !6. concretize7. P ~ P’ !
What discerns a really good programmer from one that is not so good is the capability of moving (consciously or unconsciously) between the concrete world of programs and the abstract world of semantic models (via abstraction and concretization).
Specifically, such a programmer is capable of (consciously or unconsciously): - 1) abstracting programs into models - 2) reasoning about the models - 3) concretizing the insights back into the world of programs
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Example (Semantics’05) cont’d
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Notes on Skill Acquisition
From the world of psychoanalysis: Skill acquisition progresses according to the following
cognitive steps: 1. Unconscious incompetence 2. Conscious incompetence 3. Conscious competence 4. Unconscious competence
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Assessment (Exam)
“Norm-Referenced Assessment” Relative grading (bell-curve grading)
Comparing students against each other
“Criterion-Referenced Assessment” Absolute grading
Relative to (objective) course objectives
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Evaluation Theory
1. Evaluator The students fill out
2. Time at the end of the lectures (and before the exam)
3. Method a questionnaire
4. Application so that the teacher and the administration can measure
5. Standard if satisfactorily and to which degree
6. Criterium among the students there has been:- the course overall;- the teacher (and TAs);- exercises; and- materials
7. Evaluee as a result of the teaching and the teachers(…in conjunction with understanding Semantics)
Student Satisfaction (“tilfredshedsundersøgelse”):
© CLAUS BRABRAND[ 39 ]
OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Evaluation Theory
1. Evaluator The students fill out
2. Time at the end of the lectures (and before the exam)
3. Method a questionnaire
4. Application so that the teacher and the administration can measure
5. Standard if satisfactorily and to which degree
6. Criterium among the students there has been initiated:- high-level activity;- responsibility for own learning;- new knowledge and competences; and- autonomous thinking
7. Evaluee as a result of the teaching process
Cognitive-level & Academic (from Middle Georgia College):
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Evaluation Theory
1. Evaluator The students and teachers fill out
2. Time around half-way into the course
3. Method a questionnaire
4. Application so that the teacher and students can exchange experiences and opinions on
5. Standard if optimal
6. Criterium teaching has been supported
7. Evaluee by the teaching process
Teaching/Learning Cooperation (from Political Science, AU):
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THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
© CLAUS BRABRAND BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG) OCT 25, 2005
BONUS SLIDES
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
*Scratch*
Is this going to be on the exam?
Extremely relevant question!!!
1. Blame the student2. Blame the teacher3. Focus on what the student does
Universities have changed:- central management, economic considerations- More Roberts than Susans
Reflective practitioner:- pre- during- post
Susan almost teaches herself(we almost can’t prevent her from learningeven if we wanted to)
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
The Bloom Taxonomy
The Bloom Taxonomy: 1. Knowledge 2. Comprehension 3. Application 4. Analysis 5. Synthesis 6. Evaluation
dee
pe
r u
nd
erst
and
ing
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Book Recommendation
“Teaching for Quality Learning at University” John Biggs, 2003
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Roles
Student Learning responsibility
Teacher (To the best ability) Aid students in learning
Evaluator Neutrally assess the students’ level of understanding
© CLAUS BRABRAND[ 47 ]
OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
(My Personal) Bag of Tricks
“Bag of Tricks”: Positive (and respectful) answers Reflective timeout (1-2 minutes neighbor discussion)
Questions sanctioned (“approved” as relevant by neighbor)
Better questions (they thought and talked about them)
Jokes (to ease atmosphere) Competitions (to stimulate creativity+provide incentive) Variation (to keep interest and focus) Interaction (to activate the students) Metaphores (to associate with prior known knowledge) Breaks-by-need* (*/ not your need)
However, for these kind of things:ask somebody with more teaching experience…
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OCT 25, 2005BRICS / FIRST PH.D. SCHOOL RETREAT 2005 (SANDBJERG)
Hidden Abstract
Target audience:-30x Ph.D. students from four Danish Universities
(=> keep it more abstract/theoretic than concrete/example-driven)-10x VIP and secretaries (=> careful with computer science specific examples)-international crowd, many cultures (=> in English, no Danish-specific examples)
Context (of the talk):Prior to my talk, they have just had exercises on Empathy
=> move all things pertaining to Empathy to the beginning and add transitional example (relating empathy to teaching/learning) giving them a chance to see and experience the effect of (using/not using empathy in) building/not building on prior knowledge.
Practice what you preach (take your own medicine):- Talk objectives (what you should learn and be able to do) => alignment!!!- Variation => mild hypnosis ; activation => 60” reflective timeouts ; …
Information about this talk and the audience