Terms of Engagement Elizabeth F. Barkley Sinclair Community College Understanding and Promoting...

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