Quality Undergraduate Education

MSU Sociology Department TA WorkshopAugust 25, 2006

Geoffrey HabronFisheries and Wildlife

SociologyBailey Scholars

habrong@msu.eduBerkey 401A

432-8086

Learning = Instructor + Students

Student Learning Outcomes

InstructorLearning styles

Outlook on learningStudents

effective

Teaching Strategies

Teaching Philosophy(Pedagogy)

Backward Design

• Stage 1: Identify desired outcomes and results.

• Stage 2: Determine what constitutes acceptable evidence of competency in the outcomes and results (assessment).

• Stage 3: Plan instructional strategies and learning experiences that bring students to these competency levels.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J.(1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA:Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

http://pixel.fhda.edu/id/six_facets.html

http://www.ubdexchange.org/resources.html

Learning Outcomes

Meeting the Challenge of Teaching Sociology in the

Twenty-First Century

Report of the Task Force on the Undergraduate Major:

Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major .

American Sociological Association. January 2005.

<http://www.asanet.org/governance/LiberalLearningUpdate.pdf>

Deep Learning (ASA)• Relates previous knowledge to new knowledge;• Relates knowledge from different courses;• Relates theoretical ideas to everyday experience;• Relates and distinguishes evidence and

argument;• Organizes and structures content into a coherent

whole; and• Emphasis is internal, from within the student• Deep learning clearly implies increasing

integration among topics, courses, and out-of-class experiences.

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MSU SOC Undergraduate Mission

• Illustrate sociological perspectives

• Help students develop skills in critical thinking

• Introduce and explain strategies and methods for conducting sociological research

Gold and Pyle. 2005. MSU Sociology Department assessment plan. January

MSU SOC Undergraduate Principles

• Student responsibility for learning• Active learning and research skills• Doing sociology• Team learning• Computers• Job skills• Life skills• World as a classroom• Integrate graduate and undergraduate education

Gold and Pyle. 2005. MSU Sociology Department assessment plan. January

Instructor Factors

• Pedagogy

• Strategies

Pedagogy:Student-centered Learning

• With such an approach, the impact on student learning is the key variable in all course, department, and institutional decisions. From this perspective, we must consider, for example, student variables and diversity, the impact of the environment on learning, learning styles, and the scaffolding for learning. Covering the content is not the important objective in this paradigm; rather, it is nurturing student learning.

ASA Pg. 44

Strategies:7 Principles of Undergraduate Education

• Encourage student-faculty contact;• Encourage cooperation among students;• Encourage active learning;• Give prompt feedback;• Emphasize time on task;• Communicate high expectations; and• Respect diverse talents and ways of

learning. Chickering, A. and Z. Gamson. Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.' American Association for Higher Education, 1986.

http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/7princip.htm

http://www.byu.edu/fc/pages/tchlrnpages/7princip.html

Student Factors

• Outlook on Learning (Where they start)– Intellectual development

• Learning Styles (How they learn)– Multiple intelligences

Study Learning Group (intellectual development position)

1st year undergraduate (Dualism/Received Knower/Pre-reflective)

right or wrong answers and seeking ultimate truth from a limited set of authority figures

4th year undergraduate (Multiplicity/Subjective knower)

accept the possibility of having several correct answers and that various sources of possibly valid knowledge exist other than an expert authority figure

Graduate (Relativism/Procedural knower/ Quasi-Reflective Reasoning)

recognition that uncertainty is a partof the knowing process, the ability to see knowledge as an abstraction, and the recognition that knowledge is constructed. Aware that different approaches or perspectives on controversial issues rely on different types of evidence and different rules of evidence, and that factors like these contribute to differentways of framing issues.

Professional Development Program (Contextual/Constructed knower/Reflective Reasoning)

some answers fit various situations as appropriate, that some questions may not have certain answers and that asking questions may provide a basis for further understanding

Lee Knefelkamp. Models of Intellectual and Identity Development

http://www.greaterexpectations.org/briefing_papers/ModelsIntellectualIdentity.html

Learning Styles:Multiple Intelligences

• Intrapersonal: self smart• Interpersonal: people smart• Visual: image smart• Musical: sound smart• Logical-mathematical: logic smart• Bodily-kinesthetic: body smart• Naturalistic: nature smart• Verbal linguistic: word smart• David Lazear. Eight Ways of Knowing: Exploring Multiple Intelligences• http://www.multi-intell.com/MI_chart.html

Learning = Instructor + Students

Student Learning Outcomes

InstructorLearning styles

Outlook on learningStudents

effective

Teaching Strategies

Teaching Philosophy(Pedagogy)

Deep learning - ASA

Multiple intelligences – Howard Gardner

Intellectual development – William Perry

7 Principles - Chickering and Gamson

Student-centered - ASA

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Doing sociology – MSU SOC

Resource

• MSU Office of Faculty and Organizational Development (grad students too!)– Deb DeZure, Director– Patty Payette, Coordinator– Lilly Teaching Seminars– Meet Michigan– Mid-term class assessments…– http://www1.provost.msu.edu/facdev/index.asp

Lilly Teaching Seminars Fall 2006

• Issues in Evaluating Teaching: A Comprehensive Perspective

• Using Demonstrations to Promote Conceptual Understanding in Chemistry: Making Connections on the Macroscopic, Microscopic, and

Symbolic Levels • Making Classroom Lectures Interactive and Effective: Engaging

Students in Course Content through Interactive Lecturing  • Getting Beyond Covering Content in your Courses: Introduction to the

Readiness Assurance Process and Team-Based Learning • Designing, Managing and Grading Effective Group Assignments

• Designing Games and Simulations for Learning • Teaching for Successful Intelligence: Teaching and Assessing

Students with Diverse Learning and Thinking Styles

• There is a wealth of research, theory, and practical ideas on important approaches to teaching and learning in higher education should inform discussions about, and choices made for, the sociology major and curricular or pedagogical reforms. Three of these are briefly discussed here:– learning-centered instruction, – deep learning, and – best practices.

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MSU Boldness by Design

• http://strategicpositioning.msu.edu/default.asp

Enhancing the Undergraduate Experience: Task Force Recommendations

1. Enhance the first year experience; assist students in making a strong academic and social transition, and in creating appropriate expectations about their undergraduate education

2. Promote the improvement of and rewards for successful college teaching

3. Articulate, target and expand opportunities for undergraduate students to develop cultural competencies.

4. Promote and integrate more active and applied learning in undergraduate education

5. Modify the undergraduate curriculum and related policies so that our goals for undergraduate liberal learning are met

6. Enhance the physical environment in ways that support learning for the students, faculty and staff at MSU

7. Continue the review of graduate programs and graduate

teaching and the mentoring of graduate students. http://strategicpositioning.msu.edu/documents/BbDImperative1_002.pdf

Report of the Working Group on Improving Undergraduate Education:

Goals for Liberal Learning 1. Integrated Judgment

2. Advanced Communication Skills (both writing and speaking)

3. Cultural Competence (addressed in recommendation 2)

4. Analytical Thinking

5. Literacy in Science and Mathematics

6. Effective Citizenship