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Smart Teaching: Strategies to Inspire Smarter Learning

Rose Mince, Judith Boyle, Greg Campbell, Lisa Sallee, and Robin Minor

The Community College of Baltimore County

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Session Overview

• Opening Activity• Introduction• Overview of the Literature• Sharing Proven Strategies• Specific Applications• Modeling of Best Practices• Questions, Answers, Discussion

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Rose Mince, Ph.D. Dean of Instruction for Curriculum and Assessment

“The proper question is not, ‘How can people motivate others’?, but rather, ‘How can people create the conditions within which others will motivate themselves’?

-Edward Deci” (Vader-McCormick, 2012, p. 43)

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Teaching Learning Roundtable

• Education and Professional Development• Grants and Awards• Research and Best Practices• New Faculty Learning Community• The Engaged Teacher: What Works with

Today’s Students by Nancy Vader-McCormick

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How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching

• Prior knowledge can help or hinder learning.• How students organize knowledge influences

how they learn and apply what they know.• Students’ motivation determines, directs, and

sustains what they do to learn.• To develop mastery, students must acquire

component skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply what they have learned.

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How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching

• Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback enhances the quality of students’ learning.

• Students’ current level of development interacts with the social, emotional, and intellectual climate of the course to impact learning.

• To become self-directed learners, students must learn to monitor and adjust their approaches to learning.– Ambrose, et al. (2010)

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Engaged Teachers

Engaged Learners

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Student Engagement Technique: Quotes from E. F. Barkley

• Think about your philosophy of teaching and learning and select one quote that “resonates” with your philosophy.

• Be prepared to very briefly share why you selected that particular quote.

• Think with a pen…jot down how you can use this technique with your students.

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Judith Boyle, M.S., R.N.Nursing Instructor

“Teachers possess the power to create conditions that can help students learn a great deal-or keep them from learning much at all.

-Parker Palmer” (Vader-McCormick, 2012, p.14)

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The Challenge

• “Nurse educators share the view that undergraduate students are often only really willing to engage with topics if they can see the implications and/or the application to their practice and this is only achieved if nurse educators deliver content in a meaningful and engaging way.”

- (Crookes, Crookes, & Walsh, 2013)

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The Problem

• Only two exams in a 5 week Pediatric Nursing Concepts course worth 80% of final grade

• Growth and Development Concept– Content boring and dry – Critical concept in pediatric nursing – Comprises 9% of questions on the RN licensure

exam

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The Strategy

• Growth and Development Project Course Assignment– Students chose a partner, were assigned an age

group, and were tasked with decorating and filling a shoe box with age and developmentally appropriate activities for a hospitalized child

– Completed boxes were donated to charitable organizations

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The Results

• Improved exam scores • Positive student evaluations

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Pre-Project Exam Scores

Section # of Students

Possible Points

Median Mean Highest Score

Lowest Score

Fall 2012

42 60 51.43 50.85 56.00 45.00

Spring 2013_1

26 60 49.67 49.36 53.00 44.00

Spring 2013_2

20 61 50.90 50.75 56.00 45.00

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Post-Project Exam Scores

Section # of Students

Possible Points

Median Mean HighestScore

Lowest Score

Fall 2013_1

29 64 54.75 54.45 59.00 49.00

Fall 2013_2

30 65 56.88 56.90 62.00 52.00

Fall 2013_3

34 65 55.50 55.03 63.00 47.00

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Student Evaluations• Opinion Scale/Likert: The Growth and Development Project helped me to

better understand the growth and development and health promotion theory portion of this class.

• Student Comment: “ I like that we did the growth and development project and that we donated them.”

Strongly agree 8Agree 39Neither agree nor disagree

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Disagree 8Strongly disagree

1

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In Conclusion

• The Growth and Development Project provides nursing students with the opportunity to creatively manipulate the material in order to increase the breadth and depth of their learning/retention of this critical concept.

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Greg Campbell, M.A.English Instructor

“Teaching without learning is just talking. -Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross”(Vader-McCormick, 2012, p. 132)

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The Challenge

• How do we ensure that students are doing the reading in an English class?– Quizzes– Waste of class time and grading time

• How do we ensure that students are engaging with the text they are reading?– How do we ensure that nobody is “just talking?”

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The Problem

• This could be a problem in any (English) classroom

• This is a bigger problem in required classes like British Literature

• Even for English majors, the various styles, subjects, and language intricacies are tough

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The Strategy

• Get the students to engage with the text by having them create “Questions for the Class”

• These questions need to be deep and complex to show that the student has actually been thinking about the text actively

• Asked anonymously via the instructor

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The Strategy

• Ask ten questions per student per semester– In a class of 20 students: • 200 total questions• 5-6 questions per class

• Collected online via Blackboard– Journals (recommended) – Wikis– Blogs

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Benefits of Anonymity

• The “shy students” can reveal just how good they are with the subject matter– Earn more points online; get better grades

• Shy students gain confidence and engage in the class discussions– Earn more points in class; get better grades

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Benefits of Anonymity

• There is less worry of “looking stupid” in front of the class

• Class unity and subtle competition as students wonder “who asked that!”

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Grades & (x̄� Questions Completed)(These grades reflect the grade associated with the assignment)

Control GroupFall 2012 Spring 2013

(2 Sections)Fall 2014

“A” 12 7 (8.4) 14 (7.9)

“B” 9 4 (6.7) 11 (6.4)

“C” 2 6 (3) 2 (1.5)

“D” 0 0 (0) 2 (0)

“F” 1 2 (2) 3 (.3)

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Grades & ( Questions Completed)x̄�(Adjusted so as not to reflect the grade associated with the assignment)

Control GroupFall 2012 Spring 2013

(2 Sections)Fall 2014

“A” 12 7 (8.4) 15 (7.5)

“B” 9 4 (6.7) 12 (5.5)

“C” 2 6 (3) 1 (0)

“D” 0 0 (0) 2 (1)

“F” 1 2 (2) 2 (0)

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Sample Questions

• Even though Herrick was originally a priest, did his "living your life to the fullest" motto get the wrong impression? Maybe he was trying to break down the walls of strict, religious attitudes?

• In The Rape of the Lock, does Pope seek to satirize a society that would simultaneously objectify women and condemn them for being vain?

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Sample Questions

• I noticed that Prufrock (at least in the version I have) is almost structured with indented paragraphs as in a novel. It is also fitting that towards the end of the poem he starts to mention aging and, in the very last line, death. Do you think Eliot intentionally structured his poem like this to show a passage of time (a beginning, middle, end)? Or am I just reading too far into the "structure" of a structureless art form?

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Conclusions

• To prepare a question, the student must be prepared for class

• If those students are engaged in conversation, it increases the likelihood that others will too

• If we give our students an alternative way to prove their knowledge and engage in the class, they will rise to the occasion

• We can do more than “just talking”

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Lisa Sallee, M.S., M.A.Math InstructorDevelopmental Math Coordinator

“Learning is not a spectator sport. -Chickering and Gamson”(Vader-McCormick, 2012, p. 32)

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The Problem

• Developmental mathematics students, especially pre-algebra ones, lack study skills in addition to mathematics skills

• This, in turn, creates issues beyond the material and the classroom

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The Challenge

• “Learning Math requires a different set of learning skills, testing skills, and anxiety reduction techniques than those used in other courses.”

• “Simply put, students must pass math to graduate college.”

(Nolting, 2014)

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The Approach

• For the first 4 weeks of class, in addition to their regular material, students were given a math study skills pre-assessment, 7 lessons on increasing math study skills, and a post-assessment.

• The material was delivered in a “flipped classroom” style so as to not affect the time needed for the math material.

• Material was discussed each week as well as at the end of the study skills unit.

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The Results

• Students were engaged in covering the material as well as the discussion.

• Many students were surprised at what skills they already had!

• Completion percentage was approximately 78%.

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Test Score ComparisonMy Fall 2013 Campus Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Campus Fall 2013

A: 12 (52%) A: 27% A: 7 (35%) A: 32%

B: 7 (30%) B: 33% B: 6 (30%) B: 24%

C: 3 (13%) C: 20% C: 4 (20%) C: 19%

F: 1 (5%) F: 20% F: 3 (15%) F: 24%

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Qualitative Results

• There’s no such thing as being a math person or not. Just how much you apply yourself.

• Before I didn’t study until the day of. Now I try to study whenever I have time.

• I wasn’t anxious before the exam! I felt super confident knowing I have been studying and practicing. The study skills helped me understand the more time I take to study and practice, the more I likely I am to really understand math and not just memorize.

• I’m going to use the methods for now on in every class.• Looking at the videos made me realize how much time I need

to put in toward studying.

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Robin Minor, PhDAssistant Professor, Biology“Research generally shows that the amount of retention corresponds to the degree to which a student is dynamically participating in the learning activity.

-Elizabeth Barkley” (Vader-McCormick, 2012, p. 98)

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The Challenge

• Academic success is correlated with active learning, yet students may not gravitate naturally towards active learning methods of study.

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The Problem

• Anatomy & Physiology (A&P) is hard!– Tons of vocabulary to learn, much of which is from

Latin or Greek– Some students tell me A&P is the first class “I

actually have to study for!”

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The Goal

• Create an assignment that – Guides students through active reading of the

textbook– Gets them prepared for lecture before class – Provides an opportunity to practice with A&P

terms

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The Assignment

• Complete the lecture slides:

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The Assignment

• Complete 10 questions in BlackBoard:

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The Assignment

• Complete 10 questions in BlackBoard:

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Student FeedbackLS Assignments Survey

The LS (Lecture Slides) Assignments are the ones you complete in Blackboard that ask 10 questions directly from the powerpoint slides.

Any comments you’d like to add:

I THINK THE LS ASSIGNMENTS… Strongly

Agree

AgreeSomewhat A

gree

Not Sure

or N/A

Somewhat Disa

gree

Disagree

Strongly

Disagree

Encourage me to spend more time working on this class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Encourage me to complete the lecture slides 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Distract me from doing more useful kinds of studying 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Are better to do BEFORE the chapter is covered in lecture 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Are better to do AFTER the chapter is covered in lecture 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Are useful overall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I THINK THE NUMBER OF… Too Few

Just Right

Too Many

LS Assignments (6 total) this semester will be 1 2 3questions on the LS Assignments is 1 2 3minutes I have to complete the assignment on BlackBoard is 1 2 3

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Student Feedback

I THINK THE LS ASSIGNMENTS… Strongly

Agree

AgreeSomewhat A

gree

Not Sure

or N/A

Somewhat Disa

gree

Disagree

Strongly

Disagree

Encourage me to spend more time working on this class

n= 24 12 1 2 0 0 0

Encourage me to complete the lecture sl ides

n= 27 11 0 0 0 1 0

Distract me from doing more useful kinds of studying

n= 2 1 4 5 3 13 11

Are better to do AFTER the chapter is covered in lecture

n= 2 5 5 2 4 10 11

Are useful overall

n= 30 8 0 0 1 0 0

Are better to do BEFORE the chapter is covered in lecture

n= 20 11 2 2 1 1 2

*

*

*

*

*

*

1.5

1.4

5.3

2.1

4.9

1.3

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Student Feedback

I THINK THE NUMBER OF… Too Few

Just Right

Too Many

LS Assignments (6 total) this semester will be

n= 10 29 0

questions on the LS Assignments is

n= 3 36 0

minutes I have to complete the assignment on BlackBoard is

n= 8 30 1

1.7

1.9

*1.8

*

*

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Student Feedback

Additional comments: “Could have had 1 for each chapter.” “Very helpful. Thx ” “Change nothing” “I like that the extra points assignments make me feel like I am working towards

or building up for the exam. It gives me more exposure to the material and builds my test-taking confidence. Thank you!”

“Helps motivate me to do slides and study the material.” “Overall the study activities are very useful!! Thanks” “I like doing these, it makes me keep ahead.” “I like them—helps keep me on my toes. Helps me to stay a bit ahead”

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Exam Scores Comparison

Exam 1 Exam 2 Exam 3 Exam 40

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1002012 2013

43 40 40 4036373940

Exam

Sco

re (%

)

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In Conclusion

• Test scores not necessarily higher.• However, student feedback was positive.• Ultimately I have chosen to continue with this

assignment and I am expanding it into the second semester of A&P as well.

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Modeling of Best Practices

• Think – Pair - Share• How students organize knowledge influences

how they learn and apply what they know.• To develop mastery, students must acquire

component skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply what they have learned.

• Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback enhances the quality of students’ learning.

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Questions & Answers

• Jboyle@ccbcmd.edu• Gcampbel2@ccbcmd.edu• Lsallee@ccbcmd.edu• Rmince@ccbcmd.edu• Rminor@ccbcmd.edu

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References

• Ambrose, S.A., Bridges, M.W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M.C., & Norman, M.K. (2010). How learning works: Seven research-based principles for smart teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• Barkley, E.F. (2010). Student engagement techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• Bernards, J. & DeSmet, M. (2013). Math Study Skills. Portland, OR: Self.

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References, continued

• Crookes, K, Crookes, P.A., Walsh, K. (2013). Meaningful and engaging teaching techniques for student nurses: A literature review. Nurse Education in Practice, 13(4), 239-243.

• Epp, S.M., McAulay, J.E., (2008). Teaching child growth and development: The Christmas shoebox, 33(6), 277-280.

• Nolting, P., Ph.D. (2014). Winning at Math – Your guide to learning mathematics through successful study skills. Bradenton, FL: Academic Success Press, Inc.

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References, continued

• Vader-McCormick, N. (2012). The engaged teacher: What works with today’s students. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.