Step Into Leadership Enhancing Teaching Practice – Techniques and Tools March 2014 K. Purdam, P. Middleditch and M. Brown Step into Leadership

3 Session Outline Session Outline Teaching Environment Challenging the Traditional Structure – Lectorials Within Lecture Techniques Adopting Interaction Technology Using Social Media to Engage Students and Learning Discussion

Rethinking the Use of Contact Time and Interaction

5 Teaching Excellence? Teaching Excellence? We want to train the students in the best way we can…so what makes an excellent lecturer? We want you to imagine this…..10 seconds!

7 Teaching Excellence? Teaching Excellence? So what makes an excellent lecturer? Enthusiastic, energetic, excited Highly knowledgeable in their area of expertise Stimulates interest Builds the students foundation for learning Clear learning objectives Good organisation skills Engages and supports students in different learning contexts and with different tools – empathises with learning challenges of different students Availability and responsiveness Enables the student to take responsibility Openess to students views Lifelong learner – not afraid to learn Re-evaluates their approach How can lecturers be supported in achieving this and sharing their skills?

Training and Quality Measures to Help Lecturers? NSS Peer review of teaching Student Barometer UEQs PDR Training – NAP/PG CERT/CPD Literature on advances in learning Teach to the benchmarks?

Other Evidence? What works? Empirical evidence for teaching Active learning has been shown to be associated with higher marks and higher student confidence What specific approaches optimise learning?

Contact With Students How many hours? Students can feel anonymous, invisible and isolated and this can affect their learning. Making the most of timetabled contact. Motivating students to care about their learning. Wrap around learning techniques.

Teaching Large Groups students Can vary by discipline area Can vary by learning outcomes

Students Attention Span Regardless of how inspirational a lecturer is … People can only really listen in a focused way for short periods. People learn more when they have an opportunity to process what they are learning. People retain the learning more if they review or use the information immediately after learning it. Hearing the information, plus seeing the information plus using the information So large lectures are an opportunity

Opportunities On Large Courses Addressing the course and lecture structure Fostering relationships and a sense of a learning community Increasing engagement, interaction and participation Telling interactive stories

Changing the Structure and Teaching Format of Large Courses 1.Rethinking the relationship between lectures and other components of the module (including assessment) 2. Rethinking the use of contact time in the lecture itself

1. Structure - The Old Structure Lecture 1 Lecture 2 Lecture 3 Lecture 4 Lecture 5 Lecture 6 Lecture 7 Lecture 8 Lecture 9 Lecture 10 Lecture 11 STUDENT ENGAGEMENT Office Hours Tut 1 Tut 2 Tut 3 Tut 4 Lectures ‘disconnected’ Poor attendance Cramming Student engagement focussed in last 3 weeks Impersonal EXAM LECTURES Tut 5

Lecture 1 Workshop 1 Lecture 2 Assessment The New Structure Lectures Integrated Active (& deep) learning Incentivised attendance and student engagement from week 1 Personal – no hiding place in workshops A good student experience reflected in UEQ scores Theory > Method > Application > Assessment Workshop 2 Coursework portfolio Exam etc

2. Within Lecture Techniques Can we design lectures/lectorials in a way that encourages more active learning? ‘Any questions?’ is not good enough! Encouraging participation by design

Getting Students Attention Use lighting or music to give students a natural pause in their own conversation and yourself a window of opportunity. Students get used to your way of teaching…challenge yourself. Sit at the back….start teaching from there!

Keeping Your and Your Students Attention Students will inevitably ‘drop out’ after a prolonged spell of given material. →Use physical movement to keep their attention/break down the barriers →Use other ways to break up class: occasional chat/personal observations asking people by name discussions/debates problem based tasks class voting

Personal and Two Way Active Learning During the taught class always try to get the students to answer questions. This is quite difficult and takes some nurturing in large cohorts. Look really pleased to see students approach you during the break. Others are watching your reaction! It may seem pointless to a large cohort lecturer but asking a student his/her name makes a difference.

Within Lecture Techniques – Active Learning Mixing up the neighbours! Sit next to someone with….? Energy shifts - engagement activities/feedback tasks, postcards, anonymous comments, Post It notes, write their own fact sheets. Think - Pair – Share Giving time to consolidate notes Unclear points review

Within Lecture Techniques – Active Learning Videos Games Key words - Bingo Music Hidden themes Have a summary slide

Flipping the Lecture - Inverting the Classroom Approach No single model but an approach that encourages student preparation in advance (what would have been the lecture becomes the homework) for a more interactive learning experience in the lecture Screencast of lecture, You Tube video Lecture contact-time devoted to activities that apply and build understanding the material..”So did you all watch the lecture?” Challenges Need time to re-design teaching materials Initially student’s may not like it as much as you think they should/would – lecture culture is as deep rooted for students as it is for us – a flipped lecture puts demands on them that they may not thank you for.

Where Evaluated – Generally Positive Example.. Second year inorganic chemistry module (UEA) 'I think the flipped lectures were a really good idea because it was a more interactive way to engage students into learning, rather than the repetitive routine of having to listen to the lecturer work through a PowerPoint presentation for an hour.' 'They were good fun as it was nice to have interaction with the lecture as opposed to just being talked at, it was also nice having knowledge of what you were talking about as we had already gone through the material!' Source: inverting-lectures.aspwww.rsc.org/Education/EiC/issues/2013september/flipped-classroom- inverting-lectures.asp Manchester advocates... Ralph Becker (Economics) Wendy Olsen (Social Statistics)

Engaging With Students of Different Abilities More interaction and engagement with students can help the more advanced students as well as those who might be struggling Can also energise the lecturer…..less didactic..more feedback Shared on-line resources, blogs, Pinterest, Netvibes, search links/web content My teacher is an App?

Follow Up Learning for This Session Blog BBC Radio 4

Population Studies Hans Rosling talks… o growth-explained-with-ikea-boxes/

Using Technology to Engage With Students and Aid Learning Linked to and embedded in these kind of lectures is the potential to make greater use of technology – both in lectures and between lectures – both between lecturer and student and between students

35 Lecture Interaction What do we mean by: Interaction Technology ? Technology that allows communication between student and lecturer `in class’. – Classroom Voting Systems. Specifically technology that allows ‘over web’ answering of multiple choice style question during lectures.

ECON10042 – 1st Year UG Macroeconomic Principles – approx 600 students ECON20401 – 2 nd Year UG Macroeconomics IIA – approx 510 students Voting Technology at Manchester since 2010 Voting Technology at Manchester since 2010 Students now have a tool to test themselves as they learn Lecturers can identify areas of weakness as they teach Students can feedback to the lecturer – real time recorded Increases interest/alertness during longer lectures Facilitates other pedagogical enhancements to learning, some of which we have found surprising!

Not Just A Pretty Quiz Tool! Other ways we have learnt to use this classroom voting system. 1.To gauge opinion on the taught material; a barometer. 2.To allow students to provide anonymous feedback during each lecture. 3.Peer interaction: Students revisit question after discussion with peers.

Example 1. Student Difficulty Perception Course: Macroeconomic Principles (400) Q: What do you think about the level of difficulty on this course?

2. Real Time Feedback

41 What Do the Students Think? ‘The interaction kept us alert during the whole two hours. It was fun, and a nice opportunity to meet new people through the discussion part.’ It's rare to have interactive lectures and I felt I was learning & also enjoying it. Arguably most enjoyable ECON10042 lecture to date. Great idea and should be used more. Brilliant idea. We often turn to our phones when we lose concentration - interest or when the lecture becomes incomprehensible so I think including our devices will keep us alert and participating, as well as checking if our understanding is correct. ‘Not only does it enable students to INTERACT during the lecture, but the method of letting students vote twice gives students an idea of what the TYPICAL ERRORS/COMMON MISTAKES are and how these questions need to be tackled in practice.’

How much do you agree with the statement: “The voting system has enhanced my level of satisfaction with the programme” Survey Evidence II ECON /13 ECON / /13:“The voting system has enhanced my level of satisfaction with the programme.” (Agree/Disagree): ECON10042 (83% : 4%) ECON20401 (93% : 2%)

Which type of device did you use to participate? Survey Evidence III – Focus on Devices ECON /12 ECON /13

44 Best Practice.... Encourage students to `partner’ in the innovation. Innovation presents itself from trial. Use questions that stretch students or split opinion. Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to! Finally, you can watch a video we produced with clicker practitioners at UoM: ‘What’s the Use of Clickers?’

45 Teaching with twitter An extension to the learning environment What is twitter? Twitter is a social media site that facilitates instant communication with people that choose to follow you. You can view a timeline of announcements of people you follow and make announcements to your followers

46 Teaching with twitter An extension to the learning environment But what about teaching with Twitter? Re-instate the ‘lost’ communication channel in the VLE and create student-led course community/social benefits. To innovate in the use of twitter to find benefits that can enhance the student experience and increase engagement.

ECON20401 – 2 nd Year UG Macroeconomics IIA – approx 400 students #BigMacII ECON30611– 3 rd Year UG Macroeconomics IIIA – approx 300 students #Macro3A Twitter in teaching at Manchester since 2013 Twitter in teaching at Manchester since 2013 Contact between lecturer and student is efficient, from palm to palm. Students are more likely to engage in a less formal setting. Questions need to be focussed making queries easier to respond to (140 chars.). Lecturers can more easily identify the sender of a tweet. Answers to questions are ‘reply all’ saving time on repetition. Course hashtag becomes an FAQ.

Not just a medium to broadcast! Some less obvious benefits I have found from the use of twitter. 1.Students can easily insert photographs into tweets without character sacrifice. 2.Students have a platform to learn from each other (peer interaction) and are also learning a transferable skill. 3.Students have a tool to feedback to you on how the course is going and also to contribute.

Twitter in Practice

With images embedded in this way there is no need for screen switching, making questions easier to answer. Twitter enables peer interaction, students learn from each other. When you do something good students they are quick to reward you for it. Helps to identify possible further innovation.

51 What did the students think? ‘…very engaging with the students and creative. He was the only lecturer who used Twitter so efficiently and the introduction of the interaction lectures were by far the greatest motivation for me to come to lectures...’ I don't use twitter myself but I think the social media aspect of the course makes it even more accessible. The lectures were interactive as well with the polling system. He also made use of social media through twitter to keep in touch with students making it more informal. The twitter was also brilliant especially for clearer understanding. I did not have to personally ask any questions through twitter, as reading all the tweets from other students automatically answered all my queries and using the hashtag made finding tweet related to macro3a easy and painless. Covered all material. Twitter interaction very useful

52 Take a break take a tweet You are requested to send a tweet to comment or raise a question about anything in this presentation. We will try to act upon anything raised.

53 Twitter Best Practice.... Use twitter as an ‘optional’ extension of the LE. Follow back your students if you want to enable PVTs. Use it to reinforce but not to replace announcements through campus solutions. Let your students know for dealing with repetitive FAQs eg: retweet for peer intervention Finally, why not follow the courses taught in Economics at Manchester to see it in #BigMacII #Macro3A

Summary Have a summary slide but ask students to summarise… So what is the summary of this talk?

Summary Training for lecturers and peer review Innovate in teaching Rethink lecture struture, contact time and engagement Use technology

Links and Reading International Journal for Academic Development Teaching large lectures Blog _Teaching_Large_Lectures.html# _Teaching_Large_Lectures.html#

Further Reading: Bligh, D. A. (1972) What's the use of lectures? Bournemouth, Direct Design Books. Salmon, G. (2002) E-Tivities: The Key to Active Online Learning. Bloom, B. S. (1953) Thought-processes in lectures and discussions. The Journal of General Education 7(3): Laurillard, D. (2002) Rethinking University Teaching: A framework for the effective use of learning technologies. New York, Routledge Falmer. Johnson, D and Smith, K. (2006) Cooperation in the College Classroom (2006, 8th Edition). Hanover - Strategies for Teaching (PDF) Dewer - Being A Good Teacher (PDF) Bonwell – Active Learning (PDF)

Teaching Innovation Project The Humanities eLearning team alongside participating academics invite convenors who are looking to embed, develop or disseminate innovation in their teaching. The project aims to foster academic mentoring, one-to-one learning technologist support, and formalise a network of fellow innovators. If you would like to develop your own ideas or existing innovations in teaching then we would very much like to hear from you; please contact… Ellen Wilkinson Building (C1.46) University of Manchester Tel:

Questions? Enhancing Teaching Practice – Techniques and Tools March 2014 K. Purdam, P. Middleditch and M. Brown Step into Leadership