Improving student success and engaging learners Pamela Eddy College of William and Mary

Agenda Teaching Perspectives Learning Styles—traditional age and adult learners Engaging Students

Critical incident Take a few minutes to fill out the Critical incident sheet --Think/Pair/Share

Passive learning Seem familiar?

Paradigm shift Barr & Tagg (1995) Instruction Paradigm Learning Paradigm Knowledge exists out there Knowledge exists in each person’s mind and is shaped by individual experience Knowledge comes in “chunks” and “bits” delivered by instructors Knowledge is constructed, created, and “gotten” Learning is cumulative and linear Learning is a nesting and interacting of frameworks. Fits the storehouse of knowledge metaphor Fits learning how to ride a bicycle metaphor Learning is teacher centered and controlled Learning is student centered and controlled. “Live” teacher, “live” students required “Active” learner required, but not “live” teacher The classroom and learning are competitive and individualistic Learning environments and learning are cooperative, collaborative, and supportive Talent and ability are rare Talent and ability are abundant (p. 17) At issue—if we’ve known this, why isn’t it pervasive?

Pratt (1998) http://www.teachingperspectives.com/tpi/ Fill out form— A-Transmission B-Apprentice C-Nurturing D-Developmental E-Social Reform

Critically Reflective Teaching Our autobiographies as learners SELF Our students’ eyes STUDENTS Our colleagues’ experiences PEERS Theoretical Literature SCHOLARSHIP Aligns with SoTL Give some examples—Mendeley; Polleverywhere--TBL

Thinking about learning Rank order your top 10 Share with table mate your top 3—same different for group?

Creating Significant Learning Opportunities Consider the integration of learning—across courses, across program, across academics-co-curricular Orthogonality—cutting across domains (Fink, 2013)

Preferred ways of knowing (Herrmann, 1989) Thinker A Left Brain Cerebral D Innovator Right Brained Cerebral Feeler C Right Brained Limbic Doer B Left Brained Limbic Now—how do you prefer to learn? What motivates students? Go to your teaching perspective sheet What would you create to meet all learning preferences?

Adult learners (Knowles, 1970, 1980) Adult learners need to know why they are learning something Adult learners are motivated and self-directed Adult leaners tie their life experience and knowledge to new learning Adult learners are relevance oriented-ties to their current work/life Adult learners are practical—problem centered versus content centered Adult learners are internally motivated Why do they need to learn it?

The Learning Environment Threats to learning Implicit bias vs validation Maslow’s hierarchy of needs Chilly classroom Student Engagement High Impact Educational Experiences Faculty Interactions Class isn’t equal for all---even when we think it is. International students—respect for faculty; language issues—NPR gifted story

High impact educational experiences—classroom based Learning communities—asking the big questions Writing intensive courses Collaborative assignments/projects Diversity/global learning Service learning (AAC&U-- https://www.aacu.org/leap/hips) Keeping students engaged—what can you do in your classrooms?

Active learning Strategies Think-pair-share Comparative/Connective/Critical Questions Debate Students as panel of experts Simulations Team Based Learning Problem Based Learning/ Case studies Some strategies

Active Learning Strategies Gallery Walk Flip charts in hallway Active Learning Strategies Your examples/ Ideas to try

What do you think will work? Strategy 1 What did you like best in the examples? Strategy 2 What was new to you that you want to try?

What the best college teachers do (Bain, 2004) Know their subject material well Prepare for their teaching sessions as serious intellectual endeavors, as important as research and scholarship Expect more from students Create a natural critical learning environment Treat students fairly Check progress and evaluate efforts Think back to the faculty you remembered—did they do this? What happens when you face challenges?

Points to ponder (Bain, 2004) Sometimes the best of teachers fail They don’t blame students for difficulties faced They have a strong sense of commitment to the academic community

Identify 1-2 changes you will try in your teaching Now what? Identify 1-2 changes you will try in your teaching What do you need to be successful? What assumptions have you made? What does this mean for your students?

College Teaching Certificate ctc.wm.edu

pamela.eddy@wm.edu