Jay Howard Butler University 2013 Future Faculty Teaching Fellows Summer Institute

 Increases learning ◦ (Astin 1985, Johnson and Johnson 1991, Kember and Gow 1994, McKeachie 1990)  Increases critical thinking ◦ (Garside 1996, Smith 1977, Weast 1996)  Makes students co-creators of knowledge & understanding  Makes class more interesting and fun

 One minute to describe in writing  Share with partner  Volunteers to share?

 Norms: taken- for-granted rules for behavior in social situations

 Norm of Civil Attention  Students are not required to pay attention.

 Norm of Civil Attention  Students only need to appear to pay attention.

 Establish norm on first day ◦ Don’t do all the talking ◦ Introductions ◦ Ice breaker related to course

 Talk with students outside of class ◦ Weaver and Qi 2005.

 Get closer to your students ◦ Move around the room

 Directly call upon students

 Reward participation by grading it

 1 = Present, but did not contribute to discussion.  2 = Made at least one contribution, but had not read the assigned material prior to class.  3 = Made one contribution to discussion and read the material prior to class.  4 = Made more than one contribution to the discussion and read the material prior to class.  5 = Made more than one contribution to the discussion, read the material prior to class and made an effort to secure the participation of all group members.

 Norm of Consolidation of Responsibility

 Howard, Zoeller, and Pratt  Introductory Sociology Courses  9 instructors teaching 15 sections  Average class size = 39

 Howard, Zoeller, and Pratt  Averaged 49 student comments in 75 minutes  Roughly 1 comment every 1.5 minutes

 Only 30% of students participated (N=12)  70% didn’t participate at all! (N=27)

 Regardless of class size, 5 to 7 students will make 75-95% of comments.

 Significant differences: ◦ Student Age (4:1) ◦ Instructor Gender (nearly 3:1) ◦ Seating Third (2:1)  Few differences by Student Gender or Race

 Talkers & Non-talkers perceive class environment and their role differently in one key respect  Agree should complete assignments, pay attention, study, learn, ask for help  Differ on participate in discussion

 Many significant differences between talkers and non-talkers ◦ Something to share, need clarification, help grade, comfortable atmosphere, learn more, more interesting, disagree with another, familiar & comfortable with classmates, trying to help

 Significant differences between talkers and non- talkers ◦ Shy, someone else will do it, fear of appearing unintelligent to others, class too large, course not interesting

 “Let’s hear from someone who…”  Use direct questions (call on individual students)  Carrots & Sticks (Just-in-Time quizzes, Reading Check quizzes)

 Break the class into smaller groups to discuss  Allow time to reflect before speaking (Think-Pair-Share)

 Structure with discussion questions  Use board to highlight key points

 Overtly emphasize key points  Summarize periodically

 Effective Discussion, like all good teaching, requires careful planning and structuring

Jay Howard Butler University 2013 Future Faculty Teaching Fellows Summer Institute