Classroom Management

1. Classroom Management DrSean Walton Centre for Educational Development

2. Learning outcomes After this session you will be able to: Define what makes a good interactive group session. Recognise the features of interactive sessions that make them pedagogically valuable. Design interactive sessions for large groups using a variety of established techniques. Use effective practice to minimise disruptive behaviour in large group settings.

3. Behaviour Management What kind of disruptive behaviour have you encountered in your teaching sessions? What do you think is the cause of this behaviour? What methods have you used to deal with this behaviour? Did those methods work? Why/why not?

4. Why use interactive methods in your teaching? Have you used interactive methods with your teaching before? If so, which ones? Which interactive methods have worked well for you before with large groups? Or, what kind of interactive methods do you think will work well? What difficulties might arise in trying to use interactive methods with large groups? Why should we seek to introduce interactivity into our teaching?

5. Benefits of interactive large group teaching Learners experience greater motivation to learn. Greater occurrence of achieving learning outcomes. Encourages ‘deep’ learning. Helps reduce disruptive behavior. More enjoyable way to teach.

6. Interactive sessions: some context Five factors for effective learning: Learning by doing (practice, trail and error). Feedback on progress and understanding. Time to digest the content of the learning. Wanting to learn (intrinsic motivation). Needing to learn (extrinsic motivation). (Race, 2005)

7. Further context: emerging findings • Two further conditions for effective learning: • The chance to teach others. • The chance to assess yourself and others.

8. Extrinsic motivation (Needing to Learn) Probably the easier of the two forms of motivation to develop. Seeing the point of learning. Seeing the reward that will follow such learning. Reason why the topic is being studied. How does the topic fit into the module/course. How will the topic be useful in your students’ future studies/career? Knowing how the topic of a session links to the assessment.

9. Intrinsic Motivation (Wanting to Learn) “However resourceful, dynamic, imaginative or just simply great you are in the classroom or lecture theatre, you are not the sole or perhaps even the most important influence on the learning and motivation of learners” (Mortiboys, 2010) “The elements which enable deep learning must be built into the design of the course. If they are not, individual teachers, however creative they may be, will always be struggling to overcome the structural limitations of the course” (Toohey, 1999)

10. Factors to consider to encourage intrinsic motivation • The quality of material in the curriculum: • Focus on depth rather than breadth. • The quality and frequency of feedback available to learners: • How is the learner assisted by feedback and how does it encourage them to act on it? • Assessment tasks: • Try to design tasks that emphasise understanding over recall. • Choice: • Bear in mind methods of learning, the content, and the nature of assessment. (Mortiboys, 2010)

11. Links between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation “Extrinsic factors must be increased first, something that is likely to go against the common sense beliefs of most teachers whose strategy is usually to attempt to motivate unmotivated students by making the subject more interesting for them.” (Elton, 1996) So, “Any intrinsic motivation that learners have to study will be affected by the presence or absence of clarity about the assessment requirements” (Mortiboys, 2010). What are the assessment criteria? What do these criteria mean? How will the criteria be applied?

12. Deep learning Intrinsic motivation is relatively easy to spot, but difficult to develop. Intrinsic motivation is often associated with a ‘deep’ learning approach. Relating ideas to previous knowledge and experience. Looking for patterns and underlying principles. Checking evidence and relating it to conclusions. Examining logic and argument cautiously and critically. Becoming actively interested in the course content. (Marton, 1997)

13. Surface learning (little intrinsic motivation) Studying without reflecting on either purpose or strategy. Treating the course as unrelated bits of knowledge. Memorising facts and procedures routinely. Finding difficulty in making sense of new ideas presented. Feeling undue pressure and worry about work. (Marton, 1997).

14. Contact with students Make the topic relevant to the rest of the subject: how does it all fit together? Be interactive: use questions, discussion, debate etc. Draw on students’ prior experience. Confront and eradicate students’ misconceptions. Allow students to make mistakes and learn from them. (Biggs and Tang, 2007)

15. Techniques for introducing interactivity into sessions Buzz groups. Problem-centred and syndicate groups. Reading. Quiet time. Drama. (Gibbs, Habeshaw & Habeshaw). Images from Microsoft ClipArt library.

16. Encouraging engagement with interactive tasks Ensure that the task is clear: Keep it simple. Explain the task. Don’t set vague or ambiguous group tasks. Ensure the task is achievable. What level of understanding are the group at? How much time is available? Demand a clear outcome: Come up with a definition… Write your answers down… List three things relevant to etc. Set a fixed time. Think about the correct size of groups for the set task. In larger groups it is less likely that agreement will be reached or that everyone will get a chance to speak. (Mortiboys, 2010)

17. Effective inclusive practice in engaging all students Think about curriculum/session processes and structure as well as content. Don’t over pack your syllabus. Reflect the diversity of your group in your materials. Check the physical environment. Do you know if any of your learners has special requirements? How might the backgrounds of your students affect how they learn and how might this affect activities and planning?

18. Basic principles of behaviour management • Be definite. • Be aware. • Be calm and consistent. • Give them structure. • Be positive. • Be interested. • Be flexible. • Be persistent. • Engage them. (Cowley, 2010)

19. Further Principles Acknowledge the behaviour, don’t ignore it. Speculate on what lies behind it: why is it happening? Don’t exclude them. Attempt to turn the negative behaviour into positive. Remind the learners of any required or agreed rules of behaviour. Don’t take it personally. Look for a resolution that keeps everyone on track.

20. Suggested further reading Cowley, S. (2010) Getting the Buggers to Behave. Continuum Publishing. London. Mortiboys, A. (2010) How to be an Effective Teacher in Gibbs, G. Habeshaw, S. and Habeshaw, T. (1988) 53 Interesting Things to do in Your Lectures. Cromwell Press Ltd. Trowbridge. Gibbs, G. Habeshaw, S. and Habeshaw, T. (1988) 53 Interesting Things to do in Your Seminars and Tutorials. Cromwell Press Ltd. Trowbridge. Mortiboys, A. (2010) How to be an Effective Teacher in Higher Education. Open University Press. Maidenhead. Ramsden, P. (2003) Learning to Teach in Higher Education. RoutledgeFalmer. London and New York.

21. Any questions or further comments?