Moving Lectures Out of the Classroom to Make Room for Learning

1. Moving Lectures Out of the Classroom to Make Room for Learning Carl R. F. Lund Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering UB TLC Teaching Effectiveness Workshop Series April 7, 2008

2. Conversation at a Faculty Meeting Professor A: “I can’t believe this year’s junior class. They don’t know how to [insert a topic from a pre-requisite course]!” Professor B: “That’s inexcusable. I covered that in detail in [name the pre-requisite course]” General conversation that follows cites probable reasons including laziness, not as good as they used to be, shouldn’t be here, today’s work ethic, the media, primary education system, parents, society, [name some other department that teaches a service course], current cultural context, …

3. Questions Raised by that Conversation • Why don’t the [engineering] faculty question the effectiveness of their teaching methods? • What teaching methods are they using? • Which alternative methods are more effective? • Why don’t the [engineering] faculty change their teaching methods? • Whatis being done to foster change in engineering teaching methods? • What elsecould be done to foster change in engineering teaching methods? • How would it work?

4. Caveats and Disclaimers • I am not trained as an educator • My research activities have not been in the field of education; I’m not an education specialist • Most of the information presented here is my opinion or based upon my personal observation • When I actually rely on the literature, I’ll try to point it out • The frame of reference for the presentation is engineering education • I believe much of the content would transfer well to other fields

5. Why don’t Engineering Faculty Question the Effectiveness of their Teaching Methods? • They are trained engineers, not trained educators • Traditional lecture format is all they know • Unaware that more effective methods exist • Arrogance and/or skepticism • Traditional lecture format was good enough for me; it’s good enough for them • Alternative methods are another education fad • Fear that the answer would require change • Don’t know how to change • Don’t have time to change • Laziness, not as good as they used to be, shouldn’t be here, today’s work ethic, the media, primary education system, parents, society, [name some other department that teaches a service course], current cultural context, …

6. Engineering Education’s Reliance upon the Traditional Lecture Format • National Center for Education Statistics (2001) • 87.7% of engineering faculty used lectures as an instructional approach in classes they taught • 5% indicated the use of methods other than lecture, seminar, lab or field work • Wirt, J., S. Choy, D. Gerald, S. Provasnik, P. Rooney, S. Watanabe, R. Tobin, and M. Glander, The Condition of Education 2001, B. Kridl and A. Livingston, Editors. National Center for Education Statistics, U. S. Dept. of Ed., Office of Educational Research and Improvement: Washington, DC. p. 309, 2001.

7. When does Learning Occur when the Traditional Lecture Format is Used? • “The fact is that what routinely goes on in most college classes is not teaching and learning, but stenography: professor transcribes notes from notebook to chalkboard, students transcribe from chalkboard back to notebook. Even if the notes are supplemented with all sorts of insightful commentary, research shows that students in lectures generally retain a reasonable percentage only of what they hear in the first ten minutes and relatively little of anything that happens thereafter. They really only learn by thinking and doing, not watching and listening.” • Richard Felder, “It Goes Without Saying,” Chem. Engr. Education25(3), 132-133 (1991). • Students then go off on their own and work on questions assigned as homework. • Here’s where they get to do some thinking and doing, that is learning • The professor isn’t (immediately) available to help and guide them as they do • If homework isn’t carefully chosen and if students aren’t conscientious in doing it, many may never move beyond the lower three levels of Bloom’s taxonomy (know, comprehend and apply)

8. Which Alternative Methods are More Effective (when used properly)? • Active Learning Methods • Michael Prince, “Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the Research,” J. Engr. Education93(3), 223-231 (2004). • Active Learning • Collaborative Learning • Cooperative Learning • Problem-Based Learning • Implementations of these also incorporate • Inquiry-Based Experimentation or Learning • Learning Games or Contests • Case Study Approach

9. Questions Raised by that Conversation • Why don’t the [engineering] faculty question the effectiveness of their teaching methods? • What teaching methods are they using? • Which alternative methods are more effective? • Why don’t the [engineering] faculty change their teaching methods? • Whatis being done to foster change in engineering teaching methods? • What elsecould be done to foster change in engineering teaching methods? • How would it work?

10. Why Don’t Engineering Faculty Change their Teaching Methods? • Curmudgeons • [A] person full of … stubborn notions • Alternative teaching methods are the latest educational fad • Skeptics • Honestly question the efficacy of alternative teaching methods • Haven’t examined the relevant literature or don’t believe its findings • Practical, time-pressured majority • Very interested in being a more effective teacher • But not if it consumes more of their time than the lecture format • Efficient • Return on time investment (career advancement, etc.) is greater for time spent in research and creative activity • Comfortable • Lecture notes are already developed and refined • They learned via traditional lectures and feel comfortable with it • Quite possibly already recognized as a “good teacher” while using the traditional lecture format

11. What is being done to Foster Change in Engineering Teaching Methods? • NRC: Community of Education Scholars; also National Academy, Project Kaleidoscope • Evaluating and Improving Undergraduate Teaching. M.A. Fox and N. Hackerman, eds. The National Academies Press, Washington DC 2003. • Recommendations for Action in Support of Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, 2002. [Available from: http://www.pkal.org/documents/ReportonReports.pdf]. • Improving Undergraduate Instruction in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: Report of a Workshop. R.A. McCray, R.L. DeHaan, and J.A. Schuck, eds. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC 2003. • Meets the needs (addresses the fears) of those who • want to change and • have time to change but • don’t know how to change • Not necessarily a proactive approach • Relies on individual initiative by faculty

12. What Could be done to Foster Change in Engineering Teaching Methods? • Stop writing and using textbooks; replace them with TExTs • TExT (Toolkit for Exceptional Teaching) Project (NSF CCLI) • Comprehensive course delivery package • Incorporate components used traditionally • Lectures delivered outside of class time via video • Learning activities for class time and beyond • Detailed lesson plans • Necessary resources • Assessment instruments • Integrated, yet extensible • Goals • Teach using effective methods with time investment comparable to traditional lecture format • Increase teacher comfort with methods • Use a variety of proven active learning approaches that are properly implemented • (Long term) topic-specific TExT communities that bring education specialists, subject-area specialists, and teachers together

13. Students Written Materials Learning Objectives Readings Examples Solutions Exams & Homework for current year and past Handouts, additional solved & unsolved assignments Assignments Video Materials Lectures Examples Lectures Computational Tools Professors Student Materials Slides for in-class Review of Readings Learning Activities Several for each reading topic Detailed lesson plan and list of necessary supplies Variety of approaches Inquiry, case studies, games Active, collaborative, cooperative, problem-based Assessment Instruments Student Learning Teaching Methods How Would a TExT-Based Course Work?

14. A Mini-Example using Kineticsto Illustrate How One CanMove Lectures Out of the Classroom to Make Room for Learning

15. Students Downloads Written objectives, reading and examples Video information and examples Reads written materials and views video materials Write down questions or notes any points that they didn’t understand so they can ask in class Downloads any materials that have been posted for use in-class PowerPoint presentation that the professor will use in class Computational tools for class Examines in-class materials Prepare for possible quiz Before Class Professor • Assigns one or more study units for this class • Downloads review slides for the unit • Reviews the subject matter and selects • (optional) pre-class assessment instrument • Learning activities to be used in class • Reviews lesson plans for selected activities • Gathers necessary supplies and resources that will be used in class • (optional) combines slides for review, assessment and activities into one PowerPoint presentation

16. First Bump in the Road • Engineering students are pre-conditioned to the lecture format • Majority DO NOT read assignments before class • Used to professor telling them what’s important • Then they’ll just read that part, and often only if they didn’t understand the lecture • Only read if professor has reputation for testing on things not “covered” in class • Many never read the textbook (except as discussed later) • Must form different habits in TExT-based course • Pre-class assessments (quizzes) - especially early in the course • Still doesn’t work for some • Students present the review at the start of class • Pre-assigned, or called on in class • I’m open to any and all ideas!!!

17. Further Thoughts on Student Motivation • Students won’t come to class prepared unless they find some benefit to doing so • If one uses all kinds of learning activities in class that cause students to think at higher levels (analysis, synthesis, evaluation) • But then assigns homework and gives exams that only requires thinking at the lower levels (know, comprehend, apply) • Then some (many?) students will find they can succeed just as they do in the traditional lectures • Find an example similar to the problem at hand and mimic that example • So some fraction of the out of class and exam work must require higher level thinking like that used in the learning activities • To succeed here, students need to mimic the learning activities, and to do that, they need to participate in the learning activities, and to do that, they need to come to class prepared.

18. In Class • Class starts with a review of the topics they should have read and heard about prior to class • Opportunity for students to question and seek clarification • Optionally administer a brief quiz • Trivial for those who read and listened to provided materials • Motivational for those who didn’t • Lowest level of Bloom’s taxonomy (know & understand) • First learning activity • Might incorporate or end in a mini-lecture that summarizes, draws out salient points, annotates, etc. • Second learning activity (usually of a different type than the first) • Might continue after class in the form of a homework assignment • Optional Summary of Class

19. Variety in Learning Activities • Appeal to different types of learners (auditory, sensory, etc.) • Repeated use of one type of activity may not be any more effective than repeated use of the traditional lecture • Maintains student interest • Or at least wards of student boredom • Some individual, some group

20. Types of Learning Activities • Object Lessons • Collision theory using ping-pong balls • Rate limiting step dealing cards • One minute papers or memos • Small group problem solving • In seats, all groups at board • Explanation of solution to rest of class • Teams - contest, “buzz” in when disagree • Professor presenting solution • One group presenting; if “buzzer” is correct, they take over • Debate or panel discussion • Three-slide presentations

21. Types of Learning Activities • Case studies • Facilitated through a series of learning activities that span a period of time as long as the whole semester • Can be structured as inquiry-based • Simulators • Inquiry-based activities • Data gathering for subsequent analysis • Explain why the system responded as it did

22. Second Bump in the Road • Many students have been quite successful without ever thinking at the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy • Typical student methodologies when presented with a problem to solve • Find a solved problem in the notes, book, old exams, etc. • Mimic that solution • In many cases, don’t recognize that the problems are different • Find equations that contain the same quantities that are given in the problem statement and use those equations • Go to office hours, without any written attempt at the problem and state “I can’t figure out how to solve…” • Starting in class, and continuing after it, students must be challenged to think • Explain, in physical terms and without equations, what will happen when…. • Give problem statements that include lots of extraneous quantities • Whenever approached by a student (train yourself AND YOUR TAs to) • Ask to see what they’ve done so far • Ask them what they think they should do next • Confirm or guide them to the correct action • Tell them to do that (right there in your office if they want) and then come back if still stuck

23. Students Written Materials Learning Objectives Readings Examples Solutions Exams & Homework for current year and past Handouts, additional solved & unsolved assignments Assignments Video Materials Lectures Examples Lectures Computational Tools Professors Student Materials Slides for in-class Review of Readings Learning Activities Several for each reading topic Detailed lesson plan and list of necessary supplies Variety of approaches Inquiry, case studies, games Active, collaborative, cooperative, problem-based Assessment Instruments Student Learning Teaching Methods After Class, Before Exams and Beyond

24. Traditional Lecture Format Before Class ? In Class Knowledge Comprehension ?Application After Class Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation TExT-Based Format Before Class Knowledge Comprehension ? Application In Class Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation After Class Higher level thinking persists The Key Difference

25. Student Feedback • 2006 and 2007 classes were taught partially using the TExT materials and partially using the traditional lecture format • 43 Anonymous responses to student course evaluations • 19 responses listed the TExT materials (pre-class readings and videos) as an aspect of the course they liked while only one listed it as a dislike • 9 responses mentioned the active learning activities as a like; none listed it as a dislike • 17 responses suggested that the last part of the course (traditional lectures) should be taught the same way the first part was taught (TExT) • 1 response suggested the opposite – that the course should be taught using a traditional lecture format • 5 responses listed the written materials as a like and the video materials as a dislike or vice versa • no responses that expressed dissatisfaction with the TExT approach • positive responses about the teaching methods, for example “easy to learn,” and “great learning environment”

26. Final Thoughts • If I’ve been preaching to the congregation • Moving lectures out of the classroom can be highly effective if • They (or an equivalent) still occur before class • They are replaced by learning • The goal is to foster higher-level thinking • If I’ve been preaching to the preachers • Consider initiating or participating in the creation of a TExT in your area of expertise • Make it just as easy for a teacher to (properly) use more effective methods as it is to lecture.