Understanding Students for Effective Teaching

1. Do I know enough about my students: Implications for learning andteaching Wageeh Boles Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, Australia CDIO 2009 - SINGAPORE

2. Objectives • Share experience and findings of some investigations on; students’ learning preferences, academics’ teaching styles, and their impact on student learning. • Provide some examples of how might these findings be implemented in the classroom. • ....

3. Outline • Introduction • Motivation • Learning styles/preferences • Teaching styles • Case Studies • Differentiated instruction • Concluding remarks

4. What did you just do as you were listening to the music?* • daydream (see or visualize things that go with the music) • hum or sing along • move with the music, tap your foot, etc. http://www.usd.edu/~bwjames/tut/learning-style/stylest.html

5. What kind of restaurant would you rather not go to? • one with the lights too bright • one with the music and noise too loud • one with uncomfortable chairs You took a wrong turn close to old friends’ house, trying to reach there on time, you • see if the area looks familiar • shout at the kids to be quiet, as you read street names aloud • use your finger to trace the roads on a printed map

6. Which are you most likely to do when you are happy? • grin • shout with joy • jump for joy What is most distracting for you when you are trying to concentrate? • visual distractions • noise • other sensations like, hunger, tight shoes, or worry

7. Quiz key • As describe visual learnerswho remember best materials they’ve seen, • Bs describe auditory learners who remember best things they’ve heard, • Cs describe kinaesthetic/tactile learners who remember best things they’ve experienced. Was there a pattern in your answers?

8. Motivation • How do we develop the Mind, Hands and Attitudes of an engineer? What curricular models? What do we teach? Who do we teach? Who teaches? How do we teach? * Norman Fortenberry – seminar at QUT

9. Practicing Engineers Engineering Education Curriculum & Assessment CONCEIVE - DESIGN Students & Lecturers IMPLEMENT OPERATE

11. Learning and teaching styles • Learners (students) are characterized by significantly different learning styles; they • preferentially focus on different types of information, • tend to operate on perceived information in different ways, and • achieve understanding at different rates • Compatible learning and teaching styles can help students • retain information longer, • apply it more effectively, and • have more positive post-course attitudes toward the subject/unit

12. Do these sound familiar ? Are you going to take marks off for spelling mistakes? Don't touch the pile on my desk, I know where everything is. How many pages do you want for the report? Do we have to do the book chapters in order? Does this look alright to you? Why are we doing this? Will this be on the exam? Why can’t we do this assignment as a group project? Why do we have to work in a group? Let's see who does this best. How is this related to what we studied three weeks ago? • Are you going to take marks off for spelling mistakes? • How many pages do you want for the report? • Does this look alright to you? • Will this be on the exam? • Why do we have to work in a group? Let's see who does this best. * These statements and questions have been collected from various sources. -

13. “As we start a new school year, Mr. Smith, I just want you to know that I’m an Abstract-Sequential learner ... and trust that you’ll conduct your self accordingly!” ...................

14. Why discuss learning styles or preferences? • Implications for pedagogy: Increased the self-awareness of students and tutors about their strengths and weaknesses as learners. Learners can become more effective as learners if they are made aware of the important qualities which they and other learners possess. Likely to improve learners’ self-confidence, to give them more control over their learning, and to prevent them attributing learning difficulties to their own inadequacies. Apter (2001)

15. Teaching philosophy … “Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means.” Albert Einstein Theoretical physicist “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” Henry Brooks Adams American novelist, journalist, historian, and academic “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” William Arthur Ward Author, educator, and motivational speaker

16. About teaching styles • Teaching styles are influenced by many factors such as: • the implicit teaching philosophy, • effects of teachers’ own experience as students, • teachers’ values, and • their role models. • Teachers possess qualities of various styles to varying degrees. • Dominant styles are those that are considered, by the teacher, as more important or those that are used more frequently.

17. The Case Studies Proposition to explore: • A mismatch between learning styles, teaching styles and institutional norms may impede student commitment and success in learning. Chosen institutions: • Three different types of universities, Traditional, Technological and Regional Chosen survey instruments: • Felder and Silverman’s Inventory of Learning Styles • Anthony Grasha’s Teaching Styles Inventory • Tom Angelo’sTeaching Goals Inventory

18. Institutional Features Lecturers Students And Lecturers Face-to-face interactions (Class observations) Learning styles Students Learning styles Teaching styles Expectations and attitudes (Focus groups) Teaching philosophy (Interviews) Case study protocol

19. Findings :Active / Reflective Learning styles Students This dimension refers to processing of information. Active learners prefer trying things out and working with others. Reflective learners prefer to think things out and work alone. Staff

20. Findings :Sensing / Intuitive Learning styles Students This dimension refers to ways of receiving information. Sensing learners like learning facts and using tried methods in practical settings. Intuitive learners are innovative and enjoy abstract concepts and new situations with untried methods. Staff

21. Findings :Visual / VerbaliserLearning styles Students This dimension refers to ways of perceiving sensory information. Visual learners relate well to graphs, pictures, diagrams etc. Verbal learners enjoy reading and lectures. Staff

22. Findings :Sequential / GlobalLearning styles Students This dimension refers to progress towards understanding. Sequential learners prefer taking logical steps towards an outcome. Global learners grasp the big picture quickly and work out the steps later. Staff

23. Teaching Styles Inventory, TSI Grasha’s Teaching styles inventory has five categories: • Expert, • Formal Authority, • Personal Model, • Facilitator, and • Delegator • Teachers use some styles more often than others or use styles in combination.

24. Teaching Styles Cluster 1 Primary style: Expert/Formal authority Lectures, term papers, teacher-centred discussion, grades/tests emphasised Cluster 2 Primary style: Formal authority/Personal model Coaching/guiding illustrating alternatives, demonstrating ways of thinking/doing

25. Teaching Styles – cont. Cluster 3 Primary style: Facilitator/Personal model projects/case studies, role plays/simulations, self-discovery activities Cluster 4 Primary style: Facilitator/Delegator Independent study/projects, journals/ modular instruction, cooperative learning

26. Students typically work on projects alone with little supervision from me. My approach to teaching is similar to a manager of a work group who delegates tasks and responsibilities to subordinates. My teaching goals and methods address a variety of student learning styles. Activities in this class encourage students to develop their own ideas about content issues. Expert Formal Authority Personal model Facilitator Delegator Is this your teaching style? Delegator Facilitator

27. I want students to leave this unit well prepared for further work in this area. It is my responsibility to define what students must learn and how they should learn it. Students are encouraged to emulate the example I provide. Examples from my personal experiences often are used to illustrate points about the material. Expert Formal Authority Personal model Facilitator Delegator Is this your teaching style? Expert- Formal authority Personal model

28. I expect you all to be independent, and innovative, critical thinkers ...who will do exactly as I say!” .........

29. Findings – Significant learning issues 0 – 3 measures gap between intention and practice

30. How do students perceive you? Maths/Engineering Social sciences Years of study Years of study Years of study Psychological size and distance

31. You and your students: Do you speak the same language? Y R U L8 ? AAA.......

32. Identifying diversity Learn about your students Their learning styles The barriers that we can do something about And ….. Learn about yourself What is your teaching philosophy? What are your implicit teaching theories? What drives your teaching? What are your teaching goals?   Teaching goals inventories What is your learning style?   Learning styles inventories What is your teaching style?   Teaching styles surveys

33. Differentiated Instruction A - Curriculum design level Provide choices for: Delivery strategies Taking in information Processing information Understanding and application Assessment tasks Demonstrating learning outcomes

34. Differentiated Instruction B- Teaching strategies Example 1: Face-to-face Instruction Styles considered today: Global (overview – big picture) Sequential (logical, detailed) Auditory (music/speech/video) Visual (graphs/video/demos) Verbalizer (text) Tactile (hands on/experiments/work with artifacts)

35. Today’s styles map

36. Differentiated Instruction B- Teaching strategies (cont.) Example 2: Computer Based Learning Analytic-Wholist / Imager-Verbalizer learning styles Analytic (details are important) Wholist (big-picture) Verbaliser (focus on text and spoken words) Imager (graphs/videos/demos)

37. Example 2 (Cont.) Analytic  analytic-verbaliser  analytic-Imager Imager Verbaliser Wholist- Verbaliser Wholist-Imager Wholist

38. Example 2 (Cont.) • For a system with three architecture options, • Present the three options, one at a time (text only) • Present the three options, one at a time (text + figures) • Present the three options, all at once (text only) • Present the three options, all at once (text + figures)

39.  Analytic-Verbaliser

40.  Analytic-Verbaliser

41.  Analytic-Verbaliser

42.  Analytic-imager

43.  Analytic-imager

44.  Analytic-imager

45. Wholist-verbaliser

46. Wholist-imager

47. Concluding remarks There are overlapping influences on student learning, including learning and teaching styles and contextual characteristics such as the institutional culture. We cannot be sure or assume that students know how to study or learn in the university context. By making explicit expectations for HOW students might learn as well as WHAT they should learn, we can help them to begin to self-regulate their learning. Use a variety of approaches for teaching and choose those that respond to the mix of students in your class. and .........

48. My thanks to: Project funding Australian Learning and Teaching Council Project Officer Mrs Hilary Beck Project Researcher Dr Lesley Jolly Program Evaluator Prof Neil Page Reference Group and supporters Prof Tom Angelo Prof Holger Maier A/Prof Julie Mills Dr Martin Murray Prof Peter O'Shea Ms Jillian Rowe Duncan Campbell The CDIO 2009 Organising Committee, and All my students who taught me so much.... Take your passionand make it happen

49. References: Angelo, T., Cross, P. (1993). Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook For College Teachers, : Jossey-Bass Publishers. San Francisco, USA. Apter, MJ (2001). Motivational styles in everyday life: a guide to reversal theory. American Psychological Association. Washington DC. Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E., and Ecclestone, K. (2004). Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning: A systematic and critical review. Learning and Skills Research Centre. Accessed at www.LSRC.ac.uk. On October 2008. Engineers Australia, The Engineering Profession: A Statistical Overview, 4th Edition. Engineers Australia. Entwistle, N. (2005). Ways of Thinking and Ways of Teaching across Contrasting Subject Areas. Accessed at http://www.ed.ac.uk/etl/docs/etlISL2005.pdf, September 2008. Felder, R. (1993). Reaching the Second Tier: Learning and Teaching Styles in College Science Education. Journal of College Science Teaching, 23(5), 286-290. Felder, R. (1999) Index of Learning Styles (ILS). Accessed at http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSpage.html on October 2008. Felder, R., and Silverman, L. (1988). Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering Education, Engineering Education, 78(7), 674-681, ’88. Grasha, A. (1994). A matter of Style: The teacher as expert, formal authority, personal model, facilitator and delegator. College Teaching, Vol. 42 Issue 4. Grasha, A. (1996). Teaching with Style: A practical guide to enhancing learning by understanding teaching and learning styles. Alliance Publishers. Pittsburgh, USA. King, R (2008). Addressing the Supply and Quality of Engineering Graduates for the New Century, Accessed at http://www.altc.edu.au/carrick/webdav/users/siteadmin/public/Grants_DBIprojec_engineeringquality_project%20report_25march08.pdf, on October 2008. Linse, A. (2003). Student Ratings of Women Faculty: Data and Strategies. Presentation given at an ADVANCE-sponsored workshop at the University Puerto Rico Humacao, Humacao, PR, August 2003. Mills, J., Ayre, M., Hands, D. and Carden, P., (2005). Learning about learning styles: Can this improve engineering education? MountainRise, Accessed at http://facctr.wcu.edu/mountainrise/archive/vol2no1/html/learning_about_learning.html on October 2008. Taylor, P (2008), Fixing Australia’s engineering skills shortage is an urgent and shared responsibility, Accessed at http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/news/media-statements/2008-media-statements.cfm, on October 08. Vermunt, J.D. (2005). Relations between student learning patterns and personal and contextual factors and academic performance. Higher Education, 49, 205-234.