How to get your Students to Prepare for Every Class

How to get your Students to Prepare for Every Class Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) A. Gavrin, IUPUI http://webphysics.iupui.edu/nfw_summer11/index.html New Faculty Workshop

A few of your comments • (BlueHair27): It's good to think about these things ahead of time... I can already see how it would be good to apply in a classroom. • (Asleep): It's hard to just answer the questions and not jump right into questions and concerns that I have after my first two quarters of teaching: • (Anton): my blood circulating. Thanks. • (Nickname): I am very interested to hear how other people interpreted and answered these questions. I have used (a version of) this technique in my introductory physics class, and find that student responses are quite illuminating (and funny sometimes, too!) New Faculty Workshop

Outline • Background • Just-in-Time Teaching • Background • Implementation • Assessment New Faculty Workshop

How did you decide how to teach? • UVA: Mostly based on experiences in classes that I took over the years. • Jeb: Having no prior training in teaching, I have tried to "act" like a good teacher, based on an amalgamation of the good teachers I have had. • JJ: I have talked with more experienced colleagues about their experience teaching and what they think works best. I also used my own experience as a student as a guide. • Baba: initially, based on what I thought worked best for me (as a student), later on, based on a combination of what I've seen worked generally well with the students (frustrate them less) and what I thought they need … • Nickname: I have read quite a bit about PER (took a graduate seminar on PER), which has helped me to understand how people learn, and what instructional strategies are effective New Faculty Workshop

Results • Many classes designed “for professors” • Problem: Students do not learn like we do • See R. Felder references on web site • Most students not prepared or motivated like we were • Most students have different goals than we did. • Most students do not “think like we do” New Faculty Workshop

Active Learning: • Proven effective for “regular students” • Anyone not a likely future professor • Used extensively at MIT, RPI, UIUC, NCSU, Harvard • Also many small colleges (prestigious and not) Community Colleges, high schools • PS — How did you learn from your PhD advisor… Lectures? New Faculty Workshop

Digression • Could have spent time “collecting data” • Instead, spent time discussing it • Same content covered at greater depth New Faculty Workshop

Outline • Background  • Just-in-Time Teaching • Background • implementation • Assessment New Faculty Workshop

The (original) settings • Large numbers of students • Theater-style lecture hall IUPUI • 1 graduate assistant (lab only) • All students take physics USAFA • Military, athletic requirements • Highly selective college Davidson Coll. • Very heavy teaching loads New Faculty Workshop

The “theoretical” background • Active learning (students think in class) • Student centered (it is not about you) • Formative assessment (real-time feedback) • Peer interaction (learning and motivation) • Many learning styles (faculty not like students) New Faculty Workshop

What is JiTT? • DT: In JiTT, a student learns something on her own and answers questions (online) based on the material. The teacher then uses the answers to feed into the very next class. • Alex: web-based technique to collect preliminary info about student’s knowledge on the subject, facilitate pre-reading of the course material. This helped [instructors] to make corrections/additions to the content of their lectures. • Pete: JiTT seems like a tool to assess where students are before they come to class so the instructor can adjust and devote more time to common problems New Faculty Workshop

Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) ER: “JiTT is feedback between what students do at home and what they learn in class .” World Wide Web Classroom Homework Assignment Design New Faculty Workshop

Just-in-Time Teaching • Adaptable • Combines “high tech” with “high touch” • WarmUp Exercises = Online, pre-class reading quiz: • Due few hours before class • A fewopen-ended conceptual questions • Cover that day’s material New Faculty Workshop

What makes a good WarmUp? • Christopher: Must expose the students with unfamiliar concepts and hard vocabulary. Must be able to encourage good students to explore deeply into the subject as far as he/she can go. • BigMac: It gets the students thinking about the material that will be covered in class so that students do not come into the classroom cold. It helps motive students on the purpose of the material being covered. It provides a good starting point to encourage discussion. • Piccolo: A good warmup exercise sets up a framework for the class. Gives students a chance to think about and explore the subject to be covered ahead of time. Gives the instructor a chance to assess the level of student understanding. New Faculty Workshop

Another Digression • JiTT described in your words • Jargon already familiar (JiTT, WarmUp) • “preview” of important concepts New Faculty Workshop

Example • Question: Is it possible to add heat to an ideal gas without changing its temperature? If it is possible, please explain how it is done. • “It is not possible because the internal energy of an ideal gas only depends on the temperature.... the internal energy will increase when the temperature rises.…” • “It is possible to add heat to an ideal gas without it changing it's temperature by the gas receiving the heat, and the atoms of that gas getting excited enough to disperse that heat as fast as they receive it…” • “If you add heat to a system while the system is doing the corresponding amount of work, the temperature will not change.” New Faculty Workshop

The “Interactive Lecture” • Step 1: Synchronization Read the students’ responses… What do they understand? • Step 2: Preparation Select excerpts from students work • Step 3: ExecutionClass is a dialog based onstudent excerpts and faculty notes New Faculty Workshop

Choosing and using student responses • Always say something positive (see last example) • This is true, but what if something else occurs simultaneously… • This makes sense, but something is missing… • This is a great response… how would we know how much heat to add? • More useful phrases… • This is a good answer, but to a different question… • This has a great beginning, but more could be added… • This is correct, but the reasoning isn’t quite right… New Faculty Workshop

Tips and Pitfalls • Explain methods and purpose on first day • No need to review all responses before class; sample for “useful” quotes, grade later • Focus on students strengths, too, not just misconceptions and other problems. • Use answers from many students: not favorites. • Do not “isolate” WarmUps - scaffold lecture • Must be routine. Do not start/stop during semester • Upper level students can handle more “exploratory” questions, connections to intro. New Faculty Workshop

Chemistry example This picture depicts matter at the submicroscopic level. Describe what you see and take a guess as to what the identity of the substance is. • “The particles are well spaced out so I would guess the substance to be a gas. The substance is a gas composed of 2 elements that are in an equal ratio.” • “After reading Chapter 1 in the book I would guess that the substance is water in the form of a solid because the atoms are in order. However, I could be wrong because I think the atoms in a solid might be closer together.” New Faculty Workshop

Other JiTT Components • Weekly Puzzle Opposite “Bookend” to WarmUp • “What is Physics Good For” • Student-Faculty and Student-Student Communication tools • Collaborative problem Solving in Recitation New Faculty Workshop

Results • Students better prepared for class • Familiar with jargon • Given thought to ideas • Faculty better prepared for students • Misconceptions identified • Just in time adjustment to coverage • Class time spent more productively • Students interact during class New Faculty Workshop

Outline • The Challenges  • Just-in-Time Teaching  • Background  • implementation  • Assessment New Faculty Workshop

Study Habits (N=155, biology) Q1 Do the WarmUps help you stay caught up? Q2 Do you “Cram” before tests in this course? Q3 Do you “Cram” in your other courses? New Faculty Workshop

Retention (N~80-150/semester) New Faculty Workshop

Cognitive (biology, N~200) New Faculty Workshop

Affective (E&M, N~60) New Faculty Workshop

Student Comments • “This was a fantastic course. It was the hardest course I’ve taken yet, but also the most fun.” • I think the WarmUps are a good idea because they give students a chance to think about the material prior to lecture. • "This course was very well structured. It was obvious that a lot of time was spent in preparation for it.” • "152 & 251 have made me reach more than any courses I have taken.” • Don’t tell anyone, but I think I will greatly miss my physics class. New Faculty Workshop

Summary • JiTT is based on feedback between homework and classroom • WarmUp exercise: a pre-class, online reading quiz • Improved study habits, retention, content knowledge, morale. • Instructor knowledge of student difficulties • Easily adopted and adapted New Faculty Workshop

Your Assignment:Please think of a few possible WarmUp questions for the class you will teach this fall. New Faculty Workshop

How to get your Students to Prepare for Every Class