Student-Centered Learning in the New Millennium

1. Student-Centered Learningin the New Millennium 26th International Conference Improving University Learning and Teaching Johannesburg, S.A., July 9, 2001 A Participatory Presentation by David G. Brown Wake Forest University, USA

2. How has the computer changed teaching and learning? Please write down two phrases and share what you have written with a neighbor!!! "A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history--with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila." --Mitch Ratliffe, "Technology Review"

3. How has the computer changed teaching and learning? (my answer) • It’s caused every teacher to • rethink & redesign. • 2. By increasing student options, it has increased • competition which has in turn compelled universities to pay more attention to the quality of teaching Our profession has been changed forever!

4. Question for the New Millennium Professor What have I always wanted to do …that is now possible with the computer …within my constraints of time and money? The Airplane Travel Metaphor

5. Reasons 150 Professors Added Computer Enhancements • Communication-Interaction • Collaboration-Teams • Controversy-Debate • Customization-Diversity • Consultants-Adjuncts

6. Words from Conference Session Titles That Match the 5 C’s Communication-Interaction Conversation, participatory action research, , students as true communicators, interactive teaching, Collaboration-Teams Collaborative partnerships, virtual groups, old wine & new skins, modeling collaboration Controversy-Debate Real and virtual discussion, creative dialogizing Customization-Diversity Cognitive diversity, student diversity, teaching diversity, learning Diversity, learning and teaching styles, psychological type theory, bridging program, bilingual, global enterprise Consultants-Adjuncts Parent-faculty partnerships, family history, community based learning, tertiary teaching

7. Communication-Interaction

8. Communication-Interaction • 1247 emails • Announcements • One Minute Quiz • Reaction to Talk • Student Profiles

9. Here’s another way to increasecommunication, a way that wasn’t available before widespread use of the computer! other professors would be wise to consider it. Your Turn! On your blue sheet, please write down an idea you have! Pass it to the left end of the aisle! We’ll ask 4 or 5 or the aisle-sitters to read their favorite idea before I leave the podium.

10. Collaboration-Teams • Professors Share Resource Materials • Students Study Together • Departments Create Shared Databases • Examples--- • 2 Students Submit 1 Answer • Edit Rough Draft Papers • PowerPoint in Class • Listserv Between Classes • Public Web Page

11. Controversy-Debate • Cross-Culture Projects • More Class Time • Best Web Sites • Threaded Discussion • Chat in Class • Double Jeopardy Quiz

12. Customization-Diversity • Cybershows (lectures, demos) • Personal Notes (email again) • Hierarchy of Help • Hyperlinks • Just In Time Teaching

13. Consultants-Adjuncts • Alumni Editors • Globe Theatre • Session with Expert • Disciplinary Colleagues • Previous Students

14. The 5 C’s---New Opportunities Through Technology • Communication-Interaction • Collaboration-Teams • Controversy-Debate • Customization-Diversity • Consultants-Adjuncts

15. Low Hanging Fruit[within the constraints of time & money] • URLs • Email • Course Management System Better 85% Some Use Vs 5% Heavy Use

16. Your Ideas: Increasing Communication/Interaction---WITHOUT Computers--- • Schedule a face-to-face conference with each student • Listen more carefully to understand student viewpoint • Be sensitive to and accommodate differing cultural backgrounds • Use examples that relate to students’ experience & interest • Ask students to write a comment or question on an index card at the end of each class. Respond during the next meeting • Raise questions rather than lecture about the answers

17. Your Ideas: Increasing Communication/Interaction---WITHOUT Computers--- • Use acting, drawing, debating as well as lecture-discussion • Reveal professors’ passions by playing favorite tunes before class • Maintain an open-door policy between classes • Schedule caucus sub-groups during class

18. Your Ideas: Increasing Communication/Interaction--Computers Could Help But Aren’t Essential--- • Seek student feedback: what do they expect to get from the class session (at the beginning) and what did they learn (at end)? • Solicit regular student feedback re the progress of the course • Solicit anonymous student feedback at the end of each unit • Plan interactive lessons that are dialogic in nature • Have students reflect on experiential leaning • Collect and share pictures and self profiles of every student

19. Your Ideas: Increasing Communication/Interaction--Computers Could Help But Aren’t Essential--- • Show new students how previous students have caused change • Achieve faster turn-around-time on graded assignments • Design fun games into the course, whenever possible • Let students know they can call me, 10 AM to 10 PM 365 days • Trade professor “talk time” for student “do time” • Use microphone so everyone can hear • Mentor students • Appoint peer tutors to augment the “human touch” • Encourage students to check & model problem solving for each other

20. Your Ideas: Increasing Communication/Interaction--Computers Could Help But Aren’t Essential--- • Set students up to teach one another, and the teacher • Build cooperative essays, by asking students to elaborate upon the beginning essays of other students • Encourage collaborative writing • Enhance support for educationally disadvantaged students via mentors, student pairing, etc. • Team teach, especially encourage professors publicly to question each other • Have teams of students evaluate the work of other student teams

21. Your Ideas: Increasing Communication/Interaction--Computers Could Help But Aren’t Essential--- • Make time for more “in class” projects, especially team based • Form team of teachers that share expertise and work • Build in more group work • Facilitate small group “regurgitation sessions” • Get students to understand their personality/behavioral styles via tests such as Myers-Briggs or Kolb in order to facilitate groups • Have class complete a project (like build a house), using the principles studied in the classroom • Use feedback sheets completed by both individuals and groups

22. Your Ideas: Increasing Communication/Interaction--Computers Could Help But Aren’t Essential--- • Assign the scientific preparation of a topic to one student. Have teams debate. Include international faculty as externals in the debate. Conclude with publishable article. • Pursue collaborative research projects, especially across departmental and institutional boundaries • Share supervision of student projects with industrial partners

23. Your Ideas: Increasing Communication/Interaction---Assumes That Students Access Computers--- • Use email list to get messages to students quickly and announce clarifications and changes to planned lessons • Circulate a list of email addresses to the entire class • Email individual students, and groups, between classes • Ask students to email self-reflections on what they’re learning • Provide individual commentary via email • Respond to emails from students every day • Motivate and remediate via multiple one-on-one emails

24. Your Ideas: Increasing Communication/Interaction---Assumes That Students Access Computers--- • Ask students to track, and then analyze, the emails they send and receive over a semester’s time • Communicate via email opportunities for employment • Establish an email hotline • Use chat forums and on-line discussion groups • Require a select number of email responses by students to other students’ positions • Set up course-related chat rooms • Set up discussion boards on specific topic, with timelines for interaction

25. Your Ideas: Increasing Communication/Interaction---Assumes That Students Access Computers--- • Assess and grade student discussion on the Web, if you want students to take the assignment seriously • Engage multiple communication channels • Create an electronic discussion board where the professor answers student questions, and others can observe the answers as well as the concerns of fellow students • Use asynchronous discussion groups between classes • Use a course management system to shorten the learning curve re how to set up meaningful discussion groups

26. Your Ideas: Increasing Communication/Interaction---Assumes That Students Access Computers--- • Develop interactive courseware for students • Explain files, opinions via the Internet • Free up interaction time by shifting the delivery of some traditional lecture information & course logistics to the Internet • Post course materials (e.g., reserve readings) on the Internet • Have students summarize readings on-line before class. Have student ask questions about readings and then answer each other • Establish electronic bulletin boards for the course • Use “comment “ protocol within Microsoft Word to mark up student papers

27. Your Ideas: Increasing Communication/Interaction---Assumes That Students Access Computers--- • Collaborate with colleagues on content and share part of that with students • Create a listserv among departmental alums and current students • Send updates/announcements to colleagues • Connect students with unexpected collaborators, including experts on the topic under study

28. Your Ideas: Increasing Communication/Interaction---Assumes That Students Access Computers--- • Share teaching strategies with faculty colleagues, and exchange chunks of electronic content • Use on-line interaction for geographically separated students • Pursue joint projects with students from other countries • Accommodate various languages via special translation software • Participate in the wide critical community, especially by emailing comments to journal authors and writing letters to the editor • Create a personal homepage for the instructor, and encourage students to do the same • Create an electronic sign up sheet for office hour appointments

29. Your Ideas: Increasing Communication/Interaction---Assumes That Students Access Computers--- • Use multi-media learning packages • Create virtual tours of key experiments • Create virtual apprenticeships • Videotape students “doing” • Study digital portfolios of student work to better inform course design and planning • Test students on-line between classes • Focus more on human interaction when using computers

30. The Millennium Context • Personal. Customized. Interactive. • Student-Centered Curriculum • Teams of Professionals to Support Learning • “Houses” instead of Disciplines • Hybrid Courses (80-20 and 20-80) • Loose-leaf Collections of Course Components, instead of Textbooks

31. Student Teacher • My.yahoo • Custom learning team • Custom delivery • Custom learning resources Student-Centered Learningin the New Millennium

32. David G. BrownWake Forest UniversityWinston-Salem, NC 27109, USA336-758-4878email: brown@wfu.eduhttp//:www.wfu.edu/~brownfax: 336-758-4875 ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001