21 st -Century Teaching Initiative Workshop 2 Dr. Jeff Loats Department of Physics

21st-Century Teaching InitiativeWorkshop 2Dr. Jeff LoatsDepartment of Physics

Structuring The Sales Pitch • We seek to modify the “invisible contract” • Steadily metered “doses” of explanation • Our discussion today: • Day 1 • Day 2 • Day 3 • Repeated points

Warm-Up: First Day Activities Describe some aspect of what you do on the first day of class to set the culture and expectations for your class. Describe the objective you are aiming for. ~38% → Students “do” something engaging ~25% → Community building ~13% → Talk about expectations explicitly ~13% → Model the goal behavior of the course Better: What culture and expectations are you creating for the course based on the first day?

Warm-Up: First Day Activities “I spend some time giving my expectations for the course, the type of assignments frequency of semester exams, quizzes and numerical grade for the various exams quizzes and final exam. ” “I get groups of students into teams with a task of finding similarities and forming a team name and cheer based on the similarities found.”

Warm-Up: First Day Activities “I have class read the syllabus to themselves for 5-10 minutes. Then break them into groups to discuss: (1) what works for you in this syllabus? What do you like being there? (2) What doesn't work? on what do you need rationale or more clarification? (3) Which of the Classroom courtesy items do you think I find most important and will be more vigilant about people remembering to follow them?”

Warm-Up: First Day Activities “We then have a syllabus scavenger hunt, where I give them a handout that asks them specifics from the syllabus and they work in teams to complete it. There's a "fabulous prize" involved for the first group with all correct answers, then we go over it.” “, I provide a true/false "quiz", where students answer the questions and then share with a partner their answers. These quiz questions focus on common misconceptions about psychology.”

Warm-Up: First Day Fears What concerns/questions do your students have when they sit down in your class on the first day? Will any new concerns arise when they hear about the blended learning technique(s)? ~50% → Course: Workload/difficulty? ~38% → Course: Will this be what I fear? ~13% → Them: Are they prepared for this? ~16% → New technique: Extra time/effort? ~16% → New technique: Applicable to exams? ~16% → New technique: Structure/timing?

Warm-Up: First Day Fears “I imagine their concerns are about me and the course work.” “Questions on the tests and formats, the text...” “Stereotypically, I find the students often want as much clarification as to how they can get a good grade […]”

Warm-Up: First Day Fears “Everyone fears public speaking. I know this and try to nip it immediately.” “A lot of my students are terrified of science and are afraid that they will be completely out of their league.” “I think that the anticipation of a math class and the fear of God is in them because of taking a math class.”

Warm-Up: First Day Fears “New concerns about the new learning technique is how much work will this add to my already heavy load? They really need to see the connection between doing the work and better test scores.”

Warm-Up: First Day Fears “I'm sure new concerns will arise when they find out that they have homework due before we've talked about things in class.” I suggest you use very distinct terminology(it matters!)

Data on Student Opinion 330 student survey from Memorial U. (CA) 30 free responsequestions on qualities of effective teachers.69 characteristicsisolated, distilled into9 themes. Source:“Students’ Perceptions of Effective Teaching in Higher Education”

Overarching Message • Communicating with your students (humans) • Message (explicit statements) • Attitude (subtext, body language, etc.) • Consistent subtext:"I am here to help you learn, and I have thought about your learning trajectory carefully." • Consistent attitude:I am comfortable and relaxed about my part of this partnership.

Day 1 – 21-CTI Bits • Describe components of the course • How each one is graded, and why. • How each one is important for learning and/or assessment. • Keep justifications short and succinct • Be honest:"This is my first time using this method, and there is a lot of data on how and why this is effective and what the best practices are."

Day 1 – Flipped & JiTT Flipped teaching & JiTT: “Today is going to feel pretty ‘normal.’ You’ll get to see how this works starting next time, after you’ve done your first warm-up (or watched your first flipped teaching video).” It isn’t “more assignments = more work,” but rather “working in smaller chunks is more effective and more efficient.”

Day 1 – Classroom Resp. Bits • Lender clickers or non-subscription mode • Brief tutorial on how to use it • Practice questions: • Previous experiences with topic • Previous experiences with needed skills • Attitudes toward topic • Explicitly look at responses asking them to reflect as well. • At least one “real” question by the end of Day 1

Allow Time They (probably) won’t “buy it all” on Day 1 Emphasize that you will be consistent and they will get to see its value over time “This class is different, and I will say that to you, but it really is something you will get to see/experience every day.” Try to find ways to show them the uniqueness of your course on Day 1 Consider putting syllabus discussion online?

Day 2 – 21-CTI Bits Spend a little time addressing the evidence-base and value of the blended learning method. “You're paying to spend 45 hours with me... what is the best use of that limited time?”

Day 2 – Flipped Teaching Discuss their first experience with flipped model Share how many watched the video (if you can) Discuss live lecture vs. flipped teaching video Your advice for how they can use the videos At the very end of class:“As you leave today, think about how class time was different due to having watched the video.”

Day 2 – JiTT Bits • Discuss their first experience with warm-ups • Share how many did them and “time spent” avg. • Remind them of structure:Release/due times, course value, grading • Remind them of the purpose of warm-ups: • Student preparation • Instructor preparation (“Which I’ll show you now!”)

Day 2 – Classroom Resp. Bits Discuss feedback loops in learning “In a typical class, how soon will you need to be able to apply what you are hearing about right now?” Discuss how they should assess their own progress in each class and day to day For Peer Instruction (and other) questions you can explicitly mention how much of the learning takes place during peer discussion.

Other tidbits? Other day 2 ideas (of any kind) to share?

Day 3 – 21-CTI Bits Acknowledge that this is different “This is not what I did as a student, because I wasn't held accountable. But we know that this works.”

Day 3 – JiTT Bits • A different role for you: • Actively prepare for classby engaging and being reflective.(not justreading/watching) • Be ready to actively engage with the material in class. • Take regular “readings” on your experience with the material compared to classmates. Make plans accordingly.

Day 3 – JiTT Bits • A different role for me: • I will actively prepare for class by engaging and focusing on you.(not just going over last year’s notes ) • I will modify the class plan based on what I see in your preparatory work. • I will consciously create chances for you to grapple with the material in an active way.

Recurring Themes • I try to never say “should”. • I am tempted to do so when I want to force them to do something that is to their advantage. • Change: How can I be positive & relational (Rather than an authoritarian & “1-up”)? • Notice: • Can I offer incentives/accountability? • Can I trust that the action will be clearly valuable on its own merits?

Recurring Themes Many chances to fail “model”: (Flipped) Repeated viewing at low cost (JiTT) Grading on thoughtful effort (classroom resp.) Grading based on participation, ongoing personal comparison Plus other course components

BLI Concerns “Looking for more examples of how to balance out using the technique JiTT with the reduction of material (content) being able to be covered in the class […]” “I am concerned about the amount of time investment for the student and making sure it's not too crazy. […]” “I need to know the software programs I need to use it” “My new concern focuses on the above concern of students - the ability to align the new teaching strategy with exam outcomes.” “How to proceed with class once the questions have been answered and read by me.”

Coming Up… • Workshop follow-up survey • Next 8 weeks: • Workshop on JiTT software and technology • Twice: Meet with Jeff either individually or in a small groups (~1 hour) • Work on your own (1 hour a week) • Workshop 3: Sharing & making plans • Friday, April 11th, 10 AM

21 st -Century Teaching Initiative Workshop 2 Dr. Jeff Loats Department of Physics