Engaging Students When Teaching Large Groups

1. Engaging Students When Teaching Large Groups Andrew Manley Carnegie Faculty of Sport and Education

2. Expectations??Questions??

3. Identification of factors that make lectures engaging • Outline Constructivism and its main tenets • Describe an evidence-based approach to planning and delivering engaging learning activities with large groups Overview

4. In pairs or small groups: • Think about a really engaging teaching session you have previously attended. List the things that made the session engaging. Short Activity: Rules of Engagement

5. “…responsive to the audience, their cues, priorities, and needs” “…wonder and interest in the lecture hall breeds hunger for further knowledge elsewhere” “…takes the time and effort to listen” “…keep it fun and interesting, but above all keep it suited to your audience” “Not only can examples make tricky concepts easier to understand, they can bring a subject to life, make it real and fascinating” “Coming out from the lectern…will hold your students’ attention” “…the unfailing answer is just one word – passion” “Active participation is always a winner”

6. Constructivism provides a useful mind-set for the development of engaging learning activities…

7. Constructivism based on the premise that learners are involved in the building or “construction” of their own learning… • “In constructivist learning theory, students learn actively by making sense of new knowledge, making meaning from it, and mapping it onto their existing knowledge map” (Gipps & MacGilchrist, 1999, p.47) • “…it might be said that at its best education is a process of learning how to become the architect of our own education” (Eisner, 2004, p. 9) What is Constructivism?

8. In pairs or small groups: • Discuss how you travelled to the workshop this morning • Describe how you felt during the journey and explain why • Be prepared to report the details of someone else’s journey back to the rest of the class Short Activity: PGwT Route Planner

9. “Exhausting” “Pleasant” “Productive” “Frustrating!”

10. Knowledge is actively built by the learner • Many students expect to be controlled and filled up with knowledge…must learn how to learn • Learning and making sense of what happens rests ultimately with individual learners • “Others” are so important for constructivists that cooperative learning is a primary teaching strategy Main Tenets of Constructivism: Pereira (1996)

11. “…a teacher faced with a series of classes with a large group of students should plan to do things that encourage deep approaches to learning; these things imply dialogue, structured goals and activity” • Ramsden (1992, p.167) • Ongoing activity: Keep an eye out for letters that appear in a different colour to the rest of the text. Make a note of them when you spot them. Making Your Lessons Engaging

12. Design learning activities so that content can be readily conceptualised in line with the student’s own perception of reality… • “Isolated facts, if learnt, quickly disappear from memory because they have no meaning and do not fit into the learner’s conceptual map” (Gipps & MacGilchrist, 1999, p.47) Demonstrate • Examples from familiar sources/contexts • Parodies • Short videos (particularly effective)

13. The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows” (Ausubel, 1968, p.vi) • Ask questions (e.g., demonstrate empathy; involve students in decision making; conduct quizzes) Empathise and Enquire

14. In pairs or small groups: • Provide a definition of the term “professional” • Now think about some of the terms commonly used in learning outcomes and marking criteria (e.g., “critique”, “reflect”) • Monitoring students’ interpretations through questioning demonstrates empathy and ensures key issues are clearly understood Short Activity: Dictionary Corner

15. Feedback vs. Feed themselves? • “Use lectures to start students learning from each other” (Race, 2007, p.122) • Provide opportunities for debate, peer review and reflection Empathise and Enquire

16. “Variety is the spice of lectures” (Race, 2007, p.122) • Use appropriate technologies • Technology provides opportunities for students to learn to think in new ways (Eisner, 2004) • Can offer a fun, engaging and stimulating learning environment • Don’t be afraid to try new things… Play!

17. A Question of Sport (Psychology)!

18. 2 1 3 4 Finish

19. Q: In your own words, how might you explain Constructivist theory as applied to learning? Numbers

20. Q: According to Gipps and MacGilchrist (1999), why might “isolated facts…quickly disappear from memory”? A: “…because they have no meaning/do not fit with the learner’s conceptual map” Numbers

21. How many letters were highlighted in a different colour from the rest of the text? a. 2 b. 3 c. 4 d. 5 Numbers

22. Which famous psychological technique was depicted in the video clip presented earlier in the session? • Motivational Interviewing • “Flooding” • Operant Conditioning • Graded Exposure Numbers

23. “…a teacher faced with a series of classes with a large group of students should plan to do things that encourage deep approaches to learning; these things imply dialogue, structured goals and activity” • Ramsden (1992, p.167) • Demonstrate: knowledge actively built • Empathise: • Enquire: Summary responsible for own learning; cooperation with others • Play: active, engaged, independent

24. A colleague has asked you to deliver a session in their absence. You have been provided with the following guidelines: • You will be delivering the session to ~120 first year students at 10am on a Thursday morning • The session should be a one-hour lecture entitled “An Introduction to Social Psychology” • How would you make the lecture “engaging”? Final Activity

25. THANK YOU! (and if your questions have not yet been addressed, please fire away!) a.j.manley@leedsmet.ac.uk

26. Ausubel, D.P. (1968). Educational psychology: A cognitive view (2nd edition). New York: Holt, Reinhart, Winston. Eisner, E.W. (2004). What can education learn from the arts about the practice of education? International Journal of Education and the Arts, 5(4), 1-12. Gipps, C., & MacGilchrist, B. (1999). Primary school learners. In P. Mortimore (Ed.), Understanding pedagogy and its impact on learning, pp.46-67. London: Paul Chapman. Pereira, L. (1996). Stepping out with the constructivists. Australian Science Teachers Journal, 42(2), 26-28. Race, P. (2007). The lecturer’s toolkit: A practical guide to assessment, learning and teaching (3rd edition). Abingdon: Routledge. Ramsden, P. (1992). Learning to teach in Higher Education. London: Routledge. References