Education Commons^™

Multiple-Choice Questions You Wouldn’T Put On A Test: Promoting Deep Learning Using Clickers, Derek Bruff

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Classroom response systems (“clickers”) can turn multiple-choice questions—often seen to be as limited as assessment tools—into effective tools for engaging students during class. When using this technology, an instructor first poses a multiple-choice question. Each student responds using a handheld transmitter (or “clicker”). Software on the classroom computer displays the distribution of student responses. Although many multiple-choice questions found on exams work well as clicker questions, there are several kinds of multiple-choice questions less appropriate for exams that function very well to promote learning, particularly deep learning, during class when used with clickers.

Using Undergraduate Students As Teaching Assistants, Joseph "Mick" La Lopa

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Given the procedure for recruiting and selecting undergraduate students to be teaching assistants (TAs) and the pros and cons mentioned, there is every reason to continue using them to help administer my classes. I completely trust undergraduate TAs to keep an accurate record of attendance, grade assignments based on the rubric, and adhere to the course policies concerning attendance and assignment deadlines. Other educators should consider using the recruitment techniques suggested in this essay to select bright undergraduates to serve as a TA. They will reap many benefits from their work.

Attacking Ideas, Not People: Using Structured Controversy In The College Classroom, Barbara L. Watters

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

In my version of structured controversy. students choose a controversial issue related to the course in which they are enrolled. prepare pro and con arguments based on course material. debate the issue formally in class, and engage in small-group discussions to discover common values and solutions. Although I have used structured controversy only with college students in psychology courses, it could be adapted easily for other age groups and academic subjects (Johnson and Johnson, 1979; Johnson and Johnson. 1987; Johnson. Johnson, and Holubec, 1993). Using structured controversy involves three steps: preparations, argumentation, and collaboration.

Teaching With Style: The Integration Of Teaching And Learning Styles In The Classroom, Anthony F. Grasha

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Teaching with style demands that instructors explore "Who I am as a teacher?" and "What do I want to become?" The integrated model provides one vehicle for doing so. The payoff is that we move away from blindly teaching as we were taught or simply repeating how we taught the course the last time. Instead. instructional strategies become grounded in a conceptual base of knowledge about teaching and learning styles. Like scholarly methods in our disciplines, instructional strategies then begin to serve broader philosophical, theoretical, and conceptual goals.

Students' Reactions To Performance-Based Versus Traditional Objective Assessment, Anthony L. Truog

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

In summary, the struggle to obtain more performance-based evaluation goes on. The results to date support the idea that more student involvement is better. The issue of cost-benefit analysis must be continually addressed, while not losing either the vision to make assessment intrinsic to the learning process, nor the efficiency of objective detachment. The really exciting aspect will be the personal growth of the students and their instructor.

If Learning Involves Risk-Taking, Teaching Involves Trust-Building, Marilla Svinicki

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

If Learning Involves Risk-taking, Teaching Involves Trust-building, by Marilla Svinicki, University of Texas-Austin

The premise of this article is that learning, like all other creative acts, will flourish in an atmosphere in which the learner is willing to take risks, and it is the task of the instructor to create such an atmosphere for learning. If we accept this view of learning as risk-taking, we can begin to confront the factors that discourage students from taking risks and build a class environment where learning becomes less of a risk, or where the risk-taking in learning becomes valued instead of dreaded. …