This hit home for me, felt compelled to share......it comes from Rick = Reis, Ph.d. at Atanford U.
For feedback his e-mail is: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thanks. Mike Nolan Folks: The posting below looks at the benefits of using technology before and = after, but not during class time. It is by Jos=E9 Bowen = ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), dean, Algur H. Meadows Chair and professor of music, = Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University. It is #36 in = a series of selected excerpts from the NT&LF newsletter reproduced here = as part of our "Shared Mission Partnership." NT&LF has a wealth of = information on all aspects of teaching and learning. If you are not = already a subscriber, you can check it out at [http://www.ntlf.com/] The = on-line edition of the Forum--like the printed version - offers = subscribers insight from colleagues eager to share new ways of helping = students reach the highest levels of learning. National Teaching and = Learning Forum Newsletter, Volume 16, Number 1, December 2006.=A9 = Copyright 1996-2006. Published by James Rhem & Associates, Inc. All = rights reserved worldwide. Reprinted with permission. Regards, Rick Reis [EMAIL PROTECTED] UP NEXT: Supporting and Retaining Early-career Faculty Tomorrow's Teaching and Learning --------------------------------------- 2,440 words = ------------------------------------ Teaching Naked: Why Removing Technology from your Classroom Will = Improve Student Learning Flashy powerpoints with video and synchronous e-conferences are = impressive, but the best reason to adopt technology in your courses is = to increase and improve your naked, untechnological face-to-face = interaction with students. Technology is often accused of pushing = people further apart (the interaction is really with a computer screen = and not another human being, they say) but a few minutes of questions at = the end of an hour covering material from behind a podium is hardly an = interactive experience either. However, simple, new technologies can = greatly increase your students' engagement outside of the classroom and = thus prepare them for real discussions (even in the very largest = classes) by providing content and assessment before class time. The = goal, in other words, is to use technology to free yourself from the = need to "cover" the content in the classroom, and instead use class time = to demonstrate the continued value of direct student to faculty = interaction and discussion. Most of the ideas listed here are aimed at medium or large courses (20 = students and above) where lecturing remains the easy choice and = powerpoint has become the most abused new technology. If we believe = that the value of a residential college experience consists largely of = the human interaction between professors and students, then we should = maximize that experience. Better online courses are coming and = consumers and legislators will continue to put money where the best = learning is. Residential colleges will always be more expensive, so = there should also be a demonstrable learning benefit. Technology will = surely be a key component of all future higher education, but we need to = rethink how we use technology inside as well as outside of the = classroom. As young teachers, almost all of us over-prepared for class with more = content-specific lecture notes than we could ever deliver coherently. = All of us have also had the unexpected and exquisite student epiphany = that usually occurs when we abandon the script and follow our instincts = or a student question. The best teaching moments do not happen when we = are worried about making sure we do not forget a detail. These new = technologies allow faculty to abandon this tyranny of content (at least = during class time), but they will also require us to rethink our use of = class time. I'll return to this at the later, but I strongly endorse = under-preparing for class; it will lead to your best teaching moments = though it will feel a bit like teaching naked. Use Email to Create More Class Time If you need to reschedule the midterm or change a reading, do not take = valuable class time to make announcements that some students will copy = down and most will forget. Lists of announcements are time consuming and = ineffective. Email is a great way to communicate with your students and = save class time for something better. Technology makes it easier to = provide an email or handout with the complete details; For maximum = effectiveness, limit announcements to one highlight. Imagine my surprise when I first read on a student evaluation: "This = professor emails me several times a week and it shows he really cares = about his teaching." Student perceptions of your enthusiasm and = dedication are tied to their engagement in the subject. They like = getting email from you, and you immediately seem more open, accessible, = friendly and caring. Second, if you forget to mention some vital information in class, simply = email all of your students after class. Again, students like this and = it reinforces what every campus has been trying to do: to connect = learning with the entire college and life experience. Email is a great = way to remind students that they are responsible for the learning and = that they should still be learning even when they leave the classroom. Third, you can guide your students' time outside of the classroom by = providing timely reminders of key themes in the reading or connecting = classroom topics to current events. Students always learn better when = they perceive that the material is relevant and most of us see = connections to our work periodically in the news. Since mentioning a = recent news item might divert us away from other course content during = class time, we sometimes skip it, but email is the perfect way to draw = attention to a news story immediately, as it happens. Most universities now have some sort of course management system that = automatically creates emails lists for every course, but another way to = reach your students is to create a Facebook site for yourself. (Go to = Facebook.com and follow the instructions.) All of your students are = already in this virtual community and asking them to join a class group = creates a virtual community where they already live; posting an = announcement on Blackboard is the equivalent of asking them to come to = office hours in your building. Posting on Facebook is more like showing = up in the dorms for dinner. Posting here may reach students more = quickly. Use Online Tests to Create More Class Time Online course management systems all include some testing function. = Many of us have felt the conflict between a desire for more timely = assessment and the problem of "losing" class time. In the last year or = two the sophistication of online quizzes and assessments has = dramatically changed in products like Blackboard, but there are also a = quickly expanding array of free learning modules developed by your = colleagues at merlot.org.) Moving one or more assessments outside of = class time, again frees up the class time for something more = interesting. Again, the fringe benefits far exceed the original goal. You can now = give more quizzes and more varied assignments. You can allow (or = require) students to work together. You can monitor their progress more = easily. You can provide opportunities at different hours; this levels = the playing field for different types of learners and situations, but = also reaches the traditional students who want to study late at night. = Most importantly, however, you can disguise learning as exams and tie = the assessment of learning to measurable and increased learning. As a music teacher, I used to give periodic "drop the needle" exams, = where the teacher drops the needle onto the record and asks students to = identify the style, period, composer, performer etc. These were easy to = grade, but as class size grew so did the work, and they took up class = time. They certainly didn't enhance learning; they only measured the = work students had already done. Then I created simple multiple choice = exams in Blackboard. This freed up class time, but students needed a = way to test the system before logging on to take the exam. So I created = practice exams for each week using the same questions, but with the same = pool of audio examples. My support person wondered if students would = cheat by memorizing all 150 examples before taking the test. I thought, = "that isn't cheating, that's learning." Indeed, allowing students to = "practice" (or "cheat") dramatically increased how much time they spent = "studying" or practicing this activity and increased the scores on the = exams by almost an entire grade. Even when I randomly moved exams back = into the classroom, there was dramatically increased performance. Quizzes before Classes: No More Unprepared Students We've all arrived in class only to find that most students have not done = the reading and are hiding behind their desks. One way to ensure this = never happens again is to create an online mini quiz for every reading; = each quiz is due an hour before the relevant class. Create four = multiple-choice questions and email a reminder and a deadline to all = students. An earlier version of this concept is Just in Time Teaching or "JiTT." = (Novak, Patterson, Gavrin and Christian, 1999) Students prepare a = problem set or an assignment in advance of class and submit it before = class; you use class time only to work on the problem areas. New = technology makes this easier and even more effective. Now, not only do = you know that every student did at least some of the reading, you can = print out the quiz results an hour before class and focus on the issue = they found most confusing or most compelling. Pre-class problem-sets don't have to be SAT reading-comprehension-type = questions. I often ask students to discover a writer's bias, the hidden = assumptions or to relate a story from their own life that reinforces the = point the author is making. It does not even have to be a quiz. You = could require your students simply to make a relevant online posting or = submit a question they have. There have been online discussion groups = for over a decade now and even in a large class, students can be divided = into smaller discussion groups. (Again, if you use Facebook, you can = reach students where they already live.) While there is disagreement = about whether online discussion can substitute for face-to-face = discussion, it is clear that requiring students to make a few postings = or demonstrate some competence with the material before class can only = lead to better in-class discussions. The Inverted Classroom Most of us learned in the traditional model: come to class unprepared, = listen passively to the first contact with the material, then go away to = "learn" the material and then return for the exam. In an "inverted = classroom," (Platt and Lage, 2000) the first contact and exams happen = outside of the classroom, but students come to class prepared to engage = with other learners and the professor. Project-based learning and the = studio model of teaching in the arts are also expressions of the = importance of engaging with students in the flesh. Technology makes it = even easier to invert your classroom so that your classroom becomes the = center of learning rather than only a passive point of first contact = with the material. The traditional model was once the most efficient one. Long before the = rise of cheap textbooks and the internet (in ancient Greece, for = example) a lecture was the cheapest and most efficient mode of = communicating new knowledge to a large group of students. Larger = nineteenth and twentieth-century concert halls and most of our lecture = halls were designed using the latest acoustic technology to aid this = delivery of content. New technology allows for more varied modes of = communication. Lectures of Wonder In the nineteenth century, long before radio, movies, television or = paperbacks, going out to even a poor public lecture or concert was a = rare and stimulating experience, but we can hardly expect our students = to be this enthusiastic. Our students understand the difference = between passive and active multimedia experiences, and they are used to = walking out of bad movies, concerts or lectures. So if you want to = reach students through lectures, they need to be lectures of wonder; = they have to be even better than they used to be to be effective at all. When you could only hear Beethoven live and in concert, you would = tolerate lots of wrong notes. Higher standards in recorded music have = increased not only the standards of playing on those recordings, but = also in our concert halls. It's the same with lectures. They better be = good. Save your best stuff for the live experience, but be realistic = about what is engaging and how often you can deliver it. The most obvious way to open up class time for those best "aha" moments = is to remove your recitation of content (the lecture) from the class = room. If your classes are only lectures and exams, you might as well be = teaching online. Coming to class has to "add value" and reducing the = technology and increasing the human interaction is the best way to = create something interactive that cannot be duplicated online. Most of = your lectures (all of the ones covering "content") can be turned into = videos, but interactive discussion cannot. A great lecture is a great performance; it is best at stimulating an = interest and spreading enthusiasm for further study. Like any = performance, you need wow factor, pacing (including change of pacing and = plot twists) and you need a great ending. If your lecture includes a = great "aha" moment, live experiments or demonstration, or you keep = students on the edge of their seats, then lecture and make them even = better. (Bligh, 2000) You can, however, probably improve that lecture = (and that "aha" moment), by removing that survey of the bones in the = foot or poetic structure. If your students need background content to = understand your great moment or to engage in discussion, then = communicate that in some other way. The lecture then can focus on = something dramatic and memorable. Current research (Crouch and Mazur, = 2001) demonstrates that students retain relatively little content from = most lectures, but they do take away a lot about your attitude toward = learning and your subject. What They'll See When You're Naked Your style of teaching conveys volumes about your values, your = discipline and what you want students to learn. When you lecture about = facts, the implication is that they should be memorizing facts. If you = tell students that they need to question authority, but you lecture from = behind the podium, it is harder for them to question you and they = probably don't take you seriously. If you want students to think or = consider multiple points of view, you need to create a situation in the = classroom where they can do this. While a good lecture is still a great way to present an introduction to = many subjects, there are now better ways to allow more people to see = them (see below). While the technology is relatively easy and = available, the much more dramatic change is what happens in the = classroom. Many new pedagogies (JiTT, Inverted Classroom, or = Project-Based Learning) rely on a professor who is an improviser in the = classroom. This won't appeal to everyone and it is a huge change, but = fear is not a good reason to avoid trying. We all entered this = profession because we are passionate about our subject. All of us can = talk passionately for 50 minutes (or longer) on a variety of subjects, = and for most of us, reducing the lecture notes and trying only to = communicate passionately a few key ideas results in more excited = students who are inspired to learn more. "Teaching naked," means moving some of the content, removing some of the = personal safety net and simply trying to connect with our students. = Delivering first contact with the material is very safe; you know what = comes next, and it is the students who are naked and unprotected. When = you provide another means and incentive for learning the material in = advance, you give up some control, and that can feel like teaching = naked, but it can improve students learning. References Bligh, D. A. (2000) What's the Use of Lectures? 6th rev. edn. Hoboken: = Jossey-Bass. Bowen, J. A. (2005) "Jazz Bandstand" and "JazzByEar" video games = (designed with Britt Carr at Miami University) available at = http://www.josebowen.com Crouch, C., and Mazur, E. Peer Instruction: Ten years of experience and = results. American Journal of Physics, 69/9, pp 970-977. Gee, J. P. (2003) What Video Games Have to Teach US about Learning and = Literacy. New York: Palgrave/ Macmillan. Novak, G., Patterson, E., Gavrin, A., and Christian, W. (1999). = Just-in-Time Teaching: Blending Active Learning with Web Technology. = Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Platt, G., and Lage, M. (2000). The Internet and the Inverted = Classroom. Journal of Economic Education, Winter 2000, (31/1) = (Electronic version: http://www.sba.muohio.edu/plattgj/eco201). ---------- If we are on another line or away from the phone, please leave your = number, best time to return your call and/or your e-mail address. =20 After hours and weekend phone appointments are available upon request. Sincerely, J. Michael Nolan, Director =20 Rainforest and Reef 501 (c)(3) non-profit *************************************************************************= ************** "Outstanding-Affordable Field Courses in Rainforest & Marine Ecology" "Spanish/Cultural Immersion: Spain, Mexico, Central and South America" Rainforest and Reef 501 (c)(3) non-profit P.O. Box 141543 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49514-1543 USA Local/International Phone: 001.616.604.0546 Toll Free U.S. and Canada: 1.877.255.3721 Skype/MS IM: travelwithrandr AOL IM: buddythemacaw E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Note: Please send inquiries to both e-mail addresses Web: http://rainforestandreef.org Costa Rica: Juan Pablo Bello San Jose, Costa Rica E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: 011.506.290.8883/011.506.822.8222=20 Europe: Marion Stephan Frankfurt, Germany E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: 011.49.172.305.4738 *************************************************************************= **************
