Teaching Techniques

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Seminars on Teaching and Learning
Ron Welch Al Estes Steve Ressler Joe Hanus
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COURSE SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Admin Gift
Admin Gift
Admin Gift
Admin Gift
800
Lab III Practice Class 1
Design of Instruction
Lab IV Practice Class 2
Learning Styles
Rapport
Learning Objectives
Making it Work
1000
Intro to ETW
Assessment
Planning A Class
ASCE Initiatives
Chalkboard
Graduation
1200
Lab IIIB
Lab IA
Lunch
Learning To Teach
Lunch
Admin Gift
Questioning
Lab V Practice Class 3
Teacher Performer
Teaching Assessment
200
Demo Class I
Lab IV (continued)
Lab II Objectives
Demo Class II
Principles of Teaching Learning
Demo Class III
400
Class Prep Working Dinner
Class Prep Working Dinner
Class Prep Working Dinner
600
Hudson River Cruise
Lab I Team- Building
3
Seminars on Teaching and Learning
Seminar I
Learning to Teach
Ron Welch
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Why Learn to Teach?

• 1990 Seymour Hewitt study
• Why do undergrads leave SME?
• Studied 335 students at 7 institutions
• Findings
• 40 of engineering undergrads switch to other
  non-SME disciplines.
• Losses are disproportionately higher among women
  and minorities.
• No significant difference in the intellectual
  abilities of switchers and non-switchers.

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Why Learn to Teach

• Findings about Teaching
• 41 of switchers cited poor teaching as a
  factor in the decision to switch.
• 98 of switchers cited poor teaching as a
  concern.
• 86 of non-switchers also cited poor teaching
  as a concern.
• Next lowest non-switcher concern was 53.

We have a problem.
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Why Learn to Teach?

• Students perceived that SME faculty
• Do not like to teach
• Do not value teaching as a professional activity
• Lack any incentive to teach well
• Conclusion
• Switchers and non-switchers were virtually
  unanimous in their view that no set of problems
  in S.M.E. majors was more in need of urgent and
  radical improvement than faculty
  pedagogy. -Seymour and Hewitt

We REALLY have a problem.
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What Makes A Bad Teacher?

• Students cited specifics
• Preoccupation with research
• Indifferent to academic difficulties
• Took no responsibility for student learning
• Sarcasm, ridicule, degradation, aloof, forbidding
• Inadequate preparation
• No logical sequence or structure
• Unable to explain ideas coherently
• Material and tests at too high a level
• No practical application for material
• Boring presentation read from book, silent
  teaching
• No fit between class material, homework, tests
• Do not understand how people learn
• Curve-grading
• Address their own intellectual needs not
  students

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Group Activity
(1) How did you learn to teach? (List the 3 most
common activities or experiences of your group
members.) (2) What would have made the learning
process more effective?
Study Guide, p.5
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Why Learn to Teach?

• Students in the study offered three suggestions
• Teacher training programs
• Senior faculty mentoring
• Reward good teaching

If you are not convinced and still need a reason
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Why Learn to Teach?

• The ASCE Code of EthicsEngineers shall perform
  services only in the areas of their competence.

Teaching when you are not competent to do so is
unethical.
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How should welearn to teach?
How should our students learn engineering?
Different questions Same answer
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A Design Project

• Given
• A complex engineering concept, with a variety of
  important applications
• You know nothing about it
• Resources
• A textbook that covers the topic
• 6 hours
• 2 one-hour blocks of classroom time with a
  subject-matter expert
• 4 hours on your own, outside of class
• Required Design a sequence of activities that
  will help you learn the concept and its
  applications most effectively.

Study Guide, p.5
You have 7 minutes
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Some Possible Activities

• Read the textbook.
• Receive a lecture on the concept from the expert.
• Watch the expert solve an example problem.
• Describe your own understanding of the concept to
  the expert, and get feedback on how well you
  really understand it.
• Discuss the concept with your peers.
• Solve a practice problem with assistance from the
  expert.
• Solve a practice problem on your own, then get
  feedback from the expert on how well you did.
• Solve a practice problem with your peers.

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A Model Instructional Strategy

• Provide an orientation
• Why is this important?
• How does it relate to prior knowledge?
• Provide learning objectives.
• Provide information.
• Stimulate critical thinking about the subject.
• Provide models.
• Provide opportunities to apply the knowledge
• In a familiar context.
• In new and unfamiliar contexts.
• Assess the learners performance and provide
  feedback.
• Provide opportunities for self-assessment.

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Two Key Definitions

• Assessment and Evaluation
• Assessment - A measurement of performance, for
  the purpose of improving future performance.
• Evaluation - A measurement of performance against
  a set of prescribed standards, usually for the
  purpose of reward or punishment.

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Types of Assessment

• Assessment of a Program
• Assessment of a Course
• Assessment of Teaching
• Assessment of Student Learning

Well talk about all four in ETW
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A Model Instructional Strategy

• Provide an orientation
• Why is this important?
• How does it relate to prior knowledge?
• Provide learning objectives.
• Provide information.
• Stimulate critical thinking.
• Provide models.
• Provide opportunities to apply the knowledge
• In a familiar context.
• In new and unfamiliar contexts.
• Assess the learners performance and provide
  feedback.
• Provide opportunities for self-assessment.

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COURSE SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Admin Gift
Admin Gift
Admin Gift
Admin Gift
800
Lab III Practice Class 1
Design of Instruction
Lab IV Practice Class 2
Learning Styles
Rapport
Learning Objectives
Making it Work
1000
Intro to ETW
Assessment
Planning A Class
ASCE Initiatives
Chalkboard
Graduation
1200
Lab IIIB
Lab IA
Lunch
Learning To Teach
Lunch
Admin Gift
Questioning
Lab V Practice Class 3
Teacher Performer
Teaching Assessment
200
Demo Class I
Lab IV (continued)
Lab II Objectives
Demo Class II
Principles of Teaching Learning
Demo Class III
400
Class Prep Working Dinner
Class Prep Working Dinner
Class Prep Working Dinner
600
Hudson River Cruise
Lab I Team- Building
19
Learning to Teach in ETW

• Provide an orientation
• Why is this important?
• How does it relate to prior knowledge?
• Provide learning objectives.
• Provide information.
• Stimulate critical thinking.
• Provide models.
• Provide opportunities to apply the knowledge
• In a familiar context.
• In new and unfamiliar contexts.
• Assess the learners performance and provide
  feedback.
• Provide opportunities for self-assessment.

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Learning to Teach in ETW

• Provide an orientation
• Why is this important?
• How does it relate to prior knowledge?
• Provide learning objectives.
• Provide information.
• Stimulate critical thinking.
• Provide models.
• Provide opportunities to apply the knowledge
• In a familiar context.
• In new and unfamiliar contexts.
• Assess the learners performance and provide
  feedback.
• Provide opportunities for self-assessment.

21
Learning to Teach in ETW

• Provide an orientation
• Why is this important?
• How does it relate to prior knowledge?
• Provide learning objectives.
• Provide information.
• Stimulate critical thinking.
• Provide models.
• Provide opportunities to apply the knowledge
• In a familiar context.
• In new and unfamiliar contexts.
• Assess the learners performance and provide
  feedback.
• Provide opportunities for self-assessment.

22
Learning to Teach in ETW

• Provide an orientation
• Why is this important?
• How does it relate to prior knowledge?
• Provide learning objectives.
• Provide information.
• Stimulate critical thinking.
• Provide models.
• Provide opportunities to apply the knowledge
• In a familiar context.
• In new and unfamiliar contexts.
• Assess the learners performance provide
  feedback.
• Provide opportunities for self-assessment.

23
Learning to Teach in ETW

• Provide an orientation
• Why is this important?
• How does it relate to prior knowledge?
• Provide learning objectives.
• Provide information.
• Stimulate critical thinking.
• Provide models.
• Provide opportunities to apply the knowledge
• In a familiar context.
• In new and unfamiliar contexts.
• Assess the learners performance provide
  feedback.
• Provide opportunities for self-assessment.

24
Learning to Teach in ETW

• Provide an orientation
• Why is this important?
• How does it relate to prior knowledge?
• Provide learning objectives.
• Provide information.
• Stimulate critical thinking.
• Provide models.
• Provide opportunities to apply the knowledge
• In a familiar context.
• In new and unfamiliar contexts.
• Assess the learners performance provide
  feedback.
• Provide opportunities for self-assessment.

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Learning Objectives

• Explain what constitutes effective teaching.
• Apply Felders learning styles model to the
  organization and conduct of a class.
• Use Classroom Assessment Techniques to assess
  student learning.
• Organize a class.
• Deliver classroom instruction.
• Assess a class from a students perspective.
• Self-assess your own class.

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Seminar I
Learning To Teach
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Demonstration Class I

• The Class
• Instructor Steve Ressler
• Course CE300 Statics Mechanics
• Topic Truss Analysis 1
• Location Room MH 205
• Admin
• See your Workshop Study Guide
• Bring your notebook, and take notes.
• Bring a calculator.

4
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Role-Playing

• For all classes
• View the class from the perspective of an
  undergraduate engineering student.
• Answer questions accordingly.
• Ask questions accordingly.
• Why?
• Make classes as authentic as possible.
• Focus on student learning.
• Basis for assessment.

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Classroom Assessment Technique 1
Background Knowledge Probe
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Now What?

• Update your personal data
• Complete the Background Knowledge Probe
• Take a break!
• Be in Room 205 at 1400 hrs (200 pm!)

3
5
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Demonstration Class I

• The Class
• Instructor Steve Ressler
• Course CE300 Statics Mechanics
• Topic Truss Analysis 1
• Location Room MH 205
• Admin
• See your Workshop Study Guide
• Bring your notebook, and take notes.
• Bring a calculator.

4
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(No Transcript)
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Group Activity
(1) What were the strengths of this class? (2)
What specific aspects could be improved?