Indiana University, Northwest
Terms of Engagement: Understanding and Promoting Engagement in
Today’s College Classroom
Workshop With Elizabeth F. Barkley
Participant Generated Knowledge Repository
M(1)
What are ideas for helping students expect that with reasonable effort, they will succeed?
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Multiple assignments
Different exercises
Opportunity to re-do
Having multiple activities that grant points (also extra credit)
Providing a safe assignment where they receive a passing grade just for
completing it (grades will be differentiated based on proficiency)
Providing feedback on written assignments and monitoring progress based on
incorporated feedback
Explicit expectations, syllabus, verbal, tell students you expect them to succeed
with effort “ You will pass – it is yours to blow”
Grading fairly
Points
Assignments that prove practical, beneficial
Making tests a learning experience
Empathetic instructor
State what students can expect to learn over the semester. I state that hard work
will pay off with x, y, z…
Tell a true story about a successful (possibly struggling) student in a past class
Try to help them understand how much they already know – particularly in intro
courses
Spell out safety net
Examples of other students succeeding
Extra points, sample tests and security blankets
Recreate statistics of IUN students placed into professional schools (Med school,
etc.)
M(2)
What are ideas for helping students value what/how they are learning?
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Direct connection to career
Service learning or creating projects that are authentic
Connection to current events/life
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Helping them realize that all these ideas are not new but they have already
influenced their world view because they are indeed connected to the past
Do reality check. I ask them at the end of every session how in the real world
they can practically use this information
Connect to practice
Exposed to different types of community sites
Job opportunities, application
Surveys
Guest speakers
Role models
Light at the end of the tunnel
Model a love of knowledge and ideas for their own sake
Connect course materials (like stats) to solving real-world everyday problems
Go over how chemistry is used to make bodies work
Have students relate what they are learning to real life
Show students what they will be able to do by the end of the semester
A
What are ideas for helping students learn actively?
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Making the connections across courses explicit
Carrying over previous knowledge by providing own examples
Recap the lecture then summarize using boxes to connect key points
Break down lecture into different parts.
Provide concepts then ask how to solve problems (I wait and they tell me how to
fill the blank)
Repetition
Reminders “Remember what/when we talked about this”
Mnemonics
Questioning
Concept maps
Concept map
Video – you tube
Use multiple media – words supplemented with images, sounds, even jokes
(humor is a medium)
Synthesize in own words the weekly lesson
Give them a story – a narrative to hang concepts or theory upon
Write
T
What are ideas for ensuring the task is appropriately challenging (not too tough, not too
easy)?
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Analyze strengths and weaknesses and targeting help on that level
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Provide different options – textbook, study sessions, etc.
Choose own research article to critique – do some critiques in class
Weekly quizzes – questions worth ½ point
Mastery level of achievement
Learning (Bloom)
Achievement toward mastery
Repeated skill a number of times
Offer lots of extra support for those lacking basic skills to bring them up to high
expectation
C
What are ideas for helping students feel as though they are valued members of the
learning community?
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Create groups that stay together the whole semester
Mixing students from different backgrounds
Team projects broken down into responsibility
Committees
Using discussion, participation – rearranging the classroom setting (e.g., circles)
to make them feel integrated
Nursing is a community and moves through in cohorts
Working in groups with group rewards to become part of an academic
community
Sharing common info and techniques
Specialized communication patterns
Group work in chemistry
Partner quizzes
H
What are ideas for helping students learning holistically?
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Building blocks of area of interest, to finding data, reflecting on the information,
making sense of it and making recommendations
Challenge assumptions using examples from the past
Case studies or other props within group settings
Simulations
Role modeling in clinical
Lincoln logs – built cabin and create wealth to crossing domains
Hands on practicum
simulation
Send-a-Problem Solutions to Identified Online Problems
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What are ideas for getting students to read before coming to class?
 A quiz
 Homework assignment on reading
 Getting them involved in choosing the readings
 Ask questions that are used for graded discussions
What are ideas for getting students to attend class?
 Points (both attendance and participation)
 Need to be in class to receive the assignment (graded)
 In-class activities that can’t be made up (for points)
 Quizzes that can’t be made up
What are ideas for getting students to do assignments?
 Points attached – points that indicate the effort required
What are ideas to participate in discussion?
 Ask questions
 Small groups first
 Grade participation
 Use video/media/mixing media
What are ideas for helping students see value of course?
 Starting salary – money
 Passing the text – mastery effect
 Improvement of thinking
 Show them what they will know/be able to do at the end that they could not
know/do at the beginning
What are ides for helping students understand the material (not just recall information)?
 Synthesize
 Relating the material to current events/issues
 Providing guide post
 Generate questions off the readings and have other students answer
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