Brain,
Good
Teaching
Intuition,
Heart
Level:
At the Univers
Research and Practice
Sally M. Reis
Vice Provost for
Academic Affairs
Creating
Evaluating
Analyzing
Applying
Teaching with
the Revised Bloom’s Understanding
Taxonomy
Remembering
How People
Learn:
Brain, Mind,
Experience and
School
John D. Bransford, Ann L.
Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking,
Editors
National Academies Press
Learning is:
• Acquisition and integration
of new information
• Developing expertise
• Becoming a member of a
community of practice
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Understanding by Design
• What learning goals do
you have for your
students?
• How can you assess
whether students have
met these goals?
•
Wiggins & Mctighe (2006),
understanding by design
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Understanding by Design
•What activities can
you design that will
support your
definition of learning
and your assessments
of whether your
students have
learned?
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7 principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education
By Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson
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Interaction with Students
skills and their
Encourage as
much studentfaculty
interaction as
possible
st
bution to their
Interaction and Student Contact
• Frequent student-faculty contact
in and out of classes is the most
important factor in student
motivation and involvement.
• Faculty concern for students
keeps students on track.
• Knowing a few faculty members
well enhances students’
intellectual commitment and
encourages them to think about
their academic future
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Examples that work:
• Discuss your own past experiences, values, and
attitudes.
• Encourage students to come to your office hours
• Get to know your students by name
• Attend, support, and sponsor events led by student
groups.
• Ask how students are doing.
• Hold “out of class” review sessions.
• Use email regularly to encourage and inform.
• Encourage students to attend external lectures or
other events in your field.
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Demonstrate your
passion and
enthusiasm for
your content
nd
Experts--Dr. Manos Anagnoustou
Dr. Manos Anagnostou,
Northeast Utilities Professor
of Environmental Engineering
• Dr. Anagnostou is internationally
recognized for his research storm
model prediction
• Research informs utilities and
governments of resilience
strategies
• Recipient of the Marie Curie
Excellence Award for water and
energy cycle
• 126 journal articles with over
2,000 citations and over $10M in
research grants
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Encourage
student
cooperation and
rd
Interaction
Examples that work:
• Ask students to share information about each other’s
backgrounds and academic interests—create small groups
within your class
• Encourage students to study together for classes or exams.
• Create study groups (virtually or live) within your course.
http://studygroup.uconn.edu/
• Ask students to give constructive feedback on each other’s
work and explain difficult ideas to each other.
• Use small group discussions, collaborative projects in and
out of class, group presentations, and case study analysis.
• Ask students to discuss key concepts with other students
whose backgrounds and viewpoints are different from their
own.
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Use Active, not
Passive Learning
th
Students learning is improved when they study,
have learning goals, and receive appropriate
feedback..
Active, not passive, learning
Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much as
much when they sit in classes and listen--spitting out answers. They
learn when they talk about what they are learning, write about it,
relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They
learn when they do projects and when they are more actively
involved in constructing their own learning.
Active learning helps students construct
authentic knowledge
Info
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Student
Know
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A few examples:
• Have students present their work to the class.
• Give students concrete, real life situations to
analyze.
• Ask students to summarize similarities and
differences among their results.
• Model asking questions, listening behaviors,
and feedback.
• Have students correct each other’s brief
quizzes or writings in class.
• Use technology to encourage active learning.
• Encourage use of internships, projects,
service learning and clinical opportunities.
• Use class time to work on projects and active
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learning approachesTechnology
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Feedback is
essential
th
Students need feedback
Feedback
• Give appropriate feedback on performance to IMPROVE
• Help students assess existing knowledge and competence.
• Give more frequent opportunities to show their knowledge and
receive suggestions for improvement.
• Create opportunities for students to reflect about they have learned,
what they still need to know, and how to assess themselves.”\
Appropriate and timely feedback is critical
Understand the cycle of learning
Material
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• Return quizzes and assessments as promptly as possible,
preferably within a week—or collect quizzes and share correct
responses in class
• In smaller classes, schedule brief meetings with the students to
discuss their progress.
• Give frequent assessments and homework assignments to help
students monitor their progress (even in large classes)
• Provide students written comments on the strengths and weakness
of their tests/papers.
• Give students focused feedback on their work as early in the term as
possible.
• Use some type of mid-term assessment or progress report.
• Be clear in relating performance level/expectations
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Explain the
Importance of
Time and
Practice
th
Barry Zimmerman (1989) defined self-regulated
learning as regulation of three general aspects of
academic learning.
First, self-regulation of behavior
• active control of various resources students have availablesuch as time, study environment-where they study
• use of peers and faculty members to help
Second, self-regulation of motivation and affect
• controlling and changing motivational beliefs such as selfefficacy and goal orientation
• controlling emotions and affect in ways that improve learning.
Third, self-regulation of cognition
• controlling various cognitive strategies for learning such as
Does “practice make
perfect”?
Think about practice in the context of
sports or music: Is it sufficient to tell
students “just play”?
To become self-directed learners, students must learn to
monitor and adjust their approaches to learning.
Specific ideas that help!
• Communicate to students the amount of time they should spend
preparing for class.
• Expect students to complete their assignments promptly.
• Underscore the importance of regular work, steady application, selfpacing, scheduling.
• Meet with students who fall behind to discuss their study habits,
schedules.
• Refer students to learning skills professionals on campus.
• Use technology to make resources easily available to students (ppts
on line, taping lectures, etc)
• Find appropriate content to reinforce course content (Ted Talks—
lectures from other professors)
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Communicate
your high
expectations
th
Communicate high expectations
“Expect more and you will get it. High expectations are important
for everyone—for the poorly prepared, for those unwilling to exert
themselves, and for the bright and well motivated. Expecting
students to perform well becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when
teachers and institutions hold high expectations for themselves and
make extra efforts.”
Celebrate success
You hit what you aim for (or at least come close)
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• Make your expectations clear at the beginning of the
course both in writing and orally. Tell students you expect
them to work hard.
• Periodically discuss how well the class is doing during the
course of the semester.
• Encourage students to write; require drafts of work. Give
students opportunities to revise their work.
• Set up study guidelines or study groups on line or in
person
• Share the best examples of student work on a course
website. This often motivates students to higher levels of
performance (sharing excellence breeds excellence).
• Be as enthusiastic and positive as possible in your
interaction with students.
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Understand
Diverse
Backgrounds,
Talents, and
Learning Styles
th
Learning Differences in Students: Why and How (Reis)
*Aptitude and Ability
*Achievement
*Academic background—poor preparation and limited exposure
*Culture—second language, interaction style differences
*Affect (enthusiasm level and personality)
*Knowledge of Study Skills
and Self Regulation
*Effort (effort vs. ability issues)
*Styles of learning style
(visual, auditory, concrete,
hands-on)
*Interests
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Students’ prior knowledge can help
or hinder learning-
Variety Matters-Change the Ways
You Teach
th
Good practice incorporates diverse
teaching strategies and respects
different ways of learning—
There are many roads to learning and many good types of teaching. People bring different
talents and styles of learning to college and good teaching incorporates variety into our classs:
http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2011/03/20-coolest-ted-talks-for-engineers/
http://oli.cmu.edu/teach-with-oli/review-our-free-open-courses/
http://oli.cmu.edu/courses/free-open/engineering-statics-course-details/
http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/
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http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/
detail.asp?case_id=430&id=430
So, What is it that Engineers Do, Anyway?
•In this case study, new engineering students
are introduced to the discipline of engineering
by illustrating the roles of various types of
engineers in a large engineering project, the
intelligent transportation system, that has the
potential to impact many aspects of society.
This case is designed to be used in a freshman 36
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A few examples that work:
• Use varied teaching activities to address the learning needs of your students—(my own divide a class into 3
strategy)
• Provide additional material or activities for students who lack essential background knowledge or skills—
additional readings, videos, background info—(examples of watching films or brief clips)
• Use different teaching activities in class – videos, discussions, lecture, groups, guest speakers, brief
reactions, quizzes, pair-work.
• https://www.nbclearn.com/portal/site/learn/campusperspectives/View+by+Topic/STEM+%26+Innovation
• https://www.ted.com/topics/engineering
• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL27E877E8206F196B&feature=plcp
• Employ varied and different assessment and assignment methods – written, oral, projects, etc. – so as to
engage as many ways of learning as possible (e.g., visual, auditory).
• Give students a real-world problem to solve that has multiple solutions--give examples and questions to
guide them
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