STEP: Teaching Pedagogy 1
David J. Shook, Ph.D.
Coordinator, TA Development Programs,
CETL
Associate Professor of Spanish
Outline
Tuesday and Thursday
 Introductions
 Effective instruction
 Strategies
 Self-evaluation
 Instructional techniques
Introductions
 Names
 Teaching experience
Effective instruction
 Remember when?
 Reflection—5 minutes
 Discussion—10-15 minutes
Effective instruction
How do people learn?
 Information processing, cognitive
psychology, learning theory
 pay attention to information
 new information related to prior
knowledge
 new information is stored
 knowledge is retrieved at appropriate
time
Effective instruction
What information gets accessed and
stored?
 Dependent on learning styles
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Visual
Aural
Manipulative
Others
 More on this topic May 27th
Effective instruction
My definition
 When new information is conveyed in
such a way that the students grasp the
knowledge efficiently and can apply it
correctly in new situations
Non-effective instruction
What can make instruction non-effective?
 Problems in transmission/techniques/strategies
 Classroom management/administration
 Personal issues
 Instructor<-->student
 Student<-->student
Solution
 Being proactive
Strategies for effective instruction
 Practices observed from successful
instructors
 Why are these good ideas?
 If we don’t follow these, what might
happen?
Self-evaluation
 Instructor Self-Evaluation Form
 Students learn differently according
to their learning style(s)
 Instructors normally teaching
according to the way they first
learned, i.e., their own learning
style(s)
Self-evaluation
Areas of priority
 Adequacy—your techniques and tools are
successful
 Enthusiasm—you show excitement for
the learning process
 Stimulation—you get the students to
learn!
 Relations—you have an impact on your
students personally
Self-evaluation
Summary
 Your priority is an area where you
might naturally focus as you teach
 If instruction is not going well, what
might you need to add/change to
your instruction to make it more
effective for your students?
Summary of instructional
techniques
 Instructors need to be strategic and
proactive in determining the best
instructional technique for the learning
situation at hand and the learning styles of
their students
 Careful Planning + Creativity =
A good bet at effective instruction
 Know when to ask others for help!
Instructional techniques
McKeachie, Wilbert J.
McKeachie’s Teaching Tips:
Strategies, Research, and Theory for
College and University Teachers.
2002. 11th ed.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Instructional techniques
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Discussion
Lecture
Writing
Reading
Peer learning
Information Technology
Discussion
 Pros
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Students are active
Students learn to think and evaluate thinking
Students learn to apply new information
Instructors gain prompt feedback
 Cons
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Difficulty in getting students to participate
Making progress in course objectives
Personal issues
Management issues
Discussion
Main issue: Questioning
 Sequence
 simplecomplex, concreteabstract
 Directness
 Ask a specific question to a specific Person
Lecture
 Pros
 Can give students most up-to-date research and
theories
 Summarize related material from a variety of sources
 Can adapt material to the background or interest of
the students
 Can help instructors integrate information/knowledge
 Cons
 Attention of students is often a function of the
delivery and environment, not of the information
itself
 Student retention of the information depends on
note-taking and the organization of the lecture
Lecture
Main issues
 Performance
 The majority of effective lecturers ARE
entertaining presenters in their own way
 Adopt a lecturing persona
 Integration of instruction
 Lectures are most effective when effective
integrated with other instructional techniques:
discussion, reading, etc.
 Example
Writing
 Low-stakes writing
 Log/journal
 Reaction paper
 Not for grades, but rather for
communication and enhanced learning
 High-stakes writing
 Lab reports
 Term papers
 Graded, for demonstration of learning
Writing
 Pros
 Integrates learning and thinking
 Can demonstrate development/learning over
time
 Can lead to professional writing
 Cons
 Giving feedback is time-consuming
 Plagiarism WILL occur if writing procedures are
not proactive
Writing
Main issue: Set yourself up for success
 Expect that students don’t know how to
write in your field, and give them the
tools to succeed
 Be free with examples and models to
demonstrate your expectations
 Expect quality at the end of the term,
not the beginning
 Reward progress
Reading
 Pros
 Offer students differing views of subject matter
 When accompanied by visual material and study
guides, reading is often much more useful for
processing information than straight lecture
 Con
 Instructors can’t assume that students know
how to read efficiently—instructors need to
provide study guides/questions that help
students process the text information
Reading
Main issues
 Multiple text resources are available
(textbooks, journals, WWW) and should be
made available to students
 Design study guides that help students
integrate text information with
lecture/discussion/lab, instead of just
regurgitate it
Laboratories
 Pros
 Help students focus on observation and
manipulation skills
 Help familiarize students with equipment and
items of study
 Cons
 Labor intensive for both students and instructors
 “Traditional” labs not very effective in helping
students learn problem-solving skills
Laboratories
Main issues
 At the basic level, use laboratories to
help students understand and integrate
the scientific method of study
 For advanced students, use labs to
stimulate and motivate their problemsolving strategies
Peer learning
Students teaching other students, or
students working collaboratively,
learning together
Peer learning
 Pros
 Students naturally support and stimulate each other
towards learning
 Students become socialized into the academic
profession
 Students learn valuable team-building skills
 Cons
 Instructors need to switch from an instructional to a
facilitating model
 Occasionally, students get “stuck” in a bad group,
and this might have an impact on their final grade
 Group set-up, monitoring, and problem-solving can
be very time intensive
Peer learning
Main issues
 Students may learn more about a
subject through direct interaction with
their peers
 Students must be held accountable for
their work—their own as well as that of
the entire group
Assessment of effective instruction
What to assess?
 Learning objectives
 Delivery
 Participation
When to assess?
 Early enough in order to correct/adapt
How to assess?
 Direct questions
 Official assessment tools
 One-minute paper
Assessment of effective instruction
Main idea
 You MUST follow up!