Quality Undergraduate
Education
MSU Sociology Department TA Workshop
August 25, 2006
Geoffrey Habron
Fisheries and Wildlife
Sociology
Bailey Scholars
habrong@msu.edu
Berkey 401A
432-8086
Learning = Instructor + Students
Teaching Philosophy
(Pedagogy)
Outlook on learning
Students
Instructor
Learning styles
Teaching
Strategies
effective
Student Learning
Outcomes
Backward Design
• Stage 1: Identify desired outcomes
and results.
• Stage 2: Determine what constitutes
acceptable evidence of competency
in the outcomes and results
(assessment).
• Stage 3: Plan instructional strategies
and learning experiences that bring
students to these competency levels.
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J.(1998). Understanding by design.
Alexandria, VA:Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.
http://pixel.fhda.edu/id/six_facets.html
http://www.ubdexchange.org/resources.html
Learning Outcomes
Meeting the Challenge of
Teaching Sociology in the
Twenty-First Century
Report of the Task Force on the
Undergraduate Major:
Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major .
American Sociological Association.
January 2005.
<http://www.asanet.org/governance/LiberalLearningUpdate.pdf>
Deep Learning (ASA)
• Relates previous knowledge to new knowledge;
• Relates knowledge from different courses;
• Relates theoretical ideas to everyday
experience;
• Relates and distinguishes evidence and
argument;
• Organizes and structures content into a coherent
whole; and
• Emphasis is internal, from within the student
• Deep learning clearly implies increasing
integration among topics, courses, and out-ofclass experiences.
Pg. 44
MSU SOC Undergraduate Mission
• Illustrate sociological perspectives
• Help students develop skills in critical
thinking
• Introduce and explain strategies and
methods for conducting sociological
research
Gold and Pyle. 2005. MSU Sociology Department assessment plan.
January
MSU SOC
Undergraduate Principles
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Student responsibility for learning
Active learning and research skills
Doing sociology
Team learning
Computers
Job skills
Life skills
World as a classroom
Integrate graduate and undergraduate education
Gold and Pyle. 2005. MSU Sociology Department assessment plan.
January
Instructor Factors
• Pedagogy
• Strategies
Pedagogy:
Student-centered Learning
• With such an approach, the impact on student
learning is the key variable in all course,
department, and institutional decisions. From
this perspective, we must consider, for example,
student variables and diversity, the impact of the
environment on learning, learning styles, and the
scaffolding for learning. Covering the content is
not the important objective in this paradigm;
rather, it is nurturing student learning.
ASA Pg. 44
Strategies:7 Principles of
Undergraduate Education
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Encourage student-faculty contact;
Encourage cooperation among students;
Encourage active learning;
Give prompt feedback;
Emphasize time on task;
Communicate high expectations; and
Respect diverse talents and ways of
learning. Chickering, A. and Z. Gamson. Seven Principles for Good Practice in
Undergraduate Education.' American Association for Higher Education, 1986.
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/
7princip.htm
http://www.byu.edu/fc/pages/tchlrnpages/7princip.html
Student Factors
• Outlook on Learning (Where they start)
– Intellectual development
• Learning Styles (How they learn)
– Multiple intelligences
Study Learning Group (intellectual development
position)
1st year undergraduate (Dualism/
Received Knower/
Pre-reflective)
right or wrong answers and seeking ultimate
truth from a limited set of authority figures
4th year undergraduate (Multiplicity/
Subjective knower)
accept the possibility of having several correct
answers and that various sources of possibly
valid knowledge exist other than an expert
authority figure
Graduate (Relativism/
Procedural knower/
Quasi-Reflective Reasoning)
recognition that uncertainty is a part
of the knowing process, the ability to see
knowledge as an abstraction, and the
recognition that knowledge is constructed.
Aware that different approaches or perspectives
on controversial issues rely on different types of
evidence and different rules of evidence, and
that factors like these contribute to different
ways of framing issues.
Professional Development Program (Contextual/
Constructed knower/Reflective Reasoning)
some answers fit various situations as
appropriate, that some questions may not have
certain answers and that asking questions may
provide a basis for further understanding
Lee Knefelkamp. Models of Intellectual and Identity Development
http://www.greaterexpectations.org/briefing_papers/ModelsIntellectualIdentity.html
Learning Styles:
Multiple Intelligences
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Intrapersonal: self smart
Interpersonal: people smart
Visual: image smart
Musical: sound smart
Logical-mathematical: logic smart
Bodily-kinesthetic: body smart
Naturalistic: nature smart
Verbal linguistic: word smart
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David Lazear. Eight Ways of Knowing: Exploring Multiple Intelligences
http://www.multi-intell.com/MI_chart.html
Learning = Instructor + Students
Student-centered - ASA
?
?
Teaching Philosophy
(Pedagogy)
Intellectual development – William Perry
Outlook on learning
Students
Instructor
Learning styles
Teaching
Strategies
?
effective
?
Multiple intelligences –
Howard Gardner
7 Principles - Chickering and Gamson
Deep learning - ASA
?
Student Learning
Outcomes
Doing sociology – MSU SOC
Resource
• MSU Office of Faculty and Organizational
Development (grad students too!)
– Deb DeZure, Director
– Patty Payette, Coordinator
– Lilly Teaching Seminars
– Meet Michigan
– Mid-term class assessments…
– http://www1.provost.msu.edu/facdev/index.asp
Lilly Teaching Seminars Fall 2006
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Issues in Evaluating Teaching: A Comprehensive Perspective
Using Demonstrations to Promote Conceptual Understanding in
Chemistry: Making Connections on the Macroscopic, Microscopic, and
Symbolic Levels
Making Classroom Lectures Interactive and Effective: Engaging
Students in Course Content through Interactive Lecturing
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Getting Beyond Covering Content in your Courses: Introduction to the
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Readiness Assurance Process and Team-Based Learning
Designing, Managing and Grading Effective Group Assignments
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Designing Games and Simulations for Learning
• Teaching for Successful Intelligence: Teaching and Assessing
Students with Diverse Learning and Thinking Styles
• There is a wealth of research, theory, and
practical ideas on important approaches to
teaching and learning in higher education should
inform discussions about, and choices made for,
the sociology major and curricular or
pedagogical reforms. Three of these are briefly
discussed here:
– learning-centered instruction,
– deep learning, and
– best practices.
Pg. 44
MSU Boldness by Design
• http://strategicpositioning.msu.edu/default.asp
Enhancing the Undergraduate Experience:
Task Force Recommendations
1. Enhance the first year experience; assist students in making a
strong academic and social transition, and in creating
appropriate expectations about their undergraduate education
2. Promote the improvement of and rewards for successful college
teaching
3. Articulate, target and expand opportunities for undergraduate
students to develop cultural competencies.
4. Promote and integrate more active and applied learning in
undergraduate education
5. Modify the undergraduate curriculum and related policies so that
our goals for undergraduate liberal learning are met
6. Enhance the physical environment in ways that support learning for
the students, faculty and staff at MSU
7. Continue the review of graduate programs and graduate
teaching and the mentoring of graduate students.
http://strategicpositioning.msu.edu/documents/BbDImperative1_002.pdf
Report of the Working Group on Improving
Undergraduate Education:
Goals for Liberal Learning
1. Integrated Judgment
2. Advanced Communication Skills (both writing
and speaking)
3. Cultural Competence (addressed in
recommendation 2)
4. Analytical Thinking
5. Literacy in Science and Mathematics
6. Effective Citizenship