Active and Collaborative Learning

When students work together for a longer project, it can be helpful if they are explicit from the beginning with what they expect from one another and what they can commit to the group. This can be accomplished by setting time aside before other project work for each team to create a team contract; it might be an idea worth considering. If or when any issues arise later, the contract can be a great starting point for a team conversation.

Related Resources: 

Making Group Contracts

If students will be working on a group or team project, they may work better together if they have a sense of belonging and team identity. One simple way to do this is to engage them in a few team-building activities, which can include as a follow-up having them create a team name, mascot, or coat of arms.

Related Resources:

10 Recommendations for Improving Group Work

When groups work together, there can be varying degrees of effort from the different group members. These differences can be hard to detect without directly asking. You might therefore consider having group members complete surveys of the group’s performance –consider either individual surveys (where each member ratesthemselves and each teammate on effort, timeliness, etc.) or a team’s collective self-reflection on how they worked together. You may wish to use this information to either provide guidance to teams or as a factor in your assessments of the groups or individuals within each group.

Related Resources:

How to Evaluate Group Work

Best practices for group work suggest that there be an individual element to everyone’s grades, so that it does not rest entirelyon the group product. Consider scoring your group submissions in such a way that it integrates an individual as well as a team score. For example, you could pro-rate the team’s earned score downward for a student if the team surveys indicate that one individual did not make meaningful contributions to the submission. Alternatively, you could use the group process as a learning tool, but then assess each group member individually on the content learned during the group activity.

Related Resources:

Assesssing Group Projects

Grading Group Work

Groups may work more efficiently and with more purpose when each member has an assigned role. Consider giving a specific role to each student within the group to share responsibility and avoid one person taking control (or a group diffusion of responsibility). Examples of roles students could perform include: Manager, Recorder, Spokesperson, Librarian, Technician, Consensus Builder, and Reflector.

Related Resources:

Using roles in group work

Why use assigned roles?

Giving students some autonomy with team member selection can help with teamwork motivation. Consider a hybrid approach, where students choose a partner, and then you combine those partnerships into teams for your project, using your knowledge of students to create a balance in teams with regard to leadership skills, self-efficacy, and content knowledge. Small groups of 4-5 students are recommended.

Related Resources:

Fittipaldi, D. (2020). Managing the Dynamics of Group Projects in Higher Education: Best Practices Suggested by Empirical Research. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 8(5), pp. 1778 -1796 DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2020.080515

 

Students are often told to work together in teams but don’t receive any training in how to do so. Beyond creating team contracts, consider setting some time aside early in the project to provide teams with some training of how to work well and productively together. Best practices include returning to team training periodically.

Related Resources:

Fittipaldi, D. (2020). Managing the Dynamics of Group Projects in Higher Education: Best Practices Suggested by Empirical Research. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 8(5), pp. 1778 -1796 DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2020.080515

Why & How to Teach Teamwork

Top tips for group work(Share this with students)

Robust research indicates that people remember information better if they connect it to themselves in some way; this is known as the “self-reference effect.” Consider ways that students can connect your course material to their own experiences. (This may work best when they make the connections, through an activity, rather than reminding them of the connections yourself, such as telling them how it will be useful to their careers).

Related Resources:

Making It Personal: The Self-Reference Effect

Symons, C. S., & Johnson, B. T. (1997). The self-reference effect in memory: A meta-analysis. CHIP Documents, 9.

 

Students often don’t know the best ways to take notes from their textbooks or during class. It may be helpful to encourage their use of effective note taking methods, such as introducing note-taking systems that work well in your discipline (Cornell, mind mapping, outlining, etc.). You might consider having students submit their notes to a dropbox as part of a learning activity, or to offer quizzes with open notes. It can also be helpful to regularly encourage students to review and use their notes in subsequent learning activities.

If Live Class: In addition, to encourage better listening, attention, and processing (learning) during class, you might consider such strategies as providing incomplete outlines which students must complete and omitting key words from slides so students are attentive to the details.

Related Resources:

Factors of Effective Note-Taking: Application of Cognitive Load Theory

 

Research on learning indicates that long-term retention of new information happens better when practice with it is spaced out rather than “massed” (such as cramming before an exam). We can leverage this knowledge in the classroom by asking students to revisit or practice with information that was learned earlier in the term. This practice does not have to be with discrete, old information –you could ask students to use it in concert with the new information they are currently learning. Alternatively, you could institute review quizzes (individual or group) as a regular practice in your class.

Related Resources:

Spaced Practice

Share with students: Learn How to Study Using Spaced Practice

 

 

Our working memories can only hold so many “chunks” of information at one time, which can make the application of novel information challenging to students. Fortunately, “chunks” can refer to a collection or body of more automated information; the trick is to help students pull pieces of information into bigger chunks. Pausing to allow processing and rehearsal of newly presented information can help with this process. Some activities that encourage chunking include repeated summaries (from the beginning to current knowledge each time), concept maps, and outlines. Asking students to relate the new information to things they already know or putting the information into meaningful categoriescan also be useful.

Related Resources:

About Information-Processing Theory

Chunking: How Can This Technique Improve Your Memory?

Chunking and Memory Retention

Learning theories suggest that time is needed to “process” information if it is to be remembered. Consider offering (more) opportunities for students to actively process your course material.

If Live Class: During class, this might mean short discussion activities, having students check each other’s notes for key information and accuracy, or short planned activities that permit students to use the information recently learned. Consider also in-class writing and reflection, which can be used to help students prepare for new concepts, bridge previous knowledge with new material, or reinforce and apply what has just been learned.

If Online Class: On D2L, this could take the form of online discussions (be sure students are required to clearly use course information in their posts!), activities that permit students to use course content that is currently being learned, and parameters that direct deeper processing (such as having Turnitin score cutoffs as a requirement –this requires students to write more in their own words).

Related Resources:

About Information-Processing Theory

A new term that is beginning to get noticed in the world of teaching is “interleaving,” which refers to switching around between topics while learning. At a macro level for students, this means studying their diverse class materials across classes; with our instruction, it can mean diversifying what is addressed during class. While this can be more challenging to do in a semester with limited class time, you might consider synchronous or offline learning activities that regularly require your students to recall or use information from various units or categories of your course. For example, you might have a brief, short-answer quiz that asks students to define or explain, in their own words, three key concepts that are from various course segments.

Related Resources:

The Interleaving Effect: Mixing It Up Boosts Learning

How To Use Interleaving to Foster Deeper Learning

Interleaving: A Teacher’s Guide

Research on learning has demonstrated that one of the most effective means for student retention is to practice recalling what has been addressed during the class or from a previous class. Consider including low-stakes (ungraded) mini-quizzes, polls, and/or entry-or exit-activities (what was the main idea from today’s lecture). Another strategy is to ask students to periodically close their notes/books and have them write down as much as they can about the present topic before turning to compare with a neighbor. These practices can help reinforce students’ retention of key course ideas.

Related Resources: 

Optimising Learning Using Retrieval Practice

Downloadable materials for your quick reference or to give students

 

Critical thinking happens better when students know, more automatically, foundational information that should be brought into consideration. Knowing this information automatically means they have more working memory space available for processing new problems or deeper questions. Therefore, consider ways you might help students to more automatically know this foundational material, such as by continuing to integrate it in activities throughout the term or requiring retrieval practice of the information (e.g., using quizzes or practice quizzes).

Related Resources:

Automaticity: It's Automatic

Students are more likely to think critically if it is explicitly taught to them. You might consider offering an activity or interactive module about critical thinking, as well as using the vocabulary of CT and modeling the “elements of thought” in your own communications with students.

Related Resources:

Elements of Thought

ETSU Critical Thinking Guide

 

 

 

Guiding students’ critical thinking can be challenging; it helps to know more about where they may be starting from in terms of their CT skill levels. Research indicates that at least half of undergraduate students are “Confused Fact Finders”who believe there is a single correct solution to every question or problem. Others may be more advanced, and your students may be, too, depending on where your course falls in their learning sequence. Using the attached resources, you are encouraged to think about the level(s) of critical thinkers you start your semester with for this class, and then consider adding in learning activities that can help them progress to the next level or two up –whatever you believe is an appropriate expectation by the end of the semester.

Related Resources:

Developmental levels of critical thinkers (characteristics)

Strategies that help learners at different developmental levels

Critical Thinking Activities: Group

Critical Thinking Activities: Discussion

 

Students can sometimes be threatened by being asked to think critically about material, which can lead to resistance. (CT can ask them to think in ways that challenge some of their long-standing beliefs or views.) To reduce the threat, consider ways you might introduce CT activities as games, hypothetical situations, or using other non-threatening approaches (such as asking students to create CT questions or scenarios).

Related Resources:

Critical Thinking

Students can improve their CT skills if they are given feedback about how they are doing. Following the use of activities designed for students’ CT, consider offering them feedback specifically on their CT approaches. This may not be included in their score (which should focus on content understanding), but can still be useful information for students as they hone their CT skills. An easy way to provide this feedback is through a rubric.

Related Resources:

See sample rubric available in this set of handouts

 

One way to help scaffold students’ use of deeper, more critical thinking is to guide their thinking using a series of questions. Consider creating guided inquiry activities as a way to structure and model the way experts in the discipline approach a novel problem. Using this method, you can also help teach students the importance ofseeking answers to questions from appropriate, responsible sources.

Related Resources:

What is Inquiry Guided Learning?

If you are interested in creating a guided inquiry, Dr. Patrick Brown and Dr. Alison Barton, CTE staff, are trained in POGILs (Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) and can assist you with this goal.

 

Although there are many types of activities that can require the use of critical thinking, case studies may be some of the best. Case studies allow for information collection and analysis, prioritization of information learned, and reasoned planning with an eye toward future adjustments –all steps of higher-order critical thinking development. If there is a way for you to create shorter case studies or a single, unfolding case study throughout your course, you might consider incorporating one or more into your class to help your students learn to become better critical thinkers.

Related Resources:

Case Centre

Steps for Better Thinking

Developmental Performance Patterns

Deeper critical thinking occurs when individuals are evaluating concepts or viewpoints. Consider ways you might ask students to evaluate key course ideas, perhaps by first comparing and contrasting them to other (or competing) concepts/views.

Related Resources:

Critical Thinking vs. Problem-Solving

Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts

 

Sometimes students need help seeing what critical thinking (CT) can look like. There are several ways you can model CT, such as regularly using the language of CT (such as the Elements of Thought), or by showing how different perspectives might interpret a given problem or situation. After modeling these for students, slowly scaffold these behaviors for them to eventually use (such as having them take on the different perspectives).

Related Resources:

Elements of Thought

Brookfield, S. (2017). Delivering an effective college lecture through a student's lens. ACUE Community Blog

 

An effective method for ensuring students think critically about material they are learning is to introduce problem-based learning (PBL). PBLs can take the form of short, one-day problems or problems that unfold over the course of several weeks (and are revisited once new material is introduced). These problems are introduced as scenarios for groups to work together on, using open-ended problems such that the emphasisis less on a single, correct solution and more on reasoning and support for the solution selected. PBLs are challenging to set up but you may find them worthwhile for students’ critical thinking.

Related Resources:

Problem-Based Learning

PBL: 6 Steps to Design, Implement, and Assess

There can be a number of creative ways to do discussions, either online or in class, besides the standard methods. Consider ideas such as fishbowl or snowballing as possibilities, which can not only diversify how discussions are done but might give them more sense of purposeful direction. The attached resource will give you more information about these types of discussions.

If Online: Arranging these online takes creativity but is possible!

Related Resources:

Speaking and Listening Techniques

Pinwheel Discussion Instructions

4 Types of Discussion Forums in Online Courses

 

 

When teaching synchronously, it can be tempting to reserve all of your class time for information-sharing and active learning. However, you can design some asynchronous learning activities for students to complete before coming to class that can help them become familiar with course material, leaving more class time for activities that help students more deeply explore, apply, or synthesize that information. This is often referred to as “flipping” a class, but for optimal effect, be sure those pre-class activities are learner-active, rather than learner-passive.

Related Resources:

To Learn, Students need to DO Something (podcast)

 

One way to keep your students actively learning while progressively introducing new material to them is to use a guided inquiry activity (these can sometimes be referred to as POGILs, or Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning). These activities can be short or more extensive, and can be designed for online delivery as well. See the attached resources for more information; Dr. Patrick Brown and Dr. Alison Barton are also POGIL-trained practitioners in the CTE and can discuss the strategy more with you, if you are interested.

Related Resources:

What is POGIL?

POGIL Design Materials

POGIL Resources @ pogil.org

 

Sometimes students can benefit from exploring information in different modalities, as a way to gain better perspective. For units you are teaching, consider offering a few additional active-learning options for students that they can either optionally complete or can be presented as a “menu” from which they select. Options might include, but are not limited to, tutorials (such as video with embedded quiz questions), simulations, podcasts, TED Talks, short video explanations (curated from those available already online), discussions, practice quizzes, and articles. For optimal learning with straight information-delivery items (e.g., podcasts, videos), consider including some guiding questions.

Related Resources:

ATS Resources for Online Course Development: Diversifying Your Course Content

OER Commons

Although students expect to be “told what to know” from traditional lectures, this method of instruction keeps them passive rather than active. While some lecturing may be needed to share new information, best practices are to keep them short and break them up with activities. You might wish to consider ways that you can shorten lectures and use other activities during class time; see the attached resources for some ideas that will help students learn what you are teaching in engaged ways. Suggestions in addition to those in the link might include case studies, simulations, games, service learning or other civic engagement, guest speakers, and research projects.

Related Resources:

Varying Your Teaching Activities

Davis, B. (2009). Tools for Teaching. San Francisco, CA : Jossey-Bass. Sherrod Library. (See chapter 5.)

Time in class may be most effectively spent engaging students in using the concepts or skills they are learning, rather than introducing the concepts to them through lecture or direct instruction. Consider ways students can actively become familiar with course material prior to your class time by completing pre-class assignments, such as reading with guiding questions or watching videos with embedded quizzes. One particular approach, Team-Based Learning, includes a “readiness assurance test” at the start of class, followed by activities that have students working together to apply and extend their knowledge in teams.

Related Resources:

Team-Based Learning Collaborative

Learn TBL

 

Many motivation theories emphasize the important role of autonomy (or a sense of control) in increasing motivation. One key way you can assist with students feeling more autonomous in your course could be to offer them some choices or control during the semester. You can still set parameters around these choices to ensure they are appropriate. Ideas for increasing a sense of control can include: creating a student-informed syllabus, adapting the class based on mid-term surveys. Choices in a class can include choosing group members, choosing topic or modality (e.g., paper, video, podcast episode, etc.) for a project or summative assessment, or choosing from a menu of learning activities.You can also allow students to propose their own activity.

Related Resources:

Beating the Mid-Semester Slump: Increasing Motivation through Student Autonomy

Motivating Students