As Pogo Possum realised, 'We have met the enemy, and they is us.' I see a major problem being that most university professors are amateurs when it comes to pedagogy, few having any training at all in teaching. Maybe the problem is not the students. My philosophy:
Romie F. Littrell � Statement of Teaching Philosophy and Practise
Most ideas about teaching are not new, but not everyone knows the old ideas.
--Euclid, c. 300 BC
Teaching tertiary education requires instilling in students an appreciation of the balance between learning and performance. Our objective is to impart learning; students have been motivated by parents, teachers, admissions offices, and employers to earn high performance ratings, sometimes at the expense of thorough knowledge of a content area. The burden usually falls on the teacher to ensure that measures of performance encourage learning.
From extensive experience as a business practitioner and educator, I have defined a set of topics that a student needs to master to succeed, consisting of content, analysis, and problem-solving. This set of topics is continually tested against reality by conversations with businesspeople, thorough analysis of global media offerings, reading of academic journals, particularly the Journal of Teaching in International Business (all business is international, even the part-time lawn-mowing service), and conversations with students as to what they want to learn.
Currently my classroom instruction is based around Chalmers, D. & Fuller, R. (1996) Teaching for Learning at University, publisher: Kogan Page, and the Teaching and Educational Development Institute of Australia,
www.tedi.uq.edu.au. When teaching, I generally employ a textbook and case studies, supplemented by readings from the literature and current news articles incorporated into chapter topics. Most textbooks require preparation of supplementary chapters from scratch to cover what I believe to be necessary knowledge to succeed in the business world, either as a practitioner or as an academic. Weekly formative or summative assessments of comprehension of reading assignments are carried out to encourage reading that informs in-class discussions. Classes consist primarily of discussion and questions and answers (both directions), storytelling, informal group work for reflection and discussion, and some lectures. When a topic deals with international business, students from
geographic areas discussed are asked to share their insights and opinions. Videos are used when appropriate and available. Relevant guest speakers and field trips are arranged when appropriate and available.
I am familiar with using �BLACKBOARD� on-line and design courses, even locally delivered courses, to use it.
My reading of learning research indicates that for maximum student learning and retention, approximately only 50 percent of the material presented in any lecture should be new. The rest of class time should be devoted to material or activities designed to reinforce the material in students' minds. I design my classes attempting to follow this guideline. Specifically, the processes I attempt to follow are well-expressed in a number of the articles at:
http://www.active-learning-site.com/sum1.htm, summarised below:
1. Provide a preview of information prior to an explanation: Research suggests that this can be done effectively in one of three ways: An overview, designed to familiarise students with what is to be learnt, can both facilitate student achievement and create positive student perception of a lecturer�s presentations. Specifically an overview should be short and precise, providing a statement of the overall idea to be presented, the importance of the information to be learnt, and a statement that outlines the structure of the content to be presented. A second preview is a set induction, which consists of two parts. Prior to the presentation, students are given a commonly known referent in the form of an analogy. During the presentation, new information is constantly referred back to the introductory analogy. This procedure allows students to link unfamiliar material with a concept they already understand. Research suggests this approach encourages student involvement, creates a
positive student perception of the lecture, and increases student achievement with regard to both short term and long term retention. The third preview strategy is the advance organiser, which is an introductory statement at a higher level of abstraction than the detailed, related information in the presentation. The advance organiser, therefore, provides an appropriate conceptual framework, depending upon the age and level of the students, for understanding the material to follow. Also, the organiser should provide a link between students� previous understanding and the material to follow, giving concrete examples wherever possible.
2. Organise information within a step-by-step lesson sequence: When exposed to too much material at one time, student learning is reduced. It is important that the presentation begins with information that is simple, concrete, familiar and explicit, then progresses to information that is increasingly complex, abstract, unfamiliar, not explicit, and long.
3. Assess student learning when information is being given: The instructor should actively and frequently determine if student understand the material that has been presented. Specific strategies to engage students could include discussion questions, written responses (summaries, analytical lists, "what didn�t you understand?�, in-class journals), formative (un-graded) quizzes, written problems, etc. Whatever the technique, the goal is systematically and explicitly to see if students understand what was being presented.
4. Signal transitions between information: Transitions allow students to switch attention between topics, maintain focus and reduce confusion. The key is to make the transition explicit, then to relate the previous information to the new information.
5. Use multiple examples to illustrate information points: Well-chosen examples illustrate and clarify the conceptual material being presented by making the abstract concrete and understandable. Multiple examples lead to increased student learning and retention of material. Obtain student feedback to see if the examples are understood.
6. Stress important points during explanations: Lecturers need to draw students� attention to the material that is most crucial in the presentation being given. It is particularly important to stress anticipated difficult points, using detailed, redundant explanations for difficult concepts. Other techniques include 1) writing and underling key concepts on the blackboard; 2) enumerating points; and 3) using voice inflection or pausing after a point; or employing verbal signals such as "It is important to remember".
7. Provide for brief pauses at appropriate times during the lecture: As a result of rapid teacher-talk students often are not given adequate time to process information. This has two consequences: 1) students have trouble taking good notes and 2) they often cannot make sense of what is being said. Research suggests that the amount of notes a student takes correlates positively with achievement. Yet, while teachers talk at a rate of 120-240 words per minute, many students are only capable of taking notes at a rate of 20 words per minute. In addition, one study (Ruhl, 1987)[1] demonstrated that pausing periodically for as much as two minutes so that students could compare notes, led to a significant increase (both statistically and educationally) in both short-term and long-term recall.
8. Eliminate additional unexplained content nonessential to current explanation: Research shows that presenting less is more effective.[2]
9. Review information frequently: Periodically during a presentation, but particularly at the end of difficult material, lecturers need to review and summarise the main points. These reviews, carefully presented, demonstrably increase student learning.
Assessments
Summative assessments, even in lower-level classes, consist of team-prepared case study analyses (with oral presentations for smaller classes). Members are assigned to teams to maximise the cultural and gender diversity. Also, content-knowledge examinations or workbook assignments, and a final exam consisting of applying knowledge from the classroom activities and reading material to situations from the case analysed by the teams. For research degree classes, assessments include a student-selected literature review on an appropriate topic.
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[1] Ruhl, K. L., Hughes, C. A., & Schloss, P. J. (1987). Using the pause procedure to enhance lecture recall. Teacher Education and Special Education, 10, 14-18.
[2] Russell. I.J., Hendricson, W.D., & Herbert, R.J. (1984). Effects of lecture information density on medical student achievement. Journal of Medical Education, 59, 881-889.
Charles Wankel <
wankelc@optonline.net> wrote:
Excerpt from: Thomas Barlett, "Taking Control of the Classroom: Faculty
members devise strategies to keep rude students in order," Chronicle of
Higher Education, September 17, 2004, Section: The Faculty,
Volume 51, Issue 4, Page A8. Available at:
http://chronicle.com/free/v51/i04/04a00801.htm
It was the class from hell.
Some students slept, others chatted. They showed up late and left early. The
few who tried to pay attention were distracted by the majority who didn't.
All of which made Delaney Kirk
<
http://www.cbpa.drake.edu/aspx/Directory/DirectoryDetail.aspx?id=23>
a professor of management at Drake University, feel frustrated and
depressed. "I got to the point where I hated going to the classroom," she
says.
Rather than shrug it off, Ms. Kirk started looking for answers. "How can I
be a professor of management if I can't manage my own class?" she asked
herself.
That was three years ago. Now Ms. Kirk, who continues to teach at Drake,
travels as a paid consultant to other campuses teaching professors how to
take control of their classes. The sessions are part workshop, part support
group. Professors trade stories about chiming cellphones and rustling
newspapers during lectures. They nod sympathetically at tales of freshmen
snoring in the front row.
What Ms. Kirk hears again and again in these workshops -- even from longtime
faculty members -- is that students have become more difficult in the past
few years. And many professors are worried that such rude behavior, which
may sound trivial to outsiders, threatens to undermine their teaching.
"They're seeing that this new generation is less respectful and more
demanding," says Ms. Kirk, who is at work on a book called Classroom
Management: Tips to Help You Teach Like a Pro, scheduled to be published in
the spring.
Sometimes students themselves complain about classroom disruptions (The
Chronicle, August 8, 2003). But now more faculty members, like Ms. Kirk, are
taking action before problems begin. "Once I laid down the rules in my
class, I thought, 'These evaluations are going to be horrible,'" she says.
"But they weren't. I found that students wanted someone to be in charge."
Laying down the rules can be done in a variety of ways. Like Ms. Kirk, John
Drea noticed more behavior problems in his classes in recent years. It's not
as if students were setting fire to the room or taking him hostage. But they
seemed to be talking more and caring less. And it bothered him.
"You reach a point where you can't ignore it," says Mr. Drea, a professor of
marketing at Western Illinois University.
He mentioned his concern to a couple of colleagues in the business school,
and together they arrived at a very businesslike solution: Why not ask
students to sign a contract in which they promised to behave themselves?
The Contract
Mr. Drea wrote a draft of the 1,100-word document and gave it to the two
other professors, who made additions and revisions. The contract says, among
other things, that students should turn off their cellphones, and that it's
a good idea to turn in assignments on time and to wait until class is over
before walking out the door. Students who fail to abide by the contract will
have points knocked off their grades. Professors, for their part, promise to
be on time for class -- and to turn off their own cellphones.
Mr. Drea and his colleagues, who wondered if students would find it
offensive to be reminded of such basic niceties, decided to try it anyway.
Last spring they handed out the contracts in their classes at Western
Illinois and asked the students to sign. Nearly all did so; those who didn't
were asked to observe its rules anyway.
The professors say they noticed a difference right away. Class sessions were
more civil. And when a problem did arise, they could simply refer to the
contract.
"We don't want to bark at students, because that creates tension," says Mr.
Drea. "This gets all the expectations upfront on the first day of class."
Still, they wanted some proof that the contract deserved the credit. At the
end of the semester they surveyed their students and found that 57 percent
of them had found it helpful. Among them was Marcy Thomasson, a senior
marketing major, who finds it annoying when her fellow students talk instead
of listen. "I think it's kind of sad that it needs to be stated," she says,
"but in the classes I've been in, it has made a difference."
Interestingly, according to the survey, most students felt that the contract
had improved the behavior of their fellow students but had had no effect on
their own behavior. "It's the Lake Wobegon effect," says Mr. Drea.
"'Everyone else is misbehaving. I'm the angel.'"
Not all of Christine S. Schwartzott's students have been angels. In fact,
the instructor of visual and performing arts at Monroe Community College has
even called security guards to escort a student from the room. (He had
refused to meet with an administrator about his behavior problems.)
"People think we exaggerate, but it happens," she says.
After one class she confronted a student who had been fast asleep during her
lecture. She informed him that sleeping in class was equal to an absence.
The sleepy student's response: "F you."
To help cope with such encounters, Ms. Schwartzott started a support group
at the Rochester, N.Y., college to let instructors commiserate about
unpleasant student behavior. Among them she discovered what she calls "an
undercurrent of frustration." And from those discussions emerged a slogan:
Take Back the Classroom.
She advocates a take-no-prisoners pedagogical approach, including never
bending your own rules. She insists that student come to class on time, pay
attention, and not talk to each other during lectures. "Do you have to be a
dictator?" she says. "Well, that depends on the climate of your class."
Ms. Schwartzott is among those who assert that students in recent years have
become less attentive and more combative.
Laurie Richlin, for one, doesn't buy it. Ms. Richlin, director of the
Preparing Future Faculty program at Claremont Graduate University, says
professors have always complained about students. "I'm not saying there
aren't difficult students," she argues, "but it's not like this is a bad
generation."
As for students nodding off midlecture, she wonders if it's really their
fault. "Maybe there's nothing going on," she says.
Ms. Richlin tells professors that they must have "clear and observable
learning objectives" -- in other words, they must make plain what students
need to know.
"What happens is that courses aren't well designed," she says. "Maybe that's
why people lose interest."
She is writing a book on course design that is scheduled to be published by
Stylus next year.
'A Disaster'
Shari Laprise's students lost interest in her biology course last fall. It
was her first semester teaching at Babson College, and she hoped that
undergraduates would care -- at least a little -- about the subject. They
didn't.
Each day she would ask the class several times to quiet down before giving
up. Only a handful of the 36 students showed the slightest interest in what
she had to say. "Every time I walked into that classroom I had to take a
deep breath," she says. "I couldn't wait to get out of there."
Returning to her office after class, she "wanted to scream," she recalls.
Ms. Laprise, an assistant professor, told friends she wasn't sure she would
make it through the first year. "It was a disaster," she says.
Not wanting to repeat the experience, she signed up for Delaney Kirk's
three-day workshop. The Drake professor preaches the importance of
establishing your credibility on the first day of class. She also encourages
professors to get tough if necessary. She recalls awakening one napping
student and telling him to go to the health center. "He said 'No, I'm fine,'
and I said 'No, you need to go,'" she remembers. "He never slept in my class
again."
Ms. Laprise says the workshop gave her some ideas that she hopes will make
this semester more tolerable.
As for Mr. Drea, who wrote the contract on classroom behavior, he says he is
planning to use it in all of his classes from now on. He thinks it might
catch on elsewhere, too. "When I'm at a conference, sitting around having a
beer, this is the one thing we all have in common," he says. "We may not
understand each other's research, but we all understand this."
TIPS FOR MANAGING A CLASSROOM
In the workshops she teaches, Delaney J. Kirk, a professor of management at
Drake University, offers professors advice on how to make a class run
smoothly. Here are her top suggestions:
� Establish credibility on the first day of class. Let students know why
you're the best person to teach this course.
� Show students you care about them as people. Learn their names and where
they're from.
� Be consistent. If you tell the class that late papers won't be accepted,
then don't accept them.
� Deal with discipline problems as soon as they occur.
� Demonstrate that your knowledge of the material is up to date and will
benefit them in the long run.
Related link:
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your browser's url window to have it load properly.
Romie F. Littrell, PhD, An f�na� fi�in
Faculty of Business, Auckland University of Technology
Private Bag 1020
Auckland 1020, New Zealand
Fax (64) 9 - 917 -9629
http://www.romielittrellpubs.homestead.com/
http://www.crossculturalcentre.homestead.com/
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