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  • 1.  Query concerning processes for teaching very large classes

    Posted 08-05-2012 10:49
    My faculty is initiating effectiveness, quality development and improvement process for teaching large classes (some define as 50 or more, some define as 100s). If you have a comment, an exemplary programme description, a reference, an idea, or an insight, please send to romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz; I'll compile them and repost to the list.
    Thanks,
    Romie Littrell
     
    Hope for the USA? "If something is unsustainable, it will stop."--Herb Stein, an economic adviser to Richard Nixon
    Romie F. Littrell, BA, MBA,PhD, FIAIR, An fánaí fiáin
    AUT Business School N.Z., romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz
    http://www.romielittrellpubs.homestead.com/
    Facilitator, Leadership & Management in Sub-Sahara Africa Conferences
    Contents copyright Romie F. Littrell




  • 2.  Query concerning processes for teaching very large classes

    Posted 08-06-2012 13:12
    Hello, Romi -

    Before I left higher education for my own consulting firm (early in 2012) I knew of one technique used by faculty teaching large classes - or sensitive content.  It was a keypad-audience response system (ARS) approach.

    In the first case, each student was issued a keypad by the university.  Faculty in the biology classes (200+ lecture hall) would use intermittent quizzes on complex material (e.g., definition of meiosis or mitosis) to see if the majority of the students were "getting" the concepts.  I heard these faculty describe in a workshop that it was a very effective method for knowing whether to reinforce ideas or move on to the next topic.  Students didn't care for the idea that faculty could also use it to check on attendance, but that's another discussion.  This type of use required considerable infrastructure costs in the larger lecture halls for such things as wireless access, receivers built into the podium or walls, etc.

    Another example was faculty teaching more sensitive subjects, e.g. human sexuality in psychology classes,. In that instance, the ARS could be used it to find out how many students were knowledgeable about STDs or about personal experiences, etc., with anonymity.  In these settings, students were issued keypads randomly as they entered classes and infrastructure included only software for receiving signals and polling that was resident on the faculty computer. 

    Tech assistance usually had to be available for either application.  When I needed the devices or information about them I used our Resource Center for Teaching and Learning at my institution; generally that group needed the support of Information Technology staff.

    Some good background information is available at http://irespond.com/products/?gclid=CIXS1bm707ECFce8KgodC24A_w. 

    David A. Banks wrote about these Audience Response Systems in Higher Education; the table of contents can be viewed at Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Audience-Response-Systems-Higher-Education/dp/1591409489

    Best wishes,

    Julie Smendzuik-O'Brien

    Smendzuik-O'Brien Consulting
    previously at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." Antoine de Saint Exupery, The Little Prince





    On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 9:49 AM, Romie Littrell <littrellaom@yahoo.co.nz> wrote:
    My faculty is initiating effectiveness, quality development and improvement process for teaching large classes (some define as 50 or more, some define as 100s). If you have a comment, an exemplary programme description, a reference, an idea, or an insight, please send to romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz; I'll compile them and repost to the list.
    Thanks,
    Romie Littrell
     
    Hope for the USA? "If something is unsustainable, it will stop."--Herb Stein, an economic adviser to Richard Nixon
    Romie F. Littrell, BA, MBA,PhD, FIAIR, An fánaí fiáin
    AUT Business School N.Z., romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz
    http://www.romielittrellpubs.homestead.com/
    Facilitator, Leadership & Management in Sub-Sahara Africa Conferences
    Contents copyright Romie F. Littrell








  • 3.  Query concerning processes for teaching very large classes

    Posted 08-07-2012 07:22
    To expand on Julie's great post, Eric Mazure has done quite a bit of research on how to use what many call "clickers." There are some who use them in management (me included) but you really have to read Mazure's work to understand just how powerful this technology can be when used deliberately and systemically. See his work on "peer instruction."

    http://mazur.harvard.edu/education/educationmenu.php

    Ken Brown

    Sent from my iPhone

    On Aug 7, 2012, at 12:18 AM, "Julie Smendzuik-O'Brien" <jsmendzuik@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

    Hello, Romi -

    Before I left higher education for my own consulting firm (early in 2012) I knew of one technique used by faculty teaching large classes - or sensitive content.  It was a keypad-audience response system (ARS) approach.

    In the first case, each student was issued a keypad by the university.  Faculty in the biology classes (200+ lecture hall) would use intermittent quizzes on complex material (e.g., definition of meiosis or mitosis) to see if the majority of the students were "getting" the concepts.  I heard these faculty describe in a workshop that it was a very effective method for knowing whether to reinforce ideas or move on to the next topic.  Students didn't care for the idea that faculty could also use it to check on attendance, but that's another discussion.  This type of use required considerable infrastructure costs in the larger lecture halls for such things as wireless access, receivers built into the podium or walls, etc.

    Another example was faculty teaching more sensitive subjects, e.g. human sexuality in psychology classes,. In that instance, the ARS could be used it to find out how many students were knowledgeable about STDs or about personal experiences, etc., with anonymity.  In these settings, students were issued keypads randomly as they entered classes and infrastructure included only software for receiving signals and polling that was resident on the faculty computer. 

    Tech assistance usually had to be available for either application.  When I needed the devices or information about them I used our Resource Center for Teaching and Learning at my institution; generally that group needed the support of Information Technology staff.

    Some good background information is available at http://irespond.com/products/?gclid=CIXS1bm707ECFce8KgodC24A_w. 

    David A. Banks wrote about these Audience Response Systems in Higher Education; the table of contents can be viewed at Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Audience-Response-Systems-Higher-Education/dp/1591409489

    Best wishes,

    Julie Smendzuik-O'Brien

    Smendzuik-O'Brien Consulting
    previously at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." Antoine de Saint Exupery, The Little Prince





    On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 9:49 AM, Romie Littrell <littrellaom@yahoo.co.nz> wrote:
    My faculty is initiating effectiveness, quality development and improvement process for teaching large classes (some define as 50 or more, some define as 100s). If you have a comment, an exemplary programme description, a reference, an idea, or an insight, please send to romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz; I'll compile them and repost to the list.
    Thanks,
    Romie Littrell
     
    Hope for the USA? "If something is unsustainable, it will stop."--Herb Stein, an economic adviser to Richard Nixon
    Romie F. Littrell, BA, MBA,PhD, FIAIR, An fánaí fiáin
    AUT Business School N.Z., romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz
    http://www.romielittrellpubs.homestead.com/
    Facilitator, Leadership & Management in Sub-Sahara Africa Conferences
    Contents copyright Romie F. Littrell








  • 4.  Query concerning processes for teaching very large classes

    Posted 08-08-2012 00:45

    Julie,

    If you have an interest in earlier uses of ARS you might want to check a dissertation that describes effectiveness of such systems.
    ARS was a component of a research project using branched film with alternative paths, in conjunction with an illusion of viewers immersed in the film.
    It was not especially aimed at large classes; the emphasis was on application of combined technologies.
    Technologies included subjective camera to produce the film, branching at decision points, and ARS for students to chose alternatives at break points.

    If you are interested in this, please let me know and I'll look up a citation.

    Morton

    =========
    On 8/6/12 7:12 AM, Julie Smendzuik-O'Brien wrote:
    xQ@mail.gmail.com" type="cite">Hello, Romi -

    Before I left higher education for my own consulting firm (early in 2012) I knew of one technique used by faculty teaching large classes - or sensitive content.  It was a keypad-audience response system (ARS) approach.

    In the first case, each student was issued a keypad by the university.  Faculty in the biology classes (200+ lecture hall) would use intermittent quizzes on complex material (e.g., definition of meiosis or mitosis) to see if the majority of the students were "getting" the concepts.  I heard these faculty describe in a workshop that it was a very effective method for knowing whether to reinforce ideas or move on to the next topic.  Students didn't care for the idea that faculty could also use it to check on attendance, but that's another discussion.  This type of use required considerable infrastructure costs in the larger lecture halls for such things as wireless access, receivers built into the podium or walls, etc.

    Another example was faculty teaching more sensitive subjects, e.g. human sexuality in psychology classes,. In that instance, the ARS could be used it to find out how many students were knowledgeable about STDs or about personal experiences, etc., with anonymity.  In these settings, students were issued keypads randomly as they entered classes and infrastructure included only software for receiving signals and polling that was resident on the faculty computer. 

    Tech assistance usually had to be available for either application.  When I needed the devices or information about them I used our Resource Center for Teaching and Learning at my institution; generally that group needed the support of Information Technology staff.

    Some good background information is available at http://irespond.com/products/?gclid=CIXS1bm707ECFce8KgodC24A_w. 

    David A. Banks wrote about these Audience Response Systems in Higher Education; the table of contents can be viewed at Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Audience-Response-Systems-Higher-Education/dp/1591409489

    Best wishes,

    Julie Smendzuik-O'Brien

    Smendzuik-O'Brien Consulting
    previously at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." Antoine de Saint Exupery, The Little Prince





    On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 9:49 AM, Romie Littrell <littrellaom@yahoo.co.nz> wrote:
    My faculty is initiating effectiveness, quality development and improvement process for teaching large classes (some define as 50 or more, some define as 100s). If you have a comment, an exemplary programme description, a reference, an idea, or an insight, please send to romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz; I'll compile them and repost to the list.
    Thanks,
    Romie Littrell
     
    Hope for the USA? "If something is unsustainable, it will stop."--Herb Stein, an economic adviser to Richard Nixon
    Romie F. Littrell, BA, MBA,PhD, FIAIR, An fánaí fiáin
    AUT Business School N.Z., romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz
    http://www.romielittrellpubs.homestead.com/
    Facilitator, Leadership & Management in Sub-Sahara Africa Conferences
    Contents copyright Romie F. Littrell