Chris Anson North Carolina State University

Learner-Centered Teaching:Helping Students to Succeed

Qatar UniversityMay 1, 2007

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Your Turn . . .

• Please read the sample assignment from Political Science 300.

• With one or two other people, critique the assignment.

• Be ready to share some ideas for revision that would improve the assignment.

Biggs’ Levels of Thinking about Teaching

what the student

is

what the teacher

does

what the studentdoes

Level 1 Thinking About Teaching

What the student is• Responsibility for success is placed on the student• Teacher separates “good” from “bad” students• Bad students lack motivation, interest• Teaching remains constant; students are often perceived

to be getting “worse”• Reinforces a deficit model of learning (failure blamed on

student)• Sees teaching as transmitting information

Example: Computer Programming

LECTURES TESTS

TEACHER STUDENTS

T. Jenkins, “Teaching Programming: A Journey from Teacher to Motivator.” www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/Events/conf2001

Level 2 Thinking About Teaching

What the teacher does• Responsibility for success is placed on the teacher• Teachers can be separated into “good” and “bad”• Good teachers use engaging techniques (humorous

lectures, demonstrations, etc.); teacher is still the center of attention (“sage on the stage”)

• Aim is to engage students through performance• Reinforces a deficit model of learning (failure blamed on

teacher)• Sees teaching as transmitting understanding

Example: Computer Programming

TESTS

TEACHER STUDENTS

• Tosses balls to show parameter passing

• Wears different hats to indicate flow control

• Acts out algorithms

Level 3 Thinking About Teaching

What the student does• Focus is on engagement in carefully designed activities• Responsibility is on clear understanding of purpose for tasks• Good teaching involves strategic thinking, motivation, and

support for learning• Adopts an active learning model based on constructive

alignment• Failure comes from lack of support and/or misalignment of

goals and assessment• Sees teaching as creating an environment of activities and

assessments that students can’t escape without learning

Example: Computer Programming

TEACHER STUDENTS• Explores students’

motivations

• Engages students in writing programs alone and in groups

• Problem-solves programs in class

• Transmits in the context of activities

• Work on programs

• Identify problems and collectively solve them

• Provide evidence of learning in multiple tasks and assessments

Constructive Alignment

• Traditionally, educational systems are not aligned

• The curriculum is usually a list of topics telling teachers what to "cover"

• The default teaching method is the lecture, in which students are told about the topic—they don't have to enact their understanding

• Memorizing material to report back in an exam likewise rarely requires students to put their understanding to work

http://www.johnbiggs.com.au/constructive.html

Constructive Alignment

• Achieved by expressing the intended learning outcomes in terms of what students have to do to demonstrate they have constructed knowledge at an appropriate level of understanding

• The outcomes contain a learning activity, a verb, that they need to perform to properly achieve the outcome

• Teaching requires students to engage in that same activity as far as possible, while the same activity is embedded in the assessment task so it can confirm how well the outcomes have been achieved

http://www.johnbiggs.com.au/constructive.html

More Examples of Misalignment

• Missing, undefined, implicit, or mixed goals

• Activities in class ill-suited to achieving goals

• Assignments out of class ill-suited to achieving goals

• Lack of support for learning what is necessary to accomplish the goals

• Assessment does not match goal

Instructional Design Model

Develop Goals for Student Learning

Create Supporting Activities for Student

Learning

Evaluate Learning

DesignAssignments

Low-stakes/informal

High stakes/formal

The Instructional Design Model

Develop Goals for Student Learning

Create Supporting Activities for Student

Learning

Evaluate Learning

Design WritingAssignments

Low-stakes/informal

High stakes/formal

What new knowledge, skills, and processes do you want students

to be able to know or use?

The Instructional Design Model

Develop Goals for Student Learning

Create Supporting Activities for Student

Learning

Evaluate Learning

Design WritingAssignments

Low-stakes/informal

High stakes/formal

How does your assignment help

to accomplish those goals?

The Instructional Design Model

Develop Goals for Students Learning

Create Supporting Activities for Student

Learning

Evaluate Learning

Design WritingAssignments

Low-stakes/informal

High stakes/formal

What activities support the development

of the (high-stakes, formal) assignment?

The Instructional Design Model

Develop Goals for Students Learning

Create Supporting Activities for Student

Learning

Evaluate Learning

Design WritingAssignments

Low-stakes/informal

High stakes/formal

How do you judge whether the learning

goals are reflected in students’

products?

The Instructional Design Model

Develop Goals for Student Learning

Evaluate Learning

Design WritingAssignments

Low-stakes/informal:• Focus is on content of course• Some aspects of form are de-emphasized• Writing is usually brief (overnight)• Use of the writing in class is essential

Minute Papers

• Students write for one minute at the start or end of a class session, focusing on specific problems, concerns, confusions, etc.

• Research is showing that in experimental sections that include minute papers, students are performing statistically higher on exams

Microtheme: Organic Chemistry

Respond to the following letter:

Dear Organic Chemistry Student: I take an aspirin tablet daily, as I heard that it has many beneficial health effects (such as reducing the risk of a stroke and/or heart attack). I usually buy large supplies, since it is most cost effective. However, I have noticed that even before the printed expiry date, the tablets have an increasingly strong smell of vinegar. They cannot be contaminated with vinegar because I store them in a medicine cabinet in my bathroom. Is the smell an indication that the tablets have "gone off" and should be discarded? I also use Paracetamol® (not daily, only when I have a headache). I have not noticed the same change in smell although these tablets are stored in the same place as the aspirin. Should I switch to Paracetamol® or should I buy a different brand of aspirin, probably one manufactured by a pharmaceutical company with a recognizable name?

MedCurious

Microtheme: Organic Chemistry (cont’d)

Before responding, it is suggested that you find out the following:1. What are the chemical names of the active ingredients of aspirin

and Paracetamol® tablets?2. What are the chemical structures of the active ingredients?3. What functional groups are present and what bonds are likely to

break easily?4. Under what conditions would these bonds break and what can be

done to prevent such breakage?5. What will be the likely decomposition products?6. What are the modes of action of the active ingredients?7. Would the decomposition products be as efficacious?

http://socrates.bmcc.cuny.edu/wac/assignments.html#informal

Example: Crop Science

• Goal: extend the study of genetics to applications and solutions to problems

• Method: Students work in teams to discover newsworthy items and do a mini-presentation (10 mins. max.) to the class and a follow-up low-stakes paper focusing on the genetics in the item

Example Example

Double Entry Journal

Original Passage

Creative people, often characterized as "oppositional," may find

their innovative ideas undervalued.

Excerpt of ResponseMaybe . . . I think it depends on the context. I also think that ordinary people in their everyday lives can come up with creative ideas that are neither undervalued nor oppositional. For example, I was pleased that I came up with the yellow post-it-notes passed around as a new way to introduce "Send-a-Problem.”http://www.usafa.af.mil

Microtheme: Physics

The special theory of relativity rests on two experimentally verified principles, one of which (the constancy of the speed of light) is so surprising and hard to accept that after hearing it for the first time, most people either miss the point or think they must have misunderstood what was said. Explain this non-intuitive property of light in a way that would be clear and understandable to a non-scientist. Using non-technical language and analogies from everyday life, contrast the behavior of light with that of familiar objects traveling at speeds much less than c. Length: One page.(http://www.indiana.edu/~cwp/assgn/biomods/p300.html

Example: Zoology

Arrange the propositions below in a logical order, connect the individual statements with appropriate transitions, and arrive at a conclusion that is supported by your argument. Using all of the points supplied below, write a 2-page essay on the topic, “The relationship between coral and zooxanthellae.”

• Coral reefs are formed by scleractinian corals that typically occur in shallow (<60m) water.

• Hermatypic corals contain photosynthetic algae (zooxanthellae) in special membrane- bound cavities inside the cells of the gastrodermis.

• Reef corals are limited to clear water because suspended material interferes with the transmission of light.

• Over two-thirds of the metabolic requirements of corals are provided by zooxanthellae. [Etc.]

cwp.missouri.edu/resources/samples

Example: Economics

• Goal: understand Adam Smith’s concept of the “invisible hand” in a microeconomic context

• Method: Students enter a virtual market world in which they must balance supply and demand using a set of variables that, if manipulated, will result in market failure. They are then given Smith reading and they write a low-stakes reflection paper on “why my market failed or succeeded”

Instructional Design Model

Develop Goals for Student Learning

Create Supporting Activities for Student

Learning

Evaluate Learning

DesignAssignments

Low-stakes/informal

High stakes/formal

Instructional Design Model

Develop Goals for Student Learning

Create Supporting Activities for Student

Learning

Evaluate Learning

DesignAssignments

High stakes/formal

High-stakes/formal:• Focus includes formal characteristics such as appropriate style, structure, etc.• Writing usually assumes an audience• Language conventions emphasized • Multiple drafts are essential

Providing Support: Before the Text

• In-class practice of processes required in assignment

• Discussion of materials relating to assignment

• Applications• Field work• Work with readings• Simulations• Role play• Analysis of sample data

SUPPORT

Landscape Design: Assignment

Goal: Critically evaluate an existing design and express the results in writing as a free assessment and recommendations for the owner of the property.

Sketch of assignment: Professional critique of a landscape of the student’s choice. The critique is intended as a pro bono assessment written for the owner of the space. It should be informative without including a lot of technical jargon.

Landscape Design: Processes

• Observe space (site visit).• Take critical notes: attention to elements

studied and discussed in class (including form/function, color, etc.).

• Formulate opinion and work toward critique.

• Write the analysis.

Landscape Design: Support

Support Most Needed: “Observe designed space; take critical notes: attention to elements studied and discussed in class.”

Supporting Activities: A 3-D interactive photo suite of a designed landscape is shown onscreen in a computer lab. Students can “walk” through it virtually and examine it from different angles, taking notes on what they see and doing low-stakes writing to begin the analysis. Full-class follow-up draws on their observations collectively, showing how to analyze various elements.

Nutritional Analysis: Assignment

Goal: Analyze and present known information about nutrition within a specific culture while respecting and valuing cultural traditions in dietary practices.Sketch of assignment: Students investigate the dietary practices of a specific cultural or ethnic group (Cuban American, Japanese, Hmong, Pakistani, Southeastern U.S., etc.). They write up a nutritional analysis in a way that balances an understanding of and respect for the culture or ethnic group.

Nutritional Analysis: Processes

• Collect information about what people in the chosen culture/ethnic group eat (typical daily menu).

• Consult data on food nutrition.• Make conversions and calculations

based on estimated quantities consumed daily.

• Write the report.

Nutritional Analysis: Support

• What Needs Support: “Consult data on food nutrition; make conversions and calculations based on estimated quantities consumed daily.”

• Supporting Activities: A sample daily menu from the Tohono O’odham (Southwest U.S.) with special focus on Indian fry bread provides raw data in class. Students work in groups, using nutritional tools, to figure nutritional values and then do a low-stakes brief report which they share with the class.

Business Principles: Assignment

Goal: To apply knowledge and perspectives from the course to specific business situations and make critical judgments about business contexts.

Sketch of assignment. Students must search employment “codes” or “rules” on the Web. Applying their knowledge from the course, they then write a report analyzing the business principles and ethics of particular regulations, looking for matches or mismatches between advocated practice and actual practice, and/or exploring certain legal or ethical problems associated with one or more practices.

Business Principles: Processes

• Locate and explore the Web site, paying special attention to its source.

• Collect statements, data, or other information that explain specific practices.

• Analyze the practices using perspectives from the course.

• Write up the analysis.

Business Principles: Support

• Support Most Needed: “Collect statements, data, or other information that explain specific practices. Analyze the practices using perspectives from the course.”

• Supporting Activities: A sample site is given (a large department store chain’s code of conduct that prohibits flirting among employees and has a hotline so they can anonymously report violations to management). The class unpacks the code a group, applying principles from the course to an analysis of the employee regulations, and exploring further legal and ethical implications.

Your Turn . . . .

• Please read the vignette titled “Active Learning and Constructive Alignment”

• In a pair or small group, please follow the instructions at the end labeled “Task.”

• Be ready to share your ideas in the larger group.

Providing Support for the Text

• Informal summaries• In-class oral progress reports

and “most interesting finding” reports

• Metacommentaries and reflection• “Microthemes” and short, low-

stakes papers• Planning• Peer response sessions• Self-assessments

SUPPORT

A traditional model of writing

assignments

Teache r gives assi gnmen t

Studen t w orks alone

Studen t turns i n best effo rt(usually a f irst draft)

Teache r reads/views (edits )the result

Studen t is s uppo sed tolearn by tri al and e rror

But the nex t assi gnmen t isdifferent . . . .

A goal-based model of writing that includes response and revision

Your Instructional Goals

Your Assignment Design

Students' First A ttempts

Revision Confer ence or Focus

Students' Revisio ns

Final Draft

Your Resp onses/ Suggestions

High Potential for Leaning

Some Potential for Learning

Places for Support

drafting, rethinking, and revising

Sta

rt o

f as

sign

men

t

most common

prelim. exploration & brainstorming

topic selection

first attempt

first full draft

second & nth drafts“rewrite”

Sub

mis

sion

for

fin

al e

valu

atio

n

practicing skills & strategies

Use Evaluation for Support

• Evaluation criteria are often hidden from view

• If they are available, they are often generalized across various assignments

• How can we help learners to internalize standards for success? How can we make evaluation productive?

• Rubrics are “shorthand” methods for categorizing desired features of responses

• Every category has more specific, underlying features

• If students don’t understand a category, they can’t use it productively

• Supporting the use of assessment rubrics for students means helping them to internalize the underlying features

What’s “Behind” a Rubric?

[ ] reflects thoughtful response/critical analysis

What is

this?

Explain and Work With Categories

Thoughtful response/critical analysis:

The thoughtful response shows that you have read the material thoroughly and reflected on it fully. It demonstrates a careful and thorough application of the question to the material at hand. It may offer some interesting and creative insights that are supported by material in the text. The response will be generally well written and structured, with an allowable informality considering the nature of the task, and there will be few errors that distract or get in the way of meaning.

Suggestions: Assessment

• It helps to craft criteria from learning goals.• Avoid collecting and grading first drafts: use

revision and peer response to improve writing before you see it.

• Match your evaluation methods to the formality of your assignment.

• Use evaluation criteria formatively.

Making Criteria Formative

• Create evaluative criteria with direct reference to your assignment goals.

• Make the criteria available to students in advance of their beginning the assignment.

• Use the criteria:• in the evaluation of sample drafts• In any supporting activities that guide students’ work• in the response questions you give students• In the collaborative formulation of criteria • In the annotated models you provide on paper or electronically

Summary

• Writing has many potential roles in instruction; clarity of goals is crucial

• Too often, we lose opportunities to maximize learning in the “assign-and-collect” model

• Providing opportunities for supporting higher-stakes assignments allows us to enrich understanding, deepen learning, and improve writing ability

Questions and Discussion