THE NEXT GENERAT IONCOURSE REDES IGN T M PRO JECT

INSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATION:

AASCU Conference – Portland, ORJuly 28, 2011

TODAY’S GOALS

• Share why UNT changed its approach to undergraduate instruction

• Describe how the Next Generation Course Redesign Project works at UNT

• Demonstrate parts of NGen courses

• Discuss barriers to course redesign

• Challenge you to think about course redesign at your institution

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WHY REDESIGN LARGE ENROLLMENT COURSES?

• Bad News – the “Perfect Storm”• High DFWI rates• Demographics – higher and

more diverse enrollments• Financial factors – tuition

cannot keep exceeding CPI• Accountability

• Good News• Knowledge of learning• Emergence of digital tools

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WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT LEARNING

• We know that, if we provide an active learning experience that allows students to engage with• course content• each other, and• instructors,

they can and will think critically and develop cognitively

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GOALS OF THE UNT NGEN PROJECT

• Improve student learning outcomes in large enrollment undergraduate courses

• To have a university-wide impact through the establishment of a Community of Practice

• Create a redesign process that is sustainable and replicable

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(TRANSLATION) GOALS

• Students think, work hard, like what they are doing, get good grades that mean something, and graduate

• Doesn’t cost more and uses less space

• Faculty enjoy and believe in the process

UNT’S TRANSFORMATIONAL QEP GOAL

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NEXT GENERATION REDESIGN ISA TEAM PROCESS

• Faculty teams redesign 4-6 courses per year• Two-year commitment• Occurs within an interdisciplinary

community of practice• Senior Faculty Fellows

• “Choreographed”• Retreats and monthly meetings with

faculty and staff• Institution-wide forums• End-of-pilot and project meetings

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STEPS IN THE NGEN REDESIGN PROCESS

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THE “BUILDING BLOCKS” OF NGEN COURSES

• NGen courses consist of a “blend” of the following:• Large group lectures: 0%

– 30% of contact hours• Small group experiential

learning: 30% – 60% of contact hours

• Media-rich interactive online environment: 30% - 50% of contact hours

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IN NGEN, LECTURES ARE BEST USED TO:

• Create interest and motivation and provide assurance that students can be successful

• Clarify and expand upon (rather than deliver) content

• Model the acquisition of knowledge in the field• “How does a chemist/sociologist approach a

research question?”

• Present the critical lower level concepts to provide scaffolding for higher level concepts

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WHAT IS EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING?

• The major goal is the acquisition of higher-level abstract concepts and values

• The instructor plays a vital and purposeful role in the process

• Experiential learning has two equally important parts• Concrete experiences• Guided reflection

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IN NGEN, EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ACTIVITIESARE BEST USED TO:

• Introduce an emotional component• Brain-based learning

• Analyze, evaluate, and synthesize

• Present and defend newly-acquired hypotheses

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A SIMPLE CONCEPT, BUT EASILY MISAPPLIED…

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DEVELOPING SUCCESSFULEXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Start with Student Learning Outcomes (SLO’s)

Provide opportunities for reflection

Ensure foundational knowledge

Try out learning in new situations

Plan for learning spaces Assess the results

Develop the learning experience

Evaluate the experience (cost/benefit)

See handout

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EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ACTIVITIESVARY IN COMPLEXITY

• Level of complexity is driven by:• Complexity of GLO’s/sLO’s• Flexibility of the classroom• Time available• Instructional support

• Examples• Simple: Think-Pair-Share• Moderate: Parts of a cell beauty

pageant• Complex: Competitive simulation

game

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EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING EXAMPLE:DAM IT!

• Competitive simulation game that lasts for one month

• Students play one of three roles dealing with the historic Hetch Hetchy dam project:• Member of U.S. Senate Committee on

Public Lands• Preservationist – e.g., John Muir• Conservationist – e.g., Colonel John

Biddle

• Students reenact the public hearing and committee vote

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IN NGEN, ONLINE LEARNING ACTIVITIESARE BEST USED TO:

• Acquire lower-level learning to free up time for in-class experiential learning

• Chunk content to overcome working memory limits

• Provide low-stakes assessments such as quizzes for practice and confidence building

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ONLINE LEARNING EXAMPLE:U.S. HISTORY II

• Providing the foundation for the Hetch Hetchy “Dam It” simulation game• Specific context• Background readings• Character descriptions

(special website)• Online course content on

the Progressive Era

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UNT CURRENTLY OFFERS 19 NGEN COURSES

Art History Biology I

U.S. History I & II Organic Chemistry

American Government I & II Developmental Math/Algebra

Principles of Language Study Survey of Mathematics

World Literature I & II Computer Applications

Modernism & the Visual Arts Occupational Health

Introduction to Communications

Human Development

Introduction to Sociology Motor Development

Sociology of Disasters Global Marketing Concepts

Music Appreciation

Six new courses will start the redesign process this fall

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FACULTY PERSPECTIVEDR. BRENDA MCCOY

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CHANGE WHAT OR WHO?

• “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it• Good teaching evaluations• Well-rated on “Pick-a-Prof,” but what

does that really mean?

• It’s getting harder to cover material in all types of courses• Students are not reading—slowing

lecture and class discussions• Plagiarism is becoming common and

writing skills are deteriorating• Critical thinking skills have been

declining

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IMAGINE!

• Away from blame• Trying to imagine what is needed to

engage my students

• Verstehen• Trying to understand or imagine

how my students must see the classroom and the world

• Coming to grips with the idea that the “train is leaving the station…”• The social changes are profound

and I must adapt if I want to be on board

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JUST “GOOGLE IT”

• It has never been easier to find “answers”• We have become addicted to “Google”• Our students have never known

another way

• Radical impact on higher education• “The professor is an idiot—I just fact-

checked him…”• “Why do I need to learn that? I can

look it up when I need it.”

• The shape of “Gen Y” and later generations• Long on answers, but short on

experience

Doodle 4 GoogleMatteo Lopez, age 7

2011 National Winner

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EXPERIENCE!

• Confucius• I hear and I forget.• I see and I remember.• I do and I understand.

• Facilitate student discovery• How can I structure a situation so that

students experience collective action?• How can students easily draw random

samples of different sizes and explore varying results?

• How can I get students to espouse a position based on personal investment rather than repeat “sound-bites?”

SOCI 1510 THEN…AND NOW

• 8 -10 sections taught each semester• Large classes: 100 – 120 students

• Less “sage on the stage” and more “guide on the side”

• LectureM

• LectureW

• LectureF

M •Lecture or formal discussion•All students

W •Experiential learning•Group A (half of class)

F •Experiential learning•Group B (half of class)

Old System

• Online textbook and testing• Online learning objects

N-Gen Redesign

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SOCIOLOGY 1510

• We use 8 different activities• Group size varies from 5 – 50 • Different degrees of length and complexity

• Examples:• Flash mobs• Semester-long project on collective behavior which

students plan and execute

• Survey questions• Using clickers, students respond to survey items and

evaluate what happens when the wording is slightly altered

• Philosophy of Individualism• Students explore their feelings about “free-riders”

and the process of creating policy

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LEARN!

• “Who dares to teach, must never cease to learn.” (John Cotton Dana)

• Ever-changing subject content

• New pedagogical approaches—not “shiny-object” syndrome

• From our students• Wiki-world: the brave new

world for the academy

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THERE IS “PUSH-BACK”

• “Now can we stop playing games and learn Physics” (Wieman, 2006)

• “Active learning…is a philosophy and movement that portents trouble for the future of higher education and the professoriate.

It is longer good enough to teach well; instead, professors must be ready to embrace newly developed methods of ‘engagement,’ even as class enrollments skyrocket. The ‘new professor’ must make large classes as entertaining as video games—or else take students out for coffee and memorize their hobbies.” (Mattson, 2005)

• “I just can’t take the ‘me’ out of my teaching.” (Frustrated NGen Fellow, 2009)

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DILEMMA!

If I use experiential learning

in my class, how am I going to “cover” all the

material?

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THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES

• Once you move beyond the small circle of innovators, there are formidable challenges• Lack of rewards• Hostility to change• Scheduling problems• Research vs. teaching demands• Entrenched and comfortable

pedagogy• Lack of resources to produce online

materials

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ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES

• Extended Redesign Project• Currently 9 years

• Nurturing Communities of Practice

• Offer “NGen Lite” opportunity• Redesign single unit• Summer-long project• Retains assessment expectations

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ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES

• Working to change the recognition/reward system• Creation of professional career

track for instructors• Development of institution-wide

teaching assessment• Revision of workload documents

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ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES

• Creation of a Core Academy• Separate academic unit under the

Dean for Undergraduate Instruction• Faculty are full-time instructors in a

professional track• Faculty report to the Core Academy

but are co-hired by the department• Department receives SCHs for their

courses taught in the Core Academy

• Serves as a “Beta” site for NGen Courses

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ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES

• Creating student demand for change• Presentation to advisors• Promotional items• Website• Billboards

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ENABLING TRANSFORMATIVECOURSE REDESIGN: 3 P’S

Passion

Project Management

Persistence

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DISCUSSION

Dr. Philip TurnerPhilip.Turner@unt.edu

Dr. Brenda McCoyBrenda.McCoy@unt.edu

For more information:

Next Generation Course Redesign

Peter Lang Publishing