Teaching that Sticks!

Six Core Principles for Creating Memorable Presentations and Courses

Ilene Alexander, Jane O’Brien, Christina Petersen

Arts & Humanities

STEM SciencesNatural Sciences

Social Sciences

What makes this information memorable?

Simple

Unexpected Concrete

redible

Emotional

Story Savvy Learning & Teaching

C

Simple

Unexpected Concrete – use examples redible

Emotional

Story Savvy Learning & Teaching

C

Intended Learning

Outcomes

Learning & Teaching Learning

& Teaching Activities

Assessment

Outcomes

Instruction

Feedback & Assessment Components/Tasks

Situational Context

EnvironmentEnvironmental Factors:

Institutions, Disciplines, Cultures, Communities, Classrooms

Intended Learning Intended Learning

Outcomes

Concrete teaching includes examples that evoke specific sensory images

It begins in the syllabus

To succeed in this class you’ll have to work hard and be committed.

To succeed in this class you’ll have to do all readings before class, rewrite each paper & review notes weekly

They don’t always know what you mean

This class will require that you think critically about the theories presented

I guess it’ll be a lot of common sense and probably we won’t use the book that much.

You can:

• Explain why there is no one right answer to this issue

• Identify and correct for your personal biases

• Explore evidence from several perspectives

• Set criteria and make a recommendation

• Plan to monitor and adjust for changing conditions

In this class, critical thinking means:

Goals are often abstract;

outcomes are concrete

B r o a d

Specific

Narrow!

Outcomes

Goals

Consider with your ideal impact

Use concrete verbs to create outcomes

V

L.Dee Fink (2003)

Create concrete outcomes

Select one broad course or unit goal Student A will…..

Define it in concrete terms Refer to HANDOUT – pages 2 & 3

Record on white board & discuss Is this outcome concrete enough? Would greater specificity help or hinder?

Example

Learning goal: Appreciate differences

Learning outcomes: Describe an experience where multiple

viewpoints resulted in a better outcome

Simple

Unexpected Concrete

Emotional

Story Savvy Learning and Teaching

redible - make it real C

CurriculumIntended Learning

Outcomes

AssessmentFeedback &

Assessment Tasks

EnvironmentEnvironmental Factors:

Institutions, Disciplines, Cultures, Communities, Classrooms

InstructionLearning &Teaching

Activities

Create authentic tasks to assess

Engaging and worthy problems Questions of importanceActual or similar to issues faced by

adult

citizens / consumers / professionals in the field

Wiggins (1993)

In

context

Example: American Literature

Jessica martin

Example: Soil & Water

Example: Psychology

Straight A's in high

school may mean better health later in life

Murder rates affect IQ tests scores: Study

Sincere smiling promotes longevity

OMG! Texting and IM-ing doesn't affect spelling

Correlation

Cause

Example: Ethics

Learning Outcome:

Initial task:

Credible task:

Create an authentic task

Return to your learning outcome

Design an authentic task in which

students can demonstrate mastery

of that outcome

Record on white board and discuss

2

Credible assessment sets specific criteria

November 2008 | By Natasha Haugnes & Jennifer Russell | Office of Faculty Development | Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA

The Academy

Outstanding relative to requirements

Meets requirements

in every respect

Fails to meet requirement

s

Characteristic 1

Characteristic 2

Characteristic 3

Need not

be

reductionist

!

See for yourself

The Truth

A poem by Todd Bass

Credible feedback is frequent and forward looking

Frequent Instructor Peer Self

Forward-looking

Credible Task

ClearCriteri

a

Frequent

Feedback

Savvy Assessment

There are 3 keys to assessment

Resources

Websites re: real assignments http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/ http://writing.mit.edu/wcc/resources/teachers/createwritingassignments#creating

Repository of rubrics http://course1.winona.edu/shatfield/air/rubrics.htm

Peer Feedback http://rer.sagepub.com/content/70/3/287.full.pdf http://www.academicaffairs.mnscu.edu/facultydevelopment/resources/pod/

Packet6/helpingstudentshelp.html

Test writing and scoring http://wayback.archive-it.org/1961/20100806070228/http://www.pass-it.org.uk/

resources/031112-goodpracticeguide-hw.pdf