Keeping students motivated and actively engaged in their classes can be a challenging task. However, there are some simple strategies we can use to help enhance our students’ interest and keep them involved. By using visual stimuli we are more likely to maintain student attention and encourage active participation. We can also cater for different learning styles.

In this month’s issue we look at three different types of visual resources:CartoonsDrawings Online audio/video (AV) resources

to introduce a new concept or to reinforce a suitable teaching point e.g. researchers must not be biased

You can also get students to:

create their own captions from suitable cartoons

match captions with a selection of cartoons

analyze the language in the captions

analyze different cultural and/or social behaviour

reflect on current events

There are a large number of professional cartoon sites available online that provide cartoons for educational purposes. Not all are copyright free so make sure you understand the relevant terms and conditions.

http://www.benitaepstein.com/index.html http://www.sciencecartoonsplus.com/pages/gallery.phphttp://www.cagle.com/teacher/http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/h/higher_education.asp

Where can I find suitable cartoons?

“A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Using cartoons strengthen analytical and critical thinking skills

give an insight into the world around us and help students think ‘outside the box’

encourage students to use their imagination

help interpret meaning that is otherwise difficult to explain

make students laugh and, smile which can relieve their stress and anxiety

help teachers build a closer rapport with their students by being able to laugh together

help students retain information through a visual and memorable stimulus

Using humour in class is a ‘valuable teaching tool for establishing a classroom climate conducive to learning’ (Kher,1999). One way of introducing humour into our classes is by using cartoons.

There are a number of benefits to using cartoons in teaching because they can:

motivate students to engage with the lesson’s teaching point

arouse interest in a particular idea or topic

grab and maintain attention

Let’s take this cartoon as an example. It can be used:

as a warmer or icebreaker to the lesson/lecture

as an energizer to change focus

to initiate classroom discussion and debate about the ethical issues involved in scientific research

How to use cartoons

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Issue 3 December, 2010

TEACHING�IDEAS�GALLERY

Dr. Olivia Leung from the Department of Accountancy shares with us how she uses drawings with her students to teach abstract ideas or concepts.

If you have any teaching tips or any comments on using visual aids for teaching, please post them on the Teaching Ideas Gallery site

http://go.cityu.hk/gallery

On top of delivery, our goal is to arouse students’ interest and promote their lateral thinking. How do we keep students engaged and motivated inside a classroom, especially when the topics are not easy to grasp from the students’ perspective?

To effectively expose students to abstract concepts or theories, I employ the following 4 steps:

Introduce terminology before the theory itself.

Describe the procedure and environment in whichthe theory applies.

Illustrate the formulation of the theory.

Organize the materials and explore beyond the theory.

For each step, I make use of hand-drawn pictures to facilitate learning and to arouse students’ interest and imagination. Here are some examples of drawings utilized for each step above in some of my financial and managerial accounting classes.

Diagram 1 is a comic story of a banking activity. Since many students are not familiar with the internal procedures of banks, let alone the effects of those procedures on a company’s accounting records, this drawing can familiarize students with new business procedures and arouse their curiosity and interest in the topic.

Diagram 2 is an illustration of the production line of a virtual cake shop that students and I operate in our managerial accounting class. Not only does this illustration familiarize students with the production process of a manufacturing company but it also helps them to identify various production costs and to visualize how these costs could be allocated to each unit of product produced under different costing theories. With the help of the illustration, many students find it easier to reflect and think ‘out of the picture/box’ to identify and explore unknown alternatives.

You do not have to be a talented illustrator to utilize pictures effectively in your classrooms. The key success

factor is to get students involved and engaged with your drawings, to encourage them to imagine and visualize what is in the picture and, most importantly, what is not.

Have fun drawing with your students!

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Diagram 1

Using drawings

Diagram 2

Dr. Ahmar Mahboob, a recent visiting fellow here at CityU, discusses how he uses online AV resources.

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Few things catch the attention of our students like the planned use of online AV resources in our teaching. Students today spend a considerable amount of time online. We too can also tap into this world to find useful resources that we can build into activities and integrate into our own teaching.

Over the years I have used online AV resources to achieve a variety of goals. These include getting students to:

start thinking about the topics that will be introduced

in class better understand the topic by providing access to it using different modalities and technologies

see how the same topic can be understood, described and explained in different ways

explore the applications of a particular topic in real life

see how others present their ideas using a range of AV and other resources

develop their critical thinking abilities

see that learning is fun!

You can achieve these goals by using a range of activities that are relevant to the course that you are teaching. Here is an example of an activity that has worked for me. In teaching a module on World Englishes, where I want students to understand how we can study phonological (sound) differences between speakers of English from around the world, I ask students to:

Visit The Speech Accent Archive (http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php) and complete a short activity.

Listen to speakers from 2 different regions of the world and look at the transcriptions of the texts provided on the website.

Make a list of differences between these speakers on a worksheet.

Share their findings with their classmates in groups and I then proceed with my lecture.

This short activity using online AV resources introduces the students to some of the key ideas that I cover in my lecture and keeps them engaged with the topic. This makes our students engage with texts in ways that they are familiar with and can assist in making our teaching a success.

Show real-life situations to highlight the use of questioning techniques, communication skills, negotiation skills and presentation skills, e.g. job interviews, medical patient consultations, manager and team working situations, a sales person and customer.

Show science or laboratory experiments to help students more easily follow and understand procedures.

Pause a section of the video to reflect on the content then continue to the next section then pause and reflect again.

Get students to find or create their own YouTube videos to illustrate class content or concepts.

The following sites offer a wide selection of suitable videos to use in class.

RefSeek's guide to the 25 best online resources for finding free educational videos:http://www.refseek.com/directory/educational_videos.htm

YouTube video linkshttp://www1.teachertube.com/http://www.youtube.com/educationhttp://www.youtube.com/openlearn

Video lectureshttp://videolectures.net/http://hulk03.princeton.edu:8080/WebMedia/lectures/http://www.freesciencelectures.com/video/hiv-replication-and-life-cycle/http://discoveryeducation.com/products/streaming/

“...video production in the classroom enables the development of media literacy, higher order thinking skills, project based learning experiences, real world relevancy experiences, and a deeper connection to the curriculum being explored.” (Nikkos Theodosakis, 2002)

Using online audio/video (AV) resources

More examples of how videos can be used

Cartoon by Harry Harrison

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Can you think of a funny caption to go with this cartoon? The winners will each receive a small Chinese New Year prize.

Please email your caption with your name and contact number to Penny at elpakers@cityu.edu.hk

The deadline for submissions is January 15th, 2011.

Ideas for using cartoonsA Fresh Look at Cartoons as a Media of Instruction in Teaching Mathematics and Science in Malaysian Schools: A Hands-on Experiencehttp://www.eltcm.org/eltc/Download/conferences/8_parallelpaper_19.pdf

The Use of Cartoons as a Teaching and Learning Strategy http://www.tedi.uq.edu.au/Conferences/teach_conference00/papers/doring.html

Using Cartoons as a Teaching Tool for Online Learninghttp://www.suite101.com/content/using-cartoons-as-a-teaching-tool-a254477

Using Humor in the College Classroom to Enhance Teaching Effectiveness in "Dread Courses"http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCR/is_3_33/ai_62839448/

Not Just for Fun: Using Cartoons to Investigate Geographical Issueshttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-7939.2006.00057.x/pdf

Ideas for using online AV resourcesUsing Shared Online Video to Anchor Instruction: YouTube and Beyond http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/instructional-design/using-shared-online-video-to-anchor-instruction-youtube-and-beyond/

Video and Pedagogyhttp://www.sddu.leeds.ac.uk/online_resources/video/pedagogy.html

Competition time

References

Editorial Team: Chief Editor: Penny Akers (ELC) Editor: Hokling Cheung (EDGE) Assistant Editor: Josephine Chen (EDGE) Graphic Designer: Anthony Wong (EDGE)

Olivia Leung (AC)Ahmar Mahboob (USYD)Maria Jose Pareja (LS)Wenyu Dou (MKT)

Many thanks to the following teachers who contributed ideas:Dear Teachers,

In the next issue we will be focusing on different ways of using IT in our teaching. If you have any ideas or freely accessible resources you would like to share with other teachers that we can publish in Issue 4, please contact Penny Akers at elpakers@cityu.edu.hk

Editorial Team

Inviting ideas