using sotl to make student learning visible beth dietz-uhler cathy bishop-clark © beth dietz-uhler...
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Using SoTL to Make Student Learning Visible
Beth Dietz-UhlerCathy Bishop-Clark
© Beth Dietz-Uhler and Cathy Bishop-Clark
33rd Annual Lilly Conference on College TeachingOxford OhioNovember 21-24, 2013
Cathy Bishop-Clark (SoTL Journey)
Assistant Professor
(SoTL for me)
Associate Professor (SoTL with
Beth)
Full Professor (SoTL for others)
Administration (SoTL for decision making)
Beth Dietz-Uhler (SoTL Journey)
Assistant Professor
(Social Science Research)
Associate Professor
(Social Science Research)
Full Professor (Mix of Social
Science Research and
SoTL)
Associate Chair of Assessment
(SoTL Perspective)
Using SoTL to Make Student Learning Visible
“I will never take another computer science class again!”
“Walk-Away” Goals
• Deeper understanding of SoTL• Appreciation for the issues involved in making
student learning visible• Ideas for using SoTL to expand and explore the
visibility of student learning
Definition of SoTL“An act of intelligence or artistic creation becomes
scholarship when it possesses at least three attributes: it becomes public, it becomes an object of critical review and evaluation by members of one’s community, and members of one’s community begin to use, build upon, and develop those acts of mind and creation.” (Shulman, 1999)
Making Student Learning Visible
• Jeff Bernstein– Cofounder of the SoTL
Academy, EMU Political Scientist
– “Making student learning visible is a key element in this evidence-based culture”
2008
Making Student Learning Visible
“If a central goal of the scholarship of teaching and learning becomes making learning visible, the next question that arises is visible to whom?”
Bernstein, Jeffrey L. (2008) "Introduction: Making Learning Visible to Whom?," The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at EMU: Vol. 2, Article 2.
Visible to WHOM?
Instructor
Students
Discipline
Higher Educatio
n
Bernstein, Jeffrey L. (2008) "Introduction: Making Learning Visible to Whom?," The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at EMU: Vol. 2, Article 2.
SoTL
Visible to the Instructor
• Turning in a working computer program (math problem, term paper)– What happened in
between the blank paper and the outcome?
– What is not understood?
Visible to Students
• Experiment this semester with EXAMS• Make student learning visible to themselves• Provide opportunities for student to reflect on
their own learning• Doing research with students!
Visible to the Discipline
• “What are the best ways to help students understand recursive methods of creating linked lists?”
Visible beyond the Higher Education Community
• Currently, there is intense interest and pressure to make student learning visible beyond instructor, students, the discipline, and higher education community
• Improving Transparency and Accountability (http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/higher-education)
• College Affordability and Transparency Center (College Scorecard) (http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/higher-education/college-score-card)
• What Employers Want (Hart Report: http://www.aacu.org/leap/documents/2009_EmployerSurvey.pdf)
• Academically Adrift (36% of students did not demonstrate any significant gains in learning) (http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/01/18/study_finds_large_numbers_of_college_students_don_t_learn_much)
• Increased pressure for accreditation (http://www.aaup.org/article/accreditation-and-federal-future-higher-education#.USE822fld8E)
• Increased pressure to retain students (American Graduation Initiative: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-the-American-Graduation-Initiative-in-Warren-MI)
• Pressure from MOOCs and online education in general (http://chronicle.com/article/American-Council-on-Education/137155/)
Visible beyond the Higher Education Community
Activity
• Of the different visibilities, which do you consider the most important and why?– Instructor– Students– Discipline– Higher Education Community– Those Outside the Higher Education Community
• Spend two minutes thinking/writing and two minutes to share with person next to you
Of these Visibilities which is the MOST IMPORTANT
Instructor
Students
Disciplin
e
Higher Ed
Beyond Higher Education SoTL
Hattie (2012) suggests that visible teaching and learning occurswhen there are “active, passionate, and engaging people, including teachers, students, and peers participating in the act of learning”
Visible Teaching and Learning
Making Learning “Visible to Students” is Most Important because
they are the foundation of SoTL work
Dissemination
SoTL Research
Teaching-Learning(Students)
In order to make learning “visible to students”
Learning must occur
Evidence of learning must be gathered
Evidence of learning must
be communicated
Unless it is our priority to make learning “visible to students”
We may NOT fix what is broken in our
teaching
Students may NOT become “better” (deeper) learners
Students may NOT be able to communicate
their context to potential employers
People “out there” may go on believing
that higher education is “not worth it”
Finally, All the Cool Professors are Doing It…
• Meta-cognition is where it’s at• Brain-based learning matters• Cognitive approaches to learning
work• Student Voices should be heard
Of these Visibilities which is the MOST IMPORTANT
Instructor
Students
Disciplin
e
Higher Ed
Beyond Higher Education SoTL
Visible Beyond the Higher Education Community
College is not “worth it”
• Higher Education is expensive• Student debt is at an all time
high• Recent data from Census
Bureau & DOL found 54% of recent college grads unemployed
.
Visible Beyond the Higher Education Community
Academically Adrift• Authors followed 2300
undergraduates at 24 universities
• 45% of students did not demonstrate significant improvement in learning during the 1st two years of college
• 36% do not show improvement in 4 years
Visible Beyond Higher Education Community
• Standardized Tests– Use of standardized tests has increased
dramatically as a way to measure learning• Concern that that accountability is “squeezing
out creative and content rich learning”• Even when test scores rise that does not
always reflect in better or deeper learning.Krechevsky, Mara, Rivard, Melissa and Burton, Fredrick R.(2010) 'Accountability in Three Realms:Making Learning Visible Inside and Outside the Classroom', Theory Into Practice, 49: 1, 64 — 71
Visibility of SoTL Beyond the Higher Education Community” is most Important• Why – Because of the “bad rap” higher education is getting– Because the outside is controlling our funding– Because of accreditation pressures– Because people criticize what they don’t understand– Because standardized tests do not tell the whole
picture– Because SoTL can improve teaching and learning
Summary: Which visibility is in fact the most important?
Instructor
Students
Disciplin
e
Higher Ed
Beyond Higher Education
SoTL