PGA Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

IFP staff development Day 1Learning Development Centre

Welcome and Find someone whoHelp yourself to refreshments and circulate with colleagues to complete the grid.

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TimeContent09:30Refreshments and welcome activity10:00What is the IFP community of practice? Critical thinking in actionPhilosophies of teaching 11:00Break11:15Themes and teams in teaching and learning at Warwick11:45Curriculum Design and constructive alignment13:00Lunch13:45Large Group teaching14:30Working break 15:00Technology for teaching and learningThe Extended Classroom at Warwick16:00Close and preparatory activity for Day 2

TimeContent09:30Refreshments and starter activity10:00Research-teaching nexus11:00Break11:15Assessment and feedback13:00Lunch13:45Observation of Teaching developmental opportunities14:30Working break14:45Inclusive practice16:00Close and sources of further support; CPD, qualifications and opportunities at WarwickReflective Practice opportunities

2 day schedule

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KEY:Orange = feel very confident

Green = good knowledge but would like to know more

Blue = less knowledge; need training/support

Grey = not sure what this is about

Constructivist learning

https://www.withfriendship.com/images/e/24019/Zone-of-proximal-development-wallpaper.jpg (Accessed 01/12/15 20:40)

Critical thinking isHaving good reasons for your beliefsUnderstanding the difference between good (more probable, likely or certain) and bad reasons (less likely, definitely not true)Creating an argument through premise(s) about something in a good argument, the premises support the conclusion.

Finding logical connections between thingsDetecting inconsistencies in reasoningIdentifying, constructing and evaluating argumentsSolving problemsIdentifying what is relevantReflecting on and justifying own beliefs

Opportunities for critical thinking in HE

What you said about your teaching.teaching as facilitation of independent learning rather than transmission of information..a partnership is formed between the teacher and student with the shared goal of improving the students skills and knowledgethat (students) should have the confidence to develop their own analytical and evaluative skills. ..use Twitter to keep them up to date with news articles.outcome-driven approach where students are asked to demonstrate what they have learnt at the end of each session.I use a scaffolded learning approach

Warwick Teaching and LearningIATLWindow on TeachingTeaching and Learning ShowcaseTeaching QualityWIHEAWATELDCThe Extended ClassroomThe Teaching GridTeaching Fellows Forum

What is curriculum?https://pollev.com/sarahattersl871?_ga=1.191409325.648489286.1448400421

Constructive alignment

Biggs and Tang, 2007, pp. 52-54

Suggest that you start in a different place. Constructively align your module/learning activities/curriculum.

CA has two aspects.

The constructive aspect refers to what the learner does, which is to construct meaning through relevant learning activities. Comes from constructivist learning theory. Predicated on notion that in order to learn the student needs to be active in their learning.

The alignment aspect refers to what the teacher does, which is to set up a learning environment that supports the learning activities appropriate to achieving the desired learning outcomes. The key is that the components in the teaching system, especially the teaching methods used and the assessment tasks, are aligned to the learning activities assumed in the intended outcomes. The learner is in a sense trapped, and finds it difficult to escape without learning what is intended should be learned.

This covers alignment within a module, but in a well-designed curriculum individual modules are also aligned horizontally relating to other modules that students are studying the same year across a programme to avoid redundancy (students covering the same material or skills in more than one module). And vertically between years previous educational experiences and looking forward to their next modules/work.

Backward design start at the end defines what students must demonstrate that they know and can do (intended learning outcomes) and how well they know and can do it (standards) then works backwards to determine how best to get there and where to start. 16

Writing intended learning outcomesBy the end of the module you should be able to:(verb) (object) (context)

Calculatestatistical power and required sample size situations that can be analysed using one or two sample t-tests.for

So, if the module aims are written from the perspective of the tutor the learning outcomes are entirely directed at the student.

Fetishisation of learning outcomes. Folded into the norms of quality rules have grown up. We all learn to write our learning outcomes, which are documented in module handbooks, but then which dont trouble us or our students ever again.

Consider subject knowledge, level of understanding that you want them to perform, key skills, cognitive skills (e.g. critical analysis, formulate and test concepts etc), core knowledge, threshold concepts, subject-specific, professional skills. All that is relevant to what you want them to learn during the module/learning activity.

They should express the minimum requirement (standard) for the credit not the maximum goal.

Should be vertically and horizontally aligned.

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The verb: Blooms taxonomyDefine, duplicate, list, memorise, recall, repeat, stateClassify, describe, discuss, explain, identify, locate, recognise, report, select, translate, paraphraseChoose, demonstrate, dramatise, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, schedule, sketch, solve, useAppraise, compare, contrast, criticise, differentiate, distinguish, examine, experiment question, testAppraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, evaluateAssemble, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, write

Alignment: again.

If your learning outcome is for them to assemble an

All the verbs in some way address understanding which is why using the verb understanding isnt helpful. It doesnt tell your students how they are expected to understand

Written to include an activity, not just declarative knowledge of a topic. Alignment is achieved by ensuring that the intended verb in the outcome statement is present in the teaching/learning activity, and in the assessment task.18

Key questionsWhat is the most important thing for these students to know and be able to do?How am I going to assess how well they know and can do it?How are they going to learn it?How am I going to evaluate how well I have enabled that learning to happen?

Bearing in mind constructive alignment the key question that we need to ask ourselves as we go into the process of designing the teaching and learning that we are responsible for is what is the most important thing for these students to know and to be able to do.

How are we going to answer these questions? What do we need to know in order to answer those questions? What additional questions do we need to ask?What information do we need? (programme outcomes; module info pre- and post- this module; electives; QAA level descriptions; subject benchmarks)What considerations should guide us as we seek answers. What do we need to bear in mind?

Generate questions: Each table generates as many questions relating to each of these points as they can.Identify what additional information we need and where we might get it i.e.: what do you need to consult?

Pool questions: group together. Organise around themes.

Identify the top 10 questions that they need to ask themselves when designing a module/course/TLA.

Put them in sequential order.

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10 specific questionsWhat is the overall purpose of this module?Where does this module fit?For whom is this module designed?What specifically should students learn and be able to do by the end?What standards will be used to assess their learning?How will their learning be assessed?What specific content will be taught and assessed?What will motivate students to learn deeply and well?What work will students do to learn?What work will teachers and others do to help students learn?

Angelo 2013: 101.

Angelo, 2013, p.101.

Angelo identifies 10 specific questions to be addressed in this fixed order. Forefronts:Overall purpose of the module: Discipline-specific knowledge and skillsGeneral graduate attributesWork/career based skillsBasic academic language/learning skillsPersonal awareness, development or growthSomething else (if so what?)Where module fits in programme relation to programme learning outcomes? Vertical and horizontal alignmentWho is module designed for?Intended learning outcomes?StandardsAssessment

All before get to the actual content. More than half way down the list.

The final thing on the list is what teachers do.

Learning-centred approach. 20

Knowledge typesDeclarative knowledge Functioning knowledgeCore knowledgeTroublesome knowledge

(Biggs and Tang, pp.81-87)

Nature of knowledge.

Declarative knowledge is knowing about things, knowing what Freud, or Marx, or Keynes said, that this is how a blast furnace works, that the battle of Hastings took place in 1066; that Moby Dick was published on 18 October 1851, that Harry Potters first broomstick was a Nimbus 2000. Only one thing that you can really do when confronted with declarative knowledge thats receive it, internalise it fit it into the meaning that you make of the world. Knowledge to be accommodated.

You will find this knowledge verified and reproduced in books, online. Knowing that.

Functioning knowledge puts declarative knowledge to work. Functioning knowledge informs action, where performance is informed by understanding. Functioning knowledge requires declarative knowledge, but doesnt necessarily follow that declarative must be instilled first, e.g. problem-based learning. Knowing how.

When truly understand something see the world differently, and act differently. A core concept is a conceptual building block that progresses understanding of the subject; it has to be understood but it does not necessarily lead to a qualitatively different view of subject matter. So

(Biggs and Tang, pp.81-87)21

Troublesome knowledgeThere are conceptual gateways or portals that lead to a previously inaccessible, and initially perhaps troublesome, way of thinking about something. A new way of understanding, interpreting, or viewing something may thus emerge a transformed internal view of subject matter, subject landscape, or even world view.

(Meyer and Land 2005)

These are:transformative occasioning a sudden shift in the perception of a subject; irreversible unlikely to be forgotten and learned with considerable effort; integrative exposing previously hidden interrelatedness of something. Possibly often bounded any conceptual space will have terminal frontiers, bordering with thresholds on new conceptual areas.

Also, they may be troublesome often counter-intuitive, or even the opposite of what they have been taught.

as students acquire threshold concepts, and extend their use of language in relation to these concepts, there occurs also a shift in the learners subjectivity, a repositioning of the self . . . . Threshold concepts lead not only to transformed thought but to a transfiguration of identity and adoption of an extended discourse. (Meyer and Land, 2005: 375-375)

Distinct from core knowledge which students also need to know. A core concept is a conceptual building block that progresses understanding of the subject; it has to be understood but it does not necessarily lead to a qualitatively different view of subject matter. So, for example, the concept of gravity the idea that any two bodies attract one another with a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the distance between them represents a threshold concept, whereas the concept of a centre of gravity does not, although the latter is a core concept in many of the applied sciences.

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The Bayeux TapestryBattle of Hastings took place in 1066;Duke William II of Normandy was victorious;Accounts of how Harold Godwinson died are contradictory;The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered narrative of the events probably commissioned by Odo of Bayeux soon after the battle;History is written by the victors.

An additional example from history knowing the date of battle of Hastings and who won it is not a threshold concept. It may be core to an understanding of the pattern of English history, but it does not radically change the way one sees it. On the other hand seeing the Bayeux tapestry and understanding that history is written by the victors is transformative.

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Students learn better when they:they become aware of their own relevant prior knowledge, preconceptions, beliefs and values; set and maintain realistically high and personally meaningful learning goals and expectations for academic success; learn how to study and learn effectively; understand criteria, standards and methods used to assess them and how to use feedback on performance against those standards;collaborate regularly and effectively with other learners and their teachers to achieve shared, meaningful goals; invest adequate time and effort, effectively and efficiently in their academic workseek and find connections to and applications of the concepts and skills they are learning to their lives and work.

Angelo, 2013, p.100.

Angelo, 2013, p.100.

Which of the above seem most persuasive and relevant to your own teaching and module design?24

Signature Pedagogies

Signature pedagogies are important precisely because they are pervasive. They implicitly define what counts as knowledge in the field and how things become known (Shulman, 2005, p. 54).

Large group teachingIn lectures, after what time do students start to lose their concentration?Lectures are the most appropriate mechanism for transmitting information in an efficient way..What skills do you currently have that are transferable to large group teaching?

http://bobnational.net/record/279437

Ferris Beuler clip also for discussion http://bobnational.net/record/279437 *

A basic lecture structureIntroduction and overviewpurpose and context of lectureoverview of main points of lecturerevision of earlier material to provide foundationMain points (3-4)summary of first main pointdevelopment and explanation of ideasexamplesrestatement of first pointSummary and conclusionsrestatement and review of main pointsconclusion or implicationsdetails of next lecture, preparations, etc.ContextContentClosure

11.15 Briefly run through the 4 lecture structures before reflecting on them in groups. Exley an Dennick provide further examples if you are interested.

Purpose and overview of lecture. Research (Habeshaw) students think all lectures same identical. Student expectations -> Whats your role and theirs in terms of questions, activities etc. / notes Reassurance.

Revision of earlier material -> activate prior learning. Constructivist view

Main - dev and exp of ideas. signposting Remind the students of where we are in the lecture, main points and what we are going to do next. Key points they really need to know. Giving examples, make them real and relevant. Chemistry / Sciences

Timing. 1 hour lecture slot.. Actually 50 mins Think about practicalities next session etc.

Closure is often missing!

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A comparative structureIntroduction and overviewTheory ATheory BCriteria for comparing theoriesComparisons and contrasts between theories A and BSummary and conclusions

Could be a comparison of two arguments, concepts, works, processes, systems, problem solving techniques, etc. Discuss strengths & weaknesses

Could be an ideal structure for student involvement with students get them to vote at end. important to build on their prior learning and to signpost the lecture well so that they dont get lost

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A problem-focused structureIntroduction (statement of problem)Solution ASolution BSolution CCriteria for comparing solutionsComparison of solutionsSummary and conclusions

This is quite linear

brief mention of this.

Take this example with a number of solutions.

helpful in getting students to think analytically, critically independent learning.(criteria for comparing

Common problems is that students often see only one way

Inductive: Figures hypothesisDeductive: hypothesis figures

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Using student digital practices and literaciesWorking with them using spaces and tools that are compatible to students and their own devices supporting digital literacies

Working outside of them using spaces and tools that are unknown to students (learning in disequilibrium Piaget) extending digital repertoire

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Value and technology

Flipped classroom

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Threshold concepts

Screencasts, vidcasts and podcasts can be useful ways of introducing important concepts which all students need to know, without the need to explain them in person. Students can also listen again.

Instructions and techniques

Life Sciences prepare students for labs using online presentation techniques.Content courtesy of Dr Leanne Williams, Life Sciences

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Assessment and feedbackOnline presentations can also be useful tools for assessment and feedback. Research shows that students both enjoy and understand their feedback better when it is spoken.

http://screencast.com/t/jN4CKBXbFWH

Involving students

Students can use their online voice for reciprocal teaching or to provide evidence of group/seminar activity, which you can listen to and assess later.

Tools for brainstorming and collaboration

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Tools for real time assessment and capturing student thinking

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Advantages of these toolsAbility to keep and share resultsCreating live classroom and homework tasksMotivation and interest; authentic resultsInitial or formative assessment of conceptsAnonymity; encourages all learners to engageGamificationPeer dialogue around the live results

Day 2: Pre-session TasksNote one thing you have learned from the session today (outcome-driven). How might you re-position this as a planned learning outcome for all?http://bit.ly/2cEuLHG What are the issues and benefits of linking teaching and research?http://bit.ly/2cUNrFa