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Discussion
Traditionally, lectures do not feature much discussion and in comparison
with small classes do less to develop in students' higher-order thinking skills.
Discussion asks students to process information they have studied in new ways,
for instance, by applying it, evaluating it, or comparing their understanding of
it with that of others. Class discussions, either between the instructor and the
students or the students themselves, greatly improve students' ability to retain
information. Some ways in which discussion has been used successfully in a large
class setting are outlined below. Lecture plans should include time for
discussion once you have considered what kinds of questions you will ask and the
purpose you want the discussion to serve.
As mentioned previously, it takes time figure
out what activities work best for you. One suggestion for incorporating
discussion into a lecture format is to gradually increase students'
participation. The list here is presented in order of increased student
involvement.
Questions
One way to encourage students to engage in thinking about the
information being presented is to ask questions. Some instructors use
short-answer questions to keep students' attention, such as "And when did the
war end? What were other reasons for the Civil War'. In asking this kind of
question, the instructor waits until some students respond. Another kind of a
question is open-ended, such as, "Why did the Civil War end?" When asking a
question you do not expect students will be able to answer briefly, it is
essential that you pause long enough for them to consider it before giving an
answer yourself.
A third type of question solicits students'
opinions, e.g., "What do you think about Locke's assertion of" or "In your
opinion, why... " or "What do you think about . . . ?".
Show of Hands, Informal
Votes, Short Surveys
Another way to involve students in
the presentation of information is to ask for a show of hands or to take an
informal vote on a subject or issue. For instance, you might ask, "How many are
convinced by Smith's argument?" "How many feel that
Goldberg's interpretation is reasonable? "This
vote may or may not lead to student commentary. A short survey that asks
students for their opinions on or familiarity with a topic can be given at the
beginning or end of a class. If given at the beginning,
the results could be tabulated and analyzed
during class. If given at the end, the instructor could tabulate the results and
incorporate them into the next lecture.
Student Discussions and Small Group Work
In these activities, the instructor poses a question or a problem
and the students answer it by discussing it with one or two fellow students. For
instance, after discussing a study, the instructor might ask students if they
can think of alternative cases or factors. Students can also be asked to
summarize the main points of the lecture. After the allotted time (five or ten
minutes), the class reconvenes and volunteers from the groups offer their
responses.
Other Participatory
Activities
Discussions can also be facilitated
by having a group of students involved in the following activities:
Discussion Row. In a lecture hall, a couple of rows are
designated as "discussion rows". The students in these rows are expected to
respond to the instructors' questions throughout the lecture. Students might
rotate sitting here throughout the semester.
Discussion Quadrant. The lecture hall might be divided into four
quadrants. At different points in the lecture or semester, students from a
particular quadrant are asked to respond to questions.
Expert Panel. In this case, a panel of "experts"
on a particular topic are asked to respond to the instructor's and students'
questions on a topic. Participation on a panel counts as part of the student's
grade.
Classroom "Talk Show". In this activity, several
students volunteer to be a guest on the "show." The idea is to represent
different points of view by having a varied panel of guests. For instance, in
a discussion about slavery, students could take the roles of a slave, a slave
owner, an abolitionist, an anti-abolitionist, a priest, etc. Students not
role-playing act as the audience and ask questions. The instructor should act
as moderator and prepare several questions that will provoke different points
of view in case the discussion lulls.
How
can I design successful group activities?
Task
The task that students are to complete should be discrete,
specific, and clear. If the task is not clear, it is left to the group to
determine what they have been asked to do. Specific tasks such as completing a
worksheet, solving a problem, or answering specific questions will keep students
focused. The phrasing of the assignment should make it necessary for each member
to contribute, for instance, "List as many questions as your group can" or "Come
to a unanimous decision about . . . ".
Directions
Just as the task should be specific, so too should the
directions be clear enough for students to know what is expected of them.
Example: "In your group of four or five, come up with five questions about this
chapter and have the report from your group ready in the next ten minutes". Be
sure to specify the following:
Time limit
Choose a time limit that is appropriate for the task and helps
the group stay focused.
Group composition
A group of up to five students is usually recommended since a
larger group can make it hard for all members to participate (and make it easier
for those reluctant to participate to be passive). The easiest way to form
groups is to ask students to work with the three or four people sitting closest
to them. You can ensure that different groups form on different days by asking
students to sit in a different place each class or to simply ask students to
work with people they haven't worked with before. Other methods are to group
students by birth month, residence on campus, or major, or to designate rows as
"Odd" and "Even" ask that Odds and Evens mix.
Some instructors require students to leave their seats when forming groups.
Group Roles
Much literature exists on the roles
to assign to group members. The basic roles are facilitator, recorder and
reporter. The facilitator monitors the group and makes sure that it stays on
task. The recorder takes notes on the discussion and/or the solutions to the
problems posed. There porter is responsible for sharing the group's answers with
the class. A role of "process observer" may be added to evaluate how effectively
the group works together.
Group Products
Group tasks should lead to the
creation of a group product such as a list of questions which is then shared
with the other groups. At first, you may simply want to collect the products and
comment on them during the next class, perhaps even assigning grades. If
possible, you may want to have the group reporters share their experience with
the class and explain how the problem was solved, what questions were raised,
what points were discussed, and what results were achieved.
Kadel, S. & Keehner, J.
Collaborative learning: A sourcebook for higher education. Vol. II. University
Park, PA: NCTLA,1994.
Writing in Lectures
Many undergraduates have done little writing
and need more practice. While the number of students in a large class can make
it cumbersome to grade long term papers or essay exams, this should not deter
you from having student sin large classes write.
Several short writing activities requiring a
minimal amount of feedback from the instructor can be incorporated into a
lecture course. These activities involve students who are reluctant to
participate in a large-class discussion provide another way to encourage all
students to be active learners.
Graded Assignments
Term Papers- Grading lengthy individual papers can be a burden many
faculty teaching large classes would rather avoid. Two alternatives are to make
such papers optional or to use a series of shorter writing response activities,
including reaction papers, journals, or reflections, rather than a single long
essay. Essay Exams- While it is recommended that exams combine short-answer and
essay questions, grading these responses can be time-consuming. One way to
control the length of responses is to provide students a limited amount of space
for their answers. When restricted to a certain space, students are forced to
get to the point.
Ungraded
Assignments
Ungraded writing assignments give students writing practice and offer
instructors valuable feedback without the burden of heavy grading. Ungraded
assignments ask students to share their understanding of the course material.
(The instructor should be prepared to answer questions students may have about
this process.)Instructors can use ungraded writing exercises to begin class, by
tying their topic to material covered in the previous class or to lead into the
current day's topic. These exercises can be used also as at the end of class to
assess what students understand from the lecture and if the lecture was
effective. As for grading, the assignments can be marked for either creditor no
credit, or full, partial, or no credit. (See the list of references
foractivities not described here.)
Ranking Activities
Nancy Shapiro of UMCP uses ranking activities on the first day of class.
Students are asked to list three to five goals they hope to achieve by taking
the course. After listing these goals, they then rank them in order of
importance.
They rank the list again according to the
difficulty of achieving each goal. Then, working in small groups, students are
asked to arrive as a consensus of goals and ranking. These goals can be
revisited at mid-term and end-of-semester evaluations in a similar follow-up
activity.
Chain Notes
At the beginning of class, students are given index cards. During the
class, students pass around a large envelope on which a question is written.
Each student spends a few minutes writing a response to the question when the
envelope reaches him or her. The instructor can then respond to what the
students have written and will also have gathered feedback on the class.
One-Minute Paper
or Daily Report
In the one-minute paper, students write responses to the questions, "What
point(s) are most clear to you?" and "What point(s) are still unclear to you?".
In a daily report, students are asked to complete the following sentences: "The
point of today's lecture is. . . “and "A question I have is ... ". These reports
can be graded or ungraded and can provide a clear sense of which areas are
presenting students with the greatest difficulties.
Three-Minute
Thesis
After discussing an issue, have students write down their reactions and
reasons to support one side or another. Circulate the responses and ask students
to support and elaborate on their comments.
Five-Minute Entry
In a five-minute entry, students are asked to respond in writing to
reading or a topic assigned for the day.
Papers are marked satisfactory or
unsatisfactory, and mechanics (grammar, spelling, etc.) do not count.
Satisfactory entries demonstrate "beyond a reasonable doubt" that their authors
have read and thought about the assigned reading. Dennis Holt gives this
example: "We have been discussing Frederick the Great and Otto Bismarck. State
one major contribution each leader made to the rise of modern Germany. In terms
of their significance for German history, how do these contributions differ?"
Reading Journals
Journals students keep chronicling their thoughts about the assigned readings
offer a way for an instructor to focus on student reflections about what they
are studying. Journal assignments can ask students to summarize the main points
of the reading and react to it. They might also be asked to pose questions for
further study or to link the reading to the lecture material. A certain number
of journals may be required over the semester or for one unit in the course. A
variation on this assignment asks students to draw a line down the center of the
page. On the right side, they write notes or summaries of the reading. On the
left, they write down their reactions--questions, disagreements. You may wish to
collect them to get a sense of their understanding and to provide them feedback.
Group Writing
Projects
In a group writing project, each person contributes one part of the
assignment. Another option is to have all parts written collaboratively.
For more Writing Activities,
see: Cross, K. P. and Angelo, T. A. Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook
for faculty. Ann Arbor, MI: National Center for Research to Improve Post
secondary Teaching and Learning, 1988.
Herteis, E. and Wright, W.
(eds.) Learning through writing: A compendium of assignments and techniques.
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada: Dalhousie University, Office of Instructional
Development and Technology, 1992.
Giving
Students Feedback
A major difficulty in teaching large classes
is finding ways to provide feedback to and receive it from students. Exams,
quizzes and other formal assessments are too time-intensive to be used often in
the large class setting. Informal and ungraded activities can provide student
feedback that is equally reliable.
Role of Feedback
Feedback helps students find how they're doing in the course and whether
they understand the material. Generally speaking, the more frequent the
feedback, the better.
-
Students should be asked what they think of
the pace of lectures, how the lectures relate to readings, and whether they
understand examples and course content. In- class writing exercises and group
activities described above can help provide this information.
-
In reviewing the class's performance on
exams, comment not only on what they had difficulty with but also on what they
did well. Find ways to recognize good performances and encourage students to
improve and participate in the class.
-
Make copies of exemplary papers available to
other students as models.
Grading
Most college students are very sensitive about grades. Unfortunately, in
situations that offer grades as the main motivating factor, learning the subject
matter becomes a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. Lowman (1987)
makes the following comment on the result of having a grade-only orientation:
Instructors are more likely to have complaints about their evaluation methods
and encourage a Grade Orientation (GO) in their students if they use frequent
surprise tests, communicate the expectation that students are only in class to
get notes on material that will be on exams, post test grades as the sole means
of giving feedback, and rarely assign non-graded work. Instructors are likely to
have fewer complaints about their evaluation methods if they test with the goal
of finding out what students have learned rather than what details they have
missed, see their role as motivating students to want to work independently of
direction, use language such as "I would like" rather than 'Y am requiring" to
convey less of an authoritarian style, and give students as much specific
feedback during the term as possible.
--Ohio State University Faculty
Handbook, p. 19
Some activities described above involve
practice in non-graded writing and thinking. Another way to relieve students'
anxiety about grades and increase their involvement with the material is to
assess homework not only for a correct response but also for the approach taken
to solving the problem. Problems in the process that prevented the student from
coming to the correct response can be pointed out by the instructor. The focus
on accuracy can be reserved for the test. This form of grading can assign two
points or full credit of practice (and perhaps not the correct answer); one
point for partial credit; and no points for no credit.
Examination Tips
-
In constructing tests, consider items that
measure higher-order thinking rather than memorization of details. As a
contributor to the Ohio State University Faculty Packet suggests, "Asking
difficult questions about very specific important concepts, after making it
clear that students are expected to learn them well, is more difficult, but
also more appropriate."
-
One suggested writing exercise is to have
students generate their own test items based on a day's lecture. These items
can be used on actual tests.
-
When he's short on proctors, John Layman, a
UMCP professor in physics and education, explains the exam and only allows
questions at the beginning of class. If students have questions during exams,
they must incorporate them into their answers.
Improving Teaching Through Student Feedback
Classroom assessment involves students and
faculty in the evaluation of teaching and learning for the purpose of ongoing
improvement Assessments may elicit student responses to questions related to the
course content or focus on the instructor's effectiveness.
Student Management
Team
The student management team (SMT) is a group of students who volunteer to
meet on a regular basis with the instructor outside of class time to discuss
issues related to the class. In a sense, the team is the class's representative
to the instructor. The team can raise issues or concerns of students about any
problems related to the course and can work with him or her to find solutions or
compromises to problems that may come up. The feedback from the SMT can be used
to improve the course.
See the CTE booklet on Student
Management Teams for details.
In-Class Assessments
A familiar in-class assessment is the pop quiz. These quizzes can be used
as "curve busters," opportunities for students to earn extra points and improve
their grades by answering questions correctly. Pop quizzes are unannounced and
can be given at the beginning or end of the class. The idea is to reward those
students who are following and not to punish those who are not. Focused listing
is a technique that can be used to determine what learners recall as the most
important points related to a particular topic. Instructors select a topic
recently covered in class and describe it in a word or short phrase. Students
write the word or short phrase on a piece of paper. Then, after limiting the
time allotted for the exercise or the number of responses, the students and the
instructor list important words or phrases that relate to the heading. The class
can study these lists and point out areas of difference between theirs and the
instructor's. Teacher-designed mini evaluation forms, containing three to five
questions, provide student feedback on aspects of teaching the instructor
considers important. The questions should relate closely to instructional goals
for the class; responses should be as multiple choice, scale or short fill-in
answers. The evaluation form should be carefully worded to collect constructive
feedback, and students should complete them anonymously. |
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