Dear Colleagues, How quickly these first few weeks of the semester have flown by! We are already approaching the mid-point of the semester. This time coincides with midterm exams, quizzes, and other assessments...and predictably stressed out, anxious and tired students in our classrooms! What better time than now for us to reflect on our teaching practices, with the purpose of helping our students navigate these difficult times successfully while learning what we expect them to learn. Learning is deeper and more durable when it’s effortful. – This quote is from one of my favorite books on how learning works: Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. I return to this book every semester for guidance and inspiration on effective learning strategies, which helps inform my teaching. In general, the go-to learning strategies students utilize are ones that are not very effective. Strategies such as re-reading textbooks and class notes, cramming before exams, and reviewing solutions before attempting a problem are the least productive. However, students continue to resort to these approaches, probably because they seemed to work when they were in high school—and they give rise to feelings of fluency that are taken to be signs of mastery [1]. Instead, current research recommends the following (more effortful) strategies that are more likely to result in deep learning: 1) Retrieval practice, or the recalling of information from memory, which interrupts forgetting; 2) Spaced practice, or spacing out retrieval sessions, which relies on a more effortful retrieval of learned concepts; 3) Interleaved practice, or mixing up practice sessions of different skills, which once again requires more effort and arrests forgetting; 4) Making connections, or linking new information to existing information already stored; and 5) Metacognitive learning, or monitoring your own thinking. Here are a few classroom teaching practices which encourage students to embrace these strategies: - Regular, low-stakes testing: These can be administered during class, or outside the classroom by using easily accessible tools like UT Instapoll or Canvas quizzes. Interleaving old and new skills can be excellent ways to promote an effective retrieval practice resulting in an overall mastery of the course content.
- Dual coding of course concepts: Presenting course content in different formats (such as text and graphic) helps students form connections, while encouraging them to do the same in their own study time. This can also take the form of designing class activities where students explain concepts in their own words to their peers.
In the recent PTF Think Tank on Designing Learning, facilitated by Julie Schell (Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Technology), we learned about designing our lectures to include both text and visual information aligned with the Dual Channel assumption posited by Mayer [2]. Instructional design is not just about presenting information, but also presenting it in a way that encourages learners to engage in appropriate cognitive processing. – Mayer - Muddiest concept surveys: These surveys can be administered at the end of class to gather feedback on what worked and didn’t work. This also serves as a reflection activity for students to review what was covered during the lecture.
- Conducting exam reviews one week before the exam, rather than one lecture before the exam: This encourages students to start studying early.
- Fostering a growth mindset: This inspires students to embrace challenges, stay motivated despite setbacks, and become resilient. Communicating (verbally or by email) our pride in student’s efforts and improvement are techniques to help students push through adversity.
The theme underlying all these strategies is the creation of desirable difficulties in the classroom. Additionally, explaining to students that these are proven instructional practices used to maximize learning helps students understand that the purpose is to help them learn, and makes them more likely to engage in the activities intentionally. Whenever I teach a course, I remind myself that this is just one course of the many that my students will take in their lives. What can I do to make this course count? Their mastery of the course content will undoubtedly shape their careers. It is not sufficient for me to throw new concepts at them without simultaneously providing the tools and structure to learn these concepts. Ultimately, if you are good at learning, you have an advantage in life [1].
Sincerely, |
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