Centre for Teaching Excellence Blog – Page 26

Has the feedback sandwich passed its “eat-by date”? – Karly Neath

sandwich Who would dispute the idea that feedback is a good thing? Evidence from research, our personal experiences, and common sense make it clear: Formative assessment, consisting of lots of feedback and opportunities to use that feedback, enhances student performance and achievement.

A commonly used approach when delivering feedback is the “sandwich method”. You sandwich the negative feedback between the pieces of positive feedback. It has always been done this way, so it must work, right?

This traditional approach might work once, maybe twice. After that people recognize when a feedback sandwich is coming their way and it is the moment that they hear the positive praise.

In fact, we actually start to form a conditioned response (anchor) to positive feedback from an instructor followed by negative feedback. The negative feedback blasts the first positive comment out of the receiver’s brain. The receiver then thinks hard about the negative feedback which drives it into memory. The receiver is now on guard for more negative feedback and cannot hear the positive comments that end the cycle. The result is that what the student is doing well is not being reinforced. This is a good enough reason to search for alternative ways of delivering feedback.

An alternative method has been proposed by Marion Grobb Finkelstein, a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers.

According to Marion, the key to success when structuring feedback is to only offer positive feedback. Here is her formula:

How to Give Feedback:

“When you… (describe his/her behaviour)
…consider doing this” (describe your suggested behaviour)
This will help you get… (describe the benefit, the gain, what they will move towards)
And it will help you avoid…” (describe what they will move away from)
End with an authentic compliment and encouraging praise.

Here is the model put into action:

“Brenda, when writing up your experimental report, consider the idea of including a graphical display to represent your data. This will make your data clear to the reader and avoid the frustration of the time-pressed TA marking your report that would arise if they do not understand your results. Good job on the written component of the report! I look forward to seeing your final version.”

Instead of giving Brenda feedback using the typical sandwich – “Brenda, your report is good but it didn’t have graphs. Your written component was good.” – the new approach communicates the same information with a positive tone.

With this model comes the hope of keeping students engaged and motivated with the end goal of improving student learning. It may have a different flavour than the sandwich that you typically order. But that one is full of bologna anyways!

I encourage you to give this method a try and to research other ideas. Do not be afraid to challenge the traditional sandwich method!

Doing is Believing – Carsen Banister

Traditional lectures often consist of an instructor showing students a theory or skill. This habit is a relic of old times, originating in an era void of printing presses. Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century, revolutionizing the distribution of information. Since students no longer have to write their own copy of a textbook through dictation, instructors should not merely be providing students with information. Instructors should instead focus on engaging students and involving them in their lessons.

Participatory and experiential learning have been used for quite some time, and many instructors use these teaching methods in their courses. The focus shifts away from the instructor and towards the learners, creating an environment which emphasizes the acquisition of skills and knowledge. In courses centered on problem solving, it is quite practical to allow students to work with their peers and receive guidance from the instructor. This is the shift that I have been making in courses that I serve as a Teaching Assistant (TA).

Over the past few years, Prof. Michael Collins, myself, and other TAs have restructured Tutorials in an Engineering Thermodynamics course by adding interactivity and peer-guided instruction. Rather than solving example problems for the students, the TA guides students through a problem, allowing them time to work independently or with their peers. Solution methods are discussed at various points during the process, with input provided by students. The instructor is able to add details or reinforce key ideas along the way.

It is true that moving away from ‘traditional’ Lectures and Tutorials requires careful planning and does consume more class time. Rather than bombarding students with 2 or 3 examples during a Tutorial, only 1 or 2 examples are presented for experiential learning in the example course discussed above. The remaining examples are offered as a take-home assignment, where students can practice the material in a more independent environment. To supplement the interactivity further, many in-class demonstrations are used in the Tutorials to reinforce key concepts.

In engineering, the focus is often on teaching problem solving strategy. This can lead to students memorizing solution techniques without understanding the key underlying theories and concepts. A teaching methodology that focuses attention on the important theories and concepts and allowing students to develop their own problem solving strategies has the potential to instill a higher level of education.

Introvert vs Extrovert: Classroom Edition – Victoria Faraci

Recently, I’ve been plagued with thoughts about introverts and extroverts. It is a common belief that everyone fits neatly into only one of these two categories: you’re shy or you’re loud, you speak or you don’t. However, excessive thought on the issue makes me feel like maybe that line isn’t so clear. Maybe it’s a bit blurred.

A couple of years ago, a professor recommended that I read a book called Please Understand Me, by David Keirsey. He said that until he read this book, some time in his 40s, he hated himself and couldn’t understand his wife. So, naturally, I went out and bought the book. The thing is, though, I skipped the 70-question quiz at the beginning and instead, I combed through potential types of people until I read one profile that sounded just like me: ‘the counselor.’ This passage described me so well that it felt like I was reading my own biography. The passage even predicted what degree I was likely to get.

Here is where it gets tricky, though. As I skimmed other potential types of people, I read a not-so-hopeful profile. In fact, it was kind of a sad one. When I looked at the breakdown of categories that made this type, I realized that this could have been me. The only thing making me ‘the counselor’ was the fact that I self-identified as an introvert. This poor person, ‘the healer,’ was an extrovert. Now, I’ll never take the quiz.

After this, I stumbled upon a blog posting about ‘how to deal with an introvert.’ It basically said to leave them alone and let them be in their own bubble where they could recharge in peace. I suppose that is easily done, but what about when you work with a group of people? In terms of teaching, what are poor introverts to do when they are charged with the task of instructing a course?

My experience with in-class teaching was short-lived, but it was a challenge. People said it was a ‘confidence thing’, but that wasn’t it. I often wondered how I, a poor introvert, was even given the task of leading an in class tutorial while some of my peers got online courses. Something remarkable happened, though. I did it. Every week after my tutorial ended, I was always in a state of mental exhaustion. For those couple of hours, it was exhausting to pretend that I was wholeheartedly an extrovert.

I realized that this forceful categorization of one or the other isn’t right. Maybe, just maybe, we can be both.

I think that everyone has the ability to be both an introvert and an extrovert, especially as a teacher, you have to be able to operate in both realms. You need to rise to the occasion while you are instructing your class, but you also need to possess the ability to experience long bouts of solitude while you grade, read, and prepare. I guess what I am trying to say is that it’s okay to be shy, and it is equally as okay to be loud, but one is always going to feel more comfortable than the other.

If you buy this book, which I highly recommend that you do, will you take the quiz? Do you want to know who you really are, or are you content with just being…you?

Students are just [not] like they used to be — Mary Louise McCallister (Faculty of Environment Teaching Fellow)

A few years ago when I was an undergraduate student (OK, it was the 1970s) I heard the following from another student in my class. I don’t recall if it was an eye-witness account or just a good story:

A professor was lecturing in a sonorous monotone at the front of a huge lecture hall. He was becoming increasingly frustrated by the apparent lack of interest exhibited by the meager group of students scattered throughout the room. One member of the class was slumped in a chair fast asleep right in front of the lecture podium. In an aggravated tone, the professor asked the student sitting next to his slumbering classmate to rouse his peer. Said student retorted, “YOU wake him up; you put him to sleep.”

I remember this story every time I read or hear about university instructors in North America and elsewhere worrying about how students these days are too easily distracted (often by mobile devices), seem to have poor listening skills and don’t have due regard for pursuing serious knowledge—not like when THEY were in school. Really? If so, these instructors were either much better students than I was (which might very well be true) or they were educated throughout university by star performers. I have a somewhat different perspective: while we did not have the smartphones and iPods, we did have other ways of tuning out uninspiring lecturers.

I discussed this perspective with one of my colleagues at the Centre for Teaching Excellence, Mark Morton, a renaissance kind of person, who has expertise in new educational technologies, but is also a scholar of Shakespeare, etymology, food culture, and arcane types of knowledge. It could persuasively be argued that the sentiment held by ‘learned professors’ about their students’ listening skills and lack of attention to scholarly pursuits has been going on throughout human history. As a case in point, Mark sent me the following quotation penned in the medieval ages. It’s anonymous, and found in a collection known as Carmina Burana 6, translated by George F. Whicher:

Learning that flowered in days of yore

In these our times is thought a bore.

Once knowledge was a well to drink of;

Now having fun is all men think of.

Today mere striplings grow astute

Before their beards begin to shoot –

Striplings whose truant dispositions

Are deaf to wisdom’s admonitions.

Yet it was true in ages past

No scholar paused from toil at last

Nor shrunk from studies the most weighty

Till his years numbered more than eighty.

Florebat olim studium,

nunc vertitur in tedium;

iam scire diu viguit,

sed ludere prevaluit.

iam pueris astutia

contingit ante tempora,

qui per malivolentiam

excludunt sapientiam.

sed retro actis seculis

vix licuit discipulis

tandem nonagenarium

quiescere post studium.

Students have tuned out lectures tens of decades, or centuries, before Twitter was invented—they were just possibly somewhat less obvious about it. Nevertheless, today, academics and members of the media (as noted in this BBC piece) are increasingly sounding the alarm about how the conventional form of university education—the class lecture—is threatened by a combination of technological advances, mobile devices and MOOCs (massive open on-line courses). This situation is now stimulating a conversation around university teaching and how to ensure that it is both effective and relevant; how to foster ‘deep’ vs. ‘shallow’ learning; and how much ‘content-delivery’ is to be traded for ‘student-centred’ learning. The fact that such conversations are now taking place could certainly be seen as a positive development. I’ll be sharing some diverse perspectives about how university education is perceived, and is evolving (or not), as well as some innovative approaches to teaching in the context of this rapidly-changing learning environment.

In the meantime, here is a simple, but important teaching practice employed one of our colleagues, Prof. Kevin Markle in Accounting and Finance: memorize your students’ names in order to effectively engage their attention. Kevin does so by the first week of classes and he has 270 students. Click here to see how he manages it.

[This post originally appeared on the Green TEA blog, and has been republished here with permission of the author]

D.I.Y. Exam Questions as a Tool for Deep Learning

I couldn’t think of anything other than the OND conference presentations for my blog posting today. It was extremely hard for me to choose which presentation to talk about, but because of my Engineering background I decided to talk about an Engineering presentation that captured my attention.
The presentation was by Andrea Prier, Bill Owen, David Wang, Paula Smith, and Mary Robinson. The presenters focused on a process that they used in their courses (three first year courses and one graduate course) to encourage their students to think more deeply about the material they are learning.
They started their process by demonstrating to the students how their level of learning influences their motivation to learn the material, their retention of the information, and ultimately, their mastery of the course material. They designed a set of assignments in which the students were asked to create their own DIY test questions. This allowed the students find a deeper level of understanding of the content.
The DIY assignments were composed of the following steps:

Identify 5 different concepts from one of your courses.
Choose an example problem from each of the different areas.
Manipulate your problems so that you are solving for a different variable.
Solve your problems.
Trade with a peer and critique / solve the peers problems.
Create 20 questions for a ‘practice final’.
Submit the problems for review by course instructors.
Write your DIY practice final; Mark your own work!
Write your Final Exam; it May include specific questions you created.

By the end of the term, the instructors found that the students were more comfortable working with the course concepts, more engaged with the course material and created some interesting questions. Furthermore, the students’ comments indicated that the majority enjoyed the ability to create these questions; however, the instructors needed to edit some of the created questions.
The most valuable outcomes from the presenters’ perspective were increased success rate of the students and the increase in student motivation to work with the course material. They felt that, since the students valued what they were doing and believed in their ability to do well in the course.
Finally, I would like to thank the presenters for a very useful presentation and would advise myself and other instructors of experimenting with this process.

Celebrating Five Years of Opportunities and New Directions in Teaching and Learning at uWaterloo — Julie Timmermans

The theme of this year’s Conference — “Barriers and Breakthroughs: Accounts of Change in Teaching and Learning” – reminded us that one of the most important things we can do to facilitate teaching and learning is to talk to each other, to exchange honest accounts of the teaching strategies that have worked and those that have failed. Presenters included faculty and staff members, graduate and undergraduate students from across the disciplines who explored obstacles and frustrations faced, but also breakthroughs experienced – pivotal moments when new possibilities for teaching or learning became evident.

During the Presidents’ Colloquium keynote address, David Pace and Leah Shopkow from Indiana University Bloomington led us through the “Decoding the Disciplines” model – a framework for helping to identify and “decode” the “bottlenecks” that students experience in their learning, and to determine how we might motivate learners and assess their understanding of those often tricky conceptual stumbling blocks. Their ideas left us with a new lens with which to examine the design of our courses.

Another highlight of the day was the “Igniting Our Practice” plenary session during which Jean Andrey, Carey Bissonnette, and Troy Glover – three of uWaterloo’s outstanding faculty members – taught us concepts for their own courses. We learned about a bit about Chinooks, a bit about Chemistry, a bit about assessing outcomes, rather than outputs, and a lot about how to teach with expertise, panache, and a good measure of humour. It was evident why these three instructors are beloved by their students.

The Conference closed with a wine and cheese reception and, as befitting an anniversary celebration – a cake. It was a time to eat, relax, connect with colleagues, and to thank the many people who had contributed to the success of the Conference. We’re particularly grateful to the current Associate Vice President, Academic, Mario Coniglio, and the past AVP-A, Geoff McBoyle, for lending their vision and financial support to the Conference. And, once again, FAUW generously sponsored refreshments following the Presidents’ Colloquium.

And now, it’s time to pursue the ideas that were sown at the Conference. We look forward to learning about the ways in which those ideas have developed at next year’s OND.

For an overview of the Conference, please visit the OND 2013 website. Presentations and materials from the day will be posted within the next few weeks.

Finding opportunities and taking new directions – Veronica Brown

Today is the Opportunities and New Directions (OND) conference at the University of Waterloo. I just learned that we’re expecting almost 160 participants, most from Waterloo but lots from other institutions, too. When I realized my blog date was the same as the conference, I thought it would be exciting to blog from the conference. Instead, as I began to think about what to post, I realized there are a few stories I’d like to share as a participant for the past five years. If you’d like to check out a play by play of the conference, there’s a Twitter feed that I understand will appear on the OND web page (the hashtag is #OND2013 – oh, I just noticed the Twitter feed is already there!). I’d like to share two opportunities and a new direction with you today.

Opportunity – Presenting my research

For a variety of reasons, disseminating my research was not on my radar as a grad student. I’m sure that sounds strange but grad school was a part-time affair juxtaposed with family (two toddlers), a full-time job and all the other things life throws at you. I was in a professional program that many would consider a “terminal” degree. As such, sharing my results beyond finishing my thesis wasn’t a priority. The OND conference gave me the chance to share my findings in, as a new researcher, a fairly safe place. It was just a short research presentation (I think it was 20 minutes with 5 minutes for discussion) but it was an important first step, which led to opportunities at larger conferences, both within my discipline and beyond.

Opportunity – Finding a community of practice

Having completed my degree, I felt a bit lost. My work did not necessarily afford opportunities for research and yet I was left with many unanswered questions thanks to the “future considerations” area of my thesis. How would I find time to answer these questions? What I discovered at OND that many of my colleagues shared the same tension. Research on teaching and learning was an add-on to a plate already full of scholarship, teaching, and service. Yet, there they were, sharing new findings or best practices. Their efforts encouraged me to continue to pursue research, particularly action research, despite a perceived lack of opportunity.

New direction – Becoming an educational developer

Finally, the most significant impact OND has had on my career was my decision to join the Centre for Teaching Excellence. Strange how we spend so much time “planning” our lives yet never realizing what hidden opportunity might arrive at our door suddenly. I think it’s fair to say that I stumbled into educational development, having every intention of staying with the Professional Development (WatPD) program for a very long time. Then a role as instructional developer came along and, having met some lovely CTE folks through the conference, I took a closer look and I’m so glad I did. I love my job, which shares many attributes with OND. I spend time with colleagues from across campus and beyond, who genuinely care about the success of their students and strive to make things better for them. I’m encouraged to use a scholarly approach in all aspects of mywork. And, most importantly, I get to spend my day focused on every possible aspect of teaching and learning.

Many, many, many thanks to everyone who has supported and contributed to the conference. Best wishes to my colleagues today who are presenting, collaborating, sharing, investigating, and just plain enjoying!