IF-AT First You Don’t Succeed….

students working in group

For the first fifteen minutes the class was quiet, heads studiously bent over their papers as individual quizzes were taken. The only sound in the room, our footsteps as we moved about placing one card in front of each group of 4 students. When Professor Kelly Grindrod announced “Okay, 15 more minutes to do the cards in your groups”, the class erupted into: noisy chatter; intense discussion; whoops of joy and high fives; an occasional groan of dismay. Moving about the classroom this time it was invigorating listening to the students discuss their chosen answers, argue their opinions, and reasoning together as they worked to reach consensus on which answer was correct and thus which box to scratch. The energy was palpable.

So what were they doing? What caused this classroom transformation? The students were completing the same quiz that they had just done individually but this time as a group, checking their answers by scratching boxes on cards called IF-AT. The IF-AT (Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique) produced by Epstein Educational Enterprises  is a multiple-choice assessment and learning tool in which students scratch the box corresponding to their chosen answer and know immediately if that answer was correct. At first glance it looks a little bit like a scratch-and-win lottery ticket admittedly; if used thoughtfully by students – not at all. If an incorrect choice is made immediate feedback (no star in the box) is received. The students then have the opportunity to re-think, and in the case of Kelly’s class re-discuss, re-convince, re-argue, and then attempt again. Full marks are achieved for the first correct answer and progressively lower partial marks for subsequent attempts. In the class that I observed students actively and interactively worked  to discuss and understand the question principle before attempting again.

While collecting the individual quizzes and IF-AT cards at the end of the second 15 minutes I had a chance to chat with a number of the students. Some found it stressful, others found it less so than a “regular” quiz, but all agreed that the IF-AT format of quizzing was a great deal of fun (it was a low stakes 2.5% quiz). Being from a Teaching Centre, I just had to ask how they felt these quizzes affected their learning. Every student I spoke to said that, yes, they thought it helped them learn; noting the discussion, taking the time to really think about the problems and the immediate feedback. Incidentally, that is exactly what Dr. David DiBattista (the multiple choice exam guru from Brock U) and colleagues have reported in their studies.

What most struck me though was that these students were having fun! Fun, engaged, learning – seems good to me!

 

DiBattista, D. (2005). The Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique: A learner-centered multiple-choice response form. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 35, 111-131.

Professionalism and Teaching

As a young woman who embarked on instructing classes fairly early in my career, I often think about the notion of professionalism in the classroom. It seems as if students define instructors using common dichotomies: hard or easy, mean or ditsy. I have often tried to think about how to balance being professional and coming across as creditable while still being accessible and approachable.

This (along with my research in the Sociology of Work) has led me to investigate the true meaning of professionalism and classroom teaching.

Professionalism includes creditability, knowledge, and adherence to an ethical code. Working with students requires a firm grasp of subject matter, the desire to improve our teaching through professional development, and competent knowledge of what we are teaching. As academics, the knowledge required to teach is generally within our grasp. However, adherence to a code of ethics can be a bit tricky when informal rules and working relationships are involved. Formalizing a strict code of ethics that allows for approachability and classroom accessibility should be our goal as teachers. This involves defining lines between student-teacher relationships, paying attention to accessibility and workplace relations laws, and reflecting on elements of fairness and equity within the classroom.

I urge all of you out there who want to discuss ethics and professionalism in an open environment to attend my workshop on professionalism with the CTE on April 2nd. Professionalism in academia and teaching should be accompanied by open dialogue and discussion so we can better understand our role as professional educators.

Teaching Cafe for New Graduate Instructors – Matt Roth

If my experience is any indication, teaching a course for the first time is a daunting prospect. My previous experience of being at the front of the classroom was limited to a few guest lectures in classes in which I was a Teaching Assistant.  Co-teaching a history course in the fall of 2011 was something completely different. While excited at the opportunity to finally impart knowledge in a classroom setting, I was still uncertain of my teaching ability because of my limited experience. Thankfully, I discovered a program that eased my apprehensions and developed my teaching skills.

In the 2011 fall term, I participated in the Centre for Teaching Excellence’s [CTE] Teaching Café – an informal learning community for graduate students who were teaching for the first time. I found the CTE’s learning community to be immensely helpful in preparing me to co-teach my first course at the University of Waterloo.

There are many reasons why I was glad that I had decided to participate. Foremost among these was that I learned a considerable amount about classroom pedagogy and acquired many invaluable tips which I could bring to the classroom. I was able to develop my teaching skills and to gain knowledge of the latest trends in education.

My involvement in the Teaching Cafe also provided me with the opportunity to benefit from the teaching experiences of my peers. During each meeting we were able to relate our latest experiences in the classroom, which gave us the opportunity to provide advice to one another. We also benefited from the experiences of the group leaders who had taught classes in the past. One example that immediately comes to mind is the advice I received regarding the teaching evaluations that students fill out at the end of a course. Others in the group informed me of the importance of obtaining evaluations for future use as part of a teaching dossier. As a result, the professor I co-taught with accommodated my request to have students write two separate evaluations, so that I had one that was based solely on my teaching abilities. This is just one of the many ways in which I benefited from my experience in the Teaching Cafe.

One of the strengths of the group was that it included individuals from a wide variety of academic disciplines. This allowed members of the group the opportunity to discuss a wide range of teaching practices that were unique to their respective departments. It is rare within academia to have a forum in which one can hear from such a diverse range of perspectives. It is also uncommon to meet with peers who are experiencing similar challenges in teaching. As I was one of only a few who were teaching for the first time in my department in the fall of 2011, there were not many people I could turn to who shared my level of teaching experience. Thus, in many ways, the Teaching Cafe also served as a kind of support group for those of us who were teaching for the first time.

I would strongly encourage other first-time teachers to participate in the CTE’s Teaching Cafe. I am thankful that there was a program available that helped me to learn more about teaching at the university level. The Teaching Cafe provided me with the advice and support I was looking for as a first-time teacher.  Most importantly, I believe that the students I was teaching benefited from the knowledge I gained through my participation in the CTE’s Teaching Cafe.

Matt Roth is a PhD student in the Department of History.

Making Time to Celebrate — Donna Ellis, CTE DirectorMaking Time to Celebrate

It can be so easy to get caught up in our daily tasks that we overlook all that we can celebrate.  I’m the first one to admit that the lure of a concrete task can sidetrack me from taking a step back and celebrating our accomplishments and contributions.  And yet those celebrations are so very important.

Just last month in CTE, we celebrated our move to EV1.  I wasn’t too sure how many people might join us at this event – there were no special attractions, no speeches, no official ribbon-cutting.  It was just an opportunity to come and find us in our new location and join us for cake and coffee.  And yet, we had a wonderful turnout.  It was exciting to welcome our colleagues and encouraging to know that they can now find us more easily another time.  We even had some fun with a trivia contest – congrats to Sandra Keyes from the Library for being able to answer my colleague Mark’s tricky questions!

We celebrated even more broadly by hosting the 6th annual Loving to Learn Day.  In this case, we were celebrating learning.  My thanks go out to all of those who took the time to dream a little about what they would like to learn instantaneously.  And thanks as well to the man behind the scenes – Mark Morton.  CTE also celebrated learning within our own department, participating in a professional development day on February 16th.  We shared what we have learned about various topic areas regarding “communication” and had fun together at the same time.

Do celebrations always have to involve fun?  Perhaps not in the same way as an official celebratory event.  Most recently, I have been spending time discussing performance appraisals with the staff in CTE.  These conversations may not involve cake, and yet they are still celebratory events to me.  We have an awesome team here (and no, I’m not biased!).  When I review their many accomplishments for the past year, I can clearly see how much they all contribute to the culture of teaching and learning at Waterloo.  My thanks go out to each and every staff member who makes CTE a great place to work!

So maybe I’m the only one who needs the reminder, but if you haven’t made the time to celebrate a noteworthy occasion – be it a milestone or the contribution of a colleague – I encourage you to do so.  It may help to renew your energy enough to get you through your next task…

CTE’s PD Day – Jane Holbrook and Veronica Brown

Creating a Thank You poster at the end of the dayThis has been a really busy year for CTE. We have moved two offices into one, participated in the launch of LEARN, and continued our usual consulting and programming. Everyone from our Centre came together a couple of weeks ago to spend time with each other and to have some fun getting to know each other better. The theme for our PD day was communication and people found lots of great ways to explore this topic.

We spent our retreat day talking about:

  • what we can do to effectively communicate who we are and what we do;
  • better ways to promote our Centre’s activities;
  • how to develop more effective ways to communicate with each other and inform one another of our activities; and
  • what we do as instructional developers and communicate that to the outside world.

Exchanging Ideas at Morning Coffee

Spending time together helped us find some solutions to shared challenges and better understand each others’ roles. Everyone in the Centre contributed by planning group activities, planning lunch, preparing sessions or working behind the scenes to make this a relaxing and worthwhile day.

Laughing during the icebreaker

 

F is for Facebook — Shirley Hall, CTE Research Associate

Recently on a snowy “work from home” day, my 15-year-old son received an assignment from his high school teacher via Facebook.  I was immediately envious that his teacher was able to communicate with him in this way. (My attempts at communicating with my son using ‘old school’ methods, such as talking to him face to face — or should I say f2f? — are typically met with blank stares). My only recent successes have come from updating my cell phone to a model that I can ‘text’ from, so now he will text me back, so I now have a slightly better handle on the everyday happenings in his life. That his teacher was communicating through Facebook seemed ‘cool’ (or should I say ‘sick’?) and I must confess that I was a little miffed that his teacher could enjoy the casual banter of a Facebook post, whereas I had to be satisfied with my rather stilted and formal texting. At least there was a connection of sorts through our phones.

I started to wonder if it might be viable for me to make use of this form of social media for connecting with my own students. I would like to connect like this, quite frankly, because I get that it is, as Wakefield suggests, “where students are”.  (see below for Kirk Wakefield’s February 27 article in Faculty Focus, the oniine version of The Teaching Professor, where he discusses aspects of the use of Facebook with his students.) Although my intentions are good, when contemplating this idea further, I instantly feel at a disadvantage. A large part of the reason that I feel this way is because I do not know the language of Facebook. For me it would be like wandering around in a foreign country without my Fodor’s. (There I go dating myself again, as I realize there are now ‘apps’ one can have on their cellphone that will instantly tell you your location via GPS as well as translating any language for you). Although I like the idea of connecting with my students within their realm, I fear there are likely protocols that need to be followed. For instance, are there Facebook “faux pas” ? I realize that the accepted communication style of Facebookers is not within my current vocabulary. (I might get an “F” in Facebooking). So, as unfounded as my fears might seem (phobias?) I hesitate to venture into this uncharted territory for fear of being chastised.

I also wondered if other instructors might feel the same way as I do, and thought how nice it would be to be able to ‘connect’ with one another and perhaps even have one of my peers walk me gingerly through the Fundamentals of Facebooking. I have yet to find a Facebook 101 offering, but would be happy to attend if one materializes. Let me know if you “like” this idea, and perhaps we can start a discussion of our own regarding the merits of using Facebook in the classroom. Of course, I would prefer to meet you f2f, preferably over a cup of coffee.

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1. Should Professors use Facebook to Communicate with Students? Faculty Focus, www.facultyfocus.com by Kirk Wakefield, Edwin W. Streetman, Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University.