August/September 2006 Did you know that..

August/September 2006

Did you know that...

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s online division has developed a video game that covers the lessons of second-level economics that students can take – or play – for credit. Called ECON 201, the game teaches microeconomics by following an alien species that must learn how to survive after crash-landing on a futuristic, post-apocalyptic earth.

The interdisciplinary course game integrates several subjects, such as economics, biology, history, and anthropology. ECON 201 was designed to add some visual excitement and intrigue to a highly theoretical subject of economics. “Ultimately we teach that economics is a way of thinking,” said Jeff Sabaum, an economic instructor for the course.

If you want to get a glimpse of this course you can go to http://econ201.uncg.edu/dcl/econ201/

Petal Fall 2006 Events

August 29 10 am -12 pm August 30 3 pm - 5 pm September 13 1pm - 3pm September 14 3 pm - 5pm September 21 1pm - 2pm September 27 1pm - 3pm September 28 3 pm - 5pm

Grade Book in Excel Grade Book in Excel Course Design and Development Course Design and Development Cooperative Learning Roundtable Motivating Students Motivating Students

Lab 123 Lab 123 Rm 181 Rm 181 Rm 181 Rm 181 Rm 181

Zakharova Zakharova Litchfield Litchfield Litchfield Litchfield Litchfield

The August/September 2006 Issue of The Teaching Professor includes these topics:        

7 Strategies for Enlisting Experts Faculty and Diversity-Related Course Content Teaching Problem Solving: A Case with Intriguing Results 10 Articles that Sustain Me Small Group Discussion Tasks 7 Strategies to Enhance Video Use in the College Classroom Three Years and Counting Alignment: A Model that Responds to Teaching Tensions

The full text of The Teaching Professor is available through EBSCO’s Academic Search Premier or through the PETAL website link - http://www.southalabama.edu/petal/resources.htm

Visit the web site of the Program for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (PETAL) for the full schedule of Summer events, teaching tips and links to web resources www.southalabama.edu/petal

Advanced Registration by phone or email is required for all events.

Phone: 461-1563 FAX: 460-6884 email: PETAL@usouthal.edu

PETAL Roundtable: Presenter Dr. Brenda Litchfield

“Co-operative

Learning”

September 21, 2006 1 pm-2 pm

Library Room 181 Light refreshments Registration Required Phone 461-1563 or email:

petal@usouthal.edu

Smart Classroom

We continue our series of presentations on the Personal Response Systems (PRS) and interviews with the faculty who use them in their classrooms. A live demo of Interwrite PRS will be held on Sept. 14, from 10 -11 am, in Room 181, University Library. We asked Mr. C. Smoot Major, instructor of Biological Sciences and Assistant Curator of USA Herbarium, to comment on this particular system.

-Mr. Major, Personal Response Systems have become quite popular in today’s classroom but there are so many different models! What kind of device have you used in your teaching?

Currently we are using the PRS RF system and it is a great improvement over the Quizdom system that we employed last semester. We are now using the Interwrite RF system (PRS).

-What features did you like best about your tool?

Several things come to mind. First, for large classes we can easily take roll; secondly, this system allows students to do multiple choice, with one answer or more, enter equations, and use short answers. Another feature I find attractive is that I can formulate questions on the fly during a lecture. This provides me with immediate feedback to insure that students comprehend the material.

-What flaws or drawbacks have you discovered about your PRS? With our current system the learning curve for me has been the greatest challenge as each system is different. Although this system is far better than our previous system, learning how to merge different programs such as PRS system and PowerPoint can be a challenge and often takes more than one attempt to have it run smoothly.

-In what situation is it most effective and for what type of assignments would you not recommend its use?

It is very effective for pop quizzes, the students gain immediate feedback and can see charts of how others answered the question. This immediate feedback allows me to know if they have grasped the material or not and if I can move forward to new material without losing the class.

-How did it help you as an instructor?

The feedback is invaluable and the ability to take roll provides me with tools that I won’t have otherwise in a lecture hall situation. The addition of an interactive device in the lecture hall also engaged some of the students that might not have been engaged otherwise.

-What did your students say about this tool?

They were very unhappy with our first system and appear pleased with the new one.

-How expensive is the device that you are using?

Would it be too much of a financial burden for students?

The company sold the response units to the bookstore for $39.00.

Learning and Motivation in the PostSecondary Classroom

Marilla D. Svinicki brings her educational background in psychology and experince as director of the Center for Teaching Effectiveness at the University of Texas-Austin to this book which condenses, distills, and makes accessible complicated research work on learning and tells you in very practical ways how to apply the principles of learning in the classroom.

Chapter 9, “Putting It All Together” sets forth 10 principles of learning that are described in detail throughout the book. In each chapter they are applied to a specific course, providing a compelling illustration of the principles in action.

Principle 1: Empahsize a Few Key Ideas - These central ideas need to be highlighted and stressed across the entire course as well as in each class session. Note that if you use too many, less learning results.

Principle 2: Be Aware of Prior Knowledge -- “...prior knowledge and experience affect current behavior and learning” (p. 27). Learners consistently try to connect what is new with what is known.

Principle 3: Tap into Motivational Sources -- Motivation powers the learning enterprise, and teachers can do much to influence its affects on students.

Principle 4: Build Structural Knowledge to Achieve Understanding -The key idea here is that “knowledge is retained only when embedded in some organizing structure” (p. 40), thus teachers have to help beginning learners build that structure so that they have some place to hang and then find new knowledge.

Principle 5: Structure Learning to Support Encoding of the Content -“Failures here are essentially failures to learn. Unless new information can be incorporated into the learner’s long-term memory, it will not be available for future use” (p.24). Teachers must design instruction that supports encoding.

Principle 6: Use Modeling to Teach Skills -- Skills are learned via the venerable model of learning: apprenticeship. Beyond that, “deciding what to model is as important as how to model it” (p.74).

Principle 7: Give Lots of Active, Coached Practice -- “...so that they can exert their mental energies not on recall, but on expanding their understanding” (p. 32).

Principle 8: Teach in Ways That Promote Transfer -- Enable students to transfer what they have learned to new and novel situations (p. 99). The way in which the material is taught can expedite that process -- teach the skill just before students have the opportunity to use it (p. 106).

Principle 9: Help Students Become Aware of their Own Learning Strategies - Learning is essentially an individual activity. If prowess as a learner is to develop, then teachers must help them encounter themselves as learners.

Principle 10: Respect Individual Differences in Learning -- “By respect, I don’t just mean tolerance of differences. I mean building into the class some flexibility about how each student approach[es] learning” (p. 229).

Abridged from The Teaching Professor’s Summer Reading book review of the above mentioned book by Marilla D. Svinicki, published by Anker, 2004, 263