VOLUME 19
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THE TOOLBOX A Teaching and Learning Resource for Instructors
WRITING TO LEARN IN THE COVID CLASSROOM T
he COVID pandemic challenged the longRyan Korstange established norms of college teaching. One Zachary Nolan Middle Tennessee State University uncomfortable result of policies and practices undertaken to quell the spread of COVID-19 is broad-based isolation. To be sure, these policies are appropriate and important as we work together to quell the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, these policy decisions had a dramatic impact on instruction. The reality is that COVID mitigation policies serve to isolate students from each other, from faculty, and leave them tenuously connected to the institution. These changes have promoted innovation across the university – but certainly required a new approach to teaching and learning. The depersonalized lecture built on the assumption that learning only requires motivation and proximity to compelling new information is recognized as ineffective afresh. Engaging pedagogies are increasingly necessary – though engagement is itself challenging in the distanced COVID classroom where students are necessarily distanced, either chronologically (as in asynchronous instructional approaches), or spatially. Group work cannot take the same form, nor can think-pairshare and other quick formative activities that give the instructor vital information about what the students are learning or where they are struggling. As a result, new instructional approaches must be constructed. Effective teaching requires more than simply transmitting information to students clearly and effectively; but requires that students be actively involved in their learning (for a summary of strategic teaching moves see McEwan, 2010). Of particular importance are discursive moves including inviting student participation, teacher revoicing, student revoicing, probing a student’s thinking, creating opportunities to engage with another’s reasoning and using wait time (Herbel-Eisenmann, Steel, & Cirillo, 2013). These moves create an intellectually and personally engaging space where students know they are valued, where they productively struggle with difficult information, and where they deeply learn. Collaborative writing provides a useful technique for engaging students in significant learning while respecting the social distancing standards teaching during COVID requires and is easily transferable to the post-pandemic instructional toolbox.
National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience® and Students in Transition, University of South Carolina
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. — Helen Keller
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Two presuppositions undergird the instructional approach: 1. The primary task of the college classroom is for students to make meaning of the content presented to them. This requires them to think, reimagine, re-conceptualize, and interact with the material. 2. Students are intelligent and valuable and know a lot of valuable information. Beyond that, they are eager and capable of learning. Here we describe three strategies that invite students to learn.
1: Whiteboard conversation starter Students come to class with varied experiences, which makes the introduction of new concepts difficult. The result is that instructors create an arbitrary starting point, which often does not meet each student in a class where they are in their understanding. Google Jamboard (https://jamboard.google.com/) can be a great way to invite students to identify their starting presuppositions at the beginning of the conversation. The setup is simple: Jamboard offers an easily editable whiteboard-type virtual platform. Students access Jamboard through a shared URL that can be opened on a computer, tablet, or cell phone.The platform can be used in several ways, as its architecture operates around the creation and organization of virtual post-it notes. As a discussion starter, a Jamboard can be marshaled to allows students to anonymously declare their thoughts about any subject. For example, Figure 1 what students think contributes to learning. This material was used in a freshman seminar course to ground a conversation about what successful learning in college requires.
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Figure 1. Collaborative whiteboard: what does learning in college require? The net result is that discussion can begin from perspectives, vantage points, and experiences that students have. In this way, students are valued and heard.
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AVAILABLE NOW 2: Audience Polling as discussion Kickstarter Discussions can also be kickstarted through the use of audience response software (e.g., Polleverywhere, Kahoot).These web-based resources operate using a different type of collaborative authorship, in which students are providing information by answering predetermined questions that do not always require that students write text. Consider the following questions about procrastination that were distributed at the beginning of a conversation about time management: 1. I believe procrastination should be avoided.
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2. I procrastinated this week. Figure 2 illustrates one collection of a snapshot of student beliefs about procrastination.
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I believe procrastination should be avoided Very true of what I believe Somewhat true of what I believe
30% 10%
Neutral Somewhat untrue of what I believe
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SUPPORTING SUCCESS FOR
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Very untrue of what I believe Figure 2. Audience Response poll, procrastination beliefs Several discursive questions follow from this data. For example, “Help me understand why 40% of students might feel neutral about procrastination.” Or, “Does it surprise you that 40% of students think that procrastination should be avoided?” A follow-up question (Figure 3) personalizes student behavior and yields a whole different set of questions. Some questions compare the responses to the two questions, others dive into particulars of the responses on this question, like “who hasn’t procrastinated this week? what tips can you give us?” Or “what are the factors that lead to procrastination?”. In either case, beginning with student responses localizes the conversation. It grounds the topic in the student’s experience not in the generic student experience, in so doing this method provides an authentic mechanism for deeper conversation. By getting information about the students’ experience of procrastination, a deeper conversation is possible. In part, pairing information about what students say that they believe about procrastination with their recent experience of procrastination can be marshaled to identify discontinuities between belief and experience, but also beneficial conversation arises around the amount of procrastination that students in the class have engaged in.
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A semiannual refereed journal providing current research and scholarship on significant student transitions. The primary purpose of the Journal is to disseminate empirical research findings on student transition issues. To submit or subscribe, please visit www.sc.edu/fye/journal
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I have procrastinated this week
Very true of me Somewhat true of me
60%
Neutral 10% Somewhat untrue of me
20%
Very untrue of me 10%
Richard Mullendore and Leslie Banahan
Figure 3. Audience response poll, procrastination behavior
3: Student-generated presentation Inviting the student’s perspective can also be facilitated through the use of collaboratively created presentations. Google Slides provides an ideal mechanism for distributing an empty presentation shell and for collaboratively authoring content for use in class. Moving from the presentation software from a mechanism for information dissemination to a venue for shared authorship requires a few alterations. First, a rough outline or template for work should be included because it focuses the student’s work on creating the necessary content and eliminates questions about the structure and form of the project itself. To this end, instructions for students’ work should be included early in the presentation; template slides should also be included.
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An example will illustrate the concept. A google slides presentation shell can be given to the students containing each of these types of slides: 1. Instructions 2. Resources (Figure 4) 3. Blank slides to be filled in by individual students or groups (Figure 5 & Figure 6) 4. Analytical Slides to be completed during a whole class discussion (Figure 7 & Figure 8)
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Instructions Take 5 minutes to do quick internet-based research on the system. Answer these questions: » What materials and setup does the system require? » How does the system promise to improve your productivity? » Provide examples of the system in practice?
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Once given the slides, students complete their assigned work. The presentation they create becomes the fodder for subsequent conversation in class. The example slides provided here come from a class session devoted to research and analysis of various productivity systems (Korstange, 2018).
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SAVE THE DATE
Once this presentation is completed by students, it becomes a record of the class conversation. It is, therefore, an emergent note-taking system while also creating conditions for class conversation. The assignment is completed in phases: » The slides contain hyperlinks to resources – these links have been lost in the formatting, which is fine, but indicating that they are hyperlinked would be helpfuls (Figure 4).1
Use these resources to start your research into the productivity system.
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Article: Kat Boogaard, “Take it from someone who hates productivity hacks – the Pomodoro technique actually works.”
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Article: Alan Henry, “Productivity 101: An introduction to the Pomodoro Technique.”
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Wikipedia Article: The pomodoro technique
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Video: The pomodoro technique
Figure 4. Presentation software - resource slide » Next, they summarize what they think is essential to the setup of the system (Figure 5) and provide some articulation of the promised benefits of the productivity method (Figure 6).
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After students have filled out their assigned slides, the next stage is to display the completed presentation to the class (shared screen in video conferencing platforms, or via a projector in face-to-face classes). At this phase, the remainder of the dialogical moves described above are employed: » Students present their findings, and the teacher revoices or restates their observations, asking probing questions where appropriate. The goal in this phase of the discussion is to ensure that the students are on the same page and have some rudimentary understanding of the system being discussed.
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» The discussion is deepened by inviting other students, who were not in the group initially tasked with understanding the system, to revoice and explain what they understand the system to be doing. Note that the slides represented in figures 4-8 are all provided to students with headings, but not content.
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SAVE THE DATE POMODORO: Materials & Setup Materials •
Bring whatever that’s needed for the assignment you’re trying to complete or task on hand.
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Sheet of paper to write down the goals/to do list you’re trying to do or achieve during the session.
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You will also need a timer so you can set the 25 minute chunks.
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To set it up it’s pretty simple. All you need is a timer and whatever tasks you’re doing, and do it for 25 minutes straight with no distractions.
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Figure 5. Presentation software - setup
POMODORO: Promised Improvements
sntn u a l C o n f e r e n c e o n t h e A
a , F l o ri d o d n a l r 2 O -1 5 , 2 02
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Manage distractions and control your time
Increase accountability
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Improve weekly and quarterly planning
Figure 6. Presentation software - benefits » Undoubtedly, students will both get things right and demonstrate misunderstanding, which can be corrected through further conversation. Wherever possible, students should be put into the conversation with other students. Phrases like, “that’s an interesting point student A, Student B, does that match your understanding?” or “Student B, what is student A leaving out or missing in their description?” will be common. » Finally, after the discursive phase, students are in a position to complete analysis, both of the individual content pieces (Figure 7) and the overarching topic of discussion as a whole (Figure 8).
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Strengths
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Analysis •
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Timing your work keeps you focused. Play against procrastination.
Challenges
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Time crunch Working for 25 minutes without distraction might be hard. 25 minutes might not be enough for some tasks.
Figure 7. Presentation software - system analysis Brett Ranon Nachman University of Wisconsin - Madison
Productivity Do: make a note of your different tasks.
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Set times to do certain tasks. List your tasks out. Space out things that are due last. Get enough rest to stay focused.
Piecing Together the Community College Puzzle: How Autistic Students Transition Into and Through Community College Do not: wait until the last minute to get something done.
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Procrastinate Not take notes of your task. Do everything at once. Stay up all night.
Figure 8. Presentation software - productivity analysis The last point is about the wait time. Student meaning-making will take time. The questions that both undergird the construction of the lesson and those that come up in the discursive phase will be novel questions that require student thought. Silence does not mean that the lesson has failed, or that the question was misunderstood. Rather, silence may indicate students are thinking about new aspects of the content.
Abstract: A qualitative case study that examines how autistic students transition into and thought community college. Nachman utilizes Neurodiversity and Critical Disability Theory to frame his understandings of autistic students’ experiences. The study employs surveys, interviews, observations, written reflections, and document analysis to obtain insights from autistic students, college staff, and people who students nominate. Preliminary findings suggest the importance of possessing strong parental and peer networks, concurrently engaging in a college autism support program, and finding fruitful majors and careers as positive influencers shaping students as they lead into, start out at, and progress through community college.
Benefits of Collaborative Authorship Why does this matter? Simply - students learn better when they are engaged (Michael, 2006). They know this, and so do we. Students are looking to be engaged. As a student, the most crucial factor that determines how much is gained from a class is the level of engagement. Continuous interaction between the instructor and classmates is especially important in the distanced learning environment where it can be difficult to
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maintain focus. Further, students participate in class more actively when the delivery of information takes the form of a conversation as opposed to a traditional lecture. Collaborative authorship strategies provide students with an opportunity to utilize their critical thinking skills, and to practice effective communication skills. Since thinking is a prerequisite for learning (Willingham, 2010), increasing the thinking that is done in class also increases the learning that happens in class. A final consideration that distinguishes a successful class session is how the instructor incites the discussion.The instructor can randomly invite students to speak or allow them to voluntarily raise their hands (either physically or virtually). While some students prefer to volunteer simply because it makes them feel more in control of the engagement process, there are some advantages presented by the instructor directly engaging students. That creates accountability for the students. Knowing that any student could be called on at any point makes them more likely to pay attention to the discussion and less likely to walk away from the screen, or to disengage while in class. Furthermore, this method ensures that the opinions of all students are included in the dialogue (Sathy & Hogan, 2019). Establishing an expectation for thoughtful contribution early in the semester eases stress for students because they understand what is expected of them.
Conclusion Learning is always challenging. It always requires that time and effort be spent on educationally significant tasks. At the same time, learning has become more challenging as a result of the restrictions adopted, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Classes function differently, and therefore they require a different set of practices for both instructors and students to maximize learning. Collaborative authorship serves as a vital foundation for effective learning because it centers the student’s experience in the classroom discussion. It demonstrates to each student that they matter, their opinions matter, and that they are more than just a number. Finally, collaborative authorship ensures that class sessions are more authentic.
REFERENCES Herbel-Eisenmann, B. A., Steele, M. D., & Cirillo, M. (2013). (Developing) teacher discourse moves: A framework for professional development. Mathematics Teacher Educator, 1(2), 181-196. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5951/mathteaceduc.1.2.0181 Korstange, R. (2018). Building Personal Productivity in FYE Courses. E-Source for College Transitions, 15(2), 5-7. http://bit.ly/ESource1522 McEwan, E. K. (2010).The teaching moves of a strategic teacher. http://www.adlit.org/article/39993/ Michael, J. (2006).Where’s the evidence that active learning works? Advances in Physiology Education, 30(4), 159-167. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00053.2006 Sathy, V., & Hogan, K. (2019, July 22). How to make your teaching more inclusive. The Chronicle for Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-make-your-teaching-moreinclusive/ Willingham, D. T. (2010). Why Don’t Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for Your Classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
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Submission Guidelines for The Toolbox For complete guidelines and issue dates, see www.sc.edu/fye/toolbox/ Audience: Toolbox readers include full-time and adjunct faculty; academic advisors; and administrators focused on faculty development, teaching and learning, academic success, and the first college year. Style: Articles, tables, figures, and references should adhere to standard set forth in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Length: Original articles should be no longer than 1,500 words. The editor reserves the right to edit submissions for length. Submit your article online by using our submission form. Please address all questions to: Brad Garner, Toolbox Editor Indiana Wesleyan University 1900 West 50th Street Marion, IN 46953 Email: brad.garner@indwes.edu Phone: 765-677-3341
About The Toolbox The Toolbox is an online professional development newsletter offering innovative, learner-centered strategies for empowering college students to achieve greater success. The newsletter is published six times a year by the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina. The online subscription is free. To register for newsletter alerts and access back issues, please visit www.sc.edu/fye/toolbox.
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