Learning in Large Lectures

Teaching Effectiveness

A prevailing purpose of this podcast project has been to share effective teaching practices – but I started to wonder how we might define “teaching effectiveness” and what we can do to document our own teaching effectiveness. It turns out to be a rather complicated question! In this time-out I’ll share some more about the ambiguity here, as well as try to provide a reasonable, albeit broad, set of suggestions we can take to demonstrate how we approach teaching effectiveness when we communicate in our evaluation matierals.    Taylor and Charlebois: https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1284726 [https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1284726] Taylor and Thion: https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1253622 [https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1253622] KU Teaching Effectiveness Rubric: https://cte.ku.edu/sites/cte/files/documents/programs-initiatives/KU%20Benchmarks%20Framework%202020update.pdf [https://cte.ku.edu/sites/cte/files/documents/programs-initiatives/KU%20Benchmarks%20Framework%202020update.pdf]

Think Aloud

Does talking out loud help with learning?   Processing new information, and drawing connections across readings or concepts can be a challenging cognitive task, and yet our courses and assignments sometimes require this ability. In this time-out, I invited two colleagues to help me learn more about how a “think aloud” session or training might enhance students confidence, their ability to trust source information, and allow instructors to catch, in real time, how a student’s line of thought may be guiding them in the wrong direction.   Tarchi 2020: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/acp.3782 [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/acp.3782] Barnett 1998: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED422288 [https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED422288] Banning 2008: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17383056/ [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17383056/] Tanner 2012: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22665584/ [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22665584/]

Mind Maps

Can drawing out connections enhance learning? Some students struggle with how to take notes in class, often because they don’t think in the linear logical way that traditional notes are organized. A creative alternative, that focuses on connections across a lecture or topics, seems to be really helpful for learning. In this time-out, along with a few guests, we’ll look at the evidence that supports mind-maps as an effective learning and note-taking approach to classroom success. Kaup et al (2024): https://www.njppp.com/index.php?mno=215336 [https://www.njppp.com/index.php?mno=215336] Jabade & Nadaf (2024): 10.4103/jehp.jehp_321_24 Edwards & Cooper (2010): 10.1111/j.1743-498X.2010.00395.x [https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1743-498x.2010.00395.x]

First Day Revisited

How can we address students’ key questions and motivation from the first day of a course? In this time-out, we will revisit a popular topic from this podcast project and continue to think about tactics that can enhance the first day of class, with some new evidence and activities that can help students settle in for a good start and positive experience.   Meaders et al (1): https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.639338 [https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.639338] Meaders et al (2): https://stemeducationjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40594-021-00306-y [https://stemeducationjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40594-021-00306-y]   Hale & Wetmiller (2022): https://publications.aaahq.org/iae/article-abstract/37/4/25/211/Syllabus-Day-Reinvented-Reimagining-the-First-Day?redirectedFrom=fulltext [https://publications.aaahq.org/iae/article-abstract/37/4/25/211/Syllabus-Day-Reinvented-Reimagining-the-First-Day?redirectedFrom=fulltext]   McGinley & Jones (2014): https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0098628314530350 [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0098628314530350]

Learning in Large Lectures

Teaching to a course with 75, 100, or even 200 students can be difficult for the instructor and the student’s learning. In this time-out, we’ll explore some tested strategies that led to improved learning and experiences in these large classes, that also seemed to have been efficient and economical uses of time for the instructor.    Allen et al 2022: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/87567555.2021.1891404 [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/87567555.2021.1891404]   Lillard & Taggart 2022: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/87567555.2022.2140097 [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/87567555.2022.2140097]   Jeram 2024: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/87567555.2023.2208818 [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/87567555.2023.2208818]