Key Concepts in Teaching and Learning Rebecca Johnson Instructional Design Researcher & Consultant, Teaching & Learning Services

Session Overview At the end of this session, you should be able to Describe key elements of student engagement Identify opportunities for teaching support from Teaching and Learning Services Identify resources that may be useful to you as you learn more about teaching and learning

Teaching and Learning Services myCourses support and training workshops on creating a syllabus and on instructional design 20-Minute Mentor screenings and discussions consultations Teaching and Learning Services

What sets the tone for a good class? On your own, on one side of your index card, think about a class that you were excited to attend and write down the main reason why. Now think about a class that you dreaded attending and write down the main reason why. In groups of four, each person takes turns, introduce yourself and your program, and in 2 minutes share your positive and negative experiences. Spend another five minutes. Come to consensus as a group. What makes an exciting class? A less exciting class?

Classroom Atmosphere Exciting Less exciting New things to learn Reads off of slides Exciting and inspirational Required courses that aren’t interesting Ditto to above but outside of class Enforced hierarchy Structured with clear goals Cramped classrooms Passionate and energetic and cares Not excited Applicability of what you’re learning Professors admit mistakes Accomodating of student difference Terrifying faculty Flexible and responsive Not grounding theory in application Dismissive of question/too much content

Classroom Atmosphere—2017 GTA Orientation Good vibes Less-good vibes Listening to students Not listening to students Passionate and engaged Fast and monotone Bringing energy and a good mood Not interested in teaching or in interacting Knowledgeable Diverging from a goal Energizing students with a variety of teaching strategies or materials Not doing that Caring about what you’re doing and sharing in a way that gets students excited Condescending and not willing to put the work in Be open-minded and open to not knowing stuff

What Is Student Engagement? Value: Relevance to their personal, academic, and professional interests Real-world relevance Varied forms Your excitement for your discipline Expectancies: Students need to know that with hard work, they can succeed Clarify your expectations Tell students to put down the highlighter and pick up a pen Normalize “failure” or at least struggle

Three Things to Do Before Class Ask “How Are You?”: relationships formed with adults (faculty or not faculty) are critical Display the framework: Learners need to know how this all fits together (See How Learning Works) Create a sense of wonder: NASA picture of the day, what new development or current event has you excited? --James M. Lang, “Small Changes in Teaching”

Resources I Like The Eberly Center at Carnegie Mellon University and How Learning Works by Susan Ambrose, et al Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University Ken Bain James M. Lang Maryellen Weimer Raul Pacheco-Vega Barkley and Major’s Learning Assessment Techniques

Identifying Elements of Your Personal Learning Network Your department: your advisor, other faculty, your graduate school colleagues Your fellow graduate students: outside of your department Teaching/learning-focused centers at RIT: Teaching and Learning Services, CASTLE, Gray Matter Resources out in the world: pedagogy journals, Chronicle of Higher Ed, Faculty Focus, Magna 20-Minute Mentor, Center for Teaching and Learning websites (so many), Academic Twitter (sometimes)

GTA Community of Inquiry Meet roughly once per month Reading and discussing literature on learning Community sets the agenda Application will go out in the next week or so

On the back of your index card, answer these two questions: What will stick with you from this hour? What is your most urgent question about teaching or learning? Pass these index cards to the side of the room.

Questions?