The British Model of Teaching & Learning ~ How Not What Dr Andy Wilson UK Staff Development Advisor to the BUE & Director of Capability Enhancement, Loughborough University, UK Professor Leslie Croxford Academic Director The British University in Egypt

Purposes  To discuss why the Learn How to Think Not What to Think approach is so important  To explain what this approach means in practice  To encourage you to make the transition to How Not What in your teaching.

How Not What  This epitomises the British approach to teaching and learning  Tell someone what the answer is and they can answer the same question again  Tell them how to answer the question and they can apply this to other similar questions.

Learn how to think...not what to think

O brave new world...  How Not What is fundamentally about our graduates  So let's start by thinking about the sort of world that our graduates will inhabit - and influence  We know that one thing that won't change is...

...that has such people in it  For this sort of world... ...what sort of graduates do we want to produce at the BUE?  Please talk with a few neighbours and generate three or four words to describe these graduates.

Why 'How Not What'?  The world will need How Not What people  How Not What is BUE's unique selling point  How Not What will make our graduates more employable  Your discipline needs How Not What students for the future  How Not What is more fun for the teacher.

Teaching for How Not What  It's not easy!  It involves students as well as staff  It's an ongoing process  It will be different at different stages in their time at BUE.

Fundamentals WhatHow One-wayMulti-way Received wisdomContested knowledge PassivityActive engagement MemorisationProcessing Giving you the answerGiving you the tools TellingHelping

How people learn  How do you learn?  Please think of a time when you were learning well  What made it good?

How people learn 2  I hear and I forget  I see and I remember  I do and I understand.

My framework  Design  Assist  Deliver  Assess  Comments on the first three  Assess in a separate session  Your ideas are most welcome.

Design ~ A MORAL approach An iterative optimisation process. If you don’t assess it then students won’t see it as important. An iterative optimisation process. If you don’t assess it then students won’t see it as important. MethodsTeaching techniques OutcomesILO’s ResourcesFacilities, equipment, etc AssessmentTechniques of assessment LearnersStudents’ characteristics

Characteristics of good design  Variety ~ different learning styles  Relevance ~...that is perceived  Engagement ~ often via activity  Empathy ~ the dangers of expertise  Interest ~ for both you and them ...?

Assisting for How Not What  How not what is new for many students  You can't expect them to change how they learn without help  But first…  If you really want to change the way students learn, change the way you __________ them.

 Personal Tutors  Show that you think it’s important ~ positive messages from you are crucial  TAs have a key role in helping students  Discuss how people in your discipline think  Model your discipline’s processes  Provide typologies of problems  Refer to assessments in your teaching  Give feedback on assessment. Assistance advice

Delivering for How Not What  In groups of three, for three minutes…  Will one of you please explain something from your area of professional expertise to the other two  But please – and this may be hard – do it in as un-engaging a way as possible;  Then discuss the experience.

Delivering for How Not What 2  A lot of How Not What is about your relationship with your students  Our President, Shirley Pearce, talks about ‘mutual respect’  Your role is to diminish dependency TellingHelping

 Students don't know how to behave ~ unless you tell them very clearly  Students may not have seen this sort of teaching before ~ so explain your reasons and expectations  Students may not see the benefit ~ so link your teaching to the assessment  Students may be fearful of appearing stupid ~ so reduce the risk and raise the reward. Delivery dangers – and tips

 Students will want to know the limits, so…  Be very clear about what you want them to do  Be friendly  …and firm  Address inappropriate behaviour early  …maybe just by moving your position  Say thank you  Don't put students down  Don't target individuals in large groups  Gather group ideas  Look for humour  Link to current events. Risks and rewards

 Offer options for them to choose from ~ they can vote  If a student responds to a question don’t punish them further by getting into a dialogue with them!  Don’t let your irritation show – unless you really want it to  Explain why they need to understand  Link what you’re saying to the assessment. Risks and rewards 2

Your delivery  Please talk to a few neighbours and help each other to think of at least one way of making your own delivery more How Not What.

Finally  Please talk to a neighbour so that each of you shares one of your moves towards HNW in your teaching.

How Not What Puzzles  Here are some puzzles that illustrate the How Not What approach  The issue is not what the answer is, but what the principle behind the answer is.

Your task…  …is to put your pen on the paper and draw a straight line, then – without taking your pen off the paper – draw another, and then another, and then another (4 in total), so that your lines pass through all nine points.

The answer…?  I could tell you the answer…  Or I could share a principle that will help you with this problem…  …and with many others  What’s the principle?

This time…  …put each of the numbers 1 – 8 into one of the squares so that no two consecutive numbers are next to each other, vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

The principle…?  Another classic problem-solving technique.

Here’s another…  Are there more parents or grandparents?

A useful technique  This is often called a Venn diagram. ParentsGrandparents

A useful technique Parents Grand- parents

Here’s a silly one  If one theatre ticket for a performance costs £25, what will 20 such tickets cost?

And another...  Which line indicates the faster percentage growth rate? Output Time

Growth rates  A growth rate is a percentage change over time  So 2 to 3 is 1/2 and hence a 50% growth rate.

Growth rates  Growth rates are different across the diagram 30 to 40 = 33.3% 10 to 20 = 100% Output Time to 30 = 50% 0 to 10 = infinity A B 30 10