Effective Assignments: Facilitating Learning

Higher Education’s Dark secrets  Despite our rhetoric about teaching higher order skills—critical thinking & problem solving many faculty focus on the acquisition of knowledge (Cashin & Downey, 1995) (Cashin & Downey, 1995)  Students learn what the professors emphasize

A week has 168 hours  Full-time students spend about 16 hours a week in class  That means 90% of the time students are NOT in class When, where, and how does most the most effective learning take place? Eder

Typical undergraduate  …studies less than 10 hours per week for a full-time load  …graduates with a B+/A- average What explains this remarkable pair of findings? Eder

Why Give Assignments  Students acquire and refine skills  Reinforce lecture and other materials  Preparation for future learning activities  Assess what students have learned  Apply previous learning in new situation  Acquire the discipline’s conventions

Why Give Assignments  Allow students to explore their interests  Allow students to work at their pace  Able to use resources not in the classroom  Encourage independent learning  Encourage self-discipline  Makes the best use of class time

Effective Assignments  Have a specific understood purpose  Create a positive learning experience  Make the best use of student’s time  Value utilization of information resources  Alleviate the instructor’s workload  Increase understanding of the subject  Are worth doing

Effective Assignments  Have clearly written learning objectives  Have clear parameters, directions, terminology & schedules  Match students’ interests & prior knowledge  Require students to use information skills & resources in meaningful ways  Foster evidence-based reasoning & higher order skills

Effective Assignments  Break down large projects into smaller tasks  Reflect the discipline & potential careers  Identify the expected characteristics  Inhibit academic dishonesty  Are “do-able”

Check Your Assumptions

It makes a Difference: Teaching Subject vs. Students  Teaching the subject focuses on covering course content  Teaching students focuses on the context for individual learning

Teaching Students  What do they know?  What do they expect?  What do they misunderstand?  What experiences do they have that I can use to connect them to content  What study skills do they lack?

What is Prior Knowledge?  Knowledge, skills, or abilities brought to the learning process  Dynamic, explicit and tacit, includes various types of knowledge organized in schemata  Includes correct understandings and misunderstandings Gonsalves & Lyke 2006

Why Assess Prior Knowledge?  Effective teaching connects new content to prior knowledge  Learning is the integration of new information into existing knowledge  Better able to facilitate learning when you know what students know  Misconceptions stand in the way of learning  Learning outcomes are best evaluated relative to prior knowledge Gonsalves & Lyke 2006

Why Assess Prior Knowledge?  Students understand prior knowledge is important  Class time can be spent more efficiently  Students understand their deficiencies and can take responsibility for repairing them  Can avoid making decisions based on assumptions Gonsalves & Lyke 2006

Active Learning What I hear, I forget What I hear and see, I remember What I hear, see, and discuss, I understand What I hear, see, discuss, and do, allows me to acquire knowledge and skills

Active Learning Tell me, I will forget Show me, I may remember Involve me and I will understand

Questions & Handouts