Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Table of Contents

Introduction to this Booklet by Sally Kuhlenschmidt
Classroom Teaching Methods Self-Evaluation
FERPA: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act by Freida Eggleton
Instructional Skills
All of Life by Dixie Dennis
Using Objectives by Joan Krenzin
A Sense of Humor in Teaching by Freda Mays
Active Learning
Actively Encouraging Active Learning by Barry Brunson
Critical Thinking
Making Writing Relevant by Jean E. Nehm
Problem-based Learning
Interactive Pictures by Scott Bonham
Collaborative Learning
Puzzling Out the History of Geography: An Application of the Jigsaw Method of Collaborative Learning by Jamie L. Strickland
Collaborative Team Building from a Distance by Peggy Cramer & Mary Warren
PQP Sheets - Peer Review of Works in Progress by Joyce Rasdall
Service Learning
Pedagogy of Engagement by Edward Zlotkowski

Technology for Instruction by Sally Kuhlenschmidt
Effective Presentation and the Student Input to Teaching Evaluation (SITE) by Sally Kuhlenschmidt
Bibliography

Evaluation of this booklet -- Effective Presentation

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Introduction to Exploring the Scholarship of Teaching: Effective Presentation

Welcome back to our series on Exploring the Scholarship of Teaching. This is a series in which the Glassick, Huber and Maeroff (1997) standards for scholarship are applied to teaching (see below).

Our objectives are:
1. To encourage us to be explicit in our choices as teachers.
2. To evaluate the effectiveness of our teaching process against the body of literature and from our experiences as teachers.
3. To offer options for written reflection on teaching.

We have had a hiatus while new staff have been brought on board and have done a major web overhaul in response to our needs assessment last spring. But the series is now back with many terrific articles on Effective Presentation. You will find the highlights of these articles in this print document with continuations on the web at: http://www.wku.edu/teaching/booklets/sotl/effpres.html

You can also find earlier volumes on the web at: http://www.wku.edu/teaching/booklets/sotl/goals.htm

Because of a wonderful faculty response to a request for articles, we elected to reverse the original Glassick, Huber, & Maeroff (1997) order and provide Effective Presentation before the “Significant Results” topic. We will be seeking articles on how teachers demonstrate meaningful outcomes in their work for the 5th booklet in the series and finally will ask for reflections on how teachers conduct and profit from reflection on their activities.

We hope you will be contemplating these topics as you read through this series. We do have the Glassick, Huber, & Maeroff book available for checkout, and each department was provided with a copy a few years ago. Your department head may have it.

Sally Kuhlenschmidt, Professor/Director
Psychology & Center for Teaching & Learning
Spring 2003

*** “All works of scholarship, be they discovery, integration, application, or teaching, involve a common sequence of unfolding stages. We have found that when people praise a work of scholarship, they usually mean that the project in question shows that it has been guided by these qualitative standards:”

Clear goals
Adequate preparation
Appropriate methods

Effective presentation
Significant results
Reflective critique

Glassick, Charles E.; Huber, Mary Taylor; & Maeroff, Gene I. Scholarship Assessed: Evaluation of the Professoriate. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997.

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Classroom Teaching Methods Self-Evaluation
A survey of classroom activities based upon the 7 principles identified in: Chickering, Arthur W. and Zelda F. Gamson. “7 Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.” Special insert in The Wingspread Journal, June 1987.

One who follows the principles of good practice in undergraduate education:

1. Encourages student-faculty contact
__ I learn my students’ names as soon as possible.
__I encourage students to take advantage of my office hours/email to explore questions they may have.
__I am open to and flexible about “impromptu” learning opportunities which may arise in my classroom as the result of student inquiry.

2. Encourages cooperation among students
__ I include in my assignments group activities/projects/reports that will encourage cooperation/collaboration among my students. Some of those activities might include: group projects, group-written papers/reports, or simple short group discussions on the current lecture.
__ I encourage a feeling of community among my students by such activities as having them “join” a small group which they may use as a resource when they miss class or they feel their notes are not up to par.

3. Encourages Active Learning
__ I give opportunities to students to actively participate in their learning and not just be observers. I use techniques which range from the simple, such as brainstorming in class for answers/suggestions, to the more complex, such as, full-blown problem-based learning activities.
__ I encourage my students to express “ownership” of the content. One way I do this is to show them how the content relates to and how important it can be to their lives.

4. Gives prompt feedback
__ I grade and return papers/exams with appropriate comments promptly.
__ If a student asks for additional examples or illustrations, I supply them promptly.

5. Emphasizes time on task
__ I start class on time and keep students engaged in learning for the entire class period.
__ I help students acquire learning time management skills. For example, by structuring assignments with first draft, revised draft, and final product, I illustrate for students that deadlines must be met.

6. Communicates high expectations
__ I expect my students to do well and try to communicate this through my attitude and manner toward them.
__ I convey my belief that they are capable of performing well.

7. Respects diverse talents and ways of learning
__ I try to include more than one presentation method during a given class period, to accommodate to the variety of learning approaches of my students.
__ If I have a large body of information to dispense, I try to think of some method either in addition to or in place of the lecture. __ When I use the lecture method, I try to break up the class period with additional activities, discussions, etc.

Some activities/methods I might use to augment my lectures:
__ An active learning technique such as Jigsaw Groups to explore and share assigned out-of-class readings
__ Preassigned, collaborative, student projects/reports to correspond with current content.
__ On-line materials that students may “visit” as often as necessary to master the content.

Some activities/methods I might use to get feedback on my lectures:
__ Small student groups assigned to identify a “fuzzy” point/concept presented during the first 20 minutes of lecture that needs clarification by instructor in the remainder of the class period.
__ Brief papers (classic one minute paper) written in class; to identify these two points: most important thing you learned today and the most important question you have about the material covered.
__ I keep current in my field and am quick to announce any new breakthroughs which may motivate students.

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All of Life
by Dixie Dennis, Public Health

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made
~Robert Browning, 1864 ; Rabbi Ben Ezra

Dixie Dennis

It is difficult to accept life's mortality. Like Woody Allen, most of us "want to achieve immortality by not dying" (Edlin, Golanty, & Brown, 2000, p. 344). Old age and mortality seem especially far removed from today's young and healthy college students. Yet, most of them will grow old, and all of them will die. Dupree (1994) suggests that poetry and storytelling can rekindle interest and imagination in what may be perceived as initially not relevant. Therefore, the purpose of this teaching technique is to provide a fun and memorable picture of old age and death and, subsequently, life.

Unit: Aging/Death
Time: One class period
Materials: Music, When I'm 64 (Beatles, 1967); Poem, If I Had My Life To Live Over (Martz, 1992) ; Stages of Grieving Loss of Youth (Figure 1) ; and the Book (The Fall of Freddie The Leaf (Buscaglia, 1982).

Method:

· As students enter the classroom, have the song, When I'm 64, playing from a tape recorder. Begin a discussion about society's views of the negative consequences of old age:
· Hair (gray or "gone"), wrinkles, feeble, unimportant, loose skin, slowed reaction time, more fat, senile, poor vision and hearing, and so on.
· Agree that even though the picture looks bleak, learning how to enjoy the later years is important since Americans are living longer than ever before. The life expectancy for Americans has grown to an average of approximately 76 years (Insel & Roth, 1996).
· Clarify that even though we only live once, if we do it right once is enough. Read the poem, If I Had My Life To Live Over, as an example describing an excellent way to accomplish living life.
· Explain that for many older people, it is normal to grieve the loss of their youth. Draw, explain, and distribute Figure 1, Stages of Grieving Loss of Youth, on the chalkboard. In each stage, have students share examples from older persons in their lives. In addition, elicit students' examples of their experiences of loss with, for example, pets, romantic partners, "the big game," and friends.
· Sit on the front edge of your desk, readying yourself to read The Fall of Freddie the Leaf (Buscaglia, 1982). Expect to look up periodically to see red faces, smiles, and even tears as Buscaglia trails a leaf named Freddie from his first appearance in Spring until his gentle, soft, and quiet descent in Winter. Before entering his final contented position, Freddie questions his best friend and wisest leaf on the tree, Daniel, about the reason for his existence and what it means "to die" as well as asking about when it would be "his time" to die. Daniel provided many comforting answers. For example, Freddie told Daniel, "I'm afraid to die. I don't know what's down there." Daniel explained that we all fear the unknown. Reassuringly, Daniel added, "you were not afraid when Spring became Summer or Summer became Fall. They were natural changes. Why should you then be afraid of the natural season of death?"
· Lastly, after reading the book, explain that there is a balance between birth and death. It is called "life." To be born necessitates dying. In the words of Robert Browning, the first of life was made for the last. It is the living, the in-between, that counts. Therefore, eat more ice cream, climb more mountains, realize what is important, grieve and grow from your losses, pick more daisies, and dare to make mistakes. In other words, enjoy life; ALL of life.

References:
Buscaglia, L. F. (1982). The fall of Freddie the leaf. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co.
Dupree, A. (1994). We gotta talk! Utne Reader, 62, 117-118.
Edlin, G., Golanty, Eric, & Brown, K. M. (2000). Essentials for health and wellness (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Insel, P. M., & Roth, W. T. (1996). Core concepts in health (7th ed.). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Co.
Kubler-Ross, E. (1969). On death and dying. New York, NY: Macmillan.
Martz, S. H. (Ed.). (1991). When I am an old woman I shall wear purple. Watssonville, CA: Papier-Mache Press.
The Beatles. (1967). When I'm sixty-four. On Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [Cassette]. EMI Records Ltd.

Figure 1: The Stages of Grieving Loss of Youth
Realization of Loss of Youth

Denial - "Who is THAT in the mirror?"
Sadness - "Where did all my chances go?" or "Where did my reasons for living go?"
Bargaining - "If I just had one more chance to be young again."
(Example: buying the longed-for red convertible
Acceptance - Non-emotional state. Do what needs to be done. Life starts upward.
Adjustment - Trying new things.
New Life - Increased wisdom, compassion, and appreciation for life. Therefore, this final state is at a higher position than the original loss realization.

Note: Adapted from On death and dying, by E. Kubler-Ross, 1969, New York, NY; Macmillan.

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An Example of the Instructional Skills Appropriate to Teaching . . .
Using Objectives
by Joan Krenzin, Sociology Department

If you don't know where you are going,
you are likely to end up somewhere else. (Cyrs 1994)

Joan Krenzin

Because many students find it difficult to organize their class notes, providing your teaching objectives for them may help them to arrange ideas in an orderly manner. Those objectives will almost certainly help the instructor to retain focus.

Deductive Reasoning
Although I frequently use inductive reasoning in my teaching, I find that student notes are more easily understood on the days I use the deductive method. This process usually involves constructing about three primary objectives, with each accompanied by a number of secondary objectives. One standard class period is seldom long enough to deal with more than three to five primary objectives (Marincovich 1998).

The primary objectives may be thought of as conclusions (Becker and Becker 1994, p.16). Supporting objectives will be needed to deal with clarifying material.

The material generally seems more stimulating if the objective is stated at the analysis level or higher. Supporting objectives, however, will probably involve knowledge, comprehension, and application (Bloom 1956).

An Example of Objectives Considered in Teaching

Demography in an Introductory Sociology Class
One of my primary objectives for a class session might be to help students understand that the theory of demographic transition is not applicable to underdeveloped countries. Following are only a few of the secondary objectives, at lower levels on Bloom's taxonomy, needed to build the rationale for that stated objective. The student will understand that:

A. The demographic transition is the change from high birth rates and high death rates to low birth rates and low death rates.

B. The breadwinner system growing out of the Industrial Revolution made children an economic liability rather than the asset they had been on the farms.

C. Birth rates dropped when people found they could not afford large families and could not give large numbers of children the advantages they wanted to give them.

D. Underdeveloped countries have had help from the industrialized world in rapidly decreasing their death rates without receiving simultaneous motivation to reduce birth rates.

It is important to note in the example given that student discussion remains important. To discuss Objective B, I might ask how farm children could help the family? What could city children do to aid their fathers in their work? Objective C could raise the question of why city parents might choose to have fewer children. Objective D might produce the question of what the countries of the industrialized world have done to affect death rates in underdeveloped countries. Why have we done those things?

I have the choice of writing the secondary objectives on the board in advance or after the students have provided me with information. I can summarize. Thus, I might use inductive reasoning within my general deductive framework.

Whichever route is taken, it is important that the instructor determines exactly what is to be covered. In the absence of my predetermined objectives, I might be tempted, for example, to launch into a discussion of how the breadwinner system changed family relationships and decreased the stability of the family. While that information is sociologically significant, it does not enhance the students' understanding of the demographic transition.

If the instructor knows the goals for a class session, the means for reaching them are many. Flexibility to respond to student questions and to reorder the topics for the day still exists. The important point is that flexibility without focus leads to chaos.

Using objectives is only one of the important instructional skills. Others can be found in the references below.

Becker, Dennis and Paula Borkum Becker. 1994. Powerful Presentation Skills. Burr Ridge, IL: Business One Irwin/Mirror.

Bloom, Benjamin S., ed. 1956. Taxonomv of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay.

Cyrs, Thomas E. 1994. Essential Skills for College Instructional Systems Approach, 3rd ed. Las Cruces, NM: New Mexico State University.

Marincovich, Michele, ed. 1998. Teaching at Stanford: An Introductory Handbook for Faculty, Academic Staff/Teaching, and Teaching Assistants, rev. ed. Publication of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Stanford University. Available at <http://www-ctl.stanford.edu/teach/handbook.html> Accessed 7 September, 2000.

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A Sense of Humor in Teaching
by Freda Mays, Business & Computer Studies Division, Bowling Green Community College

I suppose my best teaching technique to get students "motivated" is a sense of humor, because when you work with computers you can go crazy without humor. When technology does not work the first or even second try, students realize that the unexplainable can even happen to me, the teacher. When things go wrong, I simply laugh and begin again. Thus, by example, I encourage students to keep trying until they accomplish their tasks.After I give the overall view and objectives of an assignment, a lot of my teaching involves one-to-one teaching. The advanced students get bored when I go over the same thing again and again with student having difficulty understanding the lesson.

Freda Mays

Therefore, I find challenging assignments or creative activities and let the advanced students begin working. I spend extra time (inside and outside the class period) working with students who are having difficulty understanding a particular concept. This involves telling and showing how and then watching as the students try to transfer the learning. (Chickering and Gamson identify frequent student-teacher contact as the most important ingredient in motivation and involvement of all students.) This encouragement is very important to these students.

Another way I encourage and try to motivate students is to explain why I want them to do a particular assignment. I explain why they need to understand a particular concept and why it will be important as they continue school or work. I stress the application of a concept rather than the memorization of it. In my opinion, a student has not learned unless he/she can apply that knowledge. (Chickering and Gamson identify active learning as one of the techniques of good practice in Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.) For example in Office Administration, we discuss resumes, application letters and job interviews. The students then prepare their material as if they are applying for a job. For the interview section, I make appointments with each student and interview them as if they were applying for a job. Even though this is just role playing, students do get an idea of how it could be on a real job interview. They are graded on both their written material and their performance (appearance, confidence, etc.) on the interview. After the assignment, the class again discusses job interviewing.

In summary, I guess patience, listening, caring and a sense of humor help me motivate students and encourages each to become the best he or she can.

Reference:
Chickering, Arthur W. and Zelda F. Gamson. "7 Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education." Special insert in The Wingspread Journal, June 1987.

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Actively Encouraging Active Learning
by Barry Brunson, Mathematics

1. Rule #1: There is no such thing as a dumb question. Convince your students that you mean it (this almost certainly will require that you really believe it).
2. Rule #2: It’s OK to be wrong when responding to a professor’s question or performing an assigned task in class. A skillful teacher should be able to use a mistake as an opportunity for further learning.
3. Challenge students’ preconceptions. Bend their minds at least a little bit, at least several times in each class each semester.
4. Encourage in-class participation; border on enforcing it (but in a non-threatening manner).

Barry Brunson

5. Collect homework and grade it. Ask more than “routine” questions.
6. Learn your students’ names. It’s much easier to avoid being active if you think you’re anonymous.
7. Ask questions of students. Be patient when awaiting answers. David Moore (Purdue University) says “Wait 30 seconds” before turning to another student or prodding the one already asked.
8. Encourage students to ask questions. Insist that students ask questions. If they don’t ask you questions, then ask them questions (that may inspire them to ask first!).
9. Remind your students that there is no such thing as a dumb question.
10. Willingly put yourself in the position of having your students ask questions to which you do not know the answer.
11. Avoid extended lecturing. We as professors were among that small minority of people who could
survive (or even thrive) in a lecture environment. Our students are not, with precious few exceptions, little budding copies of us. Today’s world requires a higher proportion of enlightened citizentry than before.
12. Context matters! Not every question has a unique correct answer. Many questions have many
possibly correct answers, or have no correct answer, depending on context. Real world problems almost certainly fall into this category.
13. Ask “Why?” Expect the correct answer, depending on context. Real-world gore. Don’t be suprised if your students answer “why?” with “I don’t know.” Remember Rule # 2: in skillful hands, a wrong answer is an opportunity for further learning.
14. Even when a student responds correctly to a question, don’t automatically be satisfied. At least sometimes, ask “Yes, but why?!” Don’t be satisfied with “Because the book (or their previous teacher, or the Internet, or their mother, ... or you) said so.”
15. Avoid giving your students mindless lists of things to memorize (such as this list), if all they are going to do is remember enough of it to regurgitate on the next exam.
16. Remind your students of rule # 1.
17. Encourage written answers in complete English sentences, even (or especially!) in mathematics and other sciences. It takes longer to grade, and you occasionally may be distraught at the enormous gaps in your students’ knowledge, and at the misconceptions in what you thought was basic knowledge. Nevertheless, you will gain an insight into what you really need to do to help your students learn.
18. Multiple choice and true-false quizzes and tests are a disgrace. Yes, in the long run, on the average, grades resulting from those types of tests usually will agree closely with grades resulting from more probing questions. The key question is: Are you just trying to assess the students’ performance, or are you trying to help them lean?
19. If you can get your students to ask “What if ” then you are having at least partial success in opening your students’ minds.
20. You may not get enough sleep. Some of your colleagues will think you are being silly. Some of your students will resent the extra work they may have to perform-, the public exposure to which you may subject them, the cherished beliefs you may force them to question. Some of your administrative superiors will belittle your efforts. Your pay increase may not even keep pace with your computer purchases. Try not to get burned out anyway.

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Making Writing Relevant
By Jean E. Nehm, Liberal Arts & Sciences Division, Bowling Green Community College

Although university scholars and other professionals understand the importance of excellent writing, pragmatic students in my sections of Freshman English often arrive on the first day wondering, "Why do we have to take this course? I'm majoring in Accounting/Nursing/Information Systems/Economics. I don't need English." My initial challenge, therefore, is to convey the relevance of a writing course to their other coursework and to their career goals.I approach the challenge in two ways. The first is to increase students' awareness of the "socioeconomic penalties" (Noguchi 31) associated with errors in written communication.

I accomplish this by devoting a lesson during the first week of the semester to a questionnaire given by Professor Maxine Hairston of the University of Texas. Respondents, representing dozens of professional occupations, indicated their degree of negative reaction to various errors in grammar and usage. From a copy of the questionnaire, I choose about 25 sentences, type them for a class handout, and ask students to identify the error in each sentence. I also cover the board with the occupations of the respondents (e.g., attorney, accountant, realtor, architect, engineer, social worker, stock broker, physician, and public relations executive), asking students to check the list for a career that is related to their major. Then I distribute a handout of the results of the survey. The list of errors is ranked, with those causing the most severe negative reaction (double negatives, nonstandard verb forms, errors in subject-verb agreement, and the use of an objective pronoun at the beginning of a sentence) at the top. According to Hairston, these errors are considered "so glaring they might be called 'status markers'" (796). We discuss the ramifications of having any of these errors in academic papers, cover letters, or resumes. Next on the list comes a group of errors also considered very serious (fragments, run-ons, faulty parallelism, non-capitalization of proper nouns), and so on down the page. Students soon comprehend that educated professionals, including professors at the university and those who might be in the position to hire them one day, do indeed care about the surface features of writing and do expect writers to attend to them.

My other approach is semester-long, for Freshman English is not simply an error-hunting class. The course centers on the larger rhetorical issues of organizing, developing ideas, supporting theses, researching, and documenting. But as we study effective ways of revising drafts, I interweave instruction on detecting and revising the errors that disturb readers the most. I use several methods of instruction, but they all focus on the effects on readers. For example, sometimes I use examples of awkward faulty parallelism (easy to find in this year's campaign rhetoric) contrasted with models of well-crafted writing such as Lincoln's Gettysburg Address or King's "I Have a Dream" speech to demonstrate the grace and impact of effective parallel structure. Other times I employ a generous dose of humor, using selections from Richard Lederer's Anguished English (e.g., "Yoko Ono will talk about her husband, John Lennon, who was killed in an interview with Barbara Walters") to show unintended meanings caused by a misplaced or dangling modifiers. When we study the reliability of Internet sources for research, students discover how errors in spelling, usage, or grammar undermine the credibility of a source; they come to realize that their own credibility will likewise be adversely affected if readers encounter errors.

These strategies attempt to ensure that students in Freshman English understand how critical excellent writing skills are for clearly communicating their ideas, both in their future coursework here at the university and in their chosen profession. Having command of their language is, in short, important for the rest of their lives.

Works Cited
Hairston, Maxine. "Not All Errors Are Created Equal: Nonacademic Readers in the Professions Respond to Lapses in Usage." College English 43 (1981): 794-806.

Lederer, Richard. Anguished English. New York: Dell, 1987.

Noguchi, Rei R. Grammar and the Teaching of Writing: Limits and Possibilities. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1991.

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Interactive Pictures
by Scott Bonham, Phyisics & Astronomy

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is an animation worth? Better yet, how many words is worth an animation that students manipulate and that gives them visual feedback on their understanding? Let me describe an example from my class on describing motion at a constant velocity.After starting out with the definition of velocity as the change in position over the change in time, I introduce the foundational motion equation x = x0 + v0t. But rather than five examples of determining the velocity, I send my students to work on the in-class computers with an animation. In this exercise (see screen shot, or http://physics.wku.edu/~bonham/Physlets/ClassExamples/Zeisler.html) a truck moves across the screen at a constant rate.

Scott Bonham

The goal is to make the pop-up trailer move with the truck the way it should by entering the correct equation of motion. By clicking at any point on the animation, they can determine the point's coordinates (displayed in the lower left corner in a yellow box) and there is a clock in the upper left-hand corner. They can enter an equation of motion in the box below (as a function of t) and click on the button to see the trailer move with that equation of motion. The x0 part is easy for the students--the trailer starts at the right position, so they merely need to measure where it is. (The tire is the reference point.) Still, many groups will initially follow a common misunderstanding and assume that x0 is always zero. Seeing the trailer start well ahead of the truck will quickly disabuse them of this idea. The harder part of the exercise is determining the velocity that the truck is moving with. Although they all "know" the definition of velocity at this point, it is a different thing to apply it. Some groups take up to 20 minutes to figure out what they need to compute velocity. Many will try dividing a final position, instead of the change of position, by the time, and see for themselves that is not correct. Or they may use position at one time divided by another time. Several of the groups will realize the need for assistance from the instructor in mastering this apparently simple concept. But by the end of the class they understand it at a deeper level than they would have listening to me talk about it.

This is an example of the power of a computer-enabled, student-centered classroom. The students are not merely receiving information but immediately applying it in class where they can help each other and receive help from the instructor as needed. The computers not only provide the task, but also provide immediate, natural and visual feedback on the progress they are making. The final goal is linking in the student's minds the mathematical and visual representations of the motion by being able to measure the motion to find an equation, and then see the result of the equation in the motion. So how many words is an interactive animation worth? I don't think I could ever help students make that connection with just words.

Screen shot of the animation (minus some of the instructions). The cross-hair cursor is on the front tire of the truck. I scripted this animation using a Davidson Physlet (http://webphysics.davidson.edu/applets/applets.html).

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Puzzling Out the History of Geography: An Application of the Jigsaw Method of Cooperative Learning
by Jamie L. Strickland, Geography and Geology¹

Background

The discipline of geography has a long and complex history extending back to the time of the ancient Greeks. It can, therefore, represent a daunting task for both students and instructors to cover the development of geographic thought through time. I teach a course entitled the "Scope and Methods of Geography" (GEOG 300)2 . This is a core course for our majors. While the majority of the course focuses on the design of research, we also explore the history of our discipline during the first few weeks of the semester.

In preparing to teach this section of the course, I knew that I wanted to avoid a traditional lecture approach to exploring geography's extensive history. This approach can have the unfortunate side effect of reducing the dynamic nature of geographic thought into a mere listing of important people, dates and theoretical ideas. Since my overall objective was to introduce students to the history of geography, I decided that having students read selected works by influential geographers would provide them with a more direct experience of the development of geographic thought over time. I was concerned, however, that having each student read several articles for class discussion would place an unnecessarily heavy burden on students at widely varying stages in their academic career. Therefore, I decided to develop an activity that would allow students to share the responsibility of reading articles and disseminate the information among their fellow classmates. It was at this point that I was introduced to the idea of the Jigsaw.3

The Jigsaw Method and Cooperative Learning

The Jigsaw method was initially developed by Elliot Aronson and his colleagues to facilitate interaction and cooperative learning in multiethnic classrooms (Aronson and Patnoe 1997; Millis and Cottell 1998). Variations on the original technique have been developed by Slavin (1986; 1995) and Kagan (1989). Regardless of the formulation, the Jigsaw method emphasizes individual responsibility to a group and a sharing of tasks within a larger project (Millis and Cottell 1998). As such, individual accountability is maintained while allowing students to work in groups toward a common goal.

The basic Jigsaw activity involves the development of two types of groups: expert groups and Jigsaw groups. First, students are subdivided into approximately 4 to 6 expert groups (dependent upon class size). Each expert group is assigned a different reading on some aspect of geographic history. Table 1 presents the titles of the readings used in this activity during the Fall 2000 semester. Additionally, students are provided with a list of questions designed to help focus their reading and to provide a basis for discussion with their peers. This question sheet also serves as a form of individual assessment at the conclusion of the activity. Using this method, each student will gain information from five articles, but will be responsible for reading only one article. Readings are distributed one class period prior to the in-class activity.

In the next class period, the members of each expert group meet for 15 to 20 minutes to discuss the responses to the questions and to arrive at a consensus on the most appropriate way to present the main ideas of their reading to their peers. Students have approximately five minutes to convey this information.4 At this point, the new Jigsaw groups are formed. Each Jigsaw group now contains one expert. Each expert is responsible for instructing their peers and responding to questions generated by the discussion of the article. While students are in the groups (both expert and Jigsaw), I "float" around the room to monitor the discussions. I limit my interaction at this point to providing suggestions for student resolution of problems and making sure each expert has an equal opportunity to present information to the group. I use the last 5 to 10 minutes of the class period to ask an overarching question about the development of geographic thought posed to the class as a whole. At the conclusion of the period, students turn in the completed question sheets.

Concluding Remarks

Overall, I have found this method to be very useful for introducing students to elements of geographic history. Jigsaw helps to develop higher-order thinking skills and improves depth of knowledge of the subject matter (Millis and Cottell 1998). It also fosters a greater sense of cooperation among students and a higher level of responsibility for learning class material than more traditional methods of delivery.

As with any in-class activity, there can be pitfalls in using Jigsaw. In particular, students must understand the importance of attending class prepared on the day of the activity. Absences result in "lopsided" groups and can place a greater burden on the instructor to make sure that all members of the class receive the required information to complete the assignment. One way to address this problem is to reorganize the Jigsaw groups to include two experts who share the responsibility of instructing their peers. This caveat, however, is quite minor when compared to the benefits of incorporating Jigsaw activities into the classroom.

Jigsaw is an extremely flexible technique of incorporating cooperative learning into the college classroom. It can be adapted to virtually any discipline. Slavin (1995) and Millis and Cottell (1998) provide a variety of examples for using this technique. Jigsaw activities have been used to investigate aspects of the Civil War, modern children's literature, anthropology and mathematics. Any course requiring the development of problem-solving skills to address complex material is ideally suited for Jigsaw (Millis and Cottell 1998).

Table 1: List of Readings on Geographic History for Jigsaw Activity
Fall 2000

Author Title Group Number

Boas The Study of Geography 1

Wright A Plea for the History of Geography 2

Sauer The Education of a Geographer 3

Johnston Paradigms and Revolution or Evolution? 4

Leopold The Land Ethic 5

Literature Cited

Aronson, Elliot and Shelley Patnoe. 1997. The Jigsaw Classroom: Building Cooperation in the Classroom, 2nd ed. New York: Longman.
Kagan, S. 1989. Cooperative Learning Resources for Teachers. San Juan Capistrano, CA: Resources for Teachers, Inc.
Millis, Barbara J. and Philip G. Cottell, Jr. 1998. Cooperative Learning for Higher Education Faculty. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press.
Slavin, Robert E. 1986. Using Student Team Learning: The Johns Hopkins Team Learning Project. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Slavin, Robert E. 1995. Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research, and Practice, 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Suggested Internet Resources:

http://www.jigsaw.org/-This is a comprehensive site developed by Elliot Aronson, author of The Jigsaw Classroom. Items included on this site include an overview of the technique, tips on using Jigsaw in the classroom, an extensive bibliography of articles and books related to the Jigsaw method and links to related cooperative learning sites.5

^{1 Formerly of the Department of Geography
and Geology; currently of the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences,
UNC-Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223.}^{2 I teach this course on
Tuesday/Thursday and have 75 minutes of instructional time. The technique
can be modified in various ways to be used in a shorter class period.}^{4 The time an individual
student has to present his/her information to peers obviously is dependent
upon the length of the class and the number of group members.}^{5 I would like to thank Sally
Kuhlenschmidt for bringing this web site to my attention.}

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Collaborative Team Building from a Distance
Peggy Cramer & Mary Warren, Integrative Studies in Teacher Education

Students are learning how to collaborate in two courses taught through web-based or web-assisted instruction in the Exceptional Education Program at Western Kentucky University. Collaboration, a necessary skill utilized in inclusive classrooms across the state, is viewed in Dr. Mary Warren's EXC422 course as a built-in challenge for students. In EXC 516, an introductory course to exceptional education taught by Dr. Margaret Cramer, teams evaluate case studies, summarize their answers, then post to a discussion board. Further class interaction is encouraged through the use of "hot topic" discussions with optional completion synchronously or asynchronously.

EXC 422 meets face-to-face for eight sessions of instruction not only on collaborative team building, but also for technical training from a privately employed expert. During these sessions a "technology expert" is identified in each group to provide follow-up instruction to team members. A positive self-image is encouraged by employing the "you are your brother's keeper" attitude; students must assist each other with technological challenges. Additional help, just a mouse click away, is also provided by the instructor. Students are assigned to groups according to geographical location across the state. Meetings are often held in schools or home communities, but some meetings occur in a virtual classroom utilizing synchronous chats. Group reports are written and posted to a discussion board or sent to the instructor via electronic transmission. Desktop conferencing eliminates face-to-face meetings when further clarification is needed.

EXC 516 is taught totally online, with most material presented asynchronously. The design of the course, unrelated content in each chapter, allows students the flexibility of completing lessons in order of presentation or out of order. Whenever possible, each student decides on which team to join. Teams are encouraged to work together on several course assignments, a revolutionary concept to many students. Posting a question response to replace a chat is permitted to accommodate time constraints, then chat archives can be accessed by students at a more convenient time. All students are encouraged to design a Home Page, a feature of the web-based courseware, to share information about their unique teaching experiences.

Course statistical data and exit surveys created by the instructors have revealed that almost all the students enjoyed the convenience of the alternative instructional delivery. It has been reported that eliminating travel provided more time for family interaction. Nontraditional students, especially those with children, have voiced the strongest support for development of more courses for online instructional delivery. Both courses have enjoyed full enrollment during each instructional delivery session, with waiting lists for course entry.

References
Foreman, J. (2000, January). The paperless classroom. Converge Magazine (On-line serial). Available:http://www.convergemag.com/

Porter, L. R. (1997). Creating the virtual classroom: Distance learning with the internet. New York: Wiley Computer Publishing.

Young, J. R. (2000, January). Advice for the online instructor: Keep it interpersonal. The Chronicle of Higher Education (On-line serial). Available: http://chronicle.com/free/2000/01/2000011101u.htm

Young, J. R. (2000, January). Monograph reassures scholars wary of online teaching. The Chronicle of Higher Education (On-line serial). Available: http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i19/19a05102.htm

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PQP Sheets: Peer Review of Work in Progress
by Joyce Rasdall, Consumer & Family Sciences

Description of Method: A PQP Sheet is a versatile tool to stimulate learning processes for students in courses with writing or project components. Each student has 1 or 2 students to review/read his/her paper or project in process (before submission to the professor on the deadline date). The writer/creator's name is at the top of the PQP Sheet and the reviewer signs it at the bottom and dates it for submission by the author/creator when the paper/project is submitted. In between the 2 names are the Praise, Question, and Polish sections, each with 5 blanks for the reviewer's comments.

Joyce Rasdall

Examples of Application: Student teams of 2 or 3 are organized at the start of the paper/project. Each team member reviews the other team member(s)' creativity, noting its strengths (Praise), problems the team member needs to address (Question), and suggestions for effective closure/refinement of the product (Polish).

Some common Praise comments include

1. You explain your topic on page 5 quite clearly.
2. You chose important issues to address.
3. Your writing shows clarity and is easy to follow.
4. Your project can make a significant addition to your portfolio.
5. You have an appropriate number and suitable quality of references to support your topic.
6. This paper project is really interesting. I did not know the seriousness of this problem.

The Question section is a diplomatic way to encourage a student to rectify serious concerns such as:

1. Have you checked subject-verb agreement and grammar on page 3?
2. Should you define the terms in the title?
3. Have you used spelling checker?
4. Could you develop the topic on page 4 more effectively?
5. How can you summarize your paper for a better ending?
6. Could you add a few more references so your paper can reflect more than 2 references?
7. Are there more advantages and benefits that you can discuss?
8. Do you need to address other problems inherent in your topic?

The Polish section is an appropriate means to enhance even the best of papers/projects.

1. Consider re-sequencing paragraphs on pages 1 and 2.
2. Try to clarify your reasoning and recommendations.
3. More thorough evaluation of topic 2 is needed.
4. Check your referencing style in the text to include page number and be consistent with acceptable guidelines.
5. The list of references should follow writing guidelines.

I ascribe a few points to the submitter for securing the completed PQP sheet from a team member. The PQP process reduces the number of careless mistakes, raises the standard of most student submissions, and clarifies the responsibility of students for achieving academic excellence.

References: The PQP sheet is not my creation entirely, although I have used it for several years to stimulate learning, more effective development of papers/projects before submission to the professor, and to encourage high performance standards. Variations of this form are probably used in other colleges and schools, particularly to enhance portfolio development.

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Pedagogy of Engagement: Service Learning
by Edward Zlotkowski, Senior Scholar at AAHE; author of the AAHE Monograph Series on Service-Learning in the Disciplines

“I’d define the ‘pedagogy of engagement’ as a teaching strategy comparable to the ‘scholarship of engagement;’ i.e., it refers to activities that link academic skills and activities with a broader set of public or civic concerns and outcomes. ‘Engagement’ is not to be equated with any activity that results in personal involvement in the teaching/learning process. Hence, it does not refer to all forms of active learning. Indeed, if the engagement in question does not include both an element of planned reciprocity with the nonacademic partner (including goals, decisions, and benefits) and an element of designed reflection (that allows all participants to turn simple intervention into complex learning), then that engagement is inherently ‘thin’ or underdeveloped.”

Reference:
DeZure, Deborah. <ddezure@umich.edu> “Pedagogy of Engagement.” 20 Aug. 2001. <POD@listserv.nd.edu> (26 Nov. 2001).

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Technology for Instruction
by Sally Kuhlenschmidt, Psychology & Center for Teaching & Learning

The past five years has seen a proliferation of tools for communicating with students via technology: email, chat rooms, discussion boards, course software, webpages, even the fax, the cell phone, voice mail and pagers have had an impact on how we teach. How do we find order in this flood of input/output devices? Glassick, Huber & Maeroff (1997) ask the scholar to consider several questions that are pertinent to use of technology and can provide direction.

1. “Does the scholar use appropriate forums for communicating work to its intended audiences?”
Audience. When selecting a tool for presentation of teaching issues, whether a private consultation with a student or meeting with a class of 100, the first step is to evaluate the audience. How much experience do they have with technology? With the course content? Are they primarily on-campus students with easier and faster access to tools, or are they off campus and using a modem? Knowing what your audience is capable of will help you be more successful in your use of technology tools.

Appropriateness. With regard to appropriateness, the teacher needs to ask “what are the learning objectives of the course” and “does the chosen technology directly support those learning objectives?” While it may be fun to hold a live chat with persons in Spain, the students in an Education class will need more orientation to the pertinence of the discussion than those in a Spanish language class. It is easy, when caught up in the glamour of technology, to drift away from course objectives.

2. “Does the scholar present his or her message with clarity and integrity?”
Clarity. Technology will not hide lack of clarity. Powerpointã presentations using a font too small to read and webpages filled with turgid prose are no more welcome than a monotone delivery of a lecture or a rambling journal article. Clarity in all aspects of life is challenging to achieve but we have traditions to help us, such as asking a peer to review material, soliciting feedback from students, and reading material about effective design and presentation of information with the new medias.

Integrity. Integrity may pertain to the completeness and honesty of the instructor w/regard to the course content. Is the instructor genuine in the manner of instruction, true to the content and the discipline and to his or her intellectual inheritance? Integrity also refers to how the ideas of others are represented.

Sometimes awareness of intellectual property and tracking the heritage of ideas is lost when persons begin to use on-line methods. Because it is so easy to copy digital information, including Powerpointã presentations, pictures, email messages, etc. we tend to forget to include citation or reference information for its use. Those who create webpages may also not realize that they are a publisher and need to provide citation information for their own pages. Perhaps the pages are very simple now, but they tend to grow. Include information such as author’s name, institution, date created, date last modified and a copyright notice to bring a website up to minimum publication standards.

“Does the scholar use a suitable style and effective organization to present his or her work?”
Suitable Style. “Style” has several meanings, but one is “a distinctive or characteristic manner” (Merrian-Webster 680). Technologies enable you to display your characteristic style, whether it is the “ring” on your cell phone or the background template on a Powerpointã presentation, sharing your identity with technology is enjoyable. It is also a powerful teaching tool. Students will use technology that is fun. They’ll return to technology that conveys your sense of caring for them and their learning. Using technology in this empowering way can enhance teaching.

This is not a “do anything” way of thinking, however. Another meaning of style is a “manner of acting or performing especially as sanctioned by some standard. Just as we ask students to conform to grammar or writing styles, when we conform to design styles in our technology creations, we enhance student capacity to receive our message. “ An instructor who fails to match style to student capacity will fail to communicate. When you can blend these two aspects, then you’ll achieve a third meaning of style for your technology: “overall excellence, skill, or grace in performance, manner, or appearance.”

Effective Organization. The time and effort involved in creating an instructional technology project and the limited time for development that most instructors have results in a situation where clear priorities are necessary. Technology presents us with endless possibilities for our students that can be a problem if we fail to set priorities before we begin. The teacher who tries to do all technology for his/her students, will end up overwhelming them.

Technology also has a way of growing. You may start with one webpage, but it seems easy to add another and another. Because technology applications grow and change, we need to periodically review our materials to ensure that organization remains and to overhaul those materials if they’ve drifted off course.

This is not an exhaustive list of considerations for effective presentation with technology, but I hope it will encourage further thought.

Reference: “Style.” The Merrian-Webster Dictionary. 1974 ed.

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Effective Presentation and the SITE
by Sally Kuhlenschmidt, Psychology/CTL Director

My instructor displays a clear understanding of course topics.
My instructor displays interest in teaching this class.
My instructor is well-prepared for class.
Performance measures (exams, assignments, etc.) are well-constructed.
My instructor is actively helpful.
Overall, my instructor is effective.
My instructor treats me fairly with regard to race, age, sex, religion, national origin, disability, and sexual orientation.

Effective presentation may have an impact on student ratings at several points.

Initially, one might consider presentation communication skills as learned in speech classes—know your material, be interested and enthusiastic about your material, and be organized. (These relate to the first three items on the SITE). Knowing your material can be accomplished by staying current with the literature and activities of your field. We are all familiar with attending conferences and trying to stay up with journals and research directions, but it takes additional thought to then translate that in a manner that our students will grasp. One may try to stay enthusiastic about your discipline through conversation with colleagues, conducting research, being active in an organization, or working to retain your sense of wonder that brought you to the field initially.

Being organized in the classroom requires thoughtful planning . . . which means taking time to consider what is supposed to occur, to consider what activities can encourage that learning, and to convey this most effectively to students. The tried and true method of posting learning objectives (or even just key terms) on the board at the beginning of class, reviewing where the class was in the last meeting, and then summarizing what was covered at the end are important for enhancing learning. Working through activities in advance will provide students with a well-prepared and more effective learning experience. With better organizational skills, you may be in better shape to help students, and as a result, be seen as effective overall.

The single most important impact on effectiveness of teaching is the instructional alignment of learning objectives for students, activities in the classroom, and assessment of student performance. Being consistent across these three is most likely to result in an effective learning and teaching experience.

For example, if a learning objective is to enhance critical thinking, then do classroom activities encourage critical thinking and do measures (exams, papers) assess critical thinking? If the objective is to increase appreciation of the subject matter, then do activities and assessments move the student toward a greater appreciation of the discipline? If the course is supposed to improve application of knowledge, do the students apply the knowledge in classroom activities and do measures test their application?

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Bibliography

Angelo, Thomas A. &. K. Patricia Cross. Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bassy Publishers, 1993.

Boice, Robert. First-Order Principles for College Teachers: Ten Basic Ways to Improve the Teaching Process. Bolton MA: Anker Publishing Co., 1996.

Bianco-Mathis, Virginia & Neal Chalofsky, eds. The Adjunct Faculty Handbook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1996.

Becker, Dennis & Paula Borkum Becker. Powerful Presentation Skills. New York: Business One Irwin/Mirror Press, 1994.

Davidson, Cliff I. & Susan A. Ambrose. The New Professor's Handbook: A Guide to Teaching and Research in Engineering and Science. Bolton MA: Anker Publishing Co., 1994.

Edwards, Helen, Brenda Smith, and Graham Webb, eds. Lecturing: Case Studies, Experience and Practice. London: Kogan Page Limited, 2001.

Forsyth, Ian, Alan Jolliffe, and David Stevens. Evaluating A Course: Practical Strategies for Teachers, Lecturers and Trainers. London: Kogan Page Limited, 1997.

---. Preparing A Course. London: Kogan Page Limited, 1997.

---. Delivering A Course. London: Kogan Page Limited, 1997.

Hawke, Constance S. Computer and Internet Use on Campus: A Legal Guide to Issues of Intellectual Property, Free Speech, and Privacy. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass Inc., 2001.

Newble, David and Robert Cannon. A Handbook for Teachers in Universities & Colleges: A Guide to Improving Teaching Methods. 3rd ed. London: Kogan Page Limited, 1995.

Shade, Barbara J., Cynthia Kelly, and Mary Oberg. Creating Culturally Responsive Classrooms. Psychology In the Classroom: A Series on Applied Educational Psychology. Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1998.

Silberman, Mel. Active Learning: 101 Strategies to Teach Any Subject. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1996.

Tauber, Robert T., and Cathy Sargent Mester. Acting Lessons for Teachers: Using Performance Skills in the Classroom. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1994.

Tierney, Elizabeth P. How to Make Effective Presentations. Survival Skills For Scholars. 16. London: Sage Publications, 1996.

Walvoord, Barbara E. and Virginia Johnson Anderson. Effective Grading: A Tool For Learning and Assessment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1998.

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Evaluation of this Booklet -- Effective Presentation

1. Please circle below how effective this booklet was in helping you explore effective methods for instruction.

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2. What were the two most helpful sections of this booklet?

3. What were the two least helpful sections of this booklet?

4. What teaching behavior have you changed or plan to change as a result of this booklet?

Thank you.
Please send this evaluation in Campus Mail to:
Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching

Table of Contents

Exploring. . . The Scholarship of Teaching ~ a series of 6 volumes Effective Presentation Vol. 4

Bibliography

Exploring. . .
The Scholarship of Teaching ~ a series of 6 volumes

Effective Presentation Vol. 4