Summaries of 2003-04 LES Workshops

Did you miss an LES workshop or do you need a reminder of what was discussed? The following are descriptions of LES workshops held during the 2003-04 academic year. 

Designing Classes to Create Significant Learning Experiences
How Can We Use the Lecture Format to Enhance Student Learning?
Did They Get It?  Using CAT's to Improve Student Learning and Motivation
Helping Our Students Learn How to Learn

Designing Classes to Create Significant Learning Experiences

When asked about what we want students to learn in our classes, most of us start with some level of specific disciplinary content and then go on to talk about things like application, critical thinking, and other broad goals.  Whatever it is we want students to take away from our classes, both common sense and the research literature suggest we are more likely to be successful if content, instructional strategies, and assessment techniques are all consciously aligned with our goals.  Ken Jones will present some very practical ideas, borrowed from L. Dee Fink's work on integrated course design.  For more information on Designing Classes...

How Can We Use the Lecture Format to Enhance Student Learning?

Respondents  to an LES survey last fall revealed that despite large variations, on average we spend about 38% of our time in the classroom lecturing.  On the other hand, research done over the past three decades has repeatedly shown that student understanding, motivation, and retention all improve as the time devoted to active student participation increases.  Is it possible to have it both ways?  What small modifications of the teacher-centered lecture model would be most beneficial in terms of enhancing the student learning experience while still maintaining a comfort zone for faculty.  Ken Jones (LES/History) presents some suggestions from the research literature.  For more information on the Lecture Format...

Did They Get It?  Using CAT's to Improve Student Learning and Motivation

Classroom Assessment Techniques (CAT's) have been around since at least 1986, when Tom Angelo and Patricia Cross coined the names.  Since there is an increasing volume of research data on their effectiveness, it seems like a good time to reintroduce (or to introduce) these simple, flexible, and powerful tools for checking up on student learning and enhancing student engagement.  Ken Jones (LES/History) presents some suggestions.

Helping Our Students Learn How to Learn

Before you say "That's not my problem," think about this.  Our entering students have stellar high school grades, yet they report that they studied very little.  In short, they are bright enough to have succeeded without working very hard or learning how to study effectively.  As a result, when we ask them to rise to a new level, they often struggle This session rests on two premises.  First ,our students would do better if we spent a little time explicitly helping them learn how to learn in our disciplines.  Second, most of us picked up ways of learning intuitively, and aren’t really sure how best to explain an effective process to a struggling eighteen year old.  For more information on Learn How to Learn...