Implementing Active And Collaborative Techniques: Lectures, Labs, Grading, And More

There are many papers on the benefits of introducing active and collaborative learning into the classroom. These benefits include those of increased involvement of students in the learning process to lectures that are perceived as more exciting. Many workshops are available at conferences such as the American Society of Engineering Educators Annual Conference and Frontiers in Education; many classes and workshops are presented in conjunction with these conferences as well as stand-alone activities. Some may even be available on campus for instructors. This paper will discuss practical applications of active and collaborative teaching techniques which can be used in the classroom with little to moderate preparation. In addition, the paper will describe various activities the author has collected which can be used to increase lecture and lab involvement in the lecture and laboratory material without costing excessive classroom time. The paper should be especially of interest to new educators and instructors looking for ways to begin introducing interesting and useful techniques into their lectures. This will not be an exhaustive list of techniques, but rather, a discussion of techniques which can be practically implemented. Introduction: Through attendance at different teaching workshops, seminars, and trial and error, many instructors accumulate good ideas on more effective teaching. Some of these ideas are lost during the semester as research, service, publishing, and teaching preparation consume all available time. However, some ideas can be implemented fairly easily, and have had excellent results for a minimum investment of effort and time. This paper is designed to discuss some ideas which have been successfully implemented in order to inspire others to try to spice up an otherwise dry lecture. The main reason for such a paper can be seen in the goal statement of a recent seminar: "The Academy of Instructional Excellence (Master Teacher program) is built on the principle that teachers teach other teachers. Loosely translated: teachers steal other teachers' ideas. " 1, 2 Most of the ideas I have tried have been stolen from, or rather, have been learned from other P ge 735.1 "Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ” 2002, American Society for Engineering Education" professors. In fact, at the conclusion of a follow up meeting to this seminar, one participant said "These ideas are great and I’m not creative enough to come up with all of this on my own. " The following suggestions have worked in practice before and required little to moderate preparation for the benefits. 3 Lecture Techniques: Live demonstrations: A typical lecture discussing a 7-segment display and driver (an electronic design similar to one digit on a digital clock) can involve a chalk drawing and a description of the hardware. The instructor would probably mention that resistors must be used between these components to avoid destroying the LEDs. The student would more likely remember the point if the instructor wired a simple demo, powered the display up, and the students saw the LEDs light brightly and then go out. A visual demonstration can stress a point that a student may miss in the middle of a typical lecture, and should help a more visual learner. Many of these techniques like this will also serve to break the lecture into smaller, more manageable segments which both the instructor and students will appreciate. Group (spontaneous) quizzes: I have found that nothing can break up a dry lecture and revive the students like a spontaneous quiz. However, because there is never enough lecture time to cover everything, the quiz should be an alternative method to cover an upcoming example. In other words, have the students work on the next problem instead of working it through on the board. In order to avoid stress associated with a pop-quiz, I have the students turn and form groups of four or five students, have them quickly designate someone who will record the answer, put all names on the paper, and open the floor for discussion among the groups. Groups may ask questions of me or other nearby groups. Rather than stopping the work at a certain time, I will typically wait a few minutes then, while the groups are still working, I’ll begin to write the correct solution on the board. Groups who are progressing well can continue and check their answer at the end, while groups that are stuck resort to what they would have done in the first place: getting the solution from the board. The quizzes may be turned in or left with the students. If turned in, I choose to give all participants full credit for the quiz rather than grading their answer, since the answer was available before they were turned in. This also serves as an incentive to attend class. One of the most important advantages in this technique include reviving the interest of the students by breaking the lecture with an activity in other words, waking up the students with little or no preparation beforehand. This technique can be used as needed. Another advantage is that it takes just a bit more lecture time than demonstrating a problem on the board in the typical fashion. Finally, it tends to generate more insightful questions from the students since they were involved in the solution rather than just watching someone else who was involved. 4,5 P ge 735.2 "Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ” 2002, American Society for Engineering Education" Think pair share: Think-pair-share is an easy to use technique which can quickly gain the students’ attention and get them involved in the topic at hand. Students are paired with someone: one suggestion is to pair them with someone outside of normal study groups. The instructor poses a question for the class to answer. Students are given 30 seconds to two minutes to "think" of an answer on their own. They are then to turn to their partner, and the "pair" discusses their individual answers and formulates one group answer. The instructor then calls on or asks for volunteers to "share" their answer. This technique will get the attention of the students, and they tend to be more willing to share their group answer; if it is incorrect, they feel less isolated and embarrassed. Also, this technique offers a quick break in the class while maintaining the flow of information. 6,7 Laboratory Techniques: Practice lab practical exam: Many laboratory classes have a lab practical exam, where a student goes to their lab and receives a typical assignment; they are then responsible to design, simulate and/or build to demonstrate their proficiency in the laboratory. I have used this in all of my lower level laboratories, while upper level courses will have larger multi-week projects demonstrating their performance in the laboratory. I have found that, regardless of how many times the class is warned that the lab practical is soon and they should work on their lab skills, I will have students that fail mainly due to lack of practice. I have addressed this with a "practice lab practical" about three weeks prior to the real exam. This will require some preparation and about an hour of laboratory time, although the practice practical can be a laboratory activity they would normally do during the laboratory period. Using one of the assigned tasks for that laboratory period, require that students work on their own and receive a grade for one specific problem, allowing only a certain amount of time. The grade for this portion does not need to be overly significant, but it can serve to convince a somewhat reluctant student that the lab practical exam should be taken seriously. Optional help lab session: This will require a significant time investment on the part of the instructor, but can really benefit students. I plan a session around the second week of the semester for students who may be weak in some area of lab. Since we do not typically have classes on Fridays, one of these sessions can be scheduled for a Friday. This lab session is entirely optional, although some students are strongly encouraged to attend. I will usually have some basic laboratory exercises ready, and have students work through these essentially with the instructor as the lab partner. This can serve as a confidence booster for a student, hopefully helping the student increase their laboratory involvement through the rest of the semester. Our department holds Saturday open labs through most of the semester. The labs are open and an instructor is available on Saturday mornings until noon. As long as the whole department pitches P ge 735.3