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Incorporating frequent quizzes into a class’s structure may promote student learning. These quizzes can consist of short-answer or multiple-choice questions and can be administered online or face-to-face. … Providing students the opportunity for retrieval practice—and, ideally, providing feedback for the responses—will increase learning of targeted as well as related material.
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Providing “summary points” during a class encourages students to recall and articulate key elements of the class. Setting aside the last few minutes of a class to ask students to recall, articulate, and organize their memory of the content of the day’s class may provide significant benefits to their later memory of these topics. Whether this exercise is called a minute paper or the PUREMEM (pure memory, or practicing unassisted retrieval to enhance memory for essential material) approach, it may benefit student learning.
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… Pretesting students’ knowledge of a subject may prime them for learning. By pretesting students before a unit or even a day of instruction, an instructor may help alert students both to the types of questions that they need to be able to answer and the key concepts and facts they need to be alert to during study and instruction.
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Finally, instructors may be able to aid their students’ metacognitive abilities by sharing a synopsis of these observations. … Adding the potential benefits of pretesting may further empower students to take control of their own learning, such as by using example exams as primers for their learning rather than simply as pre-exam checks on their knowledge.
Teaching
Learning Activity Focuses on Future General Practice Application of Technology
This semester, Drs. Jessica Hokamp and Maxey Wellman have introduced an activity into their cytology elective course that both anticipates increased future application of technology in general practice and supports student ability to identify the ideal area on a lymphoma slide for diagnosis.
Some practitioners are sending cell phone images to pathologists for diagnosis, and their activity asks students to effectively use the microscope, identify areas and cells being viewed, and capture the area identified using the iPhone.
Pictured are students attempting the capture. Drs. Hokamp and Wellman plan to refine the pilot learning module into a teaching and learning research project.
What’s New in CarmenCanvas (2017-09-16 & 2017-10-07 Releases)
You have noticed many visual changes in CarmenCanvas since the last “What is New in CarmenCanvas” entry! There were large lists of bug fixes in these two releases; below is a sub-list of changes that we would like to highlight.
(For additional information, visit the 2017-09-16 and 2017-10-07 release notes)
For Instructors Only:
- Did you know that Canvas has a built-in course conferencing tool for running remote synchronous class sessions among individuals enrolled in the course? The Conference tool received various enhancements in the 2017-09-16 release, including an interface update, ability to allow student download of presentations, download public chat logs, full-screen mode, multi-user whiteboard, and shared notes.
- Rubric criteria ratings can now be defined with point ranges,. Previously, entering a point value not specified by a rating would not trigger selection of a rating.
- Published/unpublished icons have been updated.
For Everyone:
- Email notifications from Canvas are now shown to be from the course instead of from “(Instructure) Canvas”
Tips For Giving Feedback in the Clinical Environment
- Establish a respectful learning environment.
- Communicate goals and objectives for feedback.
- Base feedback on direct observation.
- Make feedback timely and a regular occurrence.
- Begin the session with the learner’s self-assessment.
- Reinforce and correct observed behaviours.
- Use specific, neutral language to focus on performance.
- Confirm the learner’s understanding and facilitate acceptance.
- Conclude with an action plan.
- Reflect on your feedback skills.
- Create staff-development opportunities.
- Make feedback part of institutional culture.
Continuing the Conversation: OTL Presents on Teaching Without Lectures
During a facilitated discussion Wednesday morning on “Trends and How-to’s of Teaching without Lectures,” faculty participants raised many thought-provoking points regarding the merits and challenges of moving away from lecture-heavy delivery of course content. The conversation was offered as part of the college’s faculty professional development series.
- Why do we lecture? Due to factors such as program history, curricular structures, and time constraints, lectures may seem to be the most pragmatic, straight-forward way of guaranteeing delivery of the curriculum as a whole. In addition, the prospect of receiving negative student feedback for trying non-lecture activities may be inhibiting to faculty.
Dr. James M. Lang advocates for starting with “small teaching” changes, or activities that can be incorporated rather easily at the individual class or lecture level. Another idea for experimenting with small changes is flipping a class or two by assigning learning materials for review outside of class, making use of small knowledge-checking activities, and leaving class time for additional knowledge-checking, reinforcement, and application. Mini-lectures are often used in alternative delivery methods for quick provision of essential information.
- When and where would we consider incorporating non-lecture techniques, such as active learning? First take a look at your teaching goals and learning outcomes, then consider how those outcomes are best assessed. Brainstorm what kinds of activities and materials you can offer to your students so they achieve the learning outcomes. We call this process Backward Design.
- What is active learning? Activities in which students actively engaging with knowledge and application. Some techniques include Problem-Based Learning (PBL), Team-Based learning (TBL), and Think-Pair-Share (TPS). See this link for additional techniques.
- How do innovative instructional approaches affect grading? It’s worth looking at whether your exam questions align with learning outcomes. You might also ask the following: Is an exam really the best method for assessing student achievement of the intended learning outcomes? If not, how can exam questions be restructured to promote learning above the recall level? Are grades given to students on exams really indicative of their outcome achievement? If not there may be a better way to measure student learning. Is student learning better assessed with competencies than grades alone?
If you are interested in learning more and/or having additional conversations, please feel free to contact Teaching and Learning at CVMOTL@osu.edu. You can also find the resources from the session in this Top Hat course.
Resources: Trends and How-To’s on Teaching Without Lectures
Teaching and Learning hosted a discussion with faculty and teaching staff regarding the merits of didactic lectures, the role and pitfalls of PowerPoint-dependent deliveries, and the advent of modern classroom pedagogical applications such as active learning. You can find the resources at this public Top Hat course.
Ohio State Digital Flagship Announcement Provides Opportunity to Highlight Local Ed Tech Initiatives and Innovations
Announced this week is a new collaboration between OSU and Apple called the Digital Flagship University, which has 3 components:
- a student-success initiative to integrate learning technology throughout the university experience
- an iOS design laboratory on the Columbus campus serving faculty, staff, students and members of the broader community
- university-wide opportunities for students to learn coding skills to enhance their career-readiness in the app economy.
Faculty and staff should know that our college has been involved in its own iPad initiative since autumn 2016. At that time, the Office of Teaching and Learning and Professional Program support saw iPads as a way to remedy technical issues associated with ExamSoft test administration, to maximize student use of educational technology, and to support instructor ability to implement different instructional approaches.
Our office views this announcement as an opportunity to further engage teaching faculty and staff around the pedagogical advantages of students having access to a common set of learning technologies.
In fact, some exciting work involving the iPad (as well as other devices and applications in our eLearning ecosystem) includes the following:
- As part of the Stanton Clinical Skills Lab effort, a team led by Dr. Tatiana Motta has been making exciting progress on the development of various models, like the ear model below, that can be 3D-printed. Such models can also be used to develop Augmented/Virtual/Mixed Reality (A/V/MR) experiences, which Dr. Motta has also been exploring.
- In some of his lectures, Dr. Austin Hinds provides his students with guided notes that they can fill in during class. Through the use of an Apple TV purchased by Teaching & Learning, Dr. Hinds is able to wirelessly project his iPad to screens in Wexner Auditorium. As a result, he is able to write and illustrate content in real-time. In this instance, he helped students with their guided notes. Being able to wirelessly project also allows him to move around the auditorium and engage with the students more effectively.
- As mentioned in last week’s update, Drs. Jessica Hokamp and Maxey Wellman have introduced an activity into their cytology elective course during which students are asked to effectively use the microscope, identify areas and cells being viewed, and capture the area identified using the iPhone.
OTL provides training each year to students, and Jay Hsiao and Kate Midnight, our instructional designers and educational technologists, are interested in helping you to explore integrating learning technologies into your courses?
Do you have any ideas that you would like to implement? Feel free to contact us at CVMOTL@osu.edu!
Various uses of the term, “Assessment”
Q: I keep on hearing about assessment. Assessment as in a test, assessment as in learning outcomes, assessment as in course assessment, assessment as in program assessment. What’s up?
A: The term, “assessment,” when commonly used at the college refers to a midterm or final exam, or another assignment designed to test for student acquisition of foundational knowledge or ability to clinically reason. In this sense, “assessment” serves as another word for examination.
Assessment can also refer to a plan or structure established for constant course and program improvement, and a way to ensure a college is collectively doing what it says it does — that students learn what we say they will during their time with us.
Because examinations are designed to test student knowledge, it would seem reasonable to equate the exam with learning outcomes achievement. This assumes that questions on examinations are aligned (directly related to) stated outcomes for a lecture or course or program.
“There is often confusion over the difference between grades and learning assessment, with some believing that they are totally unrelated and others thinking they are one and the same. The truth is, it depends. Grades are often based on more than learning outcomes. Instructors’ grading criteria often include behaviors or activities that are not measures of learning outcomes, such as attendance, participation, improvement, or effort. Although these may be correlated with learning outcomes, and can be valued aspects of the course, typically they are not measures of learning outcomes themselves.
“However, assessment of learning can and should rely on or relate to grades, and so far as they do, grades can be a major source of data for assessment.” (http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/howto/basics/grading-assessment.html#scoringparticipation)
When deciding on what kind of assessment activities to use, it is helpful to keep in mind the following questions:
- What will the student’s work on the activity (multiple choice answers, essays, project, presentation, etc.) say about their level of competence on the targeted learning objectives?
- How will the instructor’s assessment of their work help guide students’ practice and improve the quality of their work?
- How will the assessment outcomes for the class guide teaching practice?
Conversation Focuses on Answering Tough Questions about Grading and Feedback
During a Wednesday, Sept. 6, presentation, Dr. Julie Byron, and Melinda Rhodes-DiSalvo, Ph.D., as well as a group of faculty, sat down to wrestle with “Answers to Tough Questions about Grading and Student Feedback.” A few highlights follow.
Continue reading Conversation Focuses on Answering Tough Questions about Grading and Feedback
Ed Tech Q&A for Instructors (9/1/2017)
Q: Why is the CVM CarmenCanvas template (and workflow) the way it is?
A: We believe that students’ time and energy should be spent on learning, and not on trying to navigate the Carmen course, so the template was designed and is continually improved based on best practices in accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), as well as established evaluation tools such as Quality Matters. The intent is to also allow instructors’ time tp be better spent on providing excellent content and learning experiences. We hope that we have been diligent in striking a balance through our consultations, resources, training, and on-site supports. Please be assured that we are listening to your feedback regarding working in CarmenCanvas. This year’s revised master workflow may serve as an example of that.
Q: How do I send a message to all individuals in my course? What if I don’t want to receive those messages as an instructor?
A: CarmenCanvas provides a convenient Announcement Tool that lets you easily make announcements to all individuals in your course, including instructors. The announcements are all archived in your course for easy access. If your want to send a message to a more specific group, such as all students, all instructors, or specific course sections/student groups/students, the Inbox tool gives you more control over specifying your recipients. If CarmenCanvas’ messaging capabilities do not meet your needs, emails through either Faculty Center or Outlook are still valid options!
Because of the way messaging works in CarmenCanvas, your messages do not go directly to the recipients as emails; rather, CarmenCanvas forwards your messages on to additional destinations specified by each user, which may include the built-in Inbox tool, email, text message, and mobile app push notification. Notification settings are adjustable by individual users; for example, we recommend students adjust their settings to receive emails for Announcements and new Inbox conversations.
Q: I am using BuckeyeBox to host my course files, and I’m inserting links into my CarmenCanvas courses. Why can’t students access them?
A: If your course storage is outgrowing the default CarmenCanvas quota, BuckeyeBox is a great solution for storing your larger course files. There are multiple ways to link to files hosted on BuckeyeBox within CarmenCanvas. There are two common issues to be mindful of, both of which are addressed in the link above:
- By default, a shared link is set to expire half a year from its creation.
- For the link to accessible by anyone you share it with, you must manually adjust its availability setting to “People with the link.”
Q: Lecture captures are not playing on some computers. Why?
A: Currently, lecture capture videos are served to PCs/Laptops in Adobe Flash format. Since Adobe Flash is set to be retired in 2020, major browsers such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have begun to disable Flash by default. Due to security concerns related to the plugin, we recommend that you enable Flash on a site-by-site basis, and only if absolutely needed: