Students fill the seats of Southam Hall鈥檚 444-seat Kailash Mital Theatre, 杏吧原创鈥檚 largest lecture hall. The professor stands at the front competing with social media, cell phones and limitless apps for the attention of these media-savvy students.

Teaching large classes poses many challenges, both inside and outside the classroom. There are a number of strategies instructors can use to engage students in the learning process, whether it鈥檚 by making connections with students, in-class demonstrations, opinion surveys and group activities. But what happens in a class with hundreds of students?

Jim Davies is an associate professor at the Institute of Cognitive Science at 杏吧原创 University and the director of the Science of Imagination Laboratory, where he explores artificial intelligence applied to human visual imagination. In the classroom, Davies manages to keep the imaginations of his 900 first-year students (300 in class and 600 online) engaged by lecturing on topics that peak his students鈥� interest.

In his course, Mysteries of the Mind, Davies explores the science of dreaming and using cognitive science to decode films, while using his theatre and improv background to keep students engrossed.

Brettel Dawson, a professor in the Department of Law and Legal Studies, takes a different approach. She says she tries to engage students using cuLearn鈥檚 discussion forum function.

Dawson鈥檚 240 second-year law students (90 in class, 150 online) can use the forum to respond to readings, ask lecture questions, and participate in debates on issues related to class readings for participation marks.

She says she uses cuLearn, 鈥渢o help students create a learning environment and move them from a passive receiving mode to an active mode.鈥�

Dawson is also experimenting with a back channel – a virtual conversation that occurs in real-time between students and the instructor during a lecture. This constant conversation can happen using laptops or mobile devices and helps give all students a voice during class time without having to speak up in front of a large group.

Dawson says back channels also allow instructors to instantly share supporting resources with students, and to ask questions and watch the responses roll in to determine if students understand the concepts being discussed.

Robert Burk, a professor in the Department of Chemistry, believes preparation is key to creating engaging classes.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 really see the difference in keeping a large number engaged or a small number engaged,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to present something that is engaging.鈥�

In his first-year general chemistry class, Burk teaches 850 students (350 in class and 500 online), many of whom take the course as an elective, so he says, 鈥渋t鈥檚 necessary to bring it alive.鈥�

To keep students engaged, Burk conducts in-class chemistry experiments, uses video content and provides a weekly problem-solving tutorial for students, which is optional, but strongly advised. Course assignments are completed online because he says this is the platform where students are most comfortable.

Burk says he is constantly pushing himself to innovate and engage his students because when they are 鈥渂ored, lost or behind, they drop out.鈥�

His techniques seem to be working. Burk says he has had numerous students change their major to chemistry, as well as go on to do graduate work in the field.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to know exactly what made them change, but I鈥檓 happy to be a part of it,鈥� he says.

While the thought of trying to engage hundreds of students can be intimidating, these 杏吧原创 professors are showing that it is possible to make a large class feel small.

Do you have experience with trying to engage students in large lectures? Let us know what techniques you鈥檝e used. Leave us a comment below or email edc@carleton.ca.

Student engagement, a key to successful undergraduate education, can be achieved through encouraging active learning, which has long been considered a principle of good practice in undergraduate education (, 1987). Central to active learning is the belief that students are not mere receptacles that teachers fill with information, but active participants, collaborators, and co-creators in the learning process. Active learning is founded on the idea that students must actively engage with new content and skills in order to internalize and make sense of it in a meaningful and lasting way.

The question with which faculty, staff and administrators in post-secondary education must grapple is how to create educational experiences that not only promote, but foster active engagement? How do we convey the importance and necessity of rejecting passive models of learning in favour of more active ones? What people, places and practices can be used to actively engage students in the education process? How do we set students up for success both in and beyond the classroom? What roles do students, staff, teachers and administrators play in student engagement?

杏吧原创 University鈥檚 , in collaboration with , invites proposals for posters, presentations (20 minutes), and workshops (1 hour) that grapple with or offer answers to the questions above. We are particularly interested in proposals that center around the themes of student engagement, experiential learning, active learning spaces, or how active engagement promotes the development of skills for future careers. We also invite proposals from students, staff, faculty and administrators, with a particular interest in proposals that involve collaborations among these groups.

Proposals can be theoretical or practical in nature. They may represent exploratory investigations, practice-based research, and/or practical demonstrations of active learning.

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As 杏吧原创鈥檚 Associate Vice-President (Teaching and Learning), Joy Mighty knew she wanted to get students more engaged, but didn鈥檛 want to just give out orders on how.

The result is a new initiative that brings together faculty, staff and students from across the university to share their thoughts on how to better engage students in their learning.

The 36-member Teaching and Learning Council (TLC) includes people from all parts of the university, such as the Paul Menton Centre, Career Services, the Library, and the Student Experience Office. It supports the , a document that lays out 杏吧原创鈥檚 educational goals until 2018.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to be the one to say you must do this or you must do that,鈥� says Mighty. 鈥淢y view is that, to achieve the goals of the framework, you need everybody across the university working together.鈥�

The TLC is divided into five action teams that are exploring different areas of student engagement. Some of the members are working on experiential learning, retention, career and skills, and teaching and learning spaces. Others, like French professor Chantal Dion, are dealing with student engagement and satisfaction.

鈥淭he process is about taking stock of all the literature about student engagement as well as our own experiences and making this knowledge available not only to us, but students as well so that they feel more engaged in their learning,鈥� says Dion.

The council will look at past research, student surveys, and their own experience in order to come up with a list of deliverable initiatives that well help 杏吧原创 students be more academically engaged.

Boris Vukovic, a disabilities co-ordinator at the PMC, says the makeup of the council reflects the need to recognize 杏吧原创鈥檚 diverse student population when talking about student engagement.

鈥淚 find 杏吧原创 to be exceptionally diverse compared to some of the other institutions and I think that鈥檚 one of its greatest strengths,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t allows those who traditionally face barriers to getting post secondary education to do exactly that, but that means we are no longer just teaching whom you鈥檇 think of as traditional students and it鈥檚 a challenge 杏吧原创 has to be prepared for.鈥�

Mighty is confident the varied perspectives in the council will reflect the university鈥檚 increasingly diverse student population.

鈥淭he synergy of having people with all these different perspectives look at the same issues will be even better than anyone鈥檚 individual perspective,鈥� she says.

The action teams will meet separately at various times throughout the term and then bring their ideas to the council, which will meet as a whole once or twice each term.

Learn more about the Teaching and Learning Council and its members here.

For professors teaching large classes, it can be intimidating to even think about group presentations; but if it鈥檚 done right, it doesn鈥檛 have to be, according to professor Melanie Coughlin.

Professor Melanie Coughlin uses group presentations to engage students in large classes.

Coughlin has been teaching East Asian Religion at 杏吧原创 University for the last two fall semesters, and in both years, her teaching has included group presentations, despite having classes of 70 students or more.

鈥淚 see the course as not just delivering context, but delivering skills,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f they聽don鈥檛 actually get trained in the skills they need to put together a presentation, they鈥檙e never going to learn by sitting and watching me do it.鈥�

Coughlin says this is why it鈥檚 important to break up lectures with presentations.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just a favour to them, it鈥檚 also a favour to me,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t gives me feedback on where the students are, what they鈥檙e understanding, or not understanding.鈥�

She outlines five challenges professors face in coordinating presentations in a large class. The first is it cuts into time for teaching the syllabus. Coughlin says this isn鈥檛 a problem when students present information relevant to that week鈥檚 readings.

鈥淚 find it makes such a difference for being able to enliven the material, make it fresh, and make it for the students you鈥檙e teaching,鈥� she says.

Other difficulties Coughlin highlights include a loss of time liaising between students, failing to assign students to groups if they aren鈥檛 present at a lecture, and groups getting stuck with a heavier course load when members drop the course.

Coughlin鈥檚 method to avoid these difficulties is to create different student roles, including one coordinator, two to five writers, and one or two presenters. This way, only the coordinator communicates with the professor and the semi-autonomous roles mean the group won鈥檛 be faulted if a student fails to show up or do the work.

The final difficulty that Coughlin says instructors can face is a lack of unity in the groups due to irregular class attendance. To combat this, Coughlin has integrated group activities into lectures to encourage more students to come to class. She says she noticed an increased attendance this year, which might be a result of the more interactive lectures.

Along with the benefits to student learning, Coughlin says group presentations help her get to know students on a personal level, which makes any extra work worth it because in the end it鈥檚 鈥渁 more meaningful experience as a teacher.鈥�

For more tips on getting the most out of group work, check out the teaching tip on our .

Student-teacher interactions are crucial in developing a student’s academic self, motivation and achievement at all stages of their academic career (Komarraju et al. 2010), starting from kindergarten and continuing on to graduate studies. It is important to understand that student-teacher relationship are mutually beneficial, not simply beneficial to students. Faculty members and teaching assistants taking a genuine interest in their student鈥檚 academic progress can increase their own intellectual and professional development in the process (Anaya and Cole, 2001; Cokley, 2000).

Thompson (2001) postulates that although the majority of formal interactions between students and the teacher happens in a classroom setting, students who experience informal interactions tend to be more motivated and engaged in the subject matter. Informal interactions between the student and the teacher is a primary characteristic of college culture and students who know even one faculty member on a personal level feel more satisfied with their college life and aspire to improve (Rosenthal et al. 2000). I can personally vouch for this, as a former student in a Bachelor of Science, honours at the University of Ottawa. My career aspiration as an undergraduate was to be a medical doctor, not because it was my true passion, but because I was not aware of any other paths I could pursue as a scientist. As a result I did not have a plan B…until I met an incredibly approachable instructor in my third year. He revolutionized my way of understanding scientific concepts, and taught me to think critically. He taught me that science is not about memorization and getting good grades, it is about applicability and comprehension. He took time both in and outside of the classroom to teach me how to think and be a scientist.

Nevertheless, it is important to maintain a proper balance between student-teacher interactions because it is a professional relationship based on mentorship, leadership, and guidance. Students should not be considered personal friends. Cox and Orehovec (2007) identified four major types of student-faculty interactions with the most important and functional interactions related to academic related interactions outside the classroom. The three other types included: personal interactions that are unrelated to academics, incidental contact maintained by occasional greetings, and complete disengagement (where there is minimal interaction with the instructors).

Personal interactions outside of the classroom聽that are unrelated to academics can affect student-teacher relationships. Teachers are discouraged from adding students to social media sites such as Facebook, and should not exchange personal contact information such as cell phones numbers and home addresses. A student survey conducted by Ei and Bown (2002) shows that students report valuing group activities and professional relationships with the instructors as opposed to sexual relationships, receiving favours, and spending time alone.

In summation, instructors and students are equally responsible for maintaining a healthy and a professional balance that can mutually benefit both parties without overstepping ethical boundaries. But the value of a relationship outside of the classroom is instrumental in the success of our students. I can personally attest to it!

References:

Anaya, G., and D.G. Cole. 2001. Latino/a student achievement: Exploring the influence of student-faculty interactions on college grades. Journal of College Student Development 42. 3-14.

Cokley, K. 2000. Perceived faulty encouragement and its influence on college students. Journal of College Student Development, 41. 348-352.

Cox, B.E., and E. Orehovec. 2007. Faculty-student interaction outside the classroom: A typology from a residential college. The Review of Higher Education 30. 343-362.

Ei, S., and A. Bowen. 2002. College student鈥檚 perceptions of student-instructor relationships. Ethics and Behavior 12. 177-190.

Komarraju, M., S. Musulkin., G. Bhattacharya. 2010. Role of student-faculty interactions in developing college students鈥� academic self-concept, motivation, and achievement. Journal of College Student Drvelopment 51. 332-343.

Thompson, M.D. 2001. Informal student-faculty interaction: It鈥檚 relationship to educational gains in science and mathematics among community college students. Community College Review 29. 35-58.

Rosenthal, G., E. J. Folse., N.W. Allerman., D. Boudreaux., B.Soper., and C. Von Bergen. 2000. The one-to-one survey: Traditional versus non-traditional student satisfaction with professors during one-to-one contacts. College Student Journal 34. 315-321.

We have all been taught by excellent teachers, as well as some who are…less excellent. Do you ever wonder how they get that way?

As a teacher you are in a position to facilitate learning.聽 There are several ways in which to share knowledge in instructor-led classroom settings.聽 At 杏吧原创 University, we are fortunate enough to have the Educational Development Centre (EDC) to help TAs, Contract Instructors and Professors improve their teaching.聽 Through the EDC we can take workshops and write articles on pedagogy; these are both comfortable formats for academics. Relatively new to 杏吧原创 is the Peer Feedback process for teachers.聽 Peer feedback provides an opportunity to identify elements you are doing well, as well as some issues that can benefit from additional attention. Some people may be ambivalent or even nervous about having a peer observe their teaching as the process takes us out of our comfort zone.聽 However, as with the EDC sessions and reflection papers, a supportive peer observer can help you improve your teaching without making you feel threatened or inadequate.

After being observed by four peers at the same time, Alex Grammatikos (now a second year PhD student in the Department of English) said that 鈥測ou鈥檙e never close to perfect so it鈥檚 better to have someone help you and you can learn from your colleagues.鈥澛� When asked how it felt to be observed and receive feedback, Alex said that, 鈥渋f anything it is a form of support to have my fellow grad students watching me.聽 I felt like my friends were there.聽 I didn鈥檛 think about [all of] you reviewing me; I just wanted to go have fun.鈥�

Those of us getting our Teaching Skills Certificate from the EDC spend a lot of time thinking and learning about pedagogy.聽The Peer Feedback process is a chance to put those lessons into practice and get real feedback.聽 We may journal on our experiences but that is still our own reflection.聽 A peer will tell you how you perform in an objective and constructive way.

It is ironic that in academia we aggressively seek out peers to review our articles and yet shy away from peer reviews of our teaching.聽 In the article, 鈥淲hy Are Chemists and Other Scientists Afraid of the Peer Review of Teaching?鈥� Charles Atwood, Pat Hutchings, and James Taylor suggest that 鈥渋t is time to treat teaching with the same intellectual rigor that we afford [鈥 research, and providing that intellectual rigor is one of the purposes of the peer-review project鈥� (239).聽 In one example, the authors describe 鈥淛ohn Wright, a chemist at the University of Wisconsin 鈥� Madison, [who] used peer review to assess the effectiveness of innovations in his teaching鈥� (242).聽 As a result of his findings, he 鈥渢ransformed his class [鈥 from teacher-centered delivery to student-centered learning鈥� (242).聽 Ultimately this type of teaching encourages students to engage more fully in their own learning, and moves their classes away from the traditional approach of sermonizing and regurgitation.聽 As institutions move to more learner-centered, active-learning classrooms, changes in pedagogical style will be more important. Peer Feedback can help to facilitate this process.

When you open your teaching up to observation and feedback, you increase your opportunities to hone your pedagogical skills.聽 This in turn results in more engaged and satisfied students.聽 You are more apt to connect with them if you are a confident teacher who is practiced in the delivery of their material; peer feedback can help you get there. At the very least, peer feedback may teach you not to jingle pocket change as you talk, and not to insert those ubiquitous 鈥渦ms鈥� for emphasis or effect.聽 Also, for those of us going on to have teaching jobs, several teaching institutions require a mock or practice teach before hiring a new teacher.聽 Do you really want your first peer review of your teaching to be in a job interview setting?

To arrange for a class observation, ask someone that you know, trust, and respect to observe you and assess your teaching or .聽 There are four simple steps: Sign up (through your TA Mentor or EDC), complete a Pre-Feedback Assessment, teach as you normally would and then meet with your peer for thirty minutes following the observation. A week later you’ll receive written feedback that you can use in TA Award submissions, Teaching Dossiers or you CV.聽 The process is straightforward and very rewarding.聽 I liked being observed so much that I became an observer, myself.聽 I highly recommend the peer feedback process.

Works Cited

• Atwood, Charles, and Pat Hutchings, and James Taylor. 聽鈥淲hy Are Chemists and Other Scientists Afraid of the Peer Review of Teaching?鈥� Journal of Chemical Education.聽 2000 vol:77 iss:2聽 p239-243.
• Grammatikos, Alexander.聽 Personal interview. 25 March 2012.

For most teaching assistants, marking student assignments is an important duty. Through my experience as teaching assistant, I have observed several students do not engage with feedback provided on assignments. An important part of learning is to review feedback on assignments and learn from mistakes for future assignments. When assigned to a course, sometimes teaching assistants are unaware of how to give students effective and engaging comments. It is important to give engaging feedback to students so teaching assistants are not wasting time writing comments the student does not understand. This article will explore the problems of student engagement with feedback and how teaching assistants can apply effective feedback strategies.

Identifying Problems with Feedback

One of the main reasons students do not engage with feedback is because they do not think the feedback is relevant and the student does not understand it. Most feedback in the social sciences is delivered via written comments that the student can misinterpret. Students may not engage with feedback is because they do not see the link between one topic in class and the next topic. The student does not think he/she needs to apply the feedback to the next topic. A t problem associated with feedback is the student understanding criteria. Unless the student fully understands the assignment criteria, he/she cannot decode the feedback. Feedback is understood in reference to an assignment in which a student is compared to an ideal performance determined by assessment criteria. Unless the student fully understands the assessment criteria, the feedback will not be effective for them (Handley and Williams 96).

Effective Student Engagement with Feedback

Flukiger and others state characteristics of effective written feedback, 鈥淓ffective formative feedback must be specific, simple, descriptive, and focused on the task. This allows learners to set clear expectations of themselves and to make decisions that influence their own successes鈥� (Flukiger et al., 136). In addition to written feedback, they suggest feedback involves multiple aspects, 鈥淔or maximum benefit, feedback must focus on more than one aspect of learning; thus formative feedback is given on the product (assignment or performance), on the process (how it鈥檚 done), and on the progress (improvement over time) of the learning鈥� (Flukiger et al., 136).

In addition to written feedback, meetings between student and teacher are an effective way to engage students in feedback. Amy Cramp performed a study analyzing meetings between student and teacher after students received feedback on an assignment. Four themes arose from the study: 鈥渂etter understanding of study and assessment skills鈥eading feedback as specific and generic鈥nterpreting feedback鈥nd developing academic identities鈥� (Cramp 117-120). By reading the feedback out loud to the student, the student was able to understand the relationship between the feedback and its application to other assignments and their larger academic career. Students were also able to understand the meaning of the comments without misinterpretation and the meeting allowed the student to react to the feedback openly and honestly (Cramp 117-120).

I have identified the common problems associated with students and their ability to engage with feedback on assignments. Through clear language and meeting with the student effective engagement with feedback can be achieved. Meetings with every student may not be a viable solution in a large class. These meeting suggestions may offer a way to engage students with feedback in an office hour. Through written and verbal feedback, I have offered an effective way to engage students with feedback.

Bibliography

Cramp, Amy. 鈥淒eveloping First-year Engagement with Written Feedback.鈥� Active Learning in聽Higher Education 12 no. 2 (2011): 113-124.

Fluckiger, Jarene, et al. 鈥淔ormative Feedback: Involving Students as Partners in Assessment to聽Enhance Learning.鈥� College Teaching 58 (2010): 136-140.

Handley, Karen, and Lindsay Williams. 鈥淔rom Copying to Learning: Using Exemplars to Engage

Students with Assessment Criteria and Feedback.鈥� Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 36 no. 1 (2011): 95-108.

For many students, shyness presents a formidable obstacle to tutorial participation.聽 Sitting like ducks in a hot, stuffy classroom, they must converse with peers they barely know under the watchful gaze of the beady-eyed tutorial leader who, pen in hand, scratches symbols across an inscrutable participation checklist.

I have informally observed two types of shyness (frequently co-existing within the same person) to different degrees and in different proportions.聽 The intellectually shy student worries about not sounding clever enough.聽 For the socially shy student, the focus of the anxiety is not so much the ideas themselves but their delivery.聽 He or she overwhelmingly fears the red-hot sensation of others鈥� glances while trying to fashion an articulate response.聽 Undergraduates crippled by one or both of these qualms often find it well nigh impossible to utter a word in class, no matter how assiduously they read the required material.

My sympathy for the shy student stems from personal experience.聽 I was a socially shy undergraduate whose only saving grace was that my desire for high marks overrode my nervousness.聽 I blushed and stammered a bit at first, but ultimately earned strong participation grades.聽 I know, however, that there are many out there who are not so fortunate.聽 These sorts of students are all too aware they are facing a losing battle.聽 This realization can all too often lead to overall frustration with a learning system which, to their minds, unfairly favours those who enjoy speaking in class.^[1]

Reynold Redekopp and Elizabeth Bourbonniere observe that 鈥渁 change of time, space, anonymity, and voice鈥� can do wonders for encouraging reluctant oral participants.聽 They have discovered, for instance, that several students who rarely or never speak up in class make enthusiastic, insightful contributions to alternate forums such as online discussion threads and blogs.^[2]聽 This is a valid point and I do recommend virtual discussions if time and resources permit.聽 At the same time, we must beware of championing the internet as a single, fix-all solution.聽 Letting students retreat behind the cloak of digital text is engaging them in their comfort zone.聽 It is a good beginning and a good supplement to face-to-face discussion, but we are doing students no favours if we don鈥檛 challenge them to venture further into unfamiliar turf.

My own approach to student shyness aims to be empathetic while also recognizing that oral communication skills are critical for success in both academia and industry.聽 If we can reach a happy medium between making allowances and encouraging real effort towards speaking up in class, then we will have achieved something truly worthwhile.聽 After much ado, then, here my preferred method for helping shy students find their voice:

1) On the first day of class, I ask shy students to identify themselves to me via email, so we can work out some sort of system of accommodation.聽 To discourage freeloaders, I stress that emailing me will not result in a 鈥渇ree ride鈥� as regards seminar attendance or participation.聽聽 Rather, self-identification will simply give me some context for assessing the participation in which they do take part.
聽2) When a student writes me to let me know of a problem, I respond in the following way:

-I tell them that I have made a note in my books, and will take their shyness into account when calculating the participation mark.
-I also inform them that they can email me a short 1-2 paragraph reflection piece before each seminar, to contribute to (but not totally replace) their oral participation mark.
-I explain that it is my duty as an educator to help them build their oral skills and I am able to help them in the following ways:

• I encourage them to visit me during office hours or before or after seminar.聽 That way they can 鈥渢est run鈥� some ideas with me.聽 Students with intellectual shyness often want confirmation that their ideas are 鈥渞ight鈥� even though they invariably give very thoughtful critiques.聽 Talking through ideas one-on-one gives them an opportunity to practice intellectual conversation in a non-threatening atmosphere.聽 It also provides me with the opportunity to ask them a question during tutorial with the knowledge that they will be able to answer it (more or less) confidently.
• I furthermore recommend that they write out their thoughts on the assigned readings before coming to class.聽 This gives them the opportunity to choose their words calmly and precisely without undue social pressure.聽 Upon arrival at the seminar, they will find that they have a 鈥渟cript鈥� to remind them of what they wanted to say and exactly how they wished to articulate it (This can be beneficial to all of our students to encourage more informed discussion!)
• Finally, I ask shy students to challenge themselves to speak up at least once per class.聽 If they can fulfill that quota for the immediate future, then I鈥檓 happy.聽 As the term and their confidence progresses, I may increase the number to twice a class.聽 As an undergraduate, I remember feeling very nervous the first few times I talked in class, but I felt that if I could force myself to contribute three times right away then the nervousness would eventually wear off.聽 I was pleased to discover that it indeed did!

Students who plead shyness yet refuse to make an effort in some other way generally do not respond to my email or suggestions.聽 This is a shame, yet such cases are unavoidable.

By contrast, those who are serious about addressing their fear relish the opportunity to explore alternatives to the all-or-nothing oral participation grade.聽 As they progress, they find to their surprise that their confidence gradually improves.聽 As a former TA mentor for the Department of History, I suggested the above course of action to one of my teaching assistants.聽 According to the TA, this student flourished remarkably over the course of the term.聽 Indeed, the student came to look forward to seminars and was eagerly considering which upper-year courses to take in the future.

In short, shyness should provoke our empathy but not our pity.聽 Our response must balance respect for the student鈥檚 particular needs with the realization that we owe it to them to help them face their fears.聽 If I can nurture this change in even one student, then my work as a Teaching Assistant has truly been worthwhile.

Backward Design is an approach to curriculum planning that starts with final learning outcomes, and works backwards to determine activities and assessment tools. A Backward Design approach has the benefit of methodologically ensuring that the objectives and the assignments/activities are in synch. This approach shifts the focus from 鈥渋nput鈥� to 鈥渙utput鈥� (Wiggins and McTighe 6). Output is defined as 鈥渨hat the student should be able to know, do, and understand upon leaving, expressed in performance and product terms鈥� (Wiggins and McTighe 6).

Backward Design lesson planning usually begins with a hook, or some way to engage students. Ken Bain writes in What the Best College Teachers Do, that 鈥淭o gain students鈥� attention, the best teachers start with something that . . . students care about, know, or think they know, rather than just lay out a blueprint or an outline or tale or theory or account of our own鈥� (110).聽 Bain argues that this 鈥渞equires students to begin struggling with an issue from their own perspective even before they know much about it鈥�(110).

A Backward Design approach helps to answer questions outlined by Wiggins and McTighe in Understanding By Design. These questions include: 鈥淲hy are we asking students to read this particular novel 鈥� in other words, what learnings will we seek from their having read it鈥� (15)? 鈥淲hat kind of intellectual scaffolding is provided to guide students through the important ideas? How are students expected to use those ideas to make meaning of the many facts? What performance goals would help students know how to take notes for maximal effective use by course鈥檚 end鈥� (21)?

In teaching writing, an example of an 鈥渙utput鈥� or learning outcome is: students are able to identify strong and weak thesis statements. John Bean, in Engaging Ideas, outlines some teaching strategies that can meet this learning outcome: 1) 鈥淧resent a Proposition (Thesis) for Students to Defend or Refute鈥� (107). In this strategy the teacher develops arguable positions that the students debate in class. 2) 鈥淕ive Students a Problem or Question That Demands the Student鈥檚 鈥楤est Solution鈥� Answer鈥� 鈥� (107). In this approach the instructor 鈥減rovides a controversial thesis to defend or attack, and invites a variety of thesis statements arguing different conceptual positions鈥� (108).聽 3) 鈥淐reate 鈥楽trong Response鈥� Assignments Based on One or More Scholarly Articles or Other Readings鈥� (109). In this strategy the students read articles and write a rebuttal to the arguments, speaking back to the text. 聽Assessment tools that follow from this approach will identify whether students have integrated new knowledge about strong and weak thesis statements.

There is an initial investment of time to design lessons and units beginning with the learning outcome. Wiggins and McTighe argue that it is worth the effort and will result in increased productivity over the long term (21).聽 This approach will increase student understanding and ability to apply learning in new contexts (7). Student engagement will be high when the purpose of learning is clear, and the outcomes are tied to activities and lecture topics.

Resources

Wiggins and McTighe offer a detailed template for unit planning in the book Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook.

Works Cited

• Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas: The Professors Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008. Print.
• Bain, Ken. What the Best College Teachers Do. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004. Print.
• Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Understanding By Design. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), 2005. Print.
• Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Understanding By Design Professional Development Workbook. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), 2004. Print.

Engaging students and promoting learning can be a very difficult task and there are countless theories and methods on how best encourage students to learn and be involved. [1 – 3] In my own experience utilizing varied teaching approaches, being approachable and making students work for the answer while asking questions have been the most successful methods.

There exists a very broad spectrum of students with strengths and weaknesses varied over the eight intelligences. [4] Trying to pique the interest and encourage learning of such a broad group can pose a considerable challenge. One commonality however is likely amongst the entire group. They鈥檝e all spent, and continue to spend, a considerable portion of their time using social media and watching videos on YouTube. [5] One of the most successful tools that I have found while attempting to encourage students to have completed their prelabs ahead of time, was to produce an introductory video to the lab and have it available online. These videos provided students with a sense of what they would be accomplishing and were particularly useful for visual learners who sometime struggle to transfer discussion or literature into practice. To encourage the whole group to watch the video, hints were embedded to help them solve lab questions.

Another method which was attempted to engage students was to prepare an online forum where students could seek help from TAs and from one another. This service was met with varying success depending on the group of students. One particular group made excellent use of the forums and it encouraged considerable discussion, while another group made little use of it at all. This provided evidence that not all approaches to encourage student engagement will be successful and that the approach needs to be tailored to the particular group. More information on electronic learning methods can be found in [6].

When trying to encourage students to be engaged in a classroom setting, making yourself approachable is important to fostering a positive learning environment. Students should not feel afraid or ashamed to ask questions. An excellent article discussing approachability and student engagement can be found in [7].

Lastly, now that you have a group of engaged students who are working hard and asking questions, before you give them a straight answer, make them work for it. It has been my experience that a student is far more likely to remember an answer if they鈥檝e gone through the thought process and were able to figure out the answer for themselves. Of course some students will need to be led step by step, but I鈥檝e observed a visible sense of pride and accomplishment when a student is able to answer their own question. A second advantage to having students work for an answer is that it encourages students who would otherwise ask questions incessantly, in hopes that you鈥檒l simply do the work for them, to think for themselves as completing the task on their own would often be faster than trying to scrounge all the answers from the TA.

What is important to take from this article is that a diverse set of teaching methods should be used to encourage a broad spectrum of students to be engaged. High technology tools such as YouTube, forums and social media can be effective methods. Methods should be adaptable to the particular group of students and finally, in my experience, approachability and leading students through their own questions are the best methods to engage students and promote learning.

References