Forestry course: community forests group work

Please add your posts and comments to this thread by hitting the reply arrow on the bottom right of this box.

I found this case study description crushing. Learners have little autonomy in their educational experience. They are told who they will work with, the projects they will choose from, how they will be graded, etc. I have a few ideas for re-orienting the learning environment in this course. The first would be to rethink and clearly address who is being graded, how and why for iPeer part of the assignment: "I include links on my syllabus on how to complete the iPeer evaluation. The responses from this peer evaluation are integrated into their participation marks. " Is the instructor grading learners in their ability to provide peer feedback? Is the peer feedback going directly to the student whom it is about? Is there a way to speak back to or address this feedback?

1.How does it engage students in the hard, messy work of learning? Using group project 2.In what ways is explicit skill instruction included? The instructor "encourage" the students to locate current problems. 3. Learner-centered teaching encourages students to reflect on what they are learning and how they are learning it. Start the group project after the first month of course so that the students should have the basic requirement to continue that work. 4.Learner-centered teaching motivates students by giving them some control over learning processes. The instructor lets the students to choose the best three topics after first month of the class. 5. Learner-centered teaching encourages collaboration. Students can learn from each other during the group work.

What would you change/adapt to make it more learner-centered, and why? What is the deliverable for the students? I agree with (LNathan) that is the instructor grading the peer feedback? I think more information regarding the overall project structure and marking rubrics is needed so that the students know what the requirements are. Peer evaluation is included in the participation marks and why not the project mark? Also how much will it be? I will change the peer evaluation to be part of the individual final project mark so that the students understand the important of working together.

I think this case might be the least learner-centered and also the most tiring for the instructor as he himself acknowledges it from the very beginning. One first and obvious thing that comes to mind is to let students propose the topic the will work themselves rather than handing them out a pre-made list. The way in which the instructor organizes the groups is not clear but also sounds very burdensome. I wonder which other better ways to organize students to work in group exist. And thank you Vincent for including the questions in your answer, that was very helpful! ;-)

I think this is a classic example where some students get a free ride working in a group. In this case study, there is no evidence of students being involved in the hard, messy work of learning. I would use the following strategies to to make it more learner-centered: Given the heavy course load it is important to have students work in groups outside the class, it is also important to have students engaged in collaborative activities within class to foster collaboration. The students should also be given some autonomy to be able to choose the topic within a specified area. This would take some of the burden off the instructor.