Documentation:FlISWModuleDotmocracy

Time to Complete this module

10 minutes

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Familiarize yourself with the five (5) offered Elective Theme Session topics
• Vote for your favorite topics

Elective Theme Sessions

As most of you have mentioned on your feedback, mini-lessons and peer-based feedback are the core of ISW. Throughout Day 2 and 3, you will have a chance to continue evolving your teaching skills in your small group, by experimenting different ideas and giving/receiving feedback to/from your peers. Furthermore, as in Day 1, we will also have a couple of large group Theme Sessions on each day (30- to 50-minute sessions facilitated by ISW facilitators) on different topics in teaching and learning. Some essential topics are offered in all ISWs, including the sessions on Learning Objectives, Motivation and Active Learning, offered on Day 1 and a session on Adult Learning Theories which will be offered on Day 2.

However the fun does not end here! Considering the diversity of backgrounds and interests of different participants, and in an attempt to adjust the workshop to your needs, we are going to ask you to participate in choosing the 3 remaining Theme Sessions which will be offered this weekend.

Five (5) sessions are offered among which three (3) will be selected to be delivered on Day 2 and 3. Below are the descriptions and tentative learning objectives for the sessions.

Read

Theme Sessions

Active Learning Techniques for Higher Education

In ISW we talk a lot about Active Learning and encourage you to try to incorporate different active learning techniques into your mini-lessons. The facilitators also try to model various techniques throughout the workshop. Yes, it's FUN!, but how PRACTICAL is it? Are we supposed to expect our 400-level students to run around the class and play bingo? In this session we will discuss some of the major theoretical and practical aspects of using active learning techniques in a realistic higher ed. setting.

Tentative learning objectives:

• Discuss the advantages and challenges of using AL in higher ed.
• Use Kolb's Experiential Learning cycle to choose AL techniques appropriate for different learners and specific learning objectives
• Use Active Learning Continuum (Bonwel & Sutherland, 1996) to choose appropriate AL techniques based on their complexity and practicality

Challenging Classroom Situations

Teaching is fun! BUT, is it always? However I might love teaching, there are always situations that I dread. Well, perhaps not. But at least some situations that I don’t whole-heartedly look forward to! Unprepared and inattentive students, oppositional/hostile behaviors, shy or reluctant students, … Different teachers might consider different situations as challenging. In this session we will discuss some of the strategies that could help you overcome or minimize those challenges.

Tentative learning objectives:

• Identify the root causes and methods to tackle challenging classroom situations
• Develop general and specific strategies for managing challenging situations in classrooms, tutorials and labs

Teaching Large Classrooms

As the size of a class increases, it gets more challenging to keep the students focused and active in the class. Implementing in-class activities and keeping all the students engaged would seem anywhere from ‘challenging’ to ‘impossible’. Establishing personal contact with individual students will become less-than-likely, and the student attention fades away from the course and gets channeled into Facebook, as you go toward the back rows! Encouraging! Isn’t it? In this session we will discuss some of the major challenges associated with large classrooms and introduce a number of strategies (ranging from simple-yet-awesome tips, to more specific techniques) that could help you teach more efficiently in large classrooms.

Tentative learning objectives:

• Identify at least 2 major differences between teaching a large class and teaching smaller tutorials/labs
• Add at least 2 new techniques for TLC
• Add at least 3 new strategies for TLC

Beyond BOPPPS: Alternative approaches to lesson planning

We usually focus on BOPPPS model as a basic-yet-useful guideline for planning learner-centred lessons. Simple as it is, BOPPPS can prove helpful in planning a typical lesson in many disciplines. Nevertheless, there are also many topics that seem not to fit within the limits of BOPPPS model (and sometimes any other model!). Lessons which focus on producing a transformative effect and/or have affective learning objectives are among such cases. In this session we will try to identify the fundamental elements of an effective lesson, behind and beyond BOPPPS, and discuss different strategies that could be used to plan an effective learner-centred lesson, without being necessarily confined to one model.

Tentative learning objectives:

• Discuss specific topics which might not fit within BOPPPS
• Identify the 4 fundamental elements of an effective lesson behind BOPPPS
• Describe the Bloom's taxonomy in the Affective Domain of learning
• Use the 4 elements of an effective lesson to plan a lesson in affective domain or another topic discussed at the beginning of the session

Flipped Classrooms

"Flipped classroom is an instructional strategy and a type of blended learning that reverses the traditional educational arrangement by delivering instructional content, often online, outside of the classroom and moves activities, including those that may have traditionally been considered homework, into the classroom. In a flipped classroom model, students watch online lectures, collaborate in online discussions, or carry out research at home and engage in concepts in the classroom with the guidance of the instructor."[1]

Tentative learning objectives:

• Weigh the advantages and possible shortcomings of flipped classrooms
• Design one course which incorporates some qualities of flipped/blended classrooms

[1] Abeysekera, Lakmal, and Phillip Dawson (2015). "Motivation and cognitive load in the flipped classroom: definition, rationale and a call for research." Higher Education Research & Development 34(1), 1-14.

Vote

Using the Comments box below, please mention the three (3) sessions that you would like us to offer this weekend, in the order of your preference (number one being the one you are most interested in). The voting will be closed at noon on Wednesday, July 8th and the three 'winning' sessions will be offered on Day 2 & 3.