NUTSHELL NOTES "Teaching tips in a nutshell" - The University of Colorado at Denver's One-page Newsletter for Teaching Excellence

Most of us have one primary teaching tool — the traditional lecture method. It is our only tool because it is the only teaching-learning mode that many of us ever experienced. This will be a chance to add an entirely new tool to our repertoires. It is a tool which has been proven as highly effective through examining results critically in hundreds of published research studies. The workers at University of Minnesota's Center for Cooperative Learning, led primarily by David and Roger Johnson, have developed cooperative learning over the past 27 years. Their research focused on primary and secondary schools, but it has been so successful in these pre-college classes that it is unavoidably headed for university teaching in a big way. In 1991, the first text prepared for university teachers, Active Learning, Cooperation in the College Classroom, was released by Interaction Press. The authors were the Johnson brothers and Karl Smith, our workshop instructor.

In addition to his graduate degrees and reputation in education, Karl is a professor in the University of Minnesota's College of Engineering. Karl is a pragmatist, and he uses cooperative learning techniques extensively to teach courses known to cover difficult content. These courses include mathematical modeling and thermodynamics. Karl provides an excellent workshop that introduces effective strategies that can be employed by instructors in any field.

The six-hour workshop will probably be held at St. Cajetans (firmer details later) and will include a catered lunch. Those who register for the workshop will receive their own copy of Active Learning, Cooperation in the College Classroom at the workshop. (YES - this is the Christmas season!) The only thing you will have to do to attend is to get your name to Ed Nuhfer through UCD Campus Box 137, or phone it in at 556-4915 by JANUARY 27. (The secretary or work-study student will record all names received by phone.) The deadline is firm and is needed to allow us to procure all materials and make final arrangements. I wish we had space for everyone, but as you know space is limited and keeps us to under 160. Thus the first 160 responses are it.

In volume 1 number 8, you received Wingspread's "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education." If you looked at them closely, you probably noticed that these were much different from what is often measured on "teaching evaluation" forms. The "Seven Principles" are student - centered rather than teacher - centered, and the seven principles capture the major emphases of cooperative learning. Our newsletters leading to the workshop will continue to introduce cooperative learning so that readers will approach the workshop with familiarity.