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

Most of us want our students to achieve higher level thinking, but often we don’t teach so as to produce the outcomes we most want. Our students may then spend more time in memorizing than in learning to think. Last semester we introduced a concept called “alignment,” which revealed the need to avoid pedagogy that is mismatched to our desired outcomes. In 1989, Eric Mazur of Harvard University encountered this mismatch in his introductory physics classes. Below is a memo he wrote (Science Teaching Reconsidered - A Handbook, Committee on Undergraduate Science Education, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1997, p. 22) describing his adjustments.

"In 1989, I read an article in the ‘American Journal of Physics’ that contained a test to assess understanding of Newtonian mechanics. I gave the test to my students at Harvard and was shocked by the results--the students had merely memorized equations and problem-solving procedures and were unable to answer the basic questions, indicating a substantial lack of understanding of the material. I began to rethink how I was teaching and realized that students were deriving little benefit from my lectures even though they generally gave me high marks as a lecturer. So I decided to stop preaching and instead of teaching by telling, I switched to teaching by questioning using a teaching technique I have named ‘peer instruction.’

My students now read the material before class. To get them to do the reading, I begin each class with a short reading quiz. The lecture periods are then broken down into a series of digestible snippets of 10 to 15 minutes. Rather than regurgitating the text, I concentrate on the basic concepts, and every 10 or 15 minutes I project a "Concept Test" on the screen. These short conceptual questions generally require qualitative rather than quantitative answers. The students get one minute to think and choose an answer. They are also expected to record their confidence in their answer. After they record their answers, I ask their students to turn to their neighbors and to convince them of their logic. Chaos erupts as students engage in lively discussion of the question. I run up and down the aisles to participate in some of the discussions--to find out how students explain the correct answer in their own words and to find out what mistakes they make.

After one or two minutes, I call time and ask students to record a revised answer and a revised confidence level. A show of hands then quickly reveals the percentage of correct answers. After the discussion, the number of correct answers and the confidence level typically rise dramatically. If I am not satisfied, I repeat the cycle with another question on the same subject. When the results indicate a mastery of the concept, I move on to the next subject.

I have been lecturing like this now for more than four years. During this time the students have taught me how best to teach them. As for the students, nothing clarifies their ideas as much as explaining them to others. As one student said in a recent interview, ‘There is this ah-hah! kind of feeling. It's not that someone just told me; I actually figured it out. And because I can figure it out now, that means I can figure it out on the exam. And I can figure it out for the rest of my life.’"

Mazur realized that he had to align his teaching methods in accord with the learning outcomes he wanted--which began with concept mastery. His letter reveals a number of good practices--limiting lecture events to 20 minutes or less ( what research shows is the attention span of most audiences), allowing students to engage the concept, grapple with it and explain their understanding of it to others (in accord with what research shows improves comprehension and retention) and utilization of a classroom assessment technique (so that the concerns and levels of understanding of students are made visible at a time when poor understanding can best be addressed).

Consider building “alignment” into your teaching.
 
 
 
 

Teaching Effectiveness Moved to New Digs!

If you read the small print on the Nutshell Notes banner head, you’ll see that we are no longer in UCD Suite 700, but we are now on the ground floor of UCD in Suite 100. This is the glass part of the UCD building near the corner of Larimer & 14th, and looks more likely from the outside to produce a “Big Mac” than assistance and consultations. You’ll enter our new shop by the Suite 100 door (beware--you can’t get to here by coming in the main doors!). Our phone numbers and e-mail addresses remain the same; the fax has changed and is current on this issue. Many thanks to the AHEC and CINS folks who made this a very easy transition. We are happy as clams with our new site, and we will announce a housewarming soon--after we finish unpacking & fully moving in.

YUMPS Fall Program

All untenured faculty on tenure-track will find YUMPS events helpful. Our fall, 1999, events follow.

Fall Session 1. RTP Advice for New Faculty
Wednesday, October 6th, 12-1:30 P.M.
299 CU Building (14th & Larimer).

This meeting is designed to orient newer faculty to the RTP process. Various experts will be there to answer questions about the RTP process and your interface with it. ALL ARE OF COURSE WELCOME.

Fall Session 2. Mock RTP Meeting
Monday, November 8th, 12-1:30 P.M.
299 CU Building (14th & Larimer).

This meeting will be lead by Professor Peter Bryant of Business, who is currently a member of the Campus RTP Committee. He and other members of the RTP Committee will review a dossier to show what a typical RTP meeting is like. If all goes well, the dossier will be available to you before the meeting.
 

BLACKBOARD TRAINING
UCD Building Room 840 --8:30 a.m. Choose September 23 or 24.

Blackboard's web-based course delivery system has been officially adopted by CU-Denver and by the CU System through a site license that enables faculty to construct web-based ancillaries for their resident courses or to construct full online courses. Any faculty member who wishes to use Blackboard's product can obtain access and an account by contacting Brendan Murphy (bmurphy@carbon.cudenver.edu).

We are sponsoring these two all-day workshops by Blackboard's own trainers for all faculty/honoraria/etc. who want to learn how to use this web-based delivery system. Choose a date and register by contacting Carl Pletsch at cpletsch@carbon.cudenver.edu.

(The Executive Tower room location had to be changed, so if you note a disparity between this and the e-mail message you received earlier, use this notice to make your plans. We had to scrap the first printing of this issue and reprint it because of the change of location.)
 
 

CALLING ALL
HONORARIA, PART-TIME FACULTY, LECTURERS, ADJUNCTS, ETC.!!

In order to provide better communication to non-tenure-track instructors of any kind, we are in the process of compiling an e-mail list and setting up a listserve site. If you have one of the above or a similar job title or contract title, please send your name, email address and the words “part-time faculty” to Ed_Nuhfer@maroon.cudenver.edu
We’ll provide information to you how to access the site for honoraria.
Ed Nuhfer, Director Teaching Effectiveness & Faculty Development
CU-Denver Campus Box 137 PO Box 173364 Denver, CO 80217-3364
(303) 556-4915 Fax (303) 556-5855