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Building lifelong learning, with the help of technology

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UW Bothell lecturer uses interactive whiteboard app to help students learn how to learn

Erin Hill is a STEM lecturer, Director of the Quantitative Skills Center, and Interim Director of the Teaching and Learning Center at UW Bothell
Erin Hill is a STEM lecturer, Director of the Quantitative Skills Center, and Interim Director of the Teaching and Learning Center at UW Bothell

How can technology in the classroom help students learn how to learn? For Erin Hill, STEM lecturer and director of the Quantitative Skills Center at UW Bothell, it is important that students get more out of her courses than just subject-specific skills.

Hill also wants to develop students’ ability to learn better—in any field. And to do so, she says, “Students need to understand when learning happens. You need to make the learning process visible.”

In 2014, Hill began to look for a technology to incorporate into her classroom that could show and record learning as it happens—and help her students become more aware of, and adept at, the learning process. Her search led her to compare available tools with her needs.

Hill’s courses in physics involve frequent collaborative group work, so she wanted an option that would allow her to move among her students while they tackled problems together. She also wanted a way to seamlessly record, share, and interact with her students, showing their reasoning as they worked in real time—while prompting them to communicate their thinking to themselves and the rest of the class.

Using technology to make learning visible

After consulting with fellow faculty and experimenting with a few apps, a colleague recommended Doceri, an “interactive whiteboard” app for instructors. Doceri turned out to be well-suited to Hill’s course topics and pedagogical goals.

Operable from a tablet, the Doceri app displays instructors’ writing in real time from anywhere in the room. By connecting the tablet to a laptop or desktop computer and the projector, it allows instructors to advance slides, open polling software, or write notes while moving around the classroom. Hill can draw and display examples of the concepts she’s teaching; she can also project snapshots of student work and write on those—making student thinking, as well as her own, visible to the class.

While her students work through problems on their whiteboards, Hill uses Doceri to display and annotate their learning as it happens
While her students work through problems on their whiteboards, Hill uses Doceri to display and annotate their learning as it happens

Hill can project two groups’ work side by side, then have each explain how and why they arrived at the solution they did. When a group gets a question right, Hill prompts those students to explain not just what they did, but how they knew they could approach the problem the way they did. Doceri records all questions, notes, and explanations in both audio and video so that it’s all available for students to review.

Students appreciate that Doceri allows their instructor to be so mobile. That mobility is key to student learning and improves the classroom experience, says Adham Baioumy, a former student in Hill’s Mechanics course who now works as her peer facilitator. Because Hill can move throughout the classroom as she projects and explains concepts—while also sharing students’ work—she helps students feel more connected to the class, and to the concepts at hand, he said.

The efficiency of this method is also important because it “allows more time for students to be immersed in a concept,” said Holly Gummelt, Hill’s former peer facilitator and undergraduate student.

For Hill, the tool is doing exactly what she hoped. Hill finds that when she can easily interact with students in this way, she is effectively using their learning processes to teach the course material. “It shifts the dynamic,” she said, “to put the emphasis more on the learner than on the teacher—and learning begins and ends with the learner.”

Developing flexible learning strategies—for all fields

Hill lists teamwork, communication, and problem-solving among her priorities for student learning goals. But she also emphasizes the importance of learning how to learn from challenges and mistakes. “Part of learning is play—the ability to revise,” Hill said.

““[Doceri] shifts the dynamic to put the emphasis more on the learner than on the teacher—and learning begins and ends with the learner.”

In Doceri’s whiteboard mode, the app allows students to rethink problems in real time based on discussion and feedback. In Hill’s class, student groups work on small, physical whiteboards; Hill can then display and annotate their work via Doceri as they talk through their own processes and rework the problem themselves. As research has shown, helping students understand why they made errors and how they corrected them fosters better understanding of course content and builds problem-solving skills.

Hill says that her use of Doceri has allowed her to fully implement teaching practices that best help students learn how to learn. This approach could apply to countless other fields with subject-specific variations. For instructors interested in using technology to help students learn better, Hill suggests prioritizing the following goals:

  • Mobility: The ability to move away from the podium and interact with students as they work gives students a sense of connection to instructors and course material; it also allows for efficient sharing of student learning as it happens.
  • Communication: When students are prompted to talk and write about their own learning processes—how they arrived at a conclusion, step by step—it helps them understand what strategies work, and how they can improve the ones that don’t.
  • Flexibility: Learning from errors and challenges can be extremely productive—when students have opportunities to understand what went wrong, articulate the challenge, and revise their work in real time.
  • Visibility: Instructors can incorporate ways for students to see the learning process at work by displaying student approaches to prompts or problems. In addition, making the instructor’s understanding of the content visible—through projecting notes, examples, and interactions with student work—provides students with a window into how experts approach similar problems.

“The primary goal of my class is making lifelong learners,” Hill said. Using an app like Doceri supports that goal. She added, “It’s hard to imagine teaching without it now. I could do it, but it wouldn’t be as much fun.”

The power of personal narratives in the classroom

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A UW Bothell professor shares how digital storytelling can be a powerful tool for learning—for students and instructors

During a recent Sociology of Education class at UW Bothell, a reticent student pointedly told Jane Van Galen she never talked about her family or her childhood—and certainly didn’t want to share her story in a video.

But Van Galen gently persuaded her and her fellow students that their personal experiences provided rich and relevant connections to course material—experiences that could be shared much more powerfully through digital storytelling than a more formal academic paper.

Van Galen, a professor in the School of Educational Studies at UW Bothell, is working to show faculty that the medium is an effective pedagogical tool that can help enhance student learning in multiple subjects across the curricula.

Jane Van Galen
Jane Van Galen, professor, School of Educational Studies

She has been teaching and researching digital storytelling in the classroom for about 10 years.

Research has shown that multimedia can help the “digital generation” better understand complex issues. When students are asked to share their own stories within the context of what they’re learning in class, the lessons become more deep-rooted.

The process of creating a digital story or documentary pushes students’ learning in multiple ways. Students tap into their creative talents, do careful research, think deeply about the question being asked and pay close attention to their script-writing. Many of Van Galen’s students improved their communication skills because they had to organize their ideas and construct their narrative in such a way that the audience can understand a complex subject.

The core of storytelling

Digital storytelling is the art of well-told stories. They’re often personal in nature but not always produced in video form. Students use a large array of multimedia tools such as video, audio, graphics and web. And much like traditional storytelling, its digital counterpart also relies on a particular point of view to explore insights into the broader human experience.

In classrooms, the ideal video is less than 10 minutes—Van Galen tells her students to keep the length of videos between three and five minutes. Their creation and final presentation is more manageable and the story more focused.

“Students get to create something truly wonderful in a short amount of time. Sometimes, it takes more time to convince faculty that it is an appropriate tool to help students learn,” Van Galen said. “Digital storytelling is not a traditional classroom learning experience. It is very fluid, non-linear, and sometimes faculty and students are challenged by the ambiguity of the process.”

And because digital storytelling is a flexible form, it can be used in a variety of classes, said Van Galen. She recently taught a class directed at educators: “Telling our Stories as Teachers: Digital Storytelling and Teacher Reflection.” She also held a three-day storytelling class for biology instructors who wanted their students to be able to convey their personal investment in key environmental issues.

“The work of composing a multi-layered digital story is a deeply reflective process, as students make connections between their own biographies and course content, and then anticipate how audiences will see those connections.”

– Jane Van Galen, professor

In her research, Van Galen focuses on social class and social mobility through education. So she knows her students—many of whom hope to become teachers—bring rich but sometimes painful personal histories that could unknowingly influence their lives as educators. The School of Educational Studies’ vision is to develop educators who will promote and support equity in learning.

Van Galen asks her students to share personal stories through digital storytelling because she hopes that experience will help them better understand how they can teach students to be more inclusive and more understanding of the diversity of experiences everyone brings into the classroom.

One student’s experience with digital storytelling

In one of her classes, Van Galen asked her students to explore through their own experience the cost of social mobility and the intersection of social class and education.

“Many of my students have never told their stories as part of their academic work,” Van Galen said. When they realize that their stories are relevant to what they’re learning, and that other people have an interest in their personal stories—or that they relate to or are inspired by them, “it is very affirming,” she said.

That was the case for Norma Perez, a student who originally found digital storytelling challenging. And yet, the powerful learning experience made her think deeply about what she could contribute as an educator.

Norma Perez video
Norma Perez realized the process of telling her family’s story in Jane Van Galen’s class could make her a better educator.

“The story I chose to tell reflects the first time I realized my own family, my friends, my neighborhood—we were poor. Growing up in my neighborhood, everyone’s family looked like mine. My mom worked in the candy factory, while my dad worked on the construction site. We spoke Spanish at home and we lived in an apartment. This was normal to me,” she said.

“It was a difficult story to tell, as it was for many of our classmates, but Jane made our classroom a very safe, non-judgmental, and open environment,” Perez said. “We cried together, laughed together, and supported one another through the entire process.”

“My story centers on a school field trip, and how it was difficult for my family to pay for it,” Perez said. And so it was for the other kids in the class. “I watched one of my classmates reluctantly pay for the trip with coins, and as I sat there watching him, I realized we were poor. I was nervous sharing my story, as I am sure many of my classmates were too. My classmates didn’t know my background, and often when I tell people my story, they are surprised.”

Crafting the script for the video was the most difficult part, but it was easier finding images to complement her words. When she finally put it all together, and then got to see her classmates’ work, Perez saw how their individual stories revealed what inspired them to become educators.

“There’s pain and joy in the journey,” Van Galen said. “People who want to be educators should pause and think about what they’re bringing into a classroom. Telling their own stories can help them make sense of the world around them and be more sensitive to the stories that shaped their students.”

Van Galen’s tips to bring digital storytelling into the classroom

Consider taking a short course in digital storytelling: In addition to workshops she offers with UW colleagues, Van Galen periodically co-teaches three-day workshops at UW Bothell with the StoryCenter, a pioneer in digital storytelling, based in Berkeley, Calif. These workshops are open to faculty and staff from all three campuses as well as community members. Email Van Galen for upcoming course information.

Don’t sweat the technical details too much: Many of today’s students are digital-savvy, with access to all kinds of multimedia tools. In one of Van Galen recent classes, students used as many as eight different video-editing tools. “Some of my students used their cellphones to edit their videos. They know how to work with the basics of these tools, so you don’t have to spend much valuable classroom time showing them how to work a video-editing program.

“Video editing software is increasingly more intuitive and easier to use. I only spend 20 minutes or so demonstrating a couple of different tools,” said Van Galen, who occasionally helps students troubleshoot technical problems and provides links to online tutorials and help forums.

Set creative constraints to help students focus their project: The script should be 300-350 words, with a story told in three to five minutes. Van Galen will often ask her students to use Ken Burns-like effects to produce their videos. Burns, an American documentarian, relies heavily on still images in his renowned Civil War documentary. He brings them alive with panning and zooming techniques paired with voice-over and evocative music.

“I encourage the use of still images and tell my students to think deeply about what sorts of images they may want to use. If you need grandpa’s photo in the video, what do you want people to understand about him?”

Images are important but pay attention to sound: “Students are often surprised how important sound is,” Van Galen said. It evokes emotion and helps viewers understand subtle points. “Music creates ambiance; music supports the tenor of the story.

Risk letting go: “As an instructor, I cannot control every step of the process or the final product. I can’t expect my students to have a final draft in the first two weeks. I always tell instructors that producing digital stories is non-linear, fluid and often ambiguous, nothing like an academic paper.”

Teach students to attribute materials: Creating new digital content is an ideal opportunity to teach the importance of crediting the work of others, including the value and importance of attributing copyrighted material. “There’s no such thing as a ‘Google’ image. It belongs to someone,” she said. That also applies to music, even when it is available royalty-free. UW has its own website explaining copyright and how to properly cite copyrighted materials.

Students control who sees their stories: “You must deal with your students’ stories with sensitivity,” Van Galen said. While students are expected to share their work in class with fellow students, they decide whether anyone else gets to see the videos. Posting their own videos on the web is always optional.

Finally, storytelling is everything: Van Galen spends a lot of classroom time talking about the arc of a story and what makes a powerful narrative. First, she gets students comfortable with switching from an academic to a narrative voice; talking in the first person using “I” and “me” is acceptable. And she helps them think deeply about visual metaphors. “What can the visuals do for the understanding of the story?” Van Galen asks students. And these kinds of discussions lead to talking about those little things that make up a whole story.

For more information, these resources were collected in collaboration with the UW Center for Teaching and Learning:

Digital Storytelling as an effective instructional tool

Connecting theories of instructor self-disclosure, critical race theory and instructional communication with digital storytelling

Can video games solve world problems?

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Two researchers seeking to solve a real-world problem create a class in a model of interdisciplinary collaboration

It began, as so many things do, with the realization that a gap exists. Josh Lawler, professor in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, saw there were very few games about climate change that are scientifically accurate—and actually fun to play.

Josh Lawler, professor of environmental and forest sciences
Josh Lawler, professor of environmental and forest sciences.

Knowing that research shows that games are an effective tool for learning, in 2015 Lawler connected with Dargan Frierson, associate professor in the School of Atmospheric Sciences, and they started asking colleagues if they were interested in tackling this problem together.

The result of their networking includes EarthGamesUW, a group that aims to design games that increase awareness about climate change. EarthGamesUW would also quickly develop into an interdisciplinary independent study course.

Within a year of its inception, the group has been nationally recognized for producing prize-winning games (two of which are on showcase at the Smithsonian). In Winter 2017, the EarthGamesUW independent study will now be structured around a central classroom experience offering up to 6 credits.

But the impact extends even further. EarthGamesUW offers students from diverse disciplines—computer science to English, information sciences to education—the opportunity to produce real products and practice professional skills, all while having an impact on climate change.

Networking for interdisciplinary collaboration

Dargan Frierson, associate professor of atmospheric sciences
Dargan Frierson, associate professor of atmospheric sciences.

Lawler and Frierson recognized early on that the concept of creating games about climate change depended on tapping into the expertise of many others outside their own disciplines. “One of the first things we did was meet with people who knew more about this than we did, and ask if we were crazy for trying this,” says Lawler. “They had the expertise we didn’t have.”

Together, they turned to a variety of people for advice and participation, including game designers, high school teachers, and professors and graduate students in the Information School, Learning Sciences, Human Centered Design and Engineering, and Computer Science and Engineering’s Center for Game Science.

“Games hold a great deal of potential for providing experiences that players can learn from,” says Theresa Horstman, research assistant professor for Education Program Games. “It’s not enough to know the facts: games allow players to interact with different contributing factors of climate change as a system in creative, experiential ways.”

As these new partnerships came together, the idea to create inspiring video games about climate change evolved into an actionable project.

Frierson says that one of the most rewarding parts of the process was the group collaboration across disciplines. “It’s gotten me out of my building to see all the really cool work that’s happening around UW.” He adds, “It’s occurred to me that probably the UW is the best place in the world to do something like this.”

From idea to reality: Developing a meaningful independent study course

Out of this accumulated input grew great momentum. Lawler and Frierson applied for and received funding from the Science for Nature and People Program in Santa Barbara. The funding supported the development of the EarthGamesUW goals, starting with the independent study course.

In order to attract students from various disciplines, Lawler and Frierson advertised the independent study with the iSchool’s capstone and listed it on the Undergraduate Research website. Through the independent study, students designed and created short games of various types, from board games to video games. They lent their broad expertise—engineering, education, climate science, and narrative-building to produce successful, creative games—games that are actually fun.

Recognition and awards followed. Two of these student teams created games that won top prizes in the 2015 Climate Game Jam in Washington D.C. Both were subsequently featured in an event at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in January:

  • Climate Quest, a video game, was designed by Zuoming Shi, computer science and engineering doctoral student, and Ben Peterson, Information School undergraduate, in collaboration with Frierson.
  • AdaptNation, a table-top game, was designed by Will Chen, graduate student in aquatic and fishery sciences, and Rob Thompson, graduate student in computer science and engineering, along with Seattle artist Rachel Lee.

For raising greater public awareness about climate change through games, the combination of fun and factual content is essential. The value of these games is not only that they are original and engaging, but they are also powerful teaching tools, Frierson says. Parents and teachers can trust that the games are scientifically accurate because they are designed by UW students and faculty.

“I wanted to get involved with EarthGamesUW because I’ve always been interested in making games that will help pass an important message to its users,” says Sally Wei, a junior who is majoring in computer science and minoring in French. “I write novels in my free time, and EarthGamesUW helps me gain experience in storyboard writing as well as programming.”

Expanding the independent study into an interdisciplinary course

What started as an independent study option is now being expanded into the classroom: beginning in Winter of 2017, EarthGamesUW will launch a classroom-based course option with a shared syllabus. Frierson credits the College of the Environment and Julia Parrish, professor of aquatic and fishery sciences, with recognizing the potential of EarthGamesUW to provide a combination of classroom learning and the experience of building actual products.

The new course for 12-15 students will allow students to create games through working both inside and outside the classroom. The course design will allow for a common student experience, while “break out” groups design their own unique projects. To maintain some of the flexibility of the independent study model, the course will be offered for variable credits—anywhere from 2-6, depending on the needs of individual projects and commitments. The new model is intended to satisfy student demand while qualifying for more departmental funding for resources such as paid leadership and research opportunities for students. This investment could help EarthGamesUW reach its goals of K-12 curricula development and possibly even expand to Spanish-language video games.

Cultivating opportunities to transfer skills beyond the classroom

Both Lawler and Frierson speak enthusiastically about the many reasons a learning experience like EarthGamesUW can be attractive and valuable to students. Academically, the 5-credit course can fulfill a capstone requirement for departments such as the iSchool. Students can also describe games they designed in resumes and portfolios, and showcase their experience with project management and the ability to work and problem-solve collaboratively and creatively.

Frierson notes that resilience and persistence—the ability to recalibrate and try again when an aspect of a project is not working—are real-world skills that are highly transferable. Students also experience the benefit of sharing work with peers in a supportive atmosphere, and learn adaptable skills of self-analysis. In creating useful products, students take ownership over their own learning. In addition, students are drawn by the higher purpose of promoting education about climate change.

Says Lawler, “I’m hoping that the students coming out of these classes will have a better understanding of climate change, but will also have new innovative ideas about how we can learn about climate change.”

Students are driven to excel with the opportunity to make “real stuff,” says Frierson. “Students today have a lot of extra motivation if their work is going to be seen by a wider set of people, not only their professors. I think the amount of learning they do on their own when it’s got those higher stakes is really impressive.”

“EarthGames represents a microcosm of the interdisciplinary expertise that is required to productively address big systems like climate change.”

To other instructors developing interdisciplinary courses, Frierson underscores the importance of flexibility. “You have to not want a certain product at the end of it,” he says, but rather allow yourself to be led by “the talent that’s in front of you.” Frierson adds that he continues to be impressed by student ability and creativity.

It was precisely the sharing of knowledge and ideas among students and professors across disciplines that shaped EarthGamesUW into an endeavor with ever-growing impact.

“In a way, EarthGames represents a microcosm of the interdisciplinary expertise that is required to productively address big systems like climate change,” says Horstman. “We will need experts who understand what it really takes to collaborate and work together to solve problems.”

And it can all begin with a step outside a building, a department, a discipline, to forge the powerful connections that make this possible.

Top Tips to “Think Beyond Your Building”: Creating Interdisciplinary Courses with Real-World Applications

  • Expand and use your network:
    • Lawler connected with Frierson when he was invited to speak at a lecture series in Frierson’s department. From there, the two pooled their connections – including external partners such as non-profits and local high schools – to “shop around” their game idea. Then they drew on connections from those people to set up a formal working group.
  • Create classroom opportunities for learning transferable skills:
    • While students may need to fulfill a project requirement, others are looking for extracurricular opportunities to learn new skills or add to their portfolio – but they still want to work on something meaningful. These experiences can also help them make their applications for scholarships, graduate school or jobs even stronger.
  • Don’t be afraid to offer enrollment to all majors
    • Open enrollment can result in a wider mix of disciplinary backgrounds than expected, but Frierson says, “You have to look at the group you have, and move in a direction based on who’s there.” For example, a student group composed of scientists and writers might build a more basic design with a “choose your own story” adventure rather than an app with elaborate visuals.
  • Make use of the resources available at a major research university (including Innovators Among Us, by UW-IT Teaching and Learning, the Center for Teaching and Learning blog and others). Check out this resource list, but don’t forget to ask your colleagues and network for recommendations:
    • The eScience Institute offers seminars, working groups, and a Data Science Studio in which researchers across disciplines share ways of fostering collaborative research with technology.
    • The Office of Global Affairs supports scholars across disciplines, institutions, and continents in service of international research, education, and outreach.
    • The Digital Future Lab at UW Bothell brings together research scientists and product designers to develop interdisciplinary projects through a commitment to “radical diversity.”
    • Academic Affairs at UW Tacoma supports teaching and learning and offers faculty multifaceted resources.

Finding meaning behind the music

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Online tool helps students get creative with final class presentations

kim-davenport-profile
Kim Davenport, lecturer in Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at UW Tacoma, went online to help students find their creativity.

Last fall, UW Tacoma Lecturer Kim Davenport turned to FOLD, a new web-based open publishing platform, to help her students construct multimedia presentations that allow them to discover their creative voice.

FOLD, as Davenport quickly discovered, boosted the learning of the students in her humanities classes, encouraging them to express their ideas about music in multiple ways.

“It brought out a lot of creativity in my students. And it made them better presenters,’’ says Davenport, a lecturer in Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences who first asked students to use FOLD for their final presentations last autumn quarter.

“Many of the presentations are very touching, from a student who is contending with life after military service to someone who explored his world of sound by making a potato clarinet,” says Davenport, who also was pleased by the high quality of content students produced, including the original musical pieces they performed for classmates.

Technology offers students new options to apply theories and demonstrate understanding

Students are now required to use FOLD to produce their final assignment in Davenport’s course, Listening Outside the Box: Concert Music in the 21st Century. Before, Davenport asked students to write a two-page paper.

Writing about music is no easy task, says Davenport, even for seasoned musicians. FOLD makes it easier for students—many who have no music experience at all—to design, create, document and perform a new musical work as part of their final class presentation. With FOLD, they can attach videos, song snippets, photos and other multimedia to their words.

“I have been using FOLD for three quarters now, and it has really reinvigorated the final assignment,” Davenport says.

Studying—and emulating—an artist to boost your own creativity

Davenport’s class is centered on the musical philosophies of John Cage, considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. Cage pioneered the idea of “indeterminacy” in music—where any part of a musical composition is “indeterminate” if its performance is not precisely specified in the notation, allowing the performer to play at random or within certain guidelines.

This approach also typically features non-standard use of musical instruments or even everyday objects, such as what is seen in the musical Stomp and by the Blue Man Group live musical act. Students learn about Cage, the meaning and philosophy of music, and, finally, are asked to create and perform a new musical work in homage to Cage.

Davenport says Cage’s ideas about music are particularly important—and accessible—for students who are looking at music critically for the first time. His unique ideas and creative approaches, which often push the boundaries of what is traditionally considered music, encourage students to expand their own views about music.

Following in Cage’s footsteps, many of Davenport’s students push the boundaries in their presentations, creating original video to play their scores and using a wide range of media to support their ideas and inspiration.

Students learn how creative inspiration comes from anywhere, from the kitchen to Snapchat

FOLD, developed at the MIT Media Lab’s Center for Civic Media in 2015, lets users link media “cards” to the text of their stories. These cards can include content in just about any digital form, from unique and fresh multimedia content created by the users to videos, photos, maps, tweets, audio and other links that already exist on the internet.

For an example, Davenport sends her students to look at L’instrument de la Terre, created by student Paul Kang, who made a potato clarinet for his final class assignment. Kang talks about his inspiration in his FOLD presentation, which is peppered with video, photos and music.

“I chose to make a potato clarinet to show that you can make music with anything if you have the passion and the dedication like John Cage,” writes Kang, who carved a potato and used clarinet parts to make his instrument.

Another student found his inspiration from social media. “My motivation to do this piece came from my constant Snapchat use,” writes Ariel Advincula. “I realized I posted a lot of snippets of my life on my Snapchat and if I skipped, stopped and replayed the footage in sporadic patterns, I found that even the simplest of sounds can become music.”

“I want to empower them to find their own voices by creating music and sharing those experiences with others.”

Students have the option of keeping their projects online, Davenport says, something she encourages so others can enjoy and learn from their work.

“I’m always trying to find ways to make music more engaging for students. Some of my students have no musical skills, and I want to empower them to find their own voices by creating music and sharing those experiences with others.”

Davenport’s suggestions for incorporating FOLD into a class project:

If you’re going to use a new classroom technology, try it out first, see if it fits: Technologies come and go and that’s true for classroom use, Davenport says, so be open to new tools that can help you meet your teaching and learning goals. Davenport learned about FOLD last summer, when she used it to make a submission of her classroom work for a music award. She tried it and saw its potential to help students.

FOLD is relatively new and free for now, but Davenport recommends it because her experience over three quarters has been largely positive—students have reacted well to it and have used it in creative ways to support their work.

However, as easy as it is to use, she says faculty should definitely try out any new classroom technology first before asking students to work with it. “I learned how to use it very quickly, and students should not have any problems at all,’’ she says. “Students live online, so this is easy for them.”

Make it a requirement: At first, using FOLD was not required, but consistency in a classroom is important, she says. Now, students know they will be using FOLD to create and present their final project—worth 30 percent of their grade.

Help students understand how to use the classroom technology and how it fits into their experience of learning about creativity: Davenport spends time with students explaining how they will use the publishing platform. FOLD helps students put different concepts together and to build on them to present their own creative ideas about a particular piece of music.

“I don’t have to spend too much time telling them how to use it. Yet, it is important to make sure that students understand that this is just one tool for a very specific assignment.” FOLD can help them tell the story of their final product, but the creative work comes from them.

“I still expect them to participate in the classroom and engage in discussion with other students in multiple ways,” Davenport says.

Showing rather than telling at UW’s School of Dentistry

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First-year dental students learn big lessons thanks to strong storytelling videos

Donald Chi
Donald Chi, associate professor in the UW Department of Oral Health Sciences, turned to video case studies to help students understand complex dental health issues.

Four years ago, UW School of Dentistry associate professor Donald Chi traveled to a remote Alaska Native community in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region to find out what was rotting young keggutet, the Yup’ik word for teeth.

What Chi learned in the field perfectly illustrates why he has replaced traditional paper case studies with videos in first-year public dental health classes—it is often better to show rather than tell students how complex dental health issues may someday challenge their professional lives, and the lives of their patients.

“When I was a dental student here at the UW, we had lectures and paper case studies that we discussed in small groups,” says Chi, who teaches in the Department of Oral Health Sciences. “We studied a different case each week, but they didn’t feel tangible or real to me.”

Video case studies illustrate complexities of real-world health disparities

The videos elicited a more visceral and more humane response from students, and also increased student engagement and learning, he says. The videos are used in the “Introduction to Dental Public Health Sciences” course, which familiarizes first-year dental students with public health concepts such as barriers to dental care, behavioral and social determinants of oral health, and the development of multi-level solutions to reduce oral health disparities. These are areas in which Chi has experienced issues firsthand in Alaska and in other communities as a researcher and dentist.

Case studies play a central role in introducing students to real-life scenarios. It may show, for example, high numbers of cavities among children in an area where there’s no fluoridated water but plenty of sugary drinks. Throughout his Alaska research, Chi met these children and their families, and saw how shocked and surprised parents were after realizing their children had been consuming 16 times the maximum amount of added sugars recommended for children.

“These case studies put dental health care in perspective. They allow students to follow a scenario, discuss barriers to health and potential solutions with their peers. But I thought we could do it better with video,” Chi says.

Chi returned to teach at the UW in 2010, when pedagogical approaches also were making a strong case for video in some circumstances. He wanted to see if videos could make the case study approach an even more powerful learning experience, and he started with a modest goal of three videos to test the waters.

The videos piloted shortly after his arrival. One tells the story of a teenager of American Indian descent with mouth sores caused by tobacco products; another follows a non-English speaking pregnant woman frustrated by dental forms she can’t understand; a third focuses on a Medicaid-enrolled preschooler with a non-English speaking mom. All three are still in use today, with six others now part of the dental library. Chi said there are plans to make more videos, including one that discusses dental problems faced by the homeless population.

REAL PROBLEMS, REAL PEOPLE

Learn about one dental student’s experiences with video case studies.

READ MORE

Student data showed videos resulted in better learning than paper case studies

“I’m big on evidence-based teaching,” says Chi, who co-authored a study comparing video vs. paper cases. The data revealed that dental students who received a video case for study reported better affective, cognitive and overall learning outcomes than students who received a paper case. “We found significant statistical differences. Across all measures, the videos were much better at improving student outcomes.”

Students who watched the videos reported a higher understanding of public health problems and how these issues might affect their own careers as dentists. Compared with students who studied from paper cases, the video students also had more empathy toward vulnerable individuals and a greater appreciation of how health disparities impacted real people, Chi says.

“When we made the videos, I didn’t realize at first how powerful they were and how much they affected the thinking of so many students.”

Through visual storytelling, the individuals and their problems become more real to students—some of whom have never even had a dental cavity. The videos, he says, lead to deeper, more empathetic thinking toward people dealing with health disparities.

“When we made the videos, I didn’t realize at first how powerful they were and how much they affected the thinking of so many students,’’ says Chi. “Many were outraged by the situations they saw in the videos. They were affected in a very profound way.”

Chi’s suggestions for producing case study videos:

Aim for quality over quantity: Chi recommends starting small, and focusing on producing only one or two videos at first. Students are accustomed to technology, and savvy about video. They know if something is poorly made when they see it. Chi and colleagues narrowed their focus and chose three dental health topics that could be made into short, well-made videos.

Assemble a team and access UW support: Chi suggests involving people with expertise in producing videos and not being afraid to ask for help. UW Video provides services to the entire University community; faculty can also tap hourly videographers or Communications grad students who are adept at visual storytelling and need a project. Chi says volunteer actors, film editors and videographers often need the practice and are happy to participate in this type of project. He recruited his sister, who had finished studying film at the UW, to direct and produce the videos. They worked together with a team of psychologists to craft the story and dialogue. Video expertise, from writing to filming to acquiring talent (actors), is more likely to produce positive results, with videos that will engage students.

However, there are costs involved in producing high-quality video. Chi sought funding from multiple sources to support his project, putting together a business plan based on three pilot videos, and making a strong case for visual storytelling as a pedagogical tool. As evidence, he cited the Commission on Dental Accreditation, which encourages the use of technology such as video to enhance the educational experience of dental students while improving the learning environment.

Keep it short: Students don’t need one-hour videos. A typical video in the dental school is about 10 minutes long. That’s plenty of time for a detailed narrative that won’t overwhelm.

Remember that video isn’t a substitute for face-to-face teaching: Video does not stand alone. In problem-based learning, video is another tool for learning. It is most effective when supplemented with group discussions led by a facilitator.

Acknowledgments: The original video idea stemmed from a collaboration among Chi and Drs.  Jacqueline Pickrell, lecturer in Oral Health Sciences at the UW, and Christine Riedy, now an instructor at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. As psychologists, they were involved in dental research at the UW School of Dentistry when the videos were first proposed.

Funding for the pilot videos came from three main sources: The UW Department of Oral Health Sciences, the UW Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE) Program, and the UW School of Dentistry Fund for Sustaining Excellence.

Student testimonial: How video helps put a face on critical dental health care issues

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Christopher Shyue
Dental student Christopher Shyue says video case studies stimulate active learning processes and help students become critical thinkers and independent learners.

Before I started dental school, I knew that it would not be an easy task, yet I was still surprised and overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information that we needed to learn. In my effort to stay afloat, I resorted to memorizing hard facts and statistical numbers presented in PowerPoint slides, hoping that this would be sufficient to help me pass the constant stream of quizzes and exams.

It was not until I took Dr. Donald Chi’s Dental Public Health Sciences class that I realized I was missing the true purpose of learning for a health care provider. In that class, Dr. Chi utilized video case studies to illustrate scenarios of patients encountering various issues when they try to access dental care. For me, this approach “puts a face on the problem,” which reminded me that we are learning to be care providers; we not only need to know the facts, but ultimately need to use the knowledge in a way to positively impact patients’ health outcomes.

The video case studies were also important in stimulating an active learning process. We analyzed the scenarios in the videos to pinpoint the challenges that the patients faced. Then through group discussions, we came up with potential solutions and researched scientific literatures to evaluate the feasibility of each solution. Through this process, we were actively engaged in our learning, which helped us to become critical thinkers and independent learners.

— Christopher Shyue, School of Dentistry, Class of 2018

What to Know When Using Random Calling

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Ben Wiggins, faculty coordinator for instruction and lecturer in biology, shares his top tips on incorporating random calling for a more inclusive and equitable classroom experience.

  • Prepare a randomized list of student names: Don’t rely on yourself to randomly choose a name; instead, develop a system. Wiggins says it can be as simple as using two dice and a numbered list.
    Rolling the dice
    Rolling dice is one low-tech way to use random calling in your class.
  • Frame it as a safe environment: Make it safe for students to speak up when they are called on. “Everybody is on point every day,” says Wiggins. Randomly calling on students helps push those who avoid talking to gain the ability to speak with confidence.
  • Lessen anxiety: “For a small percentage of students, the heightened anxiety may go beyond helpful into something that deters their learning,” says Wiggins. Provide an easy option for students to voluntarily remove (and also re-add) themselves to the list, such as emailing the professor.
  • Remind students of the benefits: From practicing public speaking and persuasive skills to making mental models transparent, help students connect the dots about the ways this learning method benefits them. “Their initial discomfort is often balanced out by the benefits,” he says. “Keep it relevant for students, if only through your own comments about process throughout class.”
  • Make it OK to be wrong: “Passing” on a question should always be an option, but instructors who can create a courageous atmosphere find that this happens relatively rarely. “Did you convince the student, and the rest of the class, that being wrong is a useful part of the process?” queries Wiggins. “If you do that, you’ll feel the class come around with you and they’ll be more engaged on more levels.”

These tips are related to the Innovators Among Us article, “What is your class telling you?” detailing research on gender gaps in the classroom.

References

Eddy, Sarah L., Sara E. Brownell, and Mary Pat Wenderoth. “Gender gaps in achievement and participation in multiple introductory biology classrooms.” CBE-Life Sciences Education 13.3 (2014): 478-492.

Grunspan, Daniel Z., Sarah L. Eddy, Sara E. Brownell, Benjamin L. Wiggins, Alison J. Crowe and Steven M. Goodreau. “Males Under-Estimate Academic Performance of Their Female Peers in Undergraduate Biology Classrooms” PLOS ONE February 10, 2016, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148405

What is your class telling you?

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Researchers uncover persistent gender performance gaps in their classes, but suggest classroom techniques to improve equity

Clickers can be a tool to improve equitable participation in a large class.
Clickers can be a tool to improve equitable participation in a large class.

Ben Wiggins, a faculty coordinator for instruction and lecturer in biology, knew many students in his introductory biology classes faced challenges that reached beyond the material being taught.

Something else, something quite powerful, was at play in the background, affecting the performance of female students. Work by Sarah Eddy, Sara Brownell and Mary Pat Wenderoth (Eddy et al. 2014)1, his colleagues in the Biology Education Research Group at the UW, had revealed an achievement gap that favors males as top performers, a phenomenon that could affect student self-confidence—particularly of females—thus influencing their persistence in their discipline. The researchers observed this gender achievement gap, in addition to a participation gap, even in classes where males were outnumbered by females three-to-two. Although their research focused on introductory biology classes, the researchers believe the dynamic may be at play in other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) classes and throughout the University as well.

Wiggins joined colleagues Dan Grunspan, a doctoral student in anthropology performing graduate work on social aspects of learning, and Eddy, then a post-doctoral student heavily involved in gender equity issues in the classroom, to further understand what was happening. Their research revealed another bias in who students perceive as knowledgeable in the class.

The research: How Wiggins and colleagues reached their conclusions

“Just because a student knows someone doesn’t mean they’re willing to say ‘I think they know the material…

To conduct social network analysis, Wiggins and colleagues began by asking students to list who in the class they predict will be a particularly strong student. “Just because a student knows someone doesn’t mean they’re willing to say ‘I think they know the material,’” notes Wiggins. No inequality was evident when the question was asked at the beginning of the quarter, but as the students answered the same question after each of four exams throughout the term, more males than females were listed as strong students—even in a course where females significantly outnumbered males.

Analysis of the data revealed that males were much more likely to nominate other males, while women were equally nominating males and females who were perceived to receive high grades and often speak up in class. “Females seem to nominate equitably based on who you would expect [from actual performance], whereas males over-nominate other males,” says Grunspan.  This work has recently been published in PLOS ONE, and the larger team includes former Biology Education Postdoc Sara Brownell, UW Biology Principal Lecturer Alison Crowe and UW Anthropology Associate Professor Steven Goodreau2.

What instructors can do to minimize the gender gap

Despite the complexities of a classroom environment, the researchers say their data highlight broad issues that can largely be addressed through small tweaks in teaching methods.

Random calling helps address the common problem of implicit bias

Research on teaching has shown that gender biases commonly creep in to how instructors run their classes. “As an instructor, it’s likely that I don’t call on people in a gender-equitable way, even if I’m thinking about it, even if I have a lot of experience,” says Wiggins. “If you want to make classes more gender equitable, you have to take your own biases out of it.” Therefore, Wiggins regularly employs a method known as random call to improve equity in class participation. It is a method long used in teaching, and the work of Eddy, Brownell and Wenderoth (2014) confirmed that random calling rather than choosing students or asking for volunteers can also equalize the environment of the college classroom. “Where everybody is equally likely to be called on, everyone is more active. Students can’t avoid being called on by staying in the back,” Wiggins says. Involving more students beyond those who are naturally more inclined to be “outspoken”—a measure the researchers determined by asking instructors to rank students they recalled as speaking up most in class—can potentially influence the perceptions of other students about who is doing well in the class, one element affecting self-confidence. “But more importantly, it randomizes who is doing the talking,” notes Wiggins. “It may help to alleviate this prestige gap that we see.”

Random calling can offer more equitable opportunities for positive reinforcement

Women in particular can benefit from seeing more women speak up with the right answer or successfully handle being wrong—with no adverse effects on males in the classroom. As students transition into a career, beginning with an introductory biology class, women are particularly vulnerable to threats to their self-confidence, which is closely linked to persistence in STEM and is known to be heavily influenced by social interactions such as classroom participation. Getting an answer right or wrong in an introductory biology class may seem like a small thing to affect a student’s persistence in a chosen field, but, “It’s the day-to-day interactions that matter,” explains Eddy. “The minute someone defers to you, you feel like you’re an expert.”

Moving students from a “fixed mindset” about intelligence to a “growth mindset” may help

Persistence and confidence are also closely linked to what students believe about their ability to grow their intellectual capacity and learn from being wrong. Noted psychologist and Stanford researcher Carol Dweck has shown that simple interventions, such as asking people to reflect and write about their values and motivations, can change people’s mindset, and “rewire” the brain to a growth mindset. “One hypothesis is that perhaps more females are coming in with a fixed mindset while more males are coming in with a growth mindset,” says Grunspan. Moving forward, the UW researchers plan to test the effects of interventions on introductory biology classes.

Connecting the classroom environment to the outside world

Digging deeper into the research revealed consistent gender gaps in both student perception and achievement, even when controlling for student grades coming into the class. “By the end of your college career, you may have seen this pattern happen 20 or 30 times, and those same people you see in all your classes may very easily be doing hiring or firing later,” says Wiggins.

As Wiggins, Grunspan and Eddy realized they were seeing evidence of invisible but powerful forces affecting their students, they began to understand how persistent negative stereotypes can be. “We tend to think our classrooms are distinct from society, but the processes from our larger society are being brought into the classroom. Unless we can actively disrupt them, it will continue,” says Eddy.

Eddy joins Wiggins and Grunspan in viewing classroom data as an important tool to interrupt the negative processes they observed. “Professors typically have the ability to look back at numbers and performance in a class. Start prying a little deeper and really assess what’s going on in each classroom,” advises Grunspan. If the data suggest these common problems are affecting the performance of your students, consider ways you can make space in your classroom for equitable opportunities and inclusion. “As instructors, that’s where we have leverage,” says Wiggins. “We want to make sure we run the class in a way that engages everyone, and this is just one example of changing our teaching to serve diverse students.”

Get more details

Find out how Ben Wiggins incorporates random calling into his classroom.

Ben-Wiggins
“If you want to make classes more gender equitable, you have to take your own biases out of it.”

– Ben Wiggins

sarah-eddy
“We tend to think our classrooms are distinct from society, but the processes from our larger society are being brought into the classroom.”

– Sarah Eddy

Dan-Grunspan
“Professors typically have the ability to look back at numbers and performance in a class. Start prying a little deeper and really assess what’s going on in each classroom.”

– Dan Grunspan

References

1Eddy, Sarah L., Sara E. Brownell, and Mary Pat Wenderoth. “Gender gaps in achievement and participation in multiple introductory biology classrooms.” CBE-Life Sciences Education 13.3 (2014): 478-492.

2Grunspan, Daniel Z., Sarah L. Eddy, Sara E. Brownell, Benjamin L. Wiggins, Alison J. Crowe and Steven M. Goodreau. “Males Under-Estimate Academic Performance of Their Female Peers in Undergraduate Biology Classrooms” PLOS ONE February 10, 2016, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148405

Engaging online students with their communities

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UW Bothell Associate Professor Jody Early blends eLearning with service learning projects to create community online and offline

Photo of UW Bothell professor Jody Early
UW Bothell associate professor Jody Early finds community-based service learning projects can deeply enrich online classes.

UW Bothell associate professor Jody Early faced a difficult task—Challenging her busy nursing and health studies students with a more meaningful learning experience by combining an online global women’s health class with community-based service learning.

Early was determined to find a way for her ‘place-bound’ and non-traditional students—often juggling demanding work schedules and family commitments—to reap the benefits of service learning by partnering with local and international organizations.

So she set out to build community online and offline by carefully bringing together seemingly disparate pedagogical approaches in her Women’s Global Health and Human Rights online class.

Technology creates opportunities for access and connection

“What draws me to technology is the issue of access,” says Early, associate professor of Nursing and Health Studies. “Offering online and hybrid courses increases pathways for students who, for a variety of reasons, may not be able to earn their degrees otherwise. eLearning, in all of its forms, also enhances flexibility and choice for students who seek a more blended educational experience.

“Does teaching in a virtual environment mean, as faculty, that we have to sacrifice experiential or community-based strategies? Does it have to be formulaic and watered down? Absolutely not.”

“However, there is a stigma attached to online learning,” Early says. “Some feel it cannot live up to the face-to-face experience in terms of quality and outcomes, despite an impressive volume of credible research that shows it can. Does teaching in a virtual environment mean, as faculty, that we have to sacrifice experiential or community-based strategies? Does it have to be formulaic and watered down? Absolutely not.”

Early structured her class to address these issues by seeking to eliminate the sense of loneliness and disconnect often felt by online students. She talked with each student often, and gave them many opportunities to work with peers and community partners.

What to consider when including service learning in online courses

To further enhance their learning experience with real-world situations, students were required to complete a community-based project as part of their final grade. But Early gave them plenty of options. Most of her students had no experience in community-based learning and research courses at a university level, and 90 percent worked full-time, so this flexibility was extremely important, says Early, who relied on three key strategies to build community online and offline:

  • Explain the relevance community-based learning to online courses: Adding community-based learning to an online course can motivate students and reduce feelings of isolation. Students can have more “hands on” opportunities to apply what they are learning, and to learn from community members and peers. “I truly believe it is critical for students in any discipline to have opportunities for authentic, problem-based learning,” Early says. “Including community-based projects in my course allowed the students to transfer what they were learning and discussing online into ‘real time’—to strategize, to problem-solve and to deepen their understanding of all of the factors that impact women’s health and gender equity around the world.”
  • Address the importance of cultural humility: Spend time discussing and reflecting on one’s position relative to the service learning context; explain what reciprocity means in the context of service learning, and don’t assume that students have been exposed to these topics prior to your class. Addressing the importance of cultural humility early on as students prepare to work with community organizations is essential.
  • Provide students with options: Allow students to choose from a variety of projects and offer options that can be completed individually as well as with partners or in groups. This helps to mitigate barriers for students whose work, health and/or life situations might otherwise prevent them from participating in service learning.

“It is critical for students in any discipline to have opportunities for authentic, problem-based learning.”

Her students partnered with Seattle Against Slavery, Northwest Film Forum, Refugee Women’s Alliance, A Call to Men and National Women’s Health Network. They participated in challenging projects that pushed them outside of their academic discipline and comfort zone, and engaged in a broad array of activities, from leading canvassing events against human labor trafficking to curating a digital art exhibit about women’s global issues, even organizing and leading a film screening and panel discussion on International Women’s Day with lauded film director Lynn Shelton. Much of the organizing took place online.

NW-film-forum
As part of their community-based project, RN-BSN students Leah Ta’an (left) and Anna Kirtovich (right), along with director Lynn Shelton, lead a post-film discussion and public Q&A at the Northwest Film Forum on International Women’s Day.

Early’s efforts to build community online and offline paid off, her students say.

“Students who are very busy working and studying love online classes, but there was a beautiful twist in Dr. Jody Early’s class,” student Leah Ta’an says. “We were still able to connect with the community and fellow students as part of our project.”

supply-drive
BHS 420 students in Bellingham, WA, organized a supply drive for a local nonprofit organization serving women and children in transitional housing.

The class compelled nursing student Varinder Heera to get more involved in issues affecting girls and women.

“As I completed the final project, I became more determined to support girls in their quest for an education and being in charge of their own lives,” says Heera, who became a volunteer with an organization based in India that supports women’s health and rights. “I have realized raising awareness and taking action to stop gender inequity has a major impact on everyone’s health.”

A survey of her class showed that 94 percent of Early’s students ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ they felt a sense of community and social connection to their instructor and peers; 84 percent ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ they felt motivated throughout the course to explore learning materials, readings and media.

Pairing service learning with online classes

  • Use community-based strategies to enrich online courses: Adding community-based learning to an online course can motivate students and reduce feelings of isolation. Students can have more “hands on” opportunities to apply what they are learning, such as helping organize a community event or getting involved with a non-profit, and to learn from community members and peers.
  • Begin with a “module zero”: The first online session should help students who have never taken online classes to get comfortable with the basics. Early describes this best practice as “a starting point on the home page, to help my students familiarize themselves with the class, me, the syllabus, quizzes, expectations and what they’re about to embark on.”
  • Plan ahead, keep it small and plan for contingencies: Give yourself three to four months’ lead time to plan this type of course, which works best with 30 students or fewer. Work your network to find partner organizations that can benefit from student service.
  • Provide students with options: Allow students to choose from a variety of projects with options that can be completed individually, with a partner or in groups. This helps students design a schedule that works for them and can mitigate barriers for students whose work, health and/or life situations might otherwise prevent them from participating.
  • Ensure good communication: Regular communication with students and community partners is vital to ensure there is reciprocity and to work through unexpected situations. Early builds in mid-quarter progress reports and schedules student conferences as needed. Keep open lines of communication with community partners as well, and schedule check-in phone calls or meetings regularly.
  • Consider community of inquiry (COI) dimensions when designing a class: COI highlights three elements that are critical to successful online learning environments: cognitive presence, social presence and teaching presence. Learn more about COI.

Five tips: Getting the most out of Active Learning Classrooms

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Group work in an Active Learning Classroom in UW Seattle Odegaard Undergraduate library.
Group work in an Active Learning Classroom in UW Seattle Odegaard Undergraduate library.

The Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs) at Odegaard Undergraduate Library make for a great teaching and learning environment—but may be a little intimidating for some lecturers and students who have never used them before. ALCs are designed to foster cooperative and problem-based learning experiences. While ALCs are relatively new, more than two years of research and feedback from faculty and students who have used them are helping maximize their educational benefits.

Based on that research and feedback, here are some of the top tips to using the ALCs—courtesy of Janice Fournier, Research Scientist, UW Information Technology; Amanda Hornby, Teaching and Learning Program Librarian; and Louise Richards, Assistant Director, Odegaard Undergraduate Library.

1. Seek advice and guidance in adopting active learning strategies

Successful ALC instructors spend time thinking carefully about what active learning strategies they will incorporate in their classes and how they want to design student group work, with some starting course planning months in advance. ALC instructors cite research on active learning, fellow instructors, and campus teaching resources (Center for Teaching and Learning, Faculty Fellows) as helpful in their curriculum design process. One ALC instructor advises instructors to “revamp your curriculum in baby steps.”

2. Design activities that support course learning goals

Effective ALC instructors design course activities that engage students in the thinking and problem-solving practices of their discipline. One ALC instructor describes her design process: “I was trying to be intentional. What are my learning objectives? What are the three things I want them to come away with? How can I design an activity that will get this to play out?”

3. Orient students to the ALC and to active learning

ALC instructors communicate to students how and why to engage in active learning, explain that their course will be structured differently in the ALC and coach students on how to engage with ALC features.

One instructor says, “Help students understand why [active learning] is important; show them data about the benefits of active learning.”

4. Be intentional in use of group work

Effective ALC instructors design structured group learning activities that require student cooperation and ensure both group and individual student accountability. Ensure equitable student participation by creating defined group roles (note taker, time keeper, technology expert, etc.) or activities that require a variety of skills (drawing, written communication, oral communication).

An ALC instructor says all students benefit from this type of group work: “By the end of the quarter I had students from all over the world … who were normally hesitant be much more comfortable than in a cramped lecture hall. They stayed much more active as learners for much longer in the quarter.”

5. Minimize lectures

Truly embracing active learning teaching means minimizing formal lectures. Successful ALC instructors favor group learning activities that increase student participation and generate more opportunities for student-instructor interaction.

“In a lecture-based classroom, I am less engaged in class discussion. Having groups makes it easier for me to discuss in smaller groups about our views, which made it easier to speak up to the rest of the class,” one ALC student says. “We also got the opportunity to speak with the professor because she was able to check in to see what kind of ideas we were coming up with.”

Learn More

Get details about UW Seattle’s Active learning Classrooms, including how to schedule an event or course.

Read the complete research report: Active Learning in Odegaard Library: Report on Year 1 of UW’s First Active Learning Classrooms.