Resources
As we explore the scholarship of teaching and learning in these disciplines, we will share general resources here which may be of interest to other programs and faculty. Take a comprehensive dive into the integrated course design processes that the CDA has been applying throughout this project.
Significant Learning Activities
L. Dee Fink's work on Creating Significant Learning Activities serves as the basis for our approach to this redesign project. These infographics have been developed to illustrate some of the key concepts involved in this approach. (Click on Present in the upper right corner of each infographic for best viewing.)
Active Learning
Research continues to reveal that actively engaging students in their learning leads to better results. This report — Large-scale comparison of science teaching methods sends clear message — explains that "... Most of this research has been on “active learning methods” and the comparison with the standard lecture method in which students are primarily listening and taking notes. As the number of research studies has grown, it has become increasingly clear to researchers that active learning methods achieve better educational outcomes." Freeman, S., Eddy, S.L., McDonough, M., Smith, M.K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M.P. (2014).
Similar results were reported in this article: Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(23), n.p. Retrieved from http://www.pnas.org/content/111/23/8410.
The CDA team has compiled some examples of teaching and learning activities designed to engage students actively. These activities are organized from simpler to higher levels of sophistication (by rows, top to bottom) and from lower to higher degrees of complexity (by columns, left to right) for either faculty or students (and sometimes both!).
For more information about active learning, check out these resources.
Classroom Inquiry Design
This web site offers a comprehensive look at methods and strategies for designing research on classroom teaching. For each main topic, it offers branching paths to explore (or to bypass). You can return to the beginning by clicking on the title at the top of the page. The site provides concrete examples of teaching strategies and offers helpful advice for how to begin analyzing changes in student learning.
Source: University of Wisconsin-LaCross, Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning
Flipping the Classroom
There's been a lot of talk in recent years about "flipping" your classroom. We'll post related articles here.
Ready to Flip: Three Ways to Hold Students Accountable for Pre-class Work
Flip Your Classroom with this Teaching Strategy: Pass the Problem