Getting to know you: The first week of class and beyond

The first week of class… Whether on-campus or online, we always plan a few orientation and get-to-know-you activities in an attempt to get our courses off on the right foot. I actually really enjoy these activities, but I always look for new ways to accomplish my objectives. One thing I’ve learned is that, especially in online courses, orientation and get-to-know-you activities cannot – and should not – just be addressed during the first week of a class. To really support students and help build a productive learning community, these types of activities need to occur throughout the semester. Below are a few activities I have used and am planning to use in my online course this fall.


Orientation –
In an on-campus course, it can be deadly boring to spend the first class meeting reading through the syllabus. However, there is important information in the syllabus that we want students to know and keep track of. In online courses, it can also be boring…and, therefore, students sometimes don’t go through all of the course materials as precisely as is need to be successful in the course. Here are a few things I have done, and am doing, in my online course this semester to help students with orientation.

Orientation videos: One of my biggest additions this fall was the inclusion of orientations videos for my online course. I created three 5-minute orientation videos, with each video walking students through a different aspect of the course shell, learning activities, and projects. Using Jing, I was able to create a screencast showing them all around the course shell. I interjected my sense of humor where possible, told a couple of stories, and provided explanations for my design decisions. These three videos not only oriented students to the course, but to me as well.

Course & syllabus scavenger hunt: Using the quiz feature in my learning management system (LMS), I created a course and syllabus scavenger hunt that students had to submit by the end of the first week. To complete the 12-question scavenger hunt, students had to read the syllabus, locate materials in the course shell, and watch the orientation videos. The results of the scavenger hunt reassured me that students were locating and tracking important course information, and alerted me to any misconceptions or confusions that individual students had about the materials. Example questions:

• In your own words, what are the learning objectives for this course? What is the reason for listing the ILT competencies with the learning objectives?
  
• Why is "creative" part of the course title?
  
• There are four projects for the course: Presentation Makeover Magic, Job Aid Makeover Spectacular, Presentation Prowess, and Design Lessons Learned. Which project are you most looking forward to working on? Why?
  
• Why are the weekly agendas for each week's learning activities hidden at the start of the semester?

Weekly announcements: At the start of each week (which in my online courses is Monday since I set up the weeks to go from Monday to Sunday in the course shell), I post a new announcement orienting students to the activities of the week. Even though this information exists elsewhere in the course, I like to provide a more personal announcement about the week. I start each announcement with a brief description of my weekend with a photo (usually of me and my family). Then I provide a reminder about how they should focus their time and energy. I end each announcement with a reminder about how to connect with me, and a wish for a great week.

Weekly agendas: For each week in the course, I have a weekly agenda checklist that students can print out to help them track what they should be working on during the week. Again, although this information exists in the course’s master calendar, it helps to have the week’s activities laid out in checklist format.



Getting-to-know-you –
I don’t think it is very realistic to get to know people – especially in an online course – with one share-your-bio activity during the first week of class. Building relationships and community requires multiple opportunities to share and connect. So, every week or two, I reengage students in getting-to-know-you activities. Here are a few of the activities I am using in my online course this semester.

Superhero powers: For this activity, students responded to the following prompt:

What are your superhero powers? What is your superhero moniker? And, how do your superhero powers help you in life?

Using VoiceThread, students share a photo and record their response (see below). Their creative responses are so fun…and the results are that we really learn about the assets that each person sees as her or his strengths. It is a very positive approach to a typical share-your-bio activity that also results in learning more about each person’s playful side and creative spirit.

Virtual paper bag: For this activity, I asked students to each pick five items that represent who they are and what is important to them. They pulled together visual representations of their five items for a virtual paper bag. They posted their five images to Flickr (or another tool of their choosing, as long as the rest of the class could easily access their collection in the end). Once everyone had posted their virtual paper bag collection of images, students reviewed each other’s collections, and engaged in discussion of why those items were selected and what the items "mean". The results were that students learned about each other’s passions, values, families, and the like; learned about differences and similarities; and learned each other’s stories. This activity helped students feel more connected then they did before. And they remember details about each other because of the items and stories...because of the emotion involved in the sharing.

“If you were a tree” Wordle: Similar to the virtual paper bag activity, for this activity I will ask students to create a Wordle word cloud using 20 words that represents who they are. This activity is scheduled for next week, and I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with!

Soundtrack of your life: As another way for students to get to know each other, I ask each student to share a playlist of six songs: two that represent their past, two that represent their present, and two that represent their planned/hoped for future. After students share their playlists, the group asks questions about the songs -- sort of a 20-questions activity -- to figure out why each student selected the songs she or he did. They students consider the group’s shared interests, differences, and so on (e.g., how many folks like jazz, or female songwriters, or sad songs). I use Songza for this activity, but there are many digital jukebox tools out there to choice from.

A 5-minute conversation: During the first few weeks of my online course, I invited students to participate in a 5-minute phone conversation with me. I did this so that the students and I might feel more connected and less distant from each other, and so we could hear each other laugh. About half of the students have taken me up on it so far, and my plan is to keep inviting students at different points throughout the course to make sure all who do want to talk have a chance to.

Using teaching assistants effectively

Recently, due to a new policy in our school connecting Teaching Assistant-eligibility with class size (specifically for online courses), I am asked by colleagues if I have any advice for effectively using teaching assistants (TAs). My record of effectively using TAs, however, is hardly stellar. I have had just as many failures as successes. For me, "effectiveness" has come down to two things:

• Hiring a great TA who can take on responsibility that actually helps with workload, and who needs little management after initial explanation. My preference is to hire a TA who has previously taken the course with me because she or he knows the content, course structure and requirements, and my style.
  
  
• Clearcut, time-consuming assignments that the TA can be responsible for. The issue is workload, so if there are specific activities that the TA can do that reduces workload, yippee!

What I look for is a TA who is able to help without my constant guidance...if I have to manage everything, then a TA doesn't help the workload issue. Once hired, I meet ASAP with the teaching assistant and provide needed training to ensure she or he is comfortable with the course format and structure. I try to be very clear about roles and responsibilities -- mine and the TA's, not only for the two of us but for the students (e.g., I am available for these types of questions, issues, and so on; and the TA is available for these types of questions, issues, and so on). I try to be clear about the amount of time expected, if possible, and exactly what to do when; I set up both a master schedule and weekly schedule that we both reference to direct our efforts and time. I also set up a regular weekly time when we check in with each other, to make sure we are on track and that expectations are clear.

If possible and appropriate, I will use a TA to support some of my grading activities. When I do this, I provide my TA with “models” of graded work from a prior semester. I also make sure that the TA understands the assignment students have been asked to complete, why they've been asked to complete it, and how it is to be assessed; rubrics and similar assessment tools really help to make the assessment criteria clear to the students and the TA, making the grading process easier. To ensure consistency, I have both of us grade 1-3 randomly selected assignments and then meet with the TA to compare results. This helps the TA, and me, feel more confident about the grading.

In terms of who grades what, I tend to lean more towards having assignments that the TA grades completely, as opposed to splitting the grading of each assignment between the two of us. My reasoning has to due with grading consistency and equity. Although we can achieve some interrater reliability (especially when using a well-developed rubric or assessment tool), this takes time. For me it is more efficient to hand over a grading assignment to the TA. I base my selection of grading assignment on the requirements and complexity of the assignment -- saving the higher-stakes, more complex grading assignments for myself -- and the constraints of my own schedule (having the TA grade assignments during busy times).

I have also found it helpful in terms of workload to have the TA involved in help sessions and discussions (especially threaded discussions, if an online or blended course). For example, for more technical courses, I ask the TA to hold weekly help sessions where students can get specific technical assistance. Similarly, because I tend to set up my online course schedule so that assignments are due end of day on Sundays, I will ask the TA to be available to answer assignment questions throughout the weekend since there tends to be more questions right before the deadline.

The right TA can be a fantastic addition to a course. Spending the up-front time necessary to find the right TA and determine how you will use the TA in a way that really helps you teach the course -- enhancing your experience as well as the students' experience -- makes all the difference in the world.

Determing the essential learning objectives for a course

Recently, I've had to do some thinking about how to design and facilitate effective accelerated courses. We are implementing an accelerated format -- Maymester -- over a three-week period of time between the spring and summer terms. This is a popular approach at many institutions, allowing students to take another 3-credit hour course before leaving for summer break (or, for those year-round students, it gives them a way to take 6 credits between mid-May and the end of July).

Those who have taught an accelerated course already know the challenges, such as determining how much preparation (including reading) students can realistically accomplish between Wednesday and Thursday; how to address both formative and summative assessment needs that require quick turn-around to be useful; how to structure daily 3-1/2 hour class sessions that are engaging; and how to thoroughly cover all of course content. There is certainly a lot to consider to ensure that the quality of an accelerated course is high.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the challenges, I have found that a close examination of the course learning objectives to be a useful starting place. The point of reexamining them is to make sure you are focusing on the essential learning objectives as you develop the accelerated course. For example, in looking at a course I typically teach during a 15-week semester, I saw that I had included a mixture of both essential and nice-to-have learning objectives. For the accelerated format, I want to focus on the essential learning objectives, and make sure I am developing learning activities and assessments that map to those objectives.

How am I defining essential? The essential learning objectives are those that, if not reached by students, would negatively influence students’ (a) abilities to continue on in the program (or with the next course/s); (b) professional preparation, including abilities to do well on professional exams and certifications; and (c) confidence and efficacy as university students and emerging professionals. In other words, the essential learning objectives are those that make-or-break the course.

To help my colleagues and I determine the essential learning objectives for an accelerated course (or any course for that matter), I came up with a few prompts:

1. What should students be able to do as a result of this course that they cannot do now?


2. How do you want students to be changed as a result of this course?


3. For this course, what are the culminating performances of learning and achievement (e.g., the highest stage of development; performances that are significant, critical)?


4. What learning objective(s) have the most positive influence on students’ ability to be professionally and/or academically successful?


5. What learning objective(s), if not achieved by the students, would cause you to see the course as having failed?


6. What is the single, most important takeaway from this course?

These prompts may not be useful to everyone developing an accelerated course, but I have found it a helpful starting place in my own process.


[Note: On a related theme, please see my post on the Problems of Practice (PoP) approach to course/training design.]

Do-it-yourself lecture makeovers

Years ago when I first started teaching my idea of an engaging lecture was to bring blank overhead transparencies to class, and write on them while talking. I even mastered a David-Lettermanesque delivery to my lectures that got me a few laughs here and there…and served to fuel my enthusiasm for teaching. What I didn’t realize then is that I wasn’t a good lecturer…and that what I was delivering was far from engaging.

Lecture is an instructional approach used by many faculty...sometimes out of habit, lack of alternative models, or necessity (e.g., constraints of the physical space, limited in-class time, high number of students). We know stuff about our discipline, so it requires little effort for us to talk about that stuff. Although we have to prepare for class, the preparation is relatively easy when our plan is to lecture...again, because we know our stuff. But, who is doing all of the fruitful cognitive processing on the topic -- the person preparing the lecture, or the person listening to the lecture? So, the questions of the hour are -- regardless of the efficiency of lecture, does lecture really achieve what we want to achieve? Are students engaged, and are they processing and retaining what we are sharing with them?

It turns out that the answer is no. So, does this mean we need to stop lecturing, or are there ways to improve the lecture approach?

Seems to me that the more we can have students do something with the content -- as opposed to listen to us talk about the content -- the better. Therefore, embedding students-do-something-now strategies throughout a lecture is a good way to enhance the students' experience and opportunity to process and reflect on the content. Acknowledging that this is not an easy task in a traditional lecture hall (equipped with fixed stadium seating!) with 100+ students, here are a few examples of students-do-something-now strategies that may work regardless of the instructional constraints:

• Think-pair-share. This strategy involves (1) asking the students a question about the content; (2) giving students an opportunity to consider the question, study their notes and/or text; (3) confer with their neighbor regarding their answer to the question. There are many variations on this strategy, especially in terms of how to handle the "share" aspect. For example, a pair can join up with another pair to discuss the question; using Clickers, pairs can log their response (this is a nice option for providing the whole audience with instant feedback, and for giving you as the lecturing information that can help provide direction for the next part of the lecture.); and pairs can log their response and their names on to index cards, pass them to the front, and the lecturer can randomly select a few responses to share with the whole group. [Note: This approach also provides a jumping off place for the rest of the lecture, and the index cards with students' names can be used for student participation grading.]
  


• Interview. Instead of lecturing, I have had students interview me about the topic. I start this strategy by telling students that during the interview they must collect all of the information they need on the topic to fulfill the requirements for writing an essay, completing a project, or preparing for an exam. Then students -- in teams with an elected interviewer, in rows with the person in the front deemed the official interviewer -- work together to determine what 3-5 questions their group (team or row) needs to ask in order to achieve the objective. This strategy encourages students to reflect on what they already know, what they can find out via their text or other resource, and what they absolutely need to ask their professor. It also helps them construct good questions, and prioritize needs. [Note: I have previously described a related strategy, called Stump the Professor.]
  


• Point-counterpoint. One of the best lecture-enhancement strategies I've used is to invite a colleague to participate in a point-counterpoint discussion on a particular topic (often controversial), with the students as our audience. This strategy allows students to listen to two (or more, as with a panel) practitioners/experts discuss and debate issues related to the topic. It helps students recognize that there are differing perspectives on the issues, and to see how colleagues grapple with those differing perspectives.
  


• Fishbowl. Another strategy that has worked well for me is to select different groups of students to participate with me in a small group discussion, with the rest of the students listening. I form these student groups ahead of time so I can keep track of who has participated, and make sure that I invite everyone in the audience to participate at least once.
  


• Value-added. I avoid lecturing on the same content the students have available to them via the textbook, article packet, or other set of resources. If I lecture on the same content they have available to them elsewhere they learn very quickly to either (a) not bother reading the text, or (b) not bother attending the lecture. As an expert in the domain, I have something unique to offer -- my take on the topic at hand, and my stories about how it plays out in practice. I want students to see the value in both the readings and what I have to share, so I avoid replication.
  


• Making it relevant, Part 1. As often as possible, instead of lecturing in the conventional way, I tell stories or describe cases that illustrate the points I want students to consider. This strategy helps students process the content in a more contextually meaningful way, helping students see how the content is relevant to the working world.
  


• Making it relevant, Part 2. It helps students engage in a lecture if they understand how the lecture content is related to (a) their professional preparation (i.e., what they will be doing on-the-job), and (b) how they are assessed in the course. I remind students at the beginning, middle, and end of a lecture how the content is related to both their professional work and/or the current assignment they are completing for the course. I then reinforce those relationships by incorporating them into my assessment of the assignment. For example, when I ask students to provide design documentation for an instructional product they have created, I require them to cite not only their readings but the lectures and class discussions as well. [Note: Related, I occasionally use the one-minute paper or quiz strategy, informing students at the start of the lecture that at the end of the class I will ask them to submit a one-minute paper or quiz. Knowing that this is coming encourages students to attend to the lecture and take useful notes.]
  


• Making it relevant, Part 3. My courses are very project-oriented. Therefore, a strategy I have found very helpful is to focus my lecture content on issues directly relevant to the students' ability to fulfill the project requirements.
  


• "Give me a break"...i.e., a pause in the action. This is a simple strategy to implement during a lecture. I allow students time throughout a lecture to summarize what I've shared, clean up their notes, ask for clarification from neighbors, and -- in general -- process and reflect on the content. After the pause in the action, I ask for questions -- often, after time to reflect on the lecture, a few students will find they have a gap in their notes and will ask me a follow-up question. I have found that giving students time to summarize the lecture thus far, in their own words, allows them the time and space to do the same sort of fruitful cognitive processing that I've done in preparing the lecture. If I don't give them time to process and reflect, then the lecture is for naught...and all I have accomplished is hearing myself talk.
  

These are just a few ideas for enhancing the lecture approach. I find it helpful to mix up the strategies so I am not doing the same thing repeatedly. These strategies have helped me deal with the instructional constraints of large classes held in traditional lecture hall settings. And, ultimately, I have found that I do not actually do that much lecturing, instead allowing students time and space to work with the content in more relevant and meaningful ways that help them stay engaged.

Encouraging students to read before class...is it hopeless?

This is a topic on the minds of many of my faculty colleagues (and me!) -- how to get students to complete the assigned readings before class...or at all. My initial thoughts on this have always been that the readings have to be relevant:

1. To achieving the learning objectives
   
2. To completing the assignments and projects of the course
   
3. To student assessment
   
4. To the world outside of the course (whether in support of future study, of being a professional, of being a citizen)
   

Beyond this, however, there are important considerations that have to do with student readiness and time, and faculty expectations and habits.

Student readiness and time

Are students skilled at reading academic text? They may do a lot of reading (of materials like blogs, Facebook/MySpace pages, text messages, popular media text, and so on), but that sort of reading doesn't translate well to academic reading (see previous post on October 2, 2008). Also, students may not know the difference between skimming, scanning, directed reading, deep reading, and so on. Being clear about what we want students to do with their reading, and how to do it requires our attention. So, we need to scaffold students' reading via modeling and think-alouds, and providing them with examples of how we would mark and/or take notes on the text. In addition, we need to assist students in translating their approach to reading to an academic approach to reading. Spending some time on this sort of prereading instruction will help students learn how to process academic text.

Related, we also need to keep in mind that we have prior knowledge -- the schema -- to process new reading on topics we know about. Students may not. So, it takes them longer to process. An additional thing we can do is help students connect new reading to what they already know.


Do students have time to read the text? An interesting study by Ronald Carver several years ago (1985, How good are some of the world's best readers, Reading Research Quarterly, 20(4), 389-419) compared the word count and comprehension rate of strong student readers with people who read as a consistent part of their profession (such as faculty). There was a 150 word per minute difference between the strong student readers and the professional readers. The takeaway for me is the realization that some students do not read as fast as we do, which means that it may take them much more time to complete an assigned reading; something that takes us an hour to read, may take students 2-4 hours to read. If we are asking students to do other things between classes too, we need to take time-on-reading/task into consideration.

Also, students often have legitimate constraints on their time. Many of them work 15-20 hours a week, some have dependent care responsibilities, and many are concurrently taking several courses. The last thing they need are reading assignments that are not directly and clearly relevant to the work of the course (and beyond). I deal with this by making sure that the reading is critical to being able to complete assignments, and I tie the reading into those assignments in terms of assessment. And, I scale back my reading assignments so that students can deeply process, engage with, and apply a few readings, as opposed to assigning many readings and finding that they barely remember anything they've read and cannot apply the content of the readings to assignments.


Faculty expectations and habits

Are we clear about why we are asking students to read something? We need to remind (and keep reminding) students about the connections between the reading assignments and the course assignments and assessment (and the connection to the profession, etc.). Also, it doesn't hurt to share your enthusiasm for the reading -- why you think the reading is good, what some of the "a-ha" excerpts were for you, what you would like them to focus on, and so on. It sure would be nice to instill a love of reading in the process...

Do we lecture on (or provide students with a summary of) the same material that's in the text? When we do this, students quickly learn that they don't need to do the reading as long as they attend to the lecture and/or summary.

Do we engage students in activities that require them to apply the readings? Again, another thing students figure out quickly is that if we do not actively have them do something with the readings in class or for projects, that they don't need to read. And, it has to go beyond asking for volunteers to share their thoughts about the reading. Students need to know -- preferably in advance -- what you will be asking them to do with the readings during the next class meeting (for example, involving them in small group discussions using discussion protocols). This way they know how to prepare, what to prepare...and that everyone has to prepare (so, no hiding in the back of the room). [Note: I have several blog posts on facilitating discussions and using discussion protocols. I use discussion protocols all the time, and find them to be highly effective in establishing expectations for reading.]

Do we hold students accountable for completing the readings? This gets at assessment. If we are going to ask students to complete readings, how will we determine if they have been completed and what is the students' reward or payoff for completing the readings (beyond the "learning is reward enough" payoff)? I prefer more authentic approaches to this, so I require students to use the readings to defend their instructional design work; for example, students have to submit design documents in support of a lesson they have developed, and in those design documents they have to use the readings to support their decisions (and I often require them to triangulate their citations so they can demonstrate how more than one author/reading supports each decision). But, I also like assessment strategies that focus on specific readings, such as having students:

• Write one-minute papers summarizing the readings -- I then assess and award points for those summaries
  
• Assign inspiration points to each other for contributing valuable perspectives, ideas, counterarguments, summaries and so on to the discussion -- I track those points and apply them to the final grades [Note: For more on inspiration points, see the post in this blog.]
  

Getting students to read in preparation for class is difficult, but if you attend to issues related to reading preparation, reading assignments (in and out of class), and assessment, you can take appropriate action and help students be more successful.

Get out there and observe

I have been so lucky recently to have multiple opportunities to observe my colleagues teaching on-campus and online. It has served to rejuvenate my own teaching...encouraging me to reflect on my teaching and course design decisions. These observations have reinforced for me the following:

• The importance of connecting with students and enhancing social presence.
  
• The value of establishing and continually reminding students of the relevance of their coursework in terms of the profession for which they are preparing.
  
• The need to use a variety of instructional strategies in order to engage all of the students in the room.
  
• The criticality of providing students with clear directions and expectations at the get-go.
  
• The usefulness of consistent and frequent opportunities for students to receive feedback.
  

If you are able, ask colleagues if you can observe them in action (or, better yet, for a learning community with a group of colleagues that allows for observation and follow-up and continued discussion about teaching and learning). Or, check with your Center for Faculty Development. Ours has a list of faculty who have agreed to allow colleagues to visit their classrooms. Definitely an opportunity to take advantage of.