Tutorial Methods of Instruction

1. Tutorial Methods of Instruction Spring Semester Orientation 7 February 2007 Prof. Hal White

2. Topics for Today • Introductions • What is Problem-Based Learning • What is PLTL • Importance of Peer facilitators • Preview of the course • Boyer Commission Report

3. Introductions • Who are you? • In what course will you be a facilitator? • Why did you choose to be a facilitator?

4. General Information • Attend class regularly • Keep in touch with me via e-mail • Keep a journal of critical incidents • Write two teaching cases • Course sponsored by HHMI

5. Activity • In groups discuss and make a list: • How does Problem-Based Learning differ from other class formats? or • How does Peer-Led Team Learning (Workshop Chemistry) differ from other class formats?

6. Teaching = Learning?

7. Methods of Active/Group Learning High STUDENT INVOLVEMENT Temporary groups Permanent groups Low PLTL “THINK/PAIR/SHARE” PBL

8. Constructivism • Learners make sense out of new information by building on to prior knowledge. Their minds are not blanks slates to write on. • Information needs to be processed before it can make sense. • John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky

9. Workshop Chemistry and Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) Students Lecture & Laboratory Workshop Workshop Leaders Leader Training Faculty Leader Training Program Direction Learning Specialists

10. PBL: The Process • Learning initiated with problem. • Students organize ideas and previous knowledge. • Students pose questions, defining what they know and don’t know. • Assign responsibility for questions, discuss resources. • Reconvene, explore newly learned information, refine questions.

11. Comparison of PBL and PLTL

12. Cooperative Learning: What the research shows • Academic Success higher achievement, including knowledge acquisition, accuracy, creativity in problem-solving, and higher reasoning level. • Attitude Effects persistence towards goals, intrinsic motivation, applying learning in other situations, greater time on task Johnson, Johnson, and Smith (1998 )

13. Chinese Proverb Embodies the PBL Philosophy of Education Tell me, and I forget; Show me, I may remember; Involve me, and I will understand. As interpreted by Ei-Ichiro Ochiai, J. Chem. Educ. 70:44 (1993)

14. What Are Peer Tutors? • PBL jargon for group facilitators • Undergraduates who guide student groups in PBL or active learning classrooms • Work alongside the faculty instructor

15. Peer Group Facilitators Activities • Weekly meetings with the course instructor • Tutorial Methods of Instruction • - 0 to 2 credits • Work with one or more groups in class • Optional: meet with group(s) outside of • class • No involvement in grading

16. Characteristics of a Functional Facilitator • Active member of the group (friendly, interested) • Involves all students in the process • Questions/probes the thinking and reasoning process • Provides information when appropriate • Promotes the use of appropriate resources • Guides/directs/intervenes to keep the group on track • Is flexible • Sets high standards for the group • Supports good interpersonal relationships • Serves as a model for giving and receiving feedback • Has a finely tuned “b.s.” detector From, University of New Mexico Primary Care Curriculum, A Guide to Quality Tutorials

17. Tutorial Methods of Instruction A 2-credit course that provides in-service supervision and support for peer group facilitators in PBL courses • Intellectual development of undergraduates • Learning styles • Group dynamics and group processing • Dealing with conflicts • Questioning skills for group discussion • Peer, group, and self-assessment • Ethical issues • Reflective processing of the experience

18. Why Use Peer Facilitators? A Multilayered Learning Community With Benefits To: • Students • help with passive ----> active transition • view to path ahead • Instructors • managing multiple groups • use of complex problems • foster positive group process • provide feedback • Tutors • final overview of • discipline • view to path ahead • mentoring by instructor

19. The Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates(1998)REINVENTING UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION: A BLUEPRINT FOR AMERICA’S RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES Recommendations I. Make Research-Based Learning the Standard II. Construct an Inquiry-based Freshman Year III. Build on the Freshman Foundation IV. Remove Barriers to Interdisciplinary Education V. Link Communication Skills and Course Work VI. Use Information Technology Creatively VII. Culminate With a Capstone Experience VIII. Educate Graduate Students as Apprentice Teachers IX. Change Faculty Reward Systems X. Cultivate a Sense of Community

20. Characteristics Needed For Success 1. Communication Skills - both verbal and written. 2. Ability to define problems, gather and evaluate information related to the problem, and develop solutions. 3. Ability to work with others, especially in team settings. 4. Ability to address specific problems in complex, real-world settings. From 1994 Wingspread Conference on “Quality Assurance in Undergraduate Education”

21. Characteristics Needed For Success Oral Written Visual Communication Skills

22. Characteristics Needed For Success Education and Training Problem- Solving Ability Acquired Skills Accumulated Knowledge

23. Characteristics Needed For Success From: http://www.qvresearch.com/self_assessments/am_i_a_team_player.htm

24. Characteristics Needed For Success Ability to address specific problems in complex, real-world settings

25. “…once you have learned to ask questions – relevant and appropriate and substantial questions – you have learned how to learn and no one can keep you from learning whatever you want or need to know.” Neil Postman & Charles Weingartner in Teaching as a Subversive Activity, 1969

26. Problem-Solving Ability in Groups Impossible Can’t Solve PBL Might Solve Problem Difficulty Solution obvious Trivial A B C D Group Potential Group Members Problem solving is what you do when you don’t know what to do, otherwise it is not a problem. Wheatley (1984)

27. Observations and analysis of students working in groups in class have revealed that: • Learning is identified by students as getting the right answer. • Learning is disassociated from understanding and explaining. • Answers are sought first by recall, not analysis. • Considerable time is needed before concepts are considered and even rudimentary analysis is attempted. from D. Hanson and T. Wolfskill, J. Chem Ed. 75(2): 143 - 147 (1998)

28. Forming GroupsHomogeneous vs Heterogeneous Student “Homogeneous” Groups Selected Instructor Selected Your Class “Heterogeneous” Groups

29. What Aspects of Heterogeneity are Important in Groups? Gender? Skills? PersonalityType? Age? Race? Learning Style? Academic Record? Major?

30. First Day of Class • Form new Groups, Count off by 4’s. • In your new groups, make a list of 3 positive and 3 negative first-class experiences. • What needs to happen on the first day of class to set up a positive climate for learning?

31. First Day of Class • Video Vignette on being a Tutor Facilitator • Groups in Action • <http://www.udel.edu/pbl/groups-in-action/>