Finding the Link Between Student Engagement and Teacher Excellence

1. Finding the Link Between Student Engagement and Teacher Excellence Stephanie Juillerat sjuillerat@apu.edu Laurie Schreiner lschreiner@apu.edu Azusa Pacific University IDEA User’s Conference November 1, 2009

2. Why Worry About Student Engagement? • After all, isn’t it the student’s job to find meaning in the content I deliver? • My job is to teach; it’s my student’s job to learn; if they’re bored, they must not care about learning

3. Student Engagement is Important Because….. • It enhances the learning process • It creates positive emotions—which lead to greater creativity and complex problem-solving • An engaged classroom is more enjoyable for everyone  • It impacts IDEA scores!

4. The Link Between IDEA and Student Engagement • Students rate the amount of learning, the excellence of a course, and the excellence of the teacher based on their classroom experiences • Certain teaching behaviors have been correlated with high scores on these 3 items • When students believe that these teaching behaviors are happening frequently in the classroom, IDEA scores are high • Our main focus today: overall excellence of the teacher

5. An Excellent Teacher • An adjective or phrase that describes a teacher’s behavior that made them excellent • Go to a corner of the room that reflects your adjective or phrase • Relationships • Motivation/intellectual stimulation • How they designed the course • Other

6. 3 Components Related to Teaching Excellence • Establishing Rapport (Educator as Facilitator) • Stimulating Student Interest (Educator as Motivator) • Structuring Classroom Experiences (Educator as Designer) • A teacher who can accomplish these 3 things should have a successful classroom experience with fully engaged students

7. How Do I Do Those Things? • Today’s workshop will be structured around these 3 teaching components • We hope to share principles and strategies that faculty can use so that students are fully engaged in the learning process

8. One Size Doesn’t Fit All • “There is no single tip, technique, or strategy that offers a magic formula or blueprint for student engagement. What works for one student doesn’t work for another; a technique that is a guaranteed winner for one teacher falls miserably flat when tried by a colleague….” Barkley (2010) Student Engagement Techniques

9. The Ingredients of Engagement • Interest • Challenge • Value • Expectancy • Choice • Relationships

10. Engaged Learning Positive energy invested in the learning process • Meaningful processing • Focused attention • Active involvement in learning activities • (Schreiner & Louis, 2006)

11. An Effective Educator Facilitator Motivator Designer

12. Establishing Rapport Help students answer their own questions Display a personal interest in students and their learning Explain the reasons for criticisms of students’ academic performance Encourage student-faculty interaction outside of class Educator as Facilitator

13. Basic Principle: Know Your Students and How They Learn • Talent Development Approach: All students can learn under the right conditions • Developing Effective Educational Practices project – strong commitment to knowing their students, where they came from, their preferred learning styles, their talents, and when and where they need help (Kuh et al., 2005)

14. HOW? • Group resume for learning teams • Letter to the professor the first day of class • Learning styles assessments (www.vark-learn.com)

15. Find Ways to Help Students Answer Their Own Questions • Examples: • Designing their own research questions • Class research projects where each class member contributes questions and searches for answers • Adding space in the syllabus for students to write in their own learning objective for the class

16. Type of Feedback Given • Feedback is such an important issue that it is reflected in two different areas of IDEA: • Explaining the reasons for criticisms of students’ academic performance (Establishing Rapport) • Providing timely and frequent feedback on tests, reports, projects, etc. to help students improve (Structuring Classroom Experiences)

17. How to Give Feedback • Major purpose of feedback is to be instructive: what should the student do differently next time? • Connect to the students’ goals • “I messages” work in feedback • Not personal or judgmental, but supportive and specific

18. Encourage Contact Outside of Class HOW? • Cues you send about your approachability • Responsiveness is the key! • E-mail and texting as well as in person

19. Stimulating Students’ Interest Educator as motivator

20. Educator as Motivator • Demonstrate the importance and significance of the subject matter • Introduce stimulating ideas about the subject • Stimulate students to intellectual effort beyond that required by most courses • Inspire students to set and achieve goals which really challenge them

21. Motivation • Affects whether one chooses to approach a goal in the first place • Directs energy toward a goal • Sustains effort and persistence, which enhances performance

22. So What Motivates? • The same as what engages! • Interest • Appropriate challenge • Value • Expectancy • Choice • Relationships

23. Basic Principle: Encourage“Deep Learning” (Tagg, 2003, 2004) • Meaning making—personal significance • Connections between what is known and what is yet to be known • Lasts beyond the course • Changes who you are, the way you see things, and/or how you act

24. Deep Learning Connects Students to … • what they already know • their previous experiences • what they will need to know soon • real life issues and problems • what already interests them • a problem they want to solve • what they are learning in other classes • their future goals

25. Strategies for Deep Learning • Pre-test the first day of class – find out what they already know • Youtube and other use of technology to connect to what interests them • Problem-based learning, case studies to connect to real-life issues • Examples of professionals in the field to connect to their future goals and what they will need to know

26. The Importance of Choice • Authentic motivation occurs when students are given choices in how to demonstrate mastery of course material • Allowing them to connect their assignments to their strengths, their own goals, interests, and learning styles enhances their performance

27. Examples • Learning project proposal • Choices in test questions • Theoretical • Application • Creative design • Bonus question – “One thing you learned that I didn’t ask on the test” • Lottery for project due dates

28. Inspire Students to Set Challenging Goals • Performance goals vs. Mastery goals • Encourage students to set learning goals, not grade goals • Mindset affects the goals students will choose

29. Intelligence is something very basic about a person that can’t be changed very much You can always change how intelligent you are 1 10 FIXED MINDSET GROWTH MINDSET

30. FIXED MINDSET Intelligence is innate and unchangeable Focus on performance Effort means you’re not very smart Avoid failure at all costs GROWTH MINDSET Intelligence is malleable with effort Focus on learning Effort is a natural part of the learning process Failure is a temporary setback that provides feedback for learning Encourage a Growth Mindset

31. Strategies for Encouraging a Growth Mindset • Teach students about the brain and how it changes with practice – whatever you focus attention on repeatedly changes your brain! • Debunk myths about intelligence: “no such thing as a math brain” • Emphasize that there are strategies for learning the material—and that it is your job to teach those strategies • Share stories and examples of famous people who invest a lot of effort – effort is essential to achieving any type of success

32. The Best of the Best … • Champion chess players • World-class cellist Pablo Casals • Tiger Woods • MVP basketball players What do they have in common?

33. They Practice – A Lot! • Casals was one of the greatest cellists of all time • In his eighties he still practiced for hours every day • When asked why he still practiced when he was already the best in the world, his reply was: “In order to play better!”

34. Intelligence is something very basic about a person that can’t be changed very much You can always change how intelligent you are Faculty Also Have Mindsets! FIXED MINDSET GROWTH MINDSET

35. What Impact Do Faculty Beliefs Have on the Learning Process? • Dweck’s (2006) book Mindset: At-risk students performed better on independent tests at the end of the course – and at the level of those not at risk – when they had instructors who had a growth mindset compared to those whose instructors had a fixed mindset.

36. Stimulating Interest Through Active Learning “Student engagement is a process and a product that is experienced on a continuum and results from the synergistic interaction between motivation and active learning.” Barkley, E. F. (2010) Student Engagement Techniques

37. Actively Involve Students • With the course content • With each other

38. Structure the classroom (circle, small groups) Anonymous cards Polling Jigsaw learning Find your match Problem-based learning Student bingo Popcorn Call on the next speaker Think-pair-share Panels Debates Games (Silberman, Active Learning, 1996) Sampling of Active Learning

39. Jigsaw Learning • Each team member is assigned a different reading or topic • In-class project depends on each person’s contribution

40. Anonymous Cards • Effective for getting opinions or perceptions on sensitive topics • Encourages participation by less vocal students • Can be made active with variations • Can be combined with group work

41. Active Learning is Not a Spontaneous Decision • Because active learning takes more time than a lecture, using active learning strategies involves a conscious decision to make students responsible for learning course content outside of class • Be strategic and intentional when deciding when and how to use active learning techniques

42. Structuring Classroom Experiences Educator as designer

43. Structuring Classroom Experiences • This is the foundation on which the other 2 components rest • Ratings of teacher and course excellence are related to: • Making it clear how each topic fits into the course • Explaining course material clearly and concisely • Scheduling assignments so students stay up-to-date on work • Giving tests, projects that covered most important points of the course • Providing timely and frequent feedback

44. Basic Principles: Clarity and Organization • Know where your students need to go and the best path to get them there • Communicate the path in a way that is clear to students

45. It Starts with a Syllabus • Communicate excitement and good will • Manage expectations • Provide resource information • Connect assignments to learning objectives • Map the journey • Provide clear criteria for success

46. Well-Designed Assignments • Require students to apply course material, not regurgitate it • Are well-spaced throughout the semester • Build on skills developed in prior assignments • Requires feedback from faculty along the way • Allow for student choice

47. The Importance of Feedback • Learning cannot occur without feedback • Timely • Frequent • Specific • Provides input on what to do next time • Demonstrates a clear path to reach learning goals

48. Well-Designed Classroom Experiences Will • Build on what was learned in prior classes – make the connection! • Concept maps • Use examples that are relevant • Have more than one in case students do not understand the first time through • Actively engage students • Be well-organized

49. Did not teach me what to think, but taught me how to think Helped me make connections between a serious academic curriculum and my own personal life, values, and experiences   Worked with me one-on-one outside of class Asked questions or posed problems that helped me learn to think like a professional in my field Encouraged students to disagree with them, as part of teaching them how to think like professionals Taught students the importance of evidence, how to collect it, and how to use it to make decisions Engaged students in the learning process (Light, 2001) “My Best Professors Ever…”

50. The “one-minute paper” One thing I want to do differently when I get back to campus