Engaging Students:

What the Best College Teachers Do

Presented byBill Stahlin

4: Seek Commitments

How the Best Teachers Engage Students

Six Principles for Engaging Students

1: Create a Positive, Supportive Learning Environment2: Get Students’ Attention and Keep It3: Start with the Students Rather than with the Discipline4: Seek Commitments5: Engage Students in Thinking 6: Create Diverse Learning Experiences

1: Create a Positive, Supportive

Learning Environment

Devote early classes to creating a positive environment

Find out what interests students

Provide encouragement

Know students names- call on them by name (seating charts are helpful)

1: Create a Positive, Supportive Learning Environment

Be positive

Make connections using anecdotes, analogies and humor

Discover personal situations that could interfere with student learning

1: Create a Positive, Supportive Learning

Environment

Connect the known with the unknown

Build bridges

1: Create a Positive, Supportive Learning Environment

Self-disclosure

Empathize with students Accounting is challenging ‘A cruel’ method of accounting It is not easy to internalize these

concepts

2: Get Students’ Attention and Keep It

Consciously try to get attention with some provocative act, question, or

statement

2: Get Students’ Attention and Keep It

Approach each class expecting students to listen, think, and respond.

Use two way conversation- requires instructor to listen – can be a poorly developed skill

Use eye contact and enthusiasm

Be willing to call on students and ask them questions

2: Get Students’ Attention and Keep It

Ask provocative questions: When rebuilding the Exxon Valdez

should the cost of a new hull be capitalized?

Do we recognize revenue when Boeing gets an order for 10 jumbo jets?

Stand in contrast to professors who do not : Change course with student reactions Expect students to listen and respond

“Teaching is above all, about commanding attention and holding it - not just motivating students’ interest in the subject.”

Michael Sandel Harvard political

theorist

3: Start with the Students Rather than with the

Discipline

To gain attention they start with

something that: students care about know, or think they know

Don’t just lay out a blueprint or an outline or theory

Know the value that intellectual challenges can play in stimulating interest

Who are our Students?Understanding who our students are is

important in determining how to reach or engage them

In surface learning, students (Bulimic Learners)remember something long enough to help them pass the exam

Jello learner – on the outside looks like the student has a firm grasp of material. When shaken (exams) their knowledge is quite wobbly

Do You Recognize These Students?

Bulimic Learners –

Surface learners who remember long enough to help them pass the exam

Jell-O Learners

On the outside, looks like the student has a firm grasp of material. When shaken (exams) their knowledge is quite wobbly

3: Start with the Students Rather than with the Discipline

Provide context:

“With hocked gems financing him, he defied all scornful laughter that tried to prevent his scheme.

‘Your eyes deceive’ he said. ‘It is like an egg, not a table.’ Now three sturdy sisters sought truth. As they forged along, sometimes through calm vastness, yet more often over turbulent peaks and valleys, their days become weeks as many doubters spread fearful rumors about the edge.

At last from nowhere, winged creatures appeared, signifying the journey’s end.”

3: Start with the Students Rather than with the Discipline

Review what was covered in last class

Have students leave each class feeling they learned something

Raise questions rather than give answers - get students involved

“Too often we give students answers to remember rather than problems to solve.”

- Roger Lewin, Science Author

4: Seek Commitments

Ask your students for a commitment to the class and the learning

“The decision to take this class is the decision to attend the class every time it meets”

“My decision to teach includes the commitment to offer sessions worth

attending”

This is different from professors who try to rule like a drill sergeant

5: Engage Students in Thinking, Not Just Memorizing or Learning to “Plug and Chug”

Think about teaching students to understand, apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate

Let them learn by doing, by thinking through problems

Don’t just perform problems in front of the students

Ask questions that will help students grapple with concepts and invent ways to solve the problems

6: Create Diverse Learning Experiences

The brain loves diversity - conduct class in a

multitude of ways.

Sometimes offer visual information other times, auditory input

Organize some material inductively; others, deductively

Include surprises. The brain loves novelty

Offer a balance of the systematic and the messy

“Materials should be uncovered rather than covered.”

MIT’s ‘The torch or the fire hose’

“Material should be uncovered rather than covered.”

MIT’s ‘The torch or the fire hose’

4: Seek Commitments

SummarySix Principles for Engaging Students

1: Create A Critical, Supportive Learning Environment2: Get Students’ Attention and Keep It3: Start with the Students Rather than with the Discipline4: Seek Commitments5: Engage Students in Thinking 6: Create Diverse Learning Experiences

The mediocre teachers tells.The good teacher explains.

The superior teacher demonstrates.

The great teacher inspires.

- William Arthur Ward

Tips on Changing the Way You Teach

Performance may decrease initially - don’t be discouraged

It may be uncomfortable Students may react negatively

initially You may not be pleased with the

feedback

References

WSJ educator subscription http://professor.wsj.com/info/2010/07/19/weekly-review/

10 stock certificates for $12 http://www.kenmorestamp.com/railroad-stock-certificates

Ken Bain lecture GWU video http://tlc.provost.gwu.edu/teaching-day-2012