Handing Your Class Over to Your Students (for a day): Incorporating Student Centered/Directed Learning.

Michelle Toth, SUNY Plattsburgh

From the movie: Accepted

Variations on a Theme/Name:

Student/Learner-Directed

Student/Learner-Centered

Inquiry/Problem-Based

Active Learning

Constructivist

Teacher vs. Learner Centered

Teacher-Centered Learner Centered

Instructor talks, students listen Instructor models, students interact

Instructor chooses topics Students have some choice of topics

Students almost always work alone Students often work in groups

Instructor gives information, answers Students find information, discover answers

Classroom is quiet Classroom is often noisy and busy

Adapted from: http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/goalsmethods/learncentpop.html

My Journey into Learner-Centeredness Starting with Active Learning

1st Small Step into Learner-Centeredness

Weekly Jargon Sheets No using a textbook No giving a lecture No PowerPoint slides!

Instead: Students are given a list of terms/concepts and they must search

for definitions in class and share them.

2nd Small Step into Learner-Centeredness

Understanding how the Library is Organized Assignment The Old Way

Fill in the blank Clearly right or wrong answers

The New Way They write a script for giving a library tour Some required elements Add additional elements they think are most important

Inspiration for the Leap (Why reading can be so dangerous)

“They [employers] want people who can think intuitively, who are imaginative and innovative, who can communicate well, work in teams and are flexible, adaptable and self confident.”

Robinson, Ken. Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative. John Wiley: New York, 2001. Print. (p.52)

Inspiration for the Leap (Why reading can be so dangerous)

“Learning activities that are designed to foster creativity cast students in the roles of problem solvers and communicators rather than absorbers of knowledge.”

Starko, Alane Jordan. Creativity in the Classroom: Schools of Curious Delight. Longman Publishers, 1995. Print. (p.16.)

The Giant Leap

The Group TechnologyProject/Presentation

The Technology Project/Presentation

Small groups (3-4 students)

Learn a new Web 2.0 technology they have not used before

Fill out a questionnaire about the technology

Give a class presentation about the technology and a demonstration of how it works

Course Objectives

LIB Students will be able to:

1. Information Literacy

a. Identify different types of information (Primary/Secondary; Analytical/Factual, etc…)

b. Identify different types and formats of information sources

c. Formulate topics and research statements/questions

d. Understand the organization structures and systems of information both in print and online

e. Construct and implement search strategies

f. Use efficient search techniques

g. Articulate and apply evaluative criteria

h. Interpret and construct citations

2. Information and Technology Issues

a. Understand and respect intellectual property rights

b. Communicate about at least one social/ethical information technology issue

3. Technology Literacy

a. Communicate and synthesize information using word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software

b. Understand issues in current and emerging technologies and their role in communicating and analyzing information

First Run – Spring 2010

Presentations 2nd to last week in class.

Last minute change: Added 15 minutes ‘Group Time’ to the 2 weeks preceding the presentations.

Created a brief student assessment survey for students about this project.

What the Students Thought

Any suggestions for improving the group technology project/presentation?

1. You might want to do it earlier because the class become much more enjoyable for me after i met people in my group and made new acquaintances in the class.

2. Clarification on whether or not to use a power point presentation.

3. Assign the groups earlier so that they have more time to see if they can make a presentation on the technology, in case they need to change which technology they are doing.

4. More suggestions on what to talk about pertaining to the technology.

What the Students Thought

What as the most useful thing you learned from this project?

1. THAT GOOGLE STORES ALL OF YOUR SEARCHES. ALSO LEARNED THAT THERE ARE A LOT OF SITES OUT THAT THAT DO NOT PROTECT PEOPLE'S PRIVACY.

2. i learned that there are alot of new technologies that can make your work so much easier

3. that i do not want to use this technology

4. I already knew how do do just about everything else we learned. I'm a month or so shy of being a senior so i had to learn most of this stuff (AKA working in groups, finding sources, public speaking) on my own already. It did appear to be helpful to my team mates tho. I believe one hadn't had to speak in a group before so it was probably good for him.

Feedback from Students Spring 2010 What I liked Best about the course:

1. I enjoyed the tecnology project the most.

2. i learned how to narrow down my research as well as how to best work with a group.

3. I learned new things about technology that I didn't know before.

4. Doing the technology project was very fun and beneficial. I learned alot about different technologies I knew nothing about.

5. the group projects because I learned about new technology that I had never heard of before this class.

6. Group Projects

Changes Made For Fall 2010

Moved group project to first half of class – Presentations in Week 5.

Added one more week of in-class group meeting time before presentation (now in weeks 2, 3 and 4).

Provide samples of a filled out Questionnaire and PowerPoint on a Web 2.0 technology.

Feedback from Students From Fall 2010 What I liked Best about the course:

1. Meeting New people in my groups and how i learned to research articles online.

2. I liked researching/presenting a technology.

3. The knowledge I gained about using new technologies.

4. The project on google earth. I had a lot of fun doing that with my group.

5. The presentations

6. The instructor allowed us to do alot of group work as well as hands on projects.

Feedback from Students From Fall 2010 What could be improved in the course:

1. There should be more group assignments.

2. Also, for the group projects, it may be more helpful to let the students chose their own groups because that allows for more communication.

3. I think students need more feedback from the instructor after doing group work and presentations, explaining why they received the grade they did.

4. More group projects

What’s next?

Added in-class group activities Improving research questions Identifying types of periodicals

Waiting on assessment from Spring 2011

Contemplating adjusting an assignment to be a paired or group assignment.

Any Questions, Comments or Suggestions?