Good Practice in Learning Teaching and Assessment

1. Good Practice in Learning Teaching and Assessment Workshop Designing and Planning Learning Activities

2. Content • What is learning? • Underpinning knowledge and theory for learning design • Different learning methods • Memory & the transfer of learning • Pre-designing materials and being creative!

3. Learning

4. Before you can ‘design effective learning’ – you need to be clear about you mean by ‘learning’ …..

5. Definitions of learning A relatively permanent change in behaviour resulting from experience (Kimble, 1961) A relatively permanent change in an organism’s behaviour due to experience (Myers, 1995) Learning is the process by which a person acquires new knowledge, skills and capabilities (Reynolds et al., 2002)

6. Research into what adults think learning is ….. Quantitative increase in knowledge Memorising – storing information that can be reproduced Acquiring facts, skills and methods Making sense of abstract meaning and understanding relationships in subjects Interpreting and understanding reality (Saljo, 1979)

7. ….. other meanings .. is it? An increase in factual knowledge? Being able to memorise & reproduce Applying and using knowledge Understanding abstract concepts Performing well in assessments? Learning to ‘do’ something – (e.g. presentations) Solving problems? Developing creativity? Developing an analytical approach? Change within oneself as a consequence of understanding the world differently? Something else?(Fry et al., 2009)

8. Psychology subject domains relating to learning Behaviourist Psychology Social Learning Theory Cognitive Psychology Experiential Learning (Stewart , 1999)

9. Underpinning knowledge & theory ….. to enable the effective design of learning

11. Threshold Concepts • Is there a ‘hierarchy in concepts’ – in what you are teaching …. i.e. the student must completely understand ‘A’ to be able to understand ‘B’ • For example (in accountancy) must a student have an understanding of arithmetic BEFORE they can learn how to produce a company’s annual report and accounts ….? • The relevance of threshold concepts in designing learning is ……. ?

12. Student approaches to learning • Surface • Deep • Strategic / achieving (Fry et al., 2009)

13. VARK – Learning Styles • Visual (V) • Aural/Auditory (A) • Read/Write (R) • Kinesthetic (K) Comprehensive guide available http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp

14. Learner Student Styles Honey & Mumford

15. Kolb’s Learning Cycle

16. Learning Cycle Individual Learner Styles Compare Kolb with Honey & Mumford

17. If you were a ski or tennis instructor – how would you … Apply a different form of learning to best meet each of the Honey and Mumford Learning styles?

18. Another individual styles model … Myers Briggs (based on Jungian Theory) EXTROVERT (E) or INTROVERT (I) drawing energy from outside or withinINTUITIVE (N) or SENSING (S) drawing energy from holistic big picture thinking intuition or from the five other senses)FEELING (F) or THINKING (T) basing decisions on personal information or on logic/rulesPERCEIVING or JUDGING (preferring ongoing development / spontaneity or organization & goal completion) So you can be an ENTJ or an ISFP or an ESTP etc (Swart et al., 2005)

19. What are your Learning Objectives seeking for students learn – change in? (Cannon and Newble, 2000) Knowledge Skills Attitude

20. Well written learning objectives govern all the design that follows …. Race, (2007: 23- 26) has a list of 24 tips on designing learning objectives

21. The process of learning design Decide whether it is Knowledge and/or Skills and/or Attitude that is to be ‘learned’ Write the Learning Objectives (differentiate between Knowledge, Skills & Attitude) Decide on the mix of methods which will best deliver the most effective ‘change’ / learning in Knowledge / Skill and / or Attitude Decide on a mix of methods so that students of all learning styles have the chance to ‘be reached’ and the Kolb Learning Cycle can be applied Check the timing of the activities in your session (s), to see that it all fits and flows

22. The process of learning design Consideration must also be given as to …… how you are going to check / assess whether what you intended to be learned has been learned – and when will you do this?

23. The process of learning design Two slides above – the process was presented in a linear fashion – however it is an ongoing improvement cycle:

24. Systematic approach to course / module planning Fry et al (2009)

25. Consider the aspect of student motivation when you are designing learning See table 3.3 in Fry et al (2009: 35-36)

26. How could you use this underpinning knowledge in making the design of Learning and Teaching effective? Write notes on this for 10 minutes

27. Different learning methods

28. Sample of Methods • ‘Lecturing’ • Listening to presentations • Discussion • Guided reading • Case studies • Informal skills / knowledge assessments – quizzes, tests, skills questionnaires • Self reflection exercises • Log books, diaries, PDP’s

29. Sample of Methods • Using technology – BB, pod casts, video’s, online learning tools, computer assisted learning • Learning from feedback • Group work • Role plays • Games & competitions • Brainstorming • Problem solving

30. Sample of Methods • Work experience • Simulations • Experiential learning • Outdoor learning • Carrying out experiments • Discovery learning • Vicarious learning • Coaching / Mentoring • Action learning

31. Consider practical aspects • Facilities available – rooms, text’s, online resources, technology required, materials (take or get students to bring) • Timing and sequencing (mix more passive sections with more active sessions) • Timing of assessment & feedback

32. Activity Activity compare the learning design in each exercise on the next 5 slides

33. For use following Stress Management Lecture Pairs exercise Aims of this exercise: • To aid students to consider what issues causes them most stress • To get students to reflect on what they have learned which might help them manage the stress situation better Exercise: Ask students to spend 2 minutes making a note of the 2 issues that currently cause them most stress. Spilt them into pairs and ask them to take a turn each at describing an issue – and discussing possible solutions for those – reflecting on what they learned from the book / lecture materials.

34. For use following lecture onConflict Management Group exercise Aims of this exercise: • To get students to consolidate their learning on types of ways of dealing with conflict. Exercise: Split students into groups of 5. Ask them to nominate one person to give the feedback. Ask them to complete the following table (taken from the points on P. 389 of 7thednWhetton & Cameron) by: • Giving a definition for each type of approach to dealing with conflict. • Giving 1 advantage of that approach • Giving 1 disadvantage of that approach • Deciding on which approach might be a more usual ‘best’ approach Requires: • 5 printed copies of the attached • This can be printed on acetate and acetate pens taken along if you want them to give their feedback in a more presentation from the front format.

35. Brainstorming In groups of 10 – and appoint one person as ‘The police person’ who must make the others follow the rules of brainstorming – ie monitor the group (when they are doing the brainstorming) to make sure that the group does not break these rules: • Each person should take a turn – go round the group in clockwise direction – making sure each person has to contribute something when it gets to them • The ideas should be short • No one is allowed to evaluate it (say ‘oh that’s good / bad / the same as has already been said’) • You can build on an idea from before • When a person gets stuck – wait until that person comes up with something before moving on • ‘Wild’ ideas are allowed The topic to be brainstormed is: ‘How to deal with a difficult boss’

36. Reflecting on group presentations Aims of this exercise: • To give Tutors an exercise where they can mix the students up, to get them to meet and work with other students • To give students an opportunity to get used to being a spokesperson in informal group work • To aid students to be reflective about how they can improve presentation skills • To encourage students to use a constructive feedback technique (ie to feedback what is done well and what could have been done better • To encourage students to reflect on the learning from the lecture / tutorial Exercise: After presentation • Invite students to go into your groups (possibly their own presentation groups A/B/C/D – or if you want to encourage them to work with others split them into groups of e.g. 5 students) Ask them to elect a spokesperson to give feedback (make sure that everyone takes this role over the 10 tutorials: • 2 things that the group presenting did well • 1 thing that they could improve on • The 3 main lessons learned from the case presentation / the chapter / the lecture • Ask each group to give the feedback

37. For use following Power and Influence Lecture Aims of this exercise: • To get students to stop and reflect on how people can be more powerful than their position suggests. • To get them to plan how they could benefit from applying similar behaviour. Exercise: • Ask the students to think of someone who they respect as being more influential their position, some one ‘who punches above their weight’.(i.e. more influential than their position in natural hierarchies in the family / work place / friends group – hierarchies which can be based on position, financial wealth etc)The person can be a friend, work colleague, someone in their family, someone famous etc. • Then – ask them to write for 5 minutes on what it is that person does that makes them so influential. • Then ask them to spend 3 minutes making notes of 3 things they could do differently to benefit from observing the behaviour of this person who they respect.

38. Learning, memory & the transfer of learning (Primary source for memory: Baddeley et al., 2009)

39. Learning Conditioning & Reinforcement Classical (Pavlov) Operant Conditioning (Skinner)Positive /negative reinforcement Lesson – consciously consider what ‘reinforcement’ messages you are giving and how often (also relevant for ‘managing the learning environment’)

40. Other useful concepts from the domain of psychology ‘Learned helplessness’ Cognitive mapping Insight Vicarious learning Discovery learning Behaviour modelling Source lecture handouts Dr Ian Bushnell – was Strathclyde University – now School of Psychology, Glasgow University

41. Memory - two sides of the coin – is it what you have .... ? Remembered (retention)or what you have Forgotten (retrieval)

42. Types of memory Knowledge Feelings Behaviour Skills (presentation / interpersonal / language / creativity) Motor skills (driving / cycling / skating)

43. Student Learning and Memory IN OUT

44. Effective Memory IN OUT Time in between Getting things into the (long term) memory effectively Getting things back out effectively i.e. ‘Retrieval’

45. The memory process – getting things ‘in’ and ‘out’

46. Memory Sensory memory: Echoic / Iconic Short term, ‘working memory’: Verbal / Spacial Long term: Explicit – Episodic / Semantic Implicit – Conditioning / Skills

47. Attention Awareness Test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSQJP40PcGI

48. From short term into long term memory Rehearsal Coding Decisions Retrieval strategies

49. (Ebbinghaus, 1885, in Baddeley et al.2009) If you double the number of frequencies you rehearse / learn / practice – there is a complete positive correlation with what you remember AND ‘Distributed’ practice is more effective

50. Encoding - organising what goes ‘in’ to memory can make it easier to retrieve