Encouraging Student Participation

This is a good website from UNLV on teaching large classes (60 or more) and encouraging student participation. It focuses on how to make students comfortable in a large group and to personalize the experience for the students. The author gives a series of suggestions for task assignments to include problem identification, problem solving, assignment review, test correction, and notes comparison. The author also suggests ways to reduce student anonymity to include using nametags, seating charts, and flash cards.

http://www.unlv.edu/centers/tlc/pdfs/teachinglargeclassesencouragingstudentparticipation.pdf

Tracking student participation in large classes

Below is a link to a project proposal on tracking student participation in large classes at the University of California, Berkeley. The application is intended to provide an easy, efficient manner in which to track the participation and discussion contribution of students in classes of 50 or more. The authors were not satisfied with commercial student response systems (such as eInstruction) that requires each student to purchase a remote control and register that remote control online. Their application provides key services not entirely provided by other applications: students are allowed to give essay-type responses; student responses can be graded on quality; the centralized application input process involves only the instructor; the input process is simple and may be completed numerous times during a given class discussion; instructors are given the freedom to choose whether a student’s response is worthy of grade points, regardless of when that student enters the classroom. An interesting alternative to commercial systems available.

http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs160/fa05/projects/Participation.pdf

Student Participation in Large Classes

This is an interesting website on student involvement/participation in large classes. It is from the Penn State Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence. It goes through a series of frequently asked questions about the topic. Topics include the definition of “student participation”, how to overcome the anonymity of large classes, how to encourage students to participate, and how to get students actively involved and interested in class. An excellent overall summary and a definitely a must read for instructors that teach large sections.

http://www.schreyerinstitute.psu.edu/pdf/Large_Class_FAQ_Student_Involvement.pdf

Manna from Heaven or "Clickers" from Hell?

The title of this article really caught my attention. Instructors used an electronic response system to enhance student-centered learning in large and small college biology classes. The authors found that the system worked well to engage students in learning the subject matter and to assess their prior knowledge and misconceptions. It provided useful feedback to students as well as instructors. The authors did encounter problems that resulted mainly from not having permanent installation of the hardware components in the large class. A very interesting article on this subject.

Hatch, J., Jensen, M, and Moore R. (2005) Manna from Heaven or "Clickers" from Hell: Experiences with an Electronic Response System. Journal of College Science Teaching, 34 (7) 36.

I-clickers

Today, I just received 25 i-clickers from Houghton Mifflin to test out. These are the radio frequency classroom response system (or i-clickers). These are supposed to be a simple, flexible solution that encourages active student participation. According to the advertisement, they are “an easy-to-use radio frequency classroom response system that facilitates teacher rather than impeding it.” A little history on this particular system: In 1997, University of Illinois physicists attempted to integrate all aspects of a course using research-tested interactive engagement methods in a team teaching environment. This lead to the development of the i-clickers. I will give them a try in the next few weeks and update by findings to this blog.

Website on Student Participation

This is an interesting website from the Faculty Development Center at California State University, Fullerton. It discusses the use of town halls and post-it notes to increase student participation in class. A sociology professor is using a cooperative learning approach in his lectures and is using a particular format to create an environment in the classroom that approximates a town hall meeting. The instructor allows the students to decide the topics to be discussed. Small groups brainstorm a list of potential topics and then compile the topics on a chalkboard. Students then vote to determine the top ten to be discussed.The instructor then begins the town hall meetings by giving two Post-it notes to every student in class. Each time they add to the discussion, students stick one of their Post-it notes on the front of their desk for everyone to see. Once a person has participated twice and placed both Post-its on the front of their desk, they can no longer earn points but they may still contribute to the discussion. This is an interesting approach to increase interaction and participation in the classroom.

http://fdc.fullerton.edu/teaching/learning/increasestudparticip.htm

Research Article on Student Participation

As stated in my introduction, I would like to increase or encourage active participation by my students. Too often, a few students dominate the discussion with many students never taking an active part in discussion. Encouraging students to participate during class time is important to facilitate the learning process and encourage deep learning to take place Below is an article entitled: “The ‘Millionaire’ method for encouraging participation.” In this article, researchers at Lancaster University (UK) noted that students with certain cultural and education backgrounds are often reluctant to participate in class discussion. This article provides some initial insight into the use of the Personal Response System (PRS) to encourage class participation at the postgraduate level. The author found that students' participation levels were increased when using the PRS, and further class discussion and debate was stimulated as a result.

Beekes, W. (2006) The ‘Millionaire’ method for encouraging participation. Active Learning in Higher Education, Vol. 7, No. 1, 25-36.

Introduction to Blog

As a chemistry instructor at a community college, one area that I am VERY interested in is increasing or encouraging active student participation in the classroom. One technological example is the use of a radio frequency student response system (or clickers). While clickers are one example, other methods are also used and I will explore/research this area in this blog.