How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching

Book Discussion

How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching 1st Edition by Susan A. Ambrose (Author),‎ Michael W. Bridges (Author),‎ Michele DiPietro (Author),‎ Marsha C. Lovett (Author),‎ Marie K. Norman  (Author),‎ Richard E. Mayer (Foreword)

Link to Amazon

pdf version

Other resources related to this book.

• Dr. Mary Jo Carnot presents "How Learning Works: Seven Research Based Principles of Learning," part of the Graves Lecture Series at Chadron State College.
• How Learning Works:7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching with Dr. Susan Ambrose Women in Engr ProActive Network

Part 1: View a pre-recorded webinar by Dr. Ambrose discussing the book she and colleagues published: "How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching."
Part 2: Q&A with Dr. Ambrose in which she discusses how to apply the information presented in Part 1 to specific teaching contexts.
This webinar is a product of the Engineering Inclusive Teaching series funded under grant 1203164 by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

• Eberly Center Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation. Carnegi Mellon University
• Slides by Dr. Michele DiPietro, Executive Director Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Kennesaw State University
• Book review by Julie G. Nyquist & Rima Jubran for The Journal of Chiropractic Education
• Goodreads

Book Discussions

Offering and facilitating a book discussion using a form of reciprocal teaching.


On December 7, 2017 the TLT Group offered a book discussion for members.  The book,  "How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens" by Benedict Carey. 

I invited TLT Members to chose a chapter in the book to read and then share at least two ideas that were most significant to them. Sharing could take several options: attend the session or submitting a summary in writing or via video or audio. I created a Google doc sign up sheet. "Sign Up for a Chapter." 

I then prepared a slide representing each chapter using Haiku Deck. 


Book Discussion "How We Learn" - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

The approach was a form of reciprocal teaching in that each person shared information from their chapter.  The summaries took different forms, from verbal, to slides, to a document to a audio recording.  We had a small group of 7 people and we used ZOOM video conferencing platform to connect. 

Some of the lessons learned from this experience:

• Most people only read their chapter not the entire book
• Reading and summarizing one chapter was more manageable.
• Participants who read one chapter were able to come away with insights from the entire book.
• Participants who one chapter had more information and then could decide if they wanted to invest more time in reading the entire book or other aspects.
• We needed a little more time structure to ensure that all chapters were given time. so setting a limit for each chapter would be good.
• Add a few minutes at the end for debrief, what went well, what could be improved and next steps.
• Provide more time to promote and describe the expectations in better detail. 

Next steps

1. Decide what book to discuss next by surveying the TLTG Members. See survey below.
2. Determine what approach to use. Link to Google search on book discussion questions

Learning more about Twitter from Susan Beardon on TLTG FridayLive! 11/20/2015

Learning more about Twitter from Susan Beardon this week (November 20, 2015) with the TLT Group on FridayLive!

Prior to the webinar Penny Kuckkahn shared an interesting dialog that took place between her son and daughter regarding Twitter. This short interchange sums up polar views about Twitter. Twitter may not be for everyone. I need to decide if it is for me and if so, in what regard. Thanks for allowing me to share this Penny.

Lainie and I subscribe to a service which allows us to watch all National and International skating throughout the world live streamed.  As we watch we usually follow the hashtag on twitter for the competition.

Conversation between my 17 year old son and 14 year old daughter

Philip: What is Twitter?

Lainie:  It this thing that you can post your thoughts and ideas using less than 160 characters

Philip: Why would you do that?

Lainie:  To let people know your thoughts and ideas

Philip:  That's just dumb

Lainie:  No it's not.  I can see what the coaches I have worked with think about the skater I am watching

Philip:  My first tweet - "Twitter just another form of gossip"

          My last tweet "So long Twitter I do not even need 160 characters"

Below is a mind map of my notes from the webinar.  Link to the mind map.
Also below is the transcript of the FridayLive! Twitter "conversation."

Brain Rules Exploration Activity in Adobe Connect

The TLT Group hosted a book discussion focusing on Dr. John Medina's book "Brain Rules." Steve Gilbert, Penny Kuckkahn and I developed the following activity in our attempt to help people connect to the book and model one of the Brain Rules, in this case #12, Exploration.  The activity took place in Adobe Connect.

We asked participants to chose one Brain Rule and then take 5 minutes to explore Dr Medina's website or any other resource. After reviewing material on the Brain Rule, identify one app or activity that connects with the Brain Rule in some way. We set up a new chat pod in a new layout for participants to post their contribution.
Below is a picture of the AC layout used.

After the activity we asked for feedback. In general participants liked the activity and the array of resources that were shared. They suggested we use music during the 5 minute exploration and no conversation. They liked the minute reminders we put in the chat. All in all it was a great success. This link will take you to a summary of the resources shared during the activity. This was a small group of 16 participants.

The image below illustrates the ideas offered by Brain Rule.  It is interesting to see the focus on Memory and Exercise.  Stress and Vision had the next highest votes.

Collect Ideas, Discuss, and Vote Using Tricider

The TLT Group has been exploring the app, Tricider for the past few weeks, thanks to an

introduction by Penny Kuckkahn. Tricider is an easy tool to collect ideas, discuss and vote. So it facilitates brainstorming and voting all in one. It also facilitates debate.

Tricider works great for teams in the work place and for students as a part of a class.  The app is free and no registration is required.

Here is an example of a Tricider we used at the end of a webinar.  We used it as a space for participants to reflect on this question "What advice would you share with students or colleagues based on the readings and today's discussion?  We were also experimenting with the Tricider app.

We used the voting feature the next week to encourage people to share their ideas for the webinar around this question "What is one tool or strategy you or your institution uses to support student learning?"  The idea with the largest number of votes was the recipient of a prize. 

Tricider addresses many of the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education:

• Encourages active learning.
• Facilitates contacts between students.
• Emphasizes time on task
• Respects diverse ways of learning

The TLT Group shares something from "the Bleeding Edge" and a Low Threshold Application(LTA) each week prior to the start of FridayLive! This information is also available for TLT Members after the session.  See the up-coming FridayLive!  lineup here.

My first attempt at creating a Tackk and embedding it in a blog

Adobe Connect 9.3 Whiteboard Tool - The Basics and Ideas for Use

On October 17, 2014 the TLT Group FridayLive webinar focused on "What's New in Adobe Connect 9.3." One of the tools featured was the whiteboard.  Below are some of the highlights from that session. This short video describes the basic whiteboard features and introduces a whiteboard activity.


Some of the ideas shared during the session on ways the whiteboard could be used.

1. The white board could be overlayed on a video and the annotation tools used to highlight key points.
2. You can ask students to place an X on a line to illustrate their experience or comfort level with something you are about to introduce.
3. As an ice breaker you could put up a wall image and invite participants to create graffiti before the start of a live session.
4. The whiteboard can also be an overlay on applications such as Access, Excel, etc.
5. Use the whiteboard for a chalk talk activity and then export it as notes for the participants.
6. Use for brainstorming activities.
7. Use it for exporting notes for student review.
8. Develop a slide deck loaded with images of walls, maps, squares, etc.that can be used on the fly for the whiteboard.
9. Use animated gif's on the whiteboard.

Whiteboards can be printed.  There are also two ways to export whiteboards: they can be saved as png or sent as a snapshot.

It is always valuable to be logged in as a participant so you can see how the screen appears to the participant. Another great piece of advice, spend time practicing with the setting and learning new techniques.

Next steps:

1. I plan to continue to add to the list of ways the whiteboard can be used in Adobe Connect.
2. I plan to test the whiteboard feature in breakout rooms

My VoiceThread Learning Journey Continues

I am continuing my VoiceThread learning journey using Michelle Pacansky-Brock's book and am loving the discussions taking place about the book using VoiceThread.








I created a survey using VoiceThread and the Doodle tool, see below.  I gave people the option to use VoiceThread or a standard survey. Most people chose the standard survey.




Some take aways from Chapter 2:

• For VoiceThread activities, it's important to provide instructions that are: clear, specific, and accessible, I think it works best to have the instructions in writing on the screen in addition to providing them verbally.
• I would like to use Tackk to create a web page when designing a larger project. A VoiceThread could be embedded where participants could ask questions about the project.  Include sample projects and chunk the project into steps with dates and specific deliverables.  This approach could be used for TOL4B.
• I also like Michelle's suggestion of scaffolding the use of VoiceThread in a course by first having student leave comments, then move to editing and commenting and finally creating their own VoiceThreads.

In Chapter 3 Michelle provided examples of 8 different slide types. I like the idea of creating a consistent look and feel to the design of VoiceThreads that are used in a class. I also liked how Michelle added little reminders like "Comment Here" and "Just Listen.". I also like the way Michelle uses the check-in slide.

In Chapter 4 I gained a better understanding about why Michelle had so many different feedback identities. You need to use different identities if leaving multiple feedback in the same VoiceThread so you can reorder the feedback next to the comment being made.  Michelle also shared that she turns off the comments after the week assignment concludes.  Students still have access to view the ViceThreads and have reported value in doing so,

What I am learning about VoiceThread

I am participating in a TLT Group book discussion around Michelle Pacansky-Brock's book, "How to Humanize Your Online Class with VoiceThread. The discussion is taking place using VoiceThread.

Here are some of my take-aways from Chapter 1:

1. Create different identities such as one for when I am when I am inserting a text transcript of my voice comment and one for when I am providing feedback.
      
2. Survey students at the beginning of class regarding the the method they plan to use for creating a voice comment: mic, webcam, mobile app, phone.
3. A low risk ice breaker at the beginning of class which requires the use of voice.
4. It looks like there is a way to use the Doodle tool so that it does not fade away.  I want to experiment with that.
5. I'd also like to experiment with uploading a video into VoiceThread and using the Doodle Tool to comment.
6. I'd like to experiment more with leaving VoiceThread comments using a mobile device. 

Here are some things I want to further explore or questions that were raised for me from Chapter 1:

1. I would like to better understand Voice Manager.
2. I would like to create/adapt some collaborate learning activities using VoiceThread with some of my content.
3. I would like to further explore the various ways we, as teachers, can and should construct our presence online.  
4. Instead of using a survey regarding the up-coming TLT Cognitive Science Book Discussion Series, I would like to create a VoiceThread as a way for members to react to the books and talk about how they may want to contribute to the discussions.

Adapting Ordered Sharing for Adobe Connect Breakout Rooms

TLT FridayLive participants shared their thoughts on the Fundamental Questions related to using ”breakout rooms” in online sessions.

What do you most what to gain:

• providing the shy / quiet folks with a smaller group to talk
• less pressure to speak in front of everyone else
• brainstorming and planning for sharing back
• Giving folks the opportunity to contribute in small groups when they don't feel comfortable sharing in large groups

What do you most cherish and not want to lose:

• still allow the kind of dialogue that emerges in f2f small groups
• communication and relationship...  
• Ability for students to feel connection and responsibility for their ideas and contributions to a community understanding - weaving back into larger class/group.
  
  

Breakout rooms offer an opportunity for dialogue. “Through critical discourse, students convert surface knowledge to deep learning by connecting new ideas to their existing framework, creating new patterns, dissecting principles, and ultimately constructing meaning for themselves” (Dailey, 2011, p.21).  Helping students learn at a deeper level is well worth the effort. Ordered Sharing, offered by Caine Learning Center,  is one instructional strategy that can be used to that end. Below are the some ideas for adapting this strategy to an Adobe Breakout Room environment.

First we applied the lessons we learned in using Adobe Breakout rooms in general, see this blog post for more information. Three key elements for success are:

1. Allow more time than you think for the activity.  
2. Practice makes Progress, each web-conference platform is different and has it’s own operational nuances.
3. Verbal and Written Instructions; review prior and have visible in the breakout room.

Image created in Stipple

http://stipple.com/photos/53901134

PREPARATION

1. Identify a participant who will serve as the group’s time keeper. Make them a presenter before starting the breakout rooms.
2. Set up the breakout room layout. In the layout below, a campfire image was uploaded into a share pod. Directions were created in PowerPoint and uploaded into another share pod and the reflection question was upload into a third share pod.

Ordered Sharing Breakout Room Layout

PARTICIPANT ORIENTATION

1. Introduce the slide drawing tools and allow participants time to practice.  This could be done as an icebreaker at the start of the session.
2. Introduce the topic.
3. Review the directions: visual and verbal. Explain the reason the ordered sharing activity is being used. Ordered sharing is another way to listen and think together through dialogue. Encourage participants to listen fully without commenting in any way, observing their thoughts and the thoughts of the group, suspending their assumptions, refraining from imposing their views on others, and avoiding suppressing or holding back their thoughts.
4. Give participants an opportunity to reflect.
5. Change to the breakout room layout and explain that this is the layout they will see in the breakout room. Review directions including how to activate their microphone in the breakout room. Explain that the campfire image provides the context, a setting for the group to talk together. Identify the time keepers.
6. Evenly distribute participants into rooms or manually move participants.
7. Provide a warning that they will soon find themselves in a breakout room. Start breakout sessions.  

DURING THE ACTIVITY

Check in on the groups and assist with any technical challenges. Based on progress, determine when to close the breakout rooms.  Give the groups a 2 minute warning, 1 minute warning and then announce that they will be returning to the main room.

WRAP UP

You might decide to ask the groups to report out in some way and or to debrief the Ordered Sharing strategy.

Resources:

Caine, R. N., Caine, G., Kimek, K. J., McClintic, C. L., & Costa, A. L. (2009). 12 brain/

bind learning principles in action. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Dailey, B.A.M. 2001. Creating Significant Deep Learning Experiences: The Cross Papers Number 14. Phoenix, AZ: League for Innovation in the Community College.

"To MOOC or Not to MOOC? Is that the question?" Implications for successful experienced faculty

The TLT Group will talk about MOOC today, Friday, 12/6/13, 2:00 PM ET. Register Here for this free event.

This article "MPPCs for PD: Will massive open online education revolutionalize professional development?" talks about MOOCs for teacher professional development.  The TLT has offered two MOOCs for higher education faculty and will be offering two more next year

• Seven Futures of Education schMOOC, Jan 14 - February 22, 2014 Register Here
  You can join in the planning of this MOOC, Dec 10 and 17 (4:00 PM ET) tlt.gs/membersonline
• Teaching Online for Beginners, Spring dates TBD

Source: BestCollegesOnline.org

Applying lessons from connectivist MOOCs and Udacity to TOL4B

"MOOC - The Resurgence of Community in Online Learning," by Stephen Downes, got me thinking about MOOC is relation to the TLT Teaching Online for Beginners (TOL4B) MOOCOW that just concluded.  The "OW" by the way, stands for "or whatever." 

http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2013/05/mooc-resurgence-of-community-in-online.html?m=1    Below are some ideas I want to apply to TOL4B version 2. 

I take a performance based approach to instructional design and tried to apply Dee Fink's

Made with Paper 53

integrated course design approach to the design of TOL4B. In some respects this seems to be contrary to the connectivist theory which is the foundation of the MOOC.  I read Creating the Connectivist Course" in Stephen Downes collection "Connectivism and Connective Knowledge: Essays on meaning and learning networks " (May 20120)
http://www.downes.ca/files/Connective_Knowledge-19May2012.pdf
 trying to understand what type of design approach Stephen Downes used in the  MOOCs he has offered.  

"By navigating the content environment, and selecting content that is relevant to your own personal preferences and context, you are creating an individual view or perspective. So you are first creating connections between contents with each other and with your own background and experience. And working with content in a connectivist course does not involve learning or remembering the content. Rather, it is to engage in a process of creation and sharing. Each person in the course, speaking from his or her unique perspective, participates in a conversation that brings these perspectives together." (pg 505)

So far I have not been able to find an answer to my question.  My sense is that a primary purpose of these early MOOCs was to create connectivist experiences and environments. There are people who suggest that connectivism is not a theory, I tend to agree.  I think it's a way of facilitating learning and designing learning environments which focuses on networking within communities of learners.

I was also fascinated by a recent article in Fast Company, "UDACITY'S SEBASTIAN THRUN, GODFATHER OF FREE ONLINE EDUCATION, CHANGES COURSE,"
  http://www.fastcompany.com/3021473/udacity-sebastian-thrun-uphill-climb Apparently Sebastian Thrun is not happy with the low completion rates in Udacity courses and is partnering with businesses and colleges to use the content within the framework of a course or an organization. This model will also produce revenue for the company. Udacity courses are still available for free but if you want credit or a mentor there is a cost.  Sounds like a realistic model to me.

"Udacity’s mission is to educate people so they can live a better life. In an era of declining employment opportunities in many traditional areas, we are empowering our students to acquire the necessary skills to excel in the high-growth tech industry."

The TOL4B offered 3 paths through the MOOC: guided, DYI supported and DYI unsupported. Sounds similar to the shift Udacity has made.

More thinking to do,

TLT TOL4B MOOCOW Midcourse Feedback

I have been experimenting with Haiku Deck. Below is my first attempt. I created it using my iPad.  I was also able to add notes to each slide but I don't see them in this embedded version. I do see the notes when viewing the web version   

I don't see how to easily add audio.  You can export to PowerPoint and then use Screencast-O-Matic to add audio.

I like how easily you can add images from Creative Commons. You can also add your own images but I found that to be more challenging.

The feedback was gathered using a free assessment survey tool, TooFast,



Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad

#EDCMOOC - sMOOChers Debrief with Amy Woodgate

TLT FridayLive!
sMOOChers Debrief with Amy Woodgate
March 8, 2013  2:00-3:00 pm Eastern Time - free to all.

---

Amy Woodgate, University of Edinburgh MOOC project director, joins "sMOOChers" who participated in THE INTENTIONALLY EXPERIMENTAL #EDCMOOC "eLearning and Digital Cultures," https://www.coursera.org/course/edc.  They will discuss their experiences, lessons learned, recommendations, druthers, things to avoid.   This is one of six MOOCs being offered by the University of Edinburgh.  Edinburgh was offering this "course" both as a MOOC and as a more traditional course simultaneously, so Amy can also compare and contrast the two approaches and how they might fit together.  We will also explore ways in which faculty  can integrate MOOCs (entirely or by selecting modules)  hosted by other colleges and universities in their own undergraduate courses. For the last 15 minutes, participants will be invited to discuss emerging plans for the TLT Group to offer a MOOC-ish experience based on John Sener's recent book "Seven Futures of American Education:  Improving Teaching and Learningin a Screen Captured World."

The MOOC has concluded but the learning continues. I want to share some digital artifacts created by my VoiceThread friends.  If you explore these examples you will see amazing creative examples using different technologies

• Keeley Sorokti: EDMC MOOC: A Maiden Voyage
• Ligia Toutant: Transhuman Technologies and Disability
• Marianne  W. Preisler: Draft of Artifact
• Fran Monaghan: Final Assignment
• Felicia Sullivan: Connecting to a learning community through technology
• Rick Bartlett: Human Worth #EDCMOOC
• Virginia Travato: The informationocean

Some additional resources collected along the way:
#EDCMOOC "Invisible threads are the strongest ties." Check out this SlideRocket presentation!  I love it!!!!... Made by Ary Aranguiz @trending teacher. Ary ends the presentation with this quote "We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and those fibers as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects." Herman Melville

A great summary of the EDCMOOC experience by one of the instructors, Sian  Bayne. The VoiceThread that emerged organically that I have been participating in was featured. That's pretty cool. Sian's blog post Shoring the fragments of #EDCMOOC

#EDCMOOC Using MOOC-like resources for undergrad education

TLT Group
tltgroup.org

Looking for examples of how colleges and universities are facilitating the most effective integration of MOOCs and similar new resources into undergraduate programs that are NOT producing or hosting the MOOCs. And thereby increase the variety, quality, and quantity of undergraduate instruction available to students and alumni.

Please share your ideas through this survey. tlt.gs/MOOCusage

Designated Learner

The TLT Group has been experimenting with real time learning using a designated learner. The context for our experimentation is Adobe Connect web conferencing. The content is an online application, in this case Google Forms.  A designated learner learns "in front" of others and serves as the voice of the learner for the other participants. 

These are the questions we are addressing through our experimentation in this area:

• How can we make these "TRAINING"  sessions more useful to YOU and your colleagues?
• For which conditions, context would this new approach be especially helpful?  Not helpful?
• What should we try in this way next?

Gloria Hofer, Instructional Technology Resource Specialist, Santa Clara University, needs to be recognized for her bravery. Her expertise, patience and positive persistence during the session was a model in and of itself.

Here are the lessons we've learned so far:

• PREREQUISITE INFORMATION - Include a link to the prerequisite information in the workshop announcement such as: background information or set-up information.  
• In the case of our topic on Google forms that would include: establishing a Google Account and accessing Google Drive. We also wanted participants to open a second window on their computer and then be able to size the Adobe Connect window and the new window so they could be viewed side by side.  This information could have been provided as a screen cast.
• Include a handout with the steps of the process.
• BRIEFEST POSSIBLE ORIENTATION:
• Very very brief recap from the pre-session info
• How to make the Adobe presentation window full-screen and back to normal view. Chat is in normal view.
• How to signal the presenter using emoticons: raise hand, slow down, etc.
• Give the participants some options on how they might want to participate:
• resize the Adobe window and a second browser so they can see the demonstration at the same time as they follow along
• Toggle between the Adobe room and their browser as they listen and follow the instructions.
• Use two computers or an iPad and a computer.
• Use two monitors.
• PART 2, DEMONSTRATION: Designated Learner is guided to RAPIDLY  produce something to completion - if very rudimentary
• PART 3: instructor goes through more features  and responds to questions
• Figure out how to manage the windows in Adobe in advance. This may vary based on the content and instructor preference.
• NOTE: The variations between how things look if you are using a Mac versus if you are using a PC need to be taken into consideration.
• How much should the designated learner and the expert communicate before the session.  Someone suggested that the questions from the designated learner be scripted to help move the content along.  On the other hand, the designated learner and expert would have no contact and the reactions and questions from the designated learner would be spontaneous.
• During the demonstration, when the instructor is sharing their screen,use full screen.  Need a way for presenter to be able to see chat or hear to monitor what's going on.  Check this out.
• Be careful about allowing unanticipated questions.

Our plan is to apply these lessons to a series of Member Exchange Workshops related to Social Media/Networking Tools/Resources. planned for January 9, 23 and Feb 13th. This link will take you to the registration page

Claire Dailey