Archive for August, 2012

As we fill our instructional minds with thoughts of going deeper, going higher, and going across curricula, there is one tried and tested learning technique that stands out as the repeat champion of learning – repetition! Indeed, if we want to go deeper, we must also have wide knowledge. If we want our students to synthesize, they must have a firm grip on knowledge. If we want connections across curricula, learners must have knowledge across those curricula. As we strive for higher, deeper levels of learning, we must not leave out that base level of knowledge. As we have all learned when we wanted to remember a list of terms, the steps in a process, a telephone number, or even someone’s name, repetition reigns supreme. We say it over and over to ourselves so that we remember.

We use lots of tricks to remember, and they work for adults as well as for children. Songs, rhymes, and chants help us to recall information that could otherwise be inaccessible in our brains. For instance, how many of us can say the alphabet easily without singing it? What about the books of the New Testament? I’d never get past the Letter to the Romans if I wasn’t singing.

God calls us, in fact, to have lots of repetition to remember important things, especially in the Shema:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NIV) In other words, say it, read it, remember it over and over and over.

Repetition helps us to remember, and we must remember before we can connect or take knowledge deeper, higher, or across. Use this ancient wisdom and build opportunities for repetition into your courses. Here are a few tools to do so.

– “Turn to your neighbor and try to remember the names of these XNumber concepts.”
– Use an acronym for key terms.
– Have students recite a key phrase or concept with you, then to each other.
– Have students give each other mini-oral quizzes before transitioning to another concept.
– Prepare short mini-quizzes for students to take on mobile-devices on the material you have been covering.
– Have students make flash cards for an assignment to help them remember key terms.

When it comes to remembering, repetition is Learning’s Repeat Champion!

There they are – students – faces in their hands, some with their heads on the desks, eyes barely open. What is an instructor to do? The most exciting presentation skills, the newest PowerPoint transitions, even the turn-to-your-neighbor think-pair-share activities don’t seem to break this cycle of disengagement. Professors, instructors, teaching assistants, it is time we stand up for learning! In fact, don’t stop there – have your students stand up for learning!

This trick really is that easy – ask your students to stand up. It’s not a punishment or shame, it’s a learning technique. Break the pattern of sitting idly by, and have your students stand to interact. Dr. Jean Feldman, renowned in early childhood circles as an active learning guru, said this about children and adults alike: “You learn on your feet, not on your seat!”

She has a point. When we stand, we immediately increase our heart rate from the sitting position, which means the brain gets more oxygen, which means our minds are more ready to process information and think creatively. If you want to enhance the effect even more, have your students take a few steps. If they then have to count the steps, they are accessing a part of the brain that works mathematically, and are now using more of their brain than they were when they were sitting and listening to the lecture.

Here’s how this might look in a face-to-face Communication class as a planned activity.

Instructor: “Let’s think about this together. First, everyone stand up.” (Pause for students to stand) “Now, everyone take 11 steps in any direction and pause for more instructions.” (Pause for students to take steps) “Find two other people who are closest to you so you are in groups of three, then wait for the question.” (Pause for groups to form) Now, as a group see if you can recall the major group roles we discussed, then decide which ones you think you saw in our case study this morning.” (Pause for discussion) “Okay, now each group choose a reporter and tell me one role you saw demonstrated in the case study. This group first!”

In this example, the discussion was not limited to one or two students who happened to be paying attention. Everyone in the class was engaged in discussing the application question. Furthermore, everyone in the class was brought out of their comfortable, sleepy seats to interact with students in the class that were previously unaccessible. Yes, some students were annoyed they had to stand up and interact. They wanted to stay seated and sleepy, not engage in the learning. The wise instructor, however, would not allow such apathy. She took a stand for learning.

Takeaways:
You learn on your feet, not on your seat.
Stand up for learning by having students stand up.

What’s the best way to teach? Is it lecture, group discussion, or active training? Is it social or individual? Is it classical or constructivist?

The best answer to this question, I think, is to ask a different question – how does the student best learn? It’s not about the techniques or the technology. It is not about statistics or surveys. Understanding how learners best learn is about relationship. The best way to reach a student, influence a student, and meet a student’s needs are to focus on that student, get to know that student, and love (agape) that student.

This might mean you have an ongoing relationship with 200 students or more. It might mean you have 3 or 4 students you directly mentor.That relationship helps us to understand what motivates a student as an individual, and when we can motivate a student, we can help them learn. As a colleague of mine said recently, “I remember well my teachers that loved me.” I do too, and those are the teachers from whom I learned the most. It is so much easier to learn from someone I like, and that I perceive cares about me.

We talk in academia about child-centered and learner-centered education, meeting a learner’s specific and individual needs. That is important, and the learner truly needs to be at the center of our model. Add meeting those needs to a relationship of agape love, and that equals the best way to teach. At least, that is, for this learner.

As a new Instructional Designer in the Adams Center for Teaching and Learning at Abilene Christian University, I feel grateful to have the opportunity to assist, guide, and learn from faculty who are working to educate students for Christian service and leadership throughout the world. God has been faithful to me, and in my service here, I strive to be faithful to Him.

This is a space for teaching tips, learning lingo, life lessons, and Christian content. I’ll use it as a repository for old thoughts and a depository for new thoughts. Well, new to me, anyway, and perhaps they will also be new to you. My other blog, Gratitude Check, can be seen at  http://dpchristianson.wordpress.com/. Here you’ll see a few of my thoughts on gratitude vs. pride, mercy vs. justice, and mostly stuff for which I thank God. More will come here…soon.