Named the Center for Excellence and Learning (CELT), the initiative's aim is to arm faculty with the tools to encourage student collaboration and solicit frequent, on-the-spot feedback to check if the class is absorbing the material.
The basic philosophy is called active learning, meaning continuous student-faculty engagement in the classroom.
Crucially, the alternative methods take into account the human mind’s limited memory capacity. It can retain only about seven items at once, and will hold even these only a few minutes, unless time is allowed for assimilating.
Data show that in a 50 to 75 minute lecture, a professor can roughly double student learning if he/she stops every five or 10 minutes for structured discussion. This enables the students to absorb the information and process it together, which substantially heightens retention. Knowledge is stored in their long-term memories.
Further, says Dr. Craig Nelson, a specialist in critical thinking and professor emeritus at Indiana University, student engagement helps correct what has been misunderstood so far. “In one study,” he recounted, “students were given multiple choice questions after a brief segment of lecture, marked their answers, spoke to their neighbors for two minutes, and then marked their answers again. Wrong answers went down an average of 50% in two minutes.”
This technique also boosts motivation, said Nelson, who recently made presentations at a daylong CELT-sponsored institute on campus. “Something like 75 percent of people are extroverts. When you get students going through this process of interactive correcting, they experience a big boost in motivation.”
With today’s technology, faculty can take advantage of near-real time feedback. Under traditional teaching methods, teachers rely on an exam to gauge if students “are getting it.” Now faculty are making increasing use of clickers. Students press a button and their answers are instantaneously recorded and tabulated.
“This ensures a professor knows how the class is coming along and it also gives him flexibility,” Nelson said. “Say he talks for seven minutes. The students click their answers and, let’s say, two-thirds of the class gets them right. Now the teacher can decide whether to stop and re-teach the material.”
In Nelson’s view, altering faculty behavior is as essential as adopting techniques that mesh with how people learn. In his words, “You have to make sure you’ve got your class with you before going on to your next point.”
Professor Tasha Souza, CELT faculty development coordinator, said of the recent workshops, “I believe Craig inspired a number of faculty and staff to think in dramatically different ways about teaching and learning. With institutional support from resources like CELT, we can significantly change the ways HSU courses are taught. Such changes can have positive implications for student and faculty recruitment, retention and, most important, learning.”
One of the faculty who attended, Mathematics Professor Diane Johnson, said the CELT sponsored “an absolutely first-rate teaching and learning institute. Professor Nelson challenged several long-held practices and backed up his criticisms and alternative solutions with well-documented research. I found his approaches refreshing, creative and inspiring.”
A staff attendee agreed. “As a professional who trains student leaders on campus, I believe the workshop gave me ideas for improving future trainings, while also giving me insight to the challenges professors face in the classroom,” said Gail Wootan of Student Affairs. “I walked away hoping the University fully embraces interactive learning. If there’s support at the administrative level, these practices can be put in place in an effective way that truly serves all students.”
CELT tools include course planning and grading and assessment. “Our CELT team provides guidance and support for campus educators in fostering engaged, inclusive and continuous learning,” Souza said. “It offers events, training opportunities, technological innovations and resources that encourage learning-centered education.”
The CELT office is in Nelson Hall West, room 233. Full information is at www.humboldt.edu/~celt.