CourseWiki - Very Large Classrooms

Problem-solving, inquiry-based pedagogy for large classrooms using enabling technologies.

A BioQUEST white paper developed for the summer 2003 workshop
Presentation slides available (PDF, 7.2MB)

Author information

Tom Hoogendyk
tomh@bio.umass.edu
http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/staff/tomh.phtml
http://bcrc.bio.umass.edu/pew/
http://bcrc.bio.umass.edu/general/

Rama Viswanathan
ramav@beloit.edu
http://www.beloit.edu/chem/

Also see info on one of the national initiatives for system change and reform:
http://chemlinks.beloit.edu/ (headquartered at Beloit, more info from director Brock spencer spencer@beloit.edu)

Briana Timmerman
timmerman@biol.sc.edu

Problem: Current pedagogy of large lectures at an R1 University

Visions of where we would like to go

Straight-lecture format: teacher speaks, students listen passively.
- learner-centered environments, student directed discussions

Instructor = central authority figure and sole source of information.
- small-group problem solving and meaningful peer collaboration
- instructor as mediator for whole-class discussions/ guide to student discovery of knowledge

Lack of built-in opportunities for useful or constructive feedback for either student or faculty
- allow useful, constructive participation by students
- frequent and meaningful feedback about their conceptions

continuum of assessment opportunities
- Prepare: identification of misconceptions
- Participate: in-class problem solving (forms minor component of grade)
- Pratice: application to new problem sets form major component of grade

provide rapid and frequent feedback to faculty member
- student prior conceptions
- student development of critical thinking skills
- student mastery of content
- student innovations - new ideas, questions

Students are not actively engaged in processes of inquiry,

nor are they taking responsiblity for their own learning.

expect/demand student involvement and greater critical thinking.
incorporate mechanisms for students to regularly pose questions peer-to-peer outside of class including discuss and receive feedback in online discussions or email bulletin boards.

Memorization, regurgitation assessment (simple recall of facts and figures)
- must re-design exam questions - graded assessments must reflect learning goals

S9 Example exam question

"In the recent X2 movie it is revealed that the "mutant" gene responsible for the main characters superpowers (both male and female mutants exist) is transmitted only by the fathers. Which of the following is most likely true?

a. the mutant gene resides on the Y chromosome b. the mutant gene resides on the X chromosome c. the mutant gene must skip a generation d. the screenwriters did not take intro biology

How do we extend the problem-solving, open-ended paradigm to large (several hundred students) classroom situations? We would like a teaching strategy which allows 1) flexibility in the types of questions faculty may pose and in the types of responses students may contribute; 2) two-way communication between faculty technology and student technology (example, faculy provide the axes for a graph, students predict the shape of the line in the graph for a hypothetical situation); 3) emphasis on student collaboration on multiple scales (from groups of three discussing issues to co-authoring of writing in larger groups). In addition, we would like to complement this approach in the smaller lab settings that accomany large lectures by answering the question: What types of data can we acquire in real time in laboratories and how can we effectively share and use the data to involve the students in active investigation and analysis? Lastly, we would ideally like to be able to collect and log the student responses created during all of these activities as a type of assessment data for the effectiveness of the approach.

Solutions

We propose using enabling technologies --(i) Drawing tablets/PDAs, (ii)Networking (including wireless), and (iii) flexible software (open-source and/or designed in house) to help us solve some of the problems. These technologies will provide flexibility in the types of information that can be presented to and collected from students and allow for two way communication and feedback between student and instructor, all in real time. Details not clear and this is the part that has to be worked out through a continued collaboration...

Explanation

Can do things that we could not do previously in large classrooms--constructive discomfort (QOD), prep. pages, multiple choice with instant statistics and display of answers, ability for instructor to provide a specific format and framework (e.g., blank graph with labeled axes) in which students have to answer questions ("guided" inquiry--is that the right term..), etc.

The rubrics above can be applied equally well to the laboratory section, albeit here the issue is not so much the logistics and management (small sections) as the ability to collect, display, and annotate and discuss data acquired in real time and gather class-room statistics for purposes of framing and verifying hypotheses, etc. All this can now be done in a laboratory which is now truly a collaboratory with active sharing of information.....

Briana to discuss large classroom problems and solutions envisioned at USC Tom to discuss what has already been done at Amherst and how it connects. Will also discuss his ongoing summer project working with data in small laboratory sections.. segues into Rama's real time data acquisition for laboratory sections using wireless and laptops.. (Emphasize two types of fata. Emphasize scaling (Up and down). Emphasize sense of ownership/belonging?)

Rama's paragraph: One of the important issues in teaching laboratory sections is how to encourage inquiry-based learning using experimental data (different from simulations) acquired by student groups. Ideally, this should happen in real time, as data sets are input and acquired in a dynamic fashion, so that trends are immediately apparent, as are discrepancies and anomalies. In addition, the importance of data set size in extracting meaningful statistics can also be highlighted by adding real time analysis to the data acquisition procedure. This is best done by software that automates the entire process, preferably displaying the data in real time. An example of such software demonstrated at this workshop uses off-the-shelf instrumentation (a digital voltmeter equipped with a serial port interface) to directly acquire, store, and display data in a standard data analysis environment (Excel)on a central computer . The central computer "harvests" all the data in real time from a wireless Room Area Network (RAN) of laptop computers. This model is flexible and can be expanded to include real time statistical analysis, including bar graphs, histograms, and regression analysis as appropriate. Students can then immediately use rigorous statistical critera to decide between "good' and "bad' data and to test the validity of hypotheses, as well as accept/reject and/or frame new hypotheses. Finally, it is envisioned that the model can also be expanded to include two way networking communication and file transfer components (including outlines of graphs and charts and other data frameworks that have to be completed by students), thus implementing a real time virtual collaboratory.

Ways of assessing our successes and failures

What data could we collect to document changes in student activities and learning outcomes?

change (increase hopefully) in student participation rates (attendence and retainment)
increase in student reasoning complexity as demonstrated by level of difficulty of exams on which student achievement rates remain high

What metadata could we collect to document the uses of instructional approaches and content pieces?

ancedotal feedback from faculty about students demanding greater involvement and challenge in upper level classes.

Rama's slides

Slide 1:

Computer-based real time data acquisition from a Room Area Network (RAN) of wirelessly networked laptops.

Display of entire class data in an Excel spreadsheet on a cental computer that "harvests" all the data.

(Spreadsheet could be projected on a wall using a LCD projector connected to this computer)

One column per (student group) laptop.

Slide 2:

A graph of real time data as it is acquired on a laptop constitutes an electronic "chart recorder."

Meaningful comparisions can be made since (bold)entire class data(end bold) can graphed, displayed, and projected on a large screen.

Real time statistical analysis (bar graphs, histograms, graphical regression analysis) can be easily added.

Slide 3:

(Title)Empowerment of student learning and insights (end title)

Understand the impact of data set size on the quality of statistics.

Accept/reject data based on large data sets and meaningful statistics.

Slide 4:

Accept/reject hypotheses.

Frame and test alternative hypotheses.

Self-evaluate quality of data and experimental skills.

Devise and have an opportunity to carry out additional/modified/new experiments.

Very Large Classrooms