Center for Innovative Pedagogy

Here's a call for presentations for an upcoming Ohio conference on teaching and learning. If you're doing something exciting, why not write it up and share it?

Many institutions are finding that the analysis of data about student behavior allows them to identify at-risk students earlier and offer interventions which improve academic success. Most of the case studies are being done at larger institutions with lower graduation rates than Kenyon, but the possibilities and risks involved in the process are worth keeping an eye on.

A review of the book "Minds On Fire", which discusses "subversive play" as an engaging pedagogy. Part 3 in a series on the "Reacting to the Past" series of "role-immersion" games; the other 2 entries are linked from this one.

A description of the Reacting to the Past educational role-playing game. This article talks about the mechanics of running a Reacting to the Past game in class; it links to a previous article in the series in which the author describes his experience playing the game.

This Chronicle blogger concedes that "modularity" will not work at residential colleges -- at least not for all courses. Personally I think this reductionist trend is going too far. Students choose a major discipline. Students (often) choose a sub-discipline. Students choose which courses to take among all the possibilities. Students choose from among professors teaching those courses. The post takes this down to the level of the 10-minute video (or lecture). Really? What can one learn in ten minutes that stands alone so much that ALL the related knowledge can be ignored. Here's an example. A student watches a 10-minute video on coral reefs and learns that reefs are in danger due to rising ocean temperatures. Fine. But what is the reason? Does the threat to coral stem from the fact that they build their skeletons out of calcium carbonate? From the fact that modern corals are aragonitic and not calcitic? Does the symbiotic nature of corals and zooxanthellic algae play a role? Is there something else involved here? A combination of factors? Factoids? Do we really want our future generations making decisions about important matters based on what they remember from a 10-minute lecture or video?

Lots to think about in this deceptively short article. The finding highlights the importance of course design - I think Koh undersells the point that her online course may require more writing than many.

A quick list of 8 tips which students could use to learn more deeply. Hat tip to Judy Holdener, for recommending this article.

"Both digital writing and information literacy call attention to today's interactive and multimodal information environments, which have both expanded and complicated the ways people use, create, and share information. As both composition instructors and librarians expand our conceptions of writing and of research, we may find that rhetoric becomes all the more essential for situating information literacy and writing."

"Our real goal is to improve how students integrate new information. We want to change them. While what we have to teach our students may get them a first job, it will not on its own get them a second job-especially one that may not yet even exist. We want our students to be able to learn new things, analyze new knowledge, integrate it into their thinking, and change their minds when necessary." Jose Bowen argues that we should treat both technology and disciplinary content as tools, in pursuit of the larger cognitive changes we try to create in the liberal arts.

Active Learning is a "buzz word-y" kind of thing, but the concept actually makes perfectly good sense. As with anything in your life: moderation is key. Heck, you may already be employing some of these strategies.

We don't offer "online" courses at Kenyon, but these tips do apply to our course websites and Moodle pages. It's worth the time to think how a student with a disability would experience your resources and assignments.

A report of a conference session in which a philosophy professor at John Carroll University presented her use of thought experiments as a signature pedagogy in her classes. (Also note the use of flipped classroom approaches to make the class time for the students to engage in the thought experiments.)

The author uses a syllabus so detailed that it can function like a textbook, and offers specific tips on how she uses the syllabus every day. This is an intriguing way of making sure the syllabus is not just a contract read on the first day and referred to only when people break it. I was particularly taken with the approach Dr. Crossman uses to make students actually do the "recommended" reading.

Treating something as a "game" is usually a pejorative - meaning that the thing is not taken seriously or is manipulated outside its original purpose. But games (in all their forms) are also good at building skills and knowledge in the players, and at moving players from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation. Are there techniques used in games which apply to classes?

"Do nothing in isolation; always connect the events." The author says this in the context of a digital humanities program, but I think it applies to all professional development efforts, and probably to many course designs.

Did you know that grades weren't widespread in American education until midway through the 20th Century? This article features a literature review of the history of grading, discusses some of the ways in which grading doesn't work as well for learning as we'd like, and suggests alternative approaches to assignments and assessment.

Jon Green, K'10, writes about the ways in which computer programming is similar to good writing of any kind. Both require detailed planning of the argument or instructions, and both value precise language.

Suggestions for ways to introduce "desirable difficulties" into classes - those activities or organizational strategies which cause students to shift gears and contextualize their learning, thus making it stronger and longer-lasting.

I have my students working in groups for lab sessions this term. Admittedly this falls outside the usual scope of what constitutes "group work" (i.e., a larger paper, research paper, project in lieu of an exam, etc.), but I still picked out a few pointers to emphasize when talking to my students about what I expect from them.