Pew Faculty Teaching & Learning Center
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Director's Note
Fostering collaborative learning. This summer, I presented at the International Forum on Active Learning Classrooms and met some wonderful people, toured innovative facilities, and encountered new teaching and learning research. One such study, Group Work Enhances Student Performance in Biology: A Meta-Analysis, “demonstrates the significant and large effect of group work on student performance,” going further to conclude that the effect “was significant only when group work was graded, as opposed to not graded, and when it was used throughout the quarter or semester.” [This paper is well written and as with nearly all of the work I share here, likely generalizable to other disciplines and across undergraduate and graduate contexts.] As has become more evident in recent years, putting students into groups does not mean that collaborative learning will happen. It is worth spending some quality time in your courses to make visible the skills, dispositions, mindsets, and actions that bring out the power of working with others. Interested in going deeper? Read more about collaborative cognitive load theory. Looking for more practical guidance? Here is one of my favorites: The Good Collaboration Toolkit. Seeking a curated set of resources to review? Check out the Pew FTLC Collaborative Learning Teaching Resource.
Construction-of-understanding ecosystems (active learning). I have struggled of late with the term “active learning” because it has come to mean so many things that it is no longer terribly useful. It should not come as a surprise that I was captivated by a weighty paper, The Curious Construct of Active Learning, that offers a framework–the construction-of-understanding ecosystem–and provides a substantive review of (admittedly STEM-heavy) studies under the active learning umbrella. Going beyond constructivism, the framework addresses student, peer, and instructor actions within a learning environment, or ecosystem. If you have the chance to review it, I would be interested to hear what you think. Given that literature reviews are a theme here, I offer another that lives up to the promise of its title: Instructor Strategies to Aid Implementation of Active Learning: A Systematic Literature Review.
Intentionality of active learning classrooms. The magic doesn’t just happen. Or rather, learning benefits from design. At the conference mentioned above, I was part of a discussion about how instructors need to pay more attention to supporting students while learning in unfamiliar spaces. Sitting in swiveling/rolling chairs, at tables arranged in pods instead of rows, or being able to choose among chair types or differing height tables can take some getting used to. I will never forget walking into an active learning workshop with chemistry instructors from across the country, finding myself seated at a table for four (strangers), and being given a collaborative activity to complete with little direction. It was unsettling to say the least and I consider myself an expert, enthusiastic learner. I hope that I never lose that visceral memory of discomfort so that I adequately orient students to what is going on, explaining the intention of the room setup, providing different engagement options, and generally acknowledging that construction-of-understanding learning really works but is likely to be hard and/or uncomfortable. Along these lines, this 2020 paper does a beautiful job of also living up to the title: Groupwork in Active Learning Classrooms: Recommendations for Users. I also offer our Classroom Design for Active Learning page that provides an overview of the active learning classroom ecosystem at GVSU, links to relevant campus resource websites, scholarship on the topic, and additional learning opportunities.
Reasonable clarity of expectations. I love a good debate. I have written here about the importance of making expectations for students clear. How clear is clear enough? Does clarity hinder self-authorship? Can clarity involve assuring students that learning is going to be muddy and challenging? I think so. The point is, there is nuance and complexity here. Whatever your stance on the topics of rubrics (the subject of this opinion piece), I wanted to close with two points from Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera’s writing that really resonated with me:
“What pedagogies facilitate self-integration, a process in which students combine what they learn with who they are?”
“While I sympathize with efforts to meet students’ needs, creating bounded evaluation is not a path to intellectual liberation.”
More on unbounded exploration, radical imagination and a liberal education for a VUCA world next time.
—Christine Rener
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The Pew FTLC and the Padnos/Sarosik Center for Civil Discourse are hosting a collaborative space for faculty to explore ways to navigate challenging classroom conversations, especially amidst the divisive rhetoric of the presidential campaign and sociopolitical uncertainties this Fall.
Join co-facilitators Christine Rener and Lisa M. Perhamus to:
- Share successful pedagogical practices
- Brainstorm strategies for fostering productive dialogue
- Learn to navigate contention in the classroom
- Support each other in cultivating constructive conversations across differences
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Spots Open
Fall 2024 Sponsored Teaching & Learning Event Grants
Our Sponsored Teaching and Learning Event (STLE) grant fully supports a limited number of GVSU faculty to attend specific teaching and learning workshops, institutes, and conferences each year. All faculty are eligible to apply and application deadlines vary with the specific event applied for. The events listed below are still accepting applicants. Don't delay! Apply online via our grants system today!
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Student Success SeriesAll Means All! Cultivating Inclusion, Unlearning Implicit Bias & Inspiring Equity
- Wednesday, September 18, 2024
- 8:30-10:30am
- Grand River Room, Russel H. Kirkhof Center
- Allendale Campus
More Than Just Another Keynote Speaker… Dr. Adolph Brown is “Delightfully Different!”
Dr. Adolph Brown III is an internationally renowned credentialed master teacher, character education leader, servant leadership consultant, educational & clinical psychologist, author, researcher, entrepreneur, and an influential thinker/practitioner in the fields of education, human behavior, and neuroscience. He was once the youngest tenured full professor in our nation. Dr. Brown is a graduate of the College of William & Mary with degrees in psychology, anthropology, and a minor in education.
This session of the Student Success Series will explore blind spots and implicit biases, hidden forces that shape our opinions, attitudes, perceptions, and decisions about others. This interactive, dynamic, and uplifting presentation will address the shortcuts that create our mental blind spots. The operational definition of “equity” will include naming of barriers and identifying source narratives while dismantling them. Confirmation biases and microaggressions will also be discussed. By attending this presentation, you will gain skills to help contribute to the development and/or maintenance of safe spaces of respect, acceptance, and support for ALL. Dr. Brown will also provide motivation and knowledge to help you remain focused, motivated, and inspired.
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Join a Fall 2024 Mentoring Community!
The Pew FTLC Mentoring Program offers opportunities for faculty to connect and grow at GVSU. We have mentoring communities for First-Year Faculty (FYF), Faculty-to-Faculty (F2F), and identity-based groups. Choose from options that fit your schedule, either in-person or online.
Mentoring Communities:
FYF — Biweekly
F2F — Monthly (Years 2-6 Tenure Track, Visiting, and Affiliate Faculty)
NEW Identity-Based — Black Faculty, Faculty of Color, STEM Faculty, Women in Higher Ed
Register here and learn more at gvsu.edu/ftlc/mentoring.
Explore more mentoring options with a FREE National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) membership for additional resources and support. Visit our NCFDD webpage.
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Save the Date
As we gear up for a semester packed with learning opportunities, be sure to mark these key dates on your calendar—and watch for further updates soon!
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