Active Learning

IDEALA Week 2 Activity - Part 2

Teaching / Learning Activities

Information & Ideas

• Textbook - Badke, Research Strategies
• Videos - to be determined
• Websites - to be determined
• Samples of Assignments (from Professor and previous students)

Experience

• Exploring topics with concept maps
• Observing teacher and classmates as they search databases
• Searching databases - reference works, articles, books, images
• Presenting their new knowledge

Reflective Dialogue

• Minute paper - What made sense in today's lesson? What made sense in the class overall?
• Muddiest point - What is still unclear?
• Rubrics - Do I know what to do for this assignment? Did I meet the standards?
• Journals about learning - What databases help? What search techniques work or do not work?
• Annotations about sources - What did I learn about my research topic?

Integration of Steps 1 - 4

1.  Situational Factors

I believe the main learning goal for my course is reflected in the assessment and teaching-learning activities.  Students should have much practice in finding and using sources of information.  

I see a potential conflict due to being in a linked course.  I struggle to develop rich learning experiences because I am still uncertain about whether to simply guide students toward completion of their English essays or develop an assessment tool that students may not directly connect to their English paper assignment.

2.  Learning Goals and Feedback & Assessment

The main assessment tools are the creation of a presentation and annotated bibliography.  A journal allows students to reflect on their learning in the course, while an annotated bibliography requires students to reflect on the content of the course.

3.  Learning Goals and Teaching/Learning Activities

The intent of many learning activities is to directly support the development of the class presentation and annotated bibliography.  Past experience tells me that I do not develop enough teaching/learning activities to meet the large assessment goal.  Perhaps my expectations are too high for a one-unit class? Perhaps I need to improve my classroom management skills so that students stay on task?

4.  Teaching/Learning Activities and Feedback & Assessment

In part 1 of this week's activity, I suggested that students could evaluate each other's work on the in class activities.  Additionally, rubrics could be developed, shared, and discussed with students.  I imagine believe students could use these rubrics to evaluate my lesson (Did I teach them enough to perform well?) and to evaluate their own work (Did I do what the professor asked?).  Any kind of feedback from students assumes they are fully participating in classroom and homework assignments.  Also, students must be willing to honestly assess themselves and their classmates.

Worksheet for Designing a Course

From this broad goal:

"A year (or more) after this course is over, I want and hope that students will confidently and capably find and use a variety of sources of information in order to understand their research interests and provide answers and solutions to their research questions and problems."

I have identified some specific learning goals for the course:

Learning Goals for the Course:  Students will be able to…	Ways of Assessing this Kind of Learning	Actual Teaching-Learning Activities	Helpful Resources
Identify research interests	1. Students will identify a main topic and sub-topics. 2. Students will narrow this topic into a research question.	Develop concept map Search reference databases Develop research questions Write citations for reference works	Textbook: -      Badke’s Research Strategies Videos -    TBD Databases: -      Gale Virtual Reference Library -      CQ Researcher
Find sources of information	1. Students will find at least five sources of information that help them answer their research question. 2. Students will journal about their search attempts and document growth or weaknesses in their search skills.	Search databases Evaluate and select articles and books Critically read articles and books Write citations for articles and books	Textbook Videos Databases: -      Academic Search Premier -      JSTOR -      Library Catalog (WorldCat Local) -      ProQuest Research Library
Use sources of information to provide answers to problems	1. Students will give a classroom presentation about their problem and one potential solution to this problem. 2. Students will create an annotated bibliography to summarize and evaluate their sources of information.	Write outlines Create presentations, such as poster boards, Prezi, or    PowerPoint Write annotations Write citations in MLA format	Textbook Videos Writing Center -      Handouts -      Tutoring -      Workshops Speech & Sign Success Center