University pedagogy, the didactics and understanding of learning

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University pedagogy, the didactics and
understanding of learning

• 26.10.07
• Lone Krogh

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• How to understand teaching and learning?

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• Birthe Lund

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(No Transcript)
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People learn

• 10 of what they read
• 20 of what they hear
• 30 of what they see
• 50 of what they see and hear
• 70 of what they talk over with others
• 80 of what they use and do in real life
• 95 of what they teach someone else
• William Glasser, quoted by Association for
  Supervision and Curriculum Department, Guide 1988.

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The presentation will have focus on

• Theories about teaching
• Theories about learning
• Teaching and learning practises
• Students learning strategies
• Elements of the teaching process

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Two main strategies for teaching

• The teacher as provider of facts and information
  to the students learning as acceptance/reception
  
• Teaching is effective provision of
  information, knowledge from the teacher to the
  students and/or giving the students possibilities
  for practising skills in one right way.

• The teacher as organiser of conditions for
  learning learning as construction
• Teaching is to organise situations and
  conditions for the students in interaction with
  others (students and teachers) to construct
  understandings and new practice, which are
  relevant within the specific educational context.

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Teaching?

• Teaching is a serious affair and
• The quality of instruction cannot be raised by
  odd tricks or by technical means alone. What is
  needed is theoretical insight into learning and
  teaching. (Engeström 1994, s 1)

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Chracteristics of good teaching and learning
enviroments

• Well defined and clear structure for teaching
• Enough time for learning
• Learning supported working climate
• Clearness and transparency in terms of content
• Meaningful communication
• Variety of teaching methods
• Individuality (students individual learning
  needs)
• Intelligent training
• Transparency in expectations to the students
• Stimulating learning environments
• (Meyer, 2005 p. 17 f)

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Excellent teaching from the teachers and
students point of view . The teacher..

• Has a desire to share his/her love of the subject
  with the students,
• Has abilities to make the material being taught
  stimulating and interesting,
• Has facilities for engaging with students at
  their level of understanding,
• Has a capacity to explain absolutely clear what
  has to be understood, at what level, and why,
• Shows concern and respect for students,
• Feels committed to encourage student
  independence,
• Has abilities to improvise and adapt to new
  demands,
• Uses teaching methods and academic tasks that
  require students to learn thoughtfully,
  responsibly and cooperatively,
• Uses valid assessment methods,
• Focuses on key concepts, and students
  misunderstandings of them, rather than on
  covering the ground,
• Give the highest-quality feedback on students
  work,
• Has a desire to learn from students and other
  sources about the effects on teaching and how it
  can be improved.
• (Ramsden, 1996 p. 86-87)

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Research-based teaching?

• Ideal
• You work together with the students and discuss
  the basis of the subjects not just educational
  books and theories
• Basic activities, related to the subject and its
  methods are being practicised not only
  mentioned
• Students are invited to participate in the
  community of professional researchers and
  teachers
• Students are being guided in working and writing
  academically
• Students are involved in authentic research
  projects
• The professional academic community (the
  university) is in contact with academic
  practioners outside the university
• The teachers are researchers
• (K. Jensen, 2006)

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It means, that

• Resarch-based teaching is when
• Students learn to work academically and as
  researchers and when
• Students learn about the newest knowledge and
  methods, being taught by teachers doing research

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Learning?

• No one really know what happens, when people
  learn
• But
• There are some suggestions

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Common ideas about learning

• Learning is
• Receiving and memorizing factual knowledge
  (Knowledge)
• Practising skills by repeating the same task over
  and over again, motivated by rewards which
  reinforce correct performance (Skills)
• The appropriation of new attitudes and
  behavioural models based on emotional and social
  experiences (Attitudes)
• Engestrøm, 1994

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Meaningful learning occurs through interpretation
and construction

• Learning is a mental and practical activity of
  the students, which is much more complicated than
  mere reception and storing.
• The students
• Construct a picture of the world and forms
  explanatory models of its different phenomena.
• Select and interpret information (not like a
  camera or tape-recorder)
• (Hopefully) end up correlating and merging newly
  material into his/her ongoing activity and
  earlier constructions (i.e. understandings and
  knowledge)
• Activities and existing models orientate and
  direct his/her attention, selection and
  interpretation
• New material again transforms earlier structures
  (for understanding) and activity

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Learning happens
Different aspects are integrated
Kooperation with other students, teachers
and surroundings
Brainwork Knowledge, understanding Skills,
qualifications
Feelings/emotions/motivation
Illeris, 2005
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Three sources that might affect learning outcome

• Learning is
• A function of individual differences between
  students
• A function of teaching
• The result of students learning-focused
  activities, which are engaged by students as a
  result both of their perceptions and inputs, and
  of the total teaching context
• (Biggs, 2003 Trigwell and Prosser 1996)

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The tasks for the studies are to develop
study-activities which support the students in
their learningprocesses against the objectives
and goals for the sudies

• A good teaching system alligns teaching method
  and assessment to the learning activities stated
  in the objectives, so that all aspects of this
  system act in accord to support appropriate
  learning
• Biggs, 2003

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Action what can we do as teachers?
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The theory and practice of teaching and
learning Didaktik - A frame for analysing,
planning and taching Alignment
Context
Context
National and International Politics
(Bologna) Economy Law Organization Traditions
Values a.s.o.
Subjects (IT)
Qualifications/ Abilities
Intellctual competences Professinal
competences Practical competences
Aims/objectives(IT)
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Aims/Objectives What must the students learn?

• Employability 2) Mobility 3) Lifelong Leaning,
  devided into
• Intellectual competencies, (analysis and
  abstract thinking, knowledge searching attitude,
  communicative skills and the ability to structure
  personal learning. (These are general
  competencies not attached to individual subjects
  or programmes)).
• Professional competencies, (special
  competencies within a specific subject, knowledge
  of limited subject, inter-disciplinary
  competencies, these are specific competencies
  related to individual subjects or programmes).
• Practical competencies, (practical skills,
  professional ethics and responsibility. These
  competencies are explicitly focused on managing
  operational functions). Some educations are
  focused on training such competencies directly,
  whereas other educations have such competencies
  as a final outcome.
• (Bologna Expert Monitoring group, 2003)

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What we must teach the students to learn?

• The kind of learning we are interested in is
  learning which implies that the learners develop
  capabilities for seeing or experiencing
  situations or phenomena in certain
  ways..Students must therefore be prepared for
  the unknown variation among situations in the
  future through experiencing variation in their
  education, which will enable them to discern
  critical aspects of novel situations
• (Bowden og Marton, 1998, s. 24)

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Blooms taxonomy (deep approach surface
approach)
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SOLO-taxonomy (Strucured Observed Learning
Outcome) (Biggs, 2003)
Extended abstract

• Deep
• Learning
• Surface
• learning

Applying, transferring, relating, questioning and
going beyond existing principles,reflecting
scientifically, theorising, gene- ralising, set
up hypothesis, critisising known theory a.s.o.
Relationel
Analysing, integration of data. Understanding
how to apply the concept to a familiar data set
or to a problem
Multistructural
Disorganized collection of items (shopping-list),
Knowledge-telling
Unistructural
Unistructural
Simple naming, identifying, rote-learning,
referring, summarizing a.s.o.
Prestrucural Misses point
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The students
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Who are the students?

• The studens have very different
• background and motivations
• Very much motivated (20 )
• Moderate motivated (30-40)
• The minimalists (40-50)
• Challenges Among the minimalists we find an
  unknown group of late bloomers
• (Lauvås, 2004)

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Different learning strategies

• Deep approach to learning
• Focus on understanding
• Demonstration of the relationship between
  connections and the whole
• Connections beyond the immediate subject area
• Generalisation and transfer of the principles
  from the specific to the abstract
• (Biggs, 2003)

• Surface approach to learning
• Focus on demands
• Try to remember
• Acquiring pieces of unconnected information
• No organization no overall sense
• Simple and obvious connections
• The significance of connections is not
  demonstrated (a number of connections)
• The significance of the relationship between
  connections is not demonstrated

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Susan

• Is academically committed, bright, interested in
  her studies and wants to do well
• Has clear academic or career plans
• What she learns is important to her. She goes
  about learing in an academic way
• Comes to the lectures with sound, relevant
  background knovledge and possible some questions,
  she wants answered or it may not be the answer
  she is looking for, and she speculates, wondering
  why it isnt
• Students like Susan virtually teach themselves,
  with little help from teachers

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Robert

• Is at university not out of a driving curiosity
  about a particular project or a burning ambition
  to exces in a particular profession, but to
  obtain a qualification for a decent job
• He is not studying in the area of his first
  choice
• He is less committed than Susan, possible less
  bright (adacemically speaking), and has a less
  developed background of relevant knowledge
• He comes to the lecure with few questions
• He wants to put in sufficient effort to pass
• Robert hears the lecturer saying the same words
  as Susan, but he does not se a keystone, - just
  another brick to be recorded in his lecture notes
• He belives that if he can record enough of these
  bricks, and remember them on cue, he will keep
  out of trouble on examn.
• We are told that there ar many Roberter!

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The teacher and vejleder
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The university teacher

• Does research and writes a lot of high quality
• Teaches and must ensure that still more students
  finish their studies sooner and with high quality
  and relevance
• Ensures that there in some ways are connections
  between research and teaching
• Communicates to society (3rd leg)
• Administrates and makes plans
• The question is?
• How to create relationsship between reseach and
  teaching and becoming a professional university
  teacher - who teach and vejleder the students
  to learn the relevant competences

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Different teaching-methods

• Lectures and presentations
• Lectures and presentations with use of dialogue
  and other activities
• Teaching with use of cases
• Problembased teaching and learning (individually
  and in groups)
• Practising in lab.
• Peer Learning
• Supervision and vejledning
• Use og learningportfolio
• Use og IT

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A kind of guideline for organising teaching
programmes
Analyses and deep understanding
PBL (Cases)
Portfolio, journals, workshops, study groups
a.s.o.
Professionel deepth
Teaching with use of dialogue
Præsentations
Available information
Knowledge
til
Extent of students activity and self-management
(self-control)
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A tip
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Chinese proverb

• Tell me and I will forget
• Show me and I will remember
• Involve me and I will understand
• Step back, and I will act.

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Evaluation and assessment

• The summative function (assessing the students
  learning outcome) examns/tests
• The formative function (feedback to the students
  about their strengths and weaknesses)
• Students evaluation of teaching and the
  educational system with the purporse that the
  system and the teacher may improve (formative)
• Summative evaluations may have formative
  functions!

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Some advices for assessment in higher education

• Link assessment to learning (alignment)
• Never assess without giving comments to students
  about how they might improve
• Learn from your students mistakes. Use assessment
  to discover their misunderstandings, then modify
  teaching to address them
• Deploy a variety of assessment methods
• Try to get students participating in the
  assessment process, through
• a. Discussions of appropiate methods and how the
  methods relate to the (course) goals
• b. Joint staff-student design of assessment
  questions and negotiation of criteria for success
  and failure
• c. Self- and peer assessment activities
• d. Offering students responsible choices among
  different methods
• Focus on validiy (what you are measuring
  important?) and then reliability (is your test
  consistent?)
• Do everything in your power to lessen the anxiety
  raised by assessments
• (Ramsden, 1996, s.
  204-205)

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• Formative evaluation of teaching is a tool for
  the teacher to be wiser about the teaching and
  then afterwards improving it
• But
• never ask the students directly if they are
  satisfied with the teaching without asking them
  about their own work-rate?

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7-point grading scale and ECTS-scale