FULT Module 3: Teaching for Learning

   ...Students must make what they learn part of themselves.

  - Chickering & Gamson

The point raised over and again in this module is that teaching for students to learn is what matters, not teaching for the sake of good teaching. No matter how well prepared and enthusiastic the teacher or interesting the course content is, it is vital to create and facilitate an environment conducive to student learning. 

I am with Dr Susan Banki on the responsibilities of a good teacher - subject knowledge and thorough preparation prior to class is paramount as is planning and thinking in advance about how students learn as well as getting the point across to them effectively. These coupled with qualities such as being passionate about teaching and being able to engage students can achieve excellent learning outcomes. The flipped classroom environment that Susan creates for her students is highly stimulating. I really like how her students had the opportunity to not just apply garnered theoretical knowledge but also had a platform to 'voice out' with each of the flipped activities designed by her. As Susan says, it really does take courage to do something out of the box. And she definitely has that, along with the mentioned balance of humility and confidence. All in all, an admirable and effective approach of flipped learning and teaching.

During this module, I have garnered many insights on teaching for learning, through the pre-session activities and classroom discussions, from the case scenario of disparity between Malin and her students, and RMIT's inclusive teaching principles. Constant 'unstuffing' of the curriculum (which was touched upon in the very first module), simplifying concepts for easy understanding by students, encouraging student interaction on different types of media, boosting their confidence, understanding their background and psyche, facilitating student collaboration (via Think-Pair-Share, for example) and providing ongoing feedback are different strategies to optimise the students' learning experience.

For the purpose of peer observation, I attended a lecture by a senior academic of my faculty. Interest in the topic was the main reason for choosing this particular session. This was the first time I attended a lecture to learn how it was delivered rather than focus on the content. The interactive learning platform was new to me and very intriguing; being able to write notes alongside the lecture slides on their mobile devices along with intervallic quizzes to assess students' uptake of each section of the lecture kept them constantly focussed during the hour. The academic's enthusiasm and knowledge of the subject, poise, easygoing demeanour, humour, use of interesting analogies, real-world examples and simple language to break down complex medical concepts, were all crucial in keeping the students engaged throughout the lecture. 

In addition to answering questions and acknowledging comments throughout the session, he explained the rationale behind the quiz answers and was keen to take questions from students at the end of the lecture. Apart from being inspired by the academic's style of teaching, I intend to use the interactive learning platform when I start lecturing. In spite of the woes faced by many academics like Joelle Renstrom due to use of mobile devices in the classroom, technology has become an indispensable part of teaching and is here to stay, given the advent of blended and flipped learning. 

Toohey's model for student-centred learning

Here is my proposed teaching strategy based on Toohey's framework and constructs garnered from this module.

Image source:  https://universityteachingandlearning.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/reflective-post-on-teaching-strategies/tooheys-learning-process-model-hughes/

FULT Module 3: Teaching for Learning

FULT Module 2: Educational Design

                                                    Focus on

                                            your Learners by
                                                   Involving them

                                         in the Process

- Barbi Honeycutt

Flipped classroom learning is increasingly used in university teaching and seems like a useful approach to make learning interesting and effective.

However, there appear to be certain issues with implementing flipped classrooms. It is difficult to give personal attention to a large number of students, 80 in the case of Dr Alex Escobar, making flipped classrooms challenging in terms of availability of resources and costs involved. Prior-recorded video lectures, though beneficial for students in terms of more flexibility and time to reflect on the content, would affect the spontaneity of classroom teaching. Also, not every student can allocate that much time in advance to familiarise themselves with the learning resources. I feel this approach would be very useful for undergraduate students towards the beginning of their program, for whom taking notes during lectures (and attending lectures itself) is a relatively new experience.

Apart from the fact that his classroom activities are so clear and well-structured, I like how Dr Steven Toaddy records them so that he can later give students reflections on their performance. This would enrich the students' overall learning experience and make learning a two-way road. Also, having a possible incentive to be a 'model student' for future learning through the semester would better motivate the students to perform well in class. Shorter lectures, in addition to saving time, would be better in terms of holding students' attention, which has been attested by Illysa Izenberg and other academics. With regards to Steven's comment that availability of Q and A time at the end of the class is a benefit of having a flipped classroom approach, I feel this should be a given in any type of learning scenario. Also, incorporating feedback from students should be an ongoing process for evaluation and revision of educational design.

Bloom's Taxonomy

My understanding of flipped learning from the above resources and lively Q & A session with Elizabeth and Sebastian from the UNSW School of Physics is that the process of designing and implementing a flipped classroom program is more complex than structuring conventional lectures or tutorials. But from what they've mentioned, once set up and running, such programs are very effective and need little restructuring over time. This approach seems daunting to me most probably because it is a relatively new concept and also because I am quite a novice in terms of university teaching. The sense of community and belonging that Sebastian mentioned, and enhanced interaction between students and teachers which happens with active learning are great incentives for embracing the flipped learning approach. Other potential benefits of flipped learning are increased lecture attendance and class participation leading to better performance in assessments and grasp of the eventual learning outcomes.

There are many models of student-centred learning, Toohey's and RASE for example, to draw constructs for designing flipped learning lessons. Irrespective of the framework used and content of the course, learning objectives and teaching methods must be clear for students to gain the most out of flipped learning. Eventually, the purpose of flipping classrooms is to enable students to move up the levels of learning, from the factual to meta-cognitive. To quote the terms furnished by Jens in the face-to-face session, the ultimate aim of teaching is to facilitate navigation from pedagogy to heutagogy.

Self-evaluation of this post using Criterion 2 of the e-portfolio feedback rubric: Very good

Update:
My revised flipped classroom lesson plan following Module 5.  

Image source: Twitter

FULT Module 2: Educational Design