Teaching Professor February, 2010 issue-article

Submitted by James Moyer, Prof. of Religious Studies and Provost Fellow for the Faculty Center of Teaching and Learning, Missouri State University

In this article I found the list of 10 rewards that come to those who teach to resonate with my own experience, and could not add any more reasons. However, I want to make some comments on the article.
1. Teaching is the greatest job in the world for all 10 of these rewards noted in the article.
2. I consider myself a patriotic citizen who is serving his country because I am training future citizens and thereby making our country more competitive in the world as a result of my effective teaching.
3. At one point in my forty-year-career there were four of my former students who were upper level administrators ranging from Deans to Vice Presidents serving the University. That was most gratifying to me.
4. I have served as both administrator and classroom teacher. Of the two, the greatest rewards are for classroom teachers by far. My discussions with others who have served as administrators are uniformly similar. When they return to the classroom they say that they are rediscovering the real reasons they went into higher education in the first place.
5. I have posted this in my Department as a reminder to all of us that in tough and gloomy economic times right now, there are many other rewards beyond a simple job to support ourselves.

Chantal has summarized a splendid article from the December, 2009 issue of The Teaching Professor, p. 2 “Teachers Who Improved and commented on its value. This article resonates with my experience as well. I want to add a slightly different way I have used to improve student learning and improve course evaluations. Early in my career students complained that my courses were too hard. I reexamined everything I did and said in class because I did not want to give up my standards. I decided I was offering plenty of tutorial help for all those who wanted it. However, I realized that I had to change student perceptions. So I tried telling students how I much I wanted them to succeed, and I would coach and tutor them to that success. I said that from day one to the end of the course, and I told them how much potential each of them had, and how much they had to teach me. The results were significant as student achievement improved and the course evaluations also improved. What I was doing was trying to change student perceptions and it worked.

I found it worked with new faculty as well when I was Head of the Religious Studies Department, and when I led the FCTL new faculty workshops. I urged these new faculty to think carefully about how they could change student perceptions with what they said in class and outside class. New faculty often reported similar success to my own. If faculty can articulate their course content, then they should be able to articulate how student supportive and friendly they are. I urge all faculty to do this because it works.

I invite anyone to come to The Teaching Professor monthly discussions I am leading in Library 204 (the Faculty Center of Teaching and Learning). We discuss the monthly issue according to the schedule posted on the FCTL web site.

Submitted by Dr. James Moyer, Provost Fellow for the FCTL

In the December issue of The Teaching Professor, I really enjoyed the article titled “Teachers Who Improved”. Two researchers examined end-of-course teachers’ evaluations to gather a sample of 200 faculty members who had consistently improved in the past 3 years. This group of faculty members included full-time tenured faculty, full-time non-tenured faculty, as well as part-time faculty. The researchers surveyed the faculty members and asked them to think about and reflect on the factors which led to these changes in their teaching performance. The results were very interesting.

Here are the top 5 factors mentioned by the faculty members studied: 1) greater active or practical learning strategies and techniques such as an effort to relate course material to the students and what is relevant to them; 2) improved teacher/student interactions including some very simple ones such as learning the students’ names; 3) making expectations for learning clearer without lowering academic standards; 4) being better prepared for class; and 5) revising the evaluation policies and procedures to evaluate students’ work.

The first three of these factors accounted for about half of the faculty responses. What was most striking to me was to realize that the first three factors mentioned by faculty members relate very closely to the motivational factors identified in my own research. The use of greater active and practical learning strategies which student see as relevant is one way in which we can foster the satisfaction of the basic need for autonomy. Improved interactions between teachers and students is a strategy related to fostering the satisfaction of the need for relatedness. Making expectations for learning outcomes clearer for students while maintaining rigorous academic standards is closely related to the need for competence. In motivational terms, these faculty members improved because they created learning environments which satisfied students’ basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The fourth and fifth factors mentioned by faculty members also relate well with the need for competence. Better prepared faculty members who take the time to revise their evaluation policies will create learning environments that will be more suitable to foster the development of skills and competencies in students. If you are interested to find out more, I have written about the satisfaction of the three basic needs in a recent FCTL Director’s blog (October, 2009).

Importantly, small changes can make a big difference. The vast majority of the faculty reported that the effort required to implement the changes that led to the improvement in their teaching was minimal. The biggest hurdle to change was to realize and be willing to admit that they needed to change something in their teaching. Awareness in this case was critical. One faculty member talked about how after almost a decade teaching, he received his lowest ratings. Although he was shocked this prompted him to understand why this happened. This process of inquiry into your own teaching and students’ perceptions of the learning environment is fundamental to change. In addition, for most of the faculty surveyed, it was more about fine-tuning their teaching as opposed to making radical changes. Incorporating new techniques and strategies to build on what teachers already do well is the most efficient approach to improvement.

We want students that are better prepared, more motivated, have better character, and outstanding work ethic. However, in conversations with faculty members, we often report that students don’t seem as prepared as they used to be. We can’t go back and change what they experienced in high school or change their level of ability or aptitude. Although we could lament their lack of character and work ethic, this won’t help us be effective teachers in the classroom. The students in our classrooms have wonderful characteristics we just need to know how to work with their talents and strengths. They are curious and technology savvy. They value friendships and connections with the people around them. We need to work with them now and help them build on their strengths to become the best they can be for a productive future. Let’s use the classroom to help them build the skills and character traits that they may have yet to develop by building on what they already possess.

I found the article Teaching Strategies that Help Students Learn written by Sara Coffman in the August-September issue of The Teaching Professor newsletter very useful in providing some pointers to that effect. Here are some of my favorites on her list.

Course Structure
Coffman recommends to pay special attention to the syllabus, especially the tone of it. The tone of your syllabus can either motivate or de-motivate students. I experienced with this in my own classroom and some of my research has examined this issue. The tone you use on the first day of class and your syllabus influences students’ perceptions of the positivity of the learning climate and the extent they will be motivated from day one.

If students don’t master an assignment the first time, give them constructive feedback and then give them a chance to re-do the assignment. I really like this advice, which I frequently use myself, because for one thing it shows students that you value the mastery of the material. You don’t have to use this strategy for every assignment, but giving this option to students at least some of the time, allows them the opportunity to build on their successes, improve their performance, and reach higher standards in the end.

The First Week
If you have a small class, Coffman says, set up interviews with students so you get to know them and they begin to build a relationship with you. I have heard Dr. Jim Moyer, Provost Fellow, talk about using this technique with his students. If your class is large, use email to establish a connection with students. Working on the connection with students early on in the semester will pay great dividends when the demands of the course increase toward mid-semester. If you’ve build a connection with students, they will be more likely to come see you and ask for help and feedback when they encounter difficulties later in the semester.

Talk to students about your expectations and give them tips on how to study for your course. Talk about the importance of studying and reviewing the material on a regular basis, not only a couple of days before the test. Providing study tips to students and taking class time to discuss possible exam questions and strategies to help them study successfully, is not about spoon feeding the material to them, but it’s about modeling good study habits.

Techniques for Teaching
Coffman suggests you start class with something that will grab the students’ attention. I frequently use this one myself. I capitalize on students’ curiosity and attempt to draw on it as much as I can to get the students involved with the course material. I’m always on the lookout for pieces of information that would interest students and that I can connect to course material.

Allow students to see how you solve a problem when you get stuck. Take risks in class by asking questions you don’t have the answers to and let the students see how you go about trying to find a solution. Even better, do it with them! This allows the students to see that you also encounter challenges and when faced with those difficulties, you don’t quit, you work through the problem.

Testing Tips
Coffman recommends you help the students form into study groups prior to the first exam. I would actually recommend doing it before every exam. If you provide a study guide to them, allow them to turn in the completed study guide for extra credit points.

This is also one I use in my own classes. As Coffman suggests, I go over the first exam in details in class. I spend time talking about the questions most often missed and I encourage the students to explain why they picked a certain answers. I also provide my perspective and the discussion is always very productive. In some instances, I end up accepting an alternative option. I also allow students to justify why the picked a certain answer. Even if the answer is wrong, but the students provide a good rationale for their answers, I assign half a point in these instances.

Coffman also recommends asking students to write a self-assessment of their perceptions of the exam and their performance. When I ask the students to do this, I ask them to write about whether the exam was as they expected, whether they did better or worse than expected, what they are going to do differently before the next exam, and what preparation strategy helped them the most for this exam.

There are other simple strategies discussed in the article. Pick your favorite and try it in your class this semester!