On Friday, October 24, we held a Concept Map Workshop for faculty and grad students. In this workshop we discussed what concept maps were, and how to use them in our classrooms. Some of the key takeaways were that concept maps can be used in a variety of ways, should be continually revised and updated, and that technology is great, but white boards and post-it notes can work just as well depending on your objectives.  We modeled some different tactics for concept maps, including: Using them as a discussion starter by having students silently build one based on the homework reading before talking about it in class. Continually going back to the class concept map and asking students if they need to revise or add more content to the concept map to build their knowledge Using Peer reviews to help students see what connections they might have missed, and build a a more thorough study guide Integrating a module within Blackboard that has tutorials and technology information to...

When I started working in distance education, most people were adamant that students that took online courses would not feel connected to each other. My experiences proved that it was a challenge, but by no means impossible. Student-to-student interactions have been shown to increase deeper learning for students, and create better connections between content and application. (Swan, 2004) The key to successful student teams is to get people to connect to each other through common goals and interests, and develop strong lines of communication. I used these 3 tips to guide students to successful teams: FORMING TEAMS: In my classes, I didn’t let students choose their own teams. I told them that networking and learning how to work with different people were part of the learning objectives of the course, and group work would develop those skills. I had them blindly choose teams based on their interests in specific topics in the class.  Once those teams were determined, I gave ...

This week our "Guest Blogger" is David L. Pearson, PhD, Researcher Professor and Senior Lecturer for the School of Life Sciences. Dr. Pearson's research is focused on using the interaction of ecology, conservation, ecotourism and education to develop methods that promote sustainable use of biodiversity. He shares an active learning technique from his class that helped students create value for the content. David L. Pearson, PhD Bio 100 tries to make biology pertinent to non-majors. We do this by introducing current and often controversial topics in the Active Learning Class that distill video lecture and online labs into an applied situation. Getting them to discuss and appreciate biology in terms of “What is beauty?”, “Are you medically illiterate?”, “To vaccinate or not to vaccinate?” and “Are we all really experts on sex?” was not a problem. But when it came to diffusion and osmosis, the students just couldn’t make a connection of why these ungainly mechani...

Thank you to all those who attended our second TeachT@lk Webinar! For our second TeachT@lk webinar, held on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 3-4pm, we turned our attention to Peer Learning . In addition to supporting student learning outcomes, peer learning can develop crucial skills such as problem solving, communication, teamwork, and critical thinking. During the webinar, we discussed best practices, research, and reviewed strategies and tools on how to engage students. Additionally, we highlighted the need to get student buy-in and establish protocols/guidelines to for successful outcomes (e.g., RISE model by Emily Wray ) Below are some of the resources mentioned during the webinar, along with the slides and recording.  If you h ave questions, or are interested in integrating peer learning in your class, please contact Amy Pate ( amy.pate@asu.edu) . Webinar Recording & Slides(58 min.): https://connect.asu.edu/p2v5fri1pb9/   presentation slides Helpful Resources: ...

Faculty, instructors, graduate students, and staff from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) recently met for the 3rd CLAS Demofest to showcase innovative teaching practices across diverse content areas. For this semester's event, eight presenters from seven different departments and schools in CLAS shared and discussed their teaching, spanning a variety of course formats (face-to-face, blended, online) and different student enrollments (large lecture courses, small undergraduate and graduate seminars, etc.). Hosted by ASU's funniest professor, Dr. Mike Angilletta, in the School of Life Sciences' Active Learning Classroom (LSC 180), presenters and attendees exchanged ideas ranging from service-based and case-based learning, using Virtual Field Trips and Augmented Reality to making teaching student-centered through social media, videos, humorous case studies, and meaningful course design. The following summary below lists presentations and resources from the ...