SAGE 2YC

Hi all!

What are one or more things you learned from looking at the posters, watching the video, and reading the article?
That I praise too liberally! I've always thought praising encouraged responses, but can see now how it might only encourage a handful.


Based on the posters, video, and/or article, what are your ideas for what you might implement? How might you apply this in your teaching? What is something you will do differently / what will you think about implementing?
I'm teaching a brand new online class this semester and am regularly looking for ways to get feedback from my students. I've been meaning to design an exam wrapper literally for years at this point; this time I'm doing it! I find not getting immediate feedback from my students a bit frustrating, and I think this could be a useful strategy


Briefly describe something that you do well in your teaching. For example, you might briefly describe an activity, assignment, or approach you use that is an example of a teaching strategy addressed in one or more of the posters, videos, or article.
My classroom is generally very active and busy. I was fortunate enough to receive a stipend several years ago to redesign my course using backwards course design and it has revolutionized by my and my students' experiences in the classroom. I integrate at least 75% of the teaching strategies in these readings and overall have seen an increase in course retention and success.

Amanda -
You have an interesting point about praising too liberally. I wonder how your thoughts on that square with the idea of microvalidations. You can read more about them on one of Carol's Musing blogs: https://serc.carleton.edu/sage2yc/musings/microvalidation.html
Do you see this as contradictory? Or is there some sort of more nuanced take on praise we should be going for?

This post was edited by Nina Kaushikkar on Mar, 2020
Hi Amanda!

I noticed that Anthony Santorelli in Cohort 3 is also using Exam Wrappers in his online Oceanography course. He talks about what he does as a post in this Group 1 thread: https://serc.carleton.edu/sage2yc/workshops/S20-Cohort3/workspace/group_1.html
He may be able to give you some ideas and feedback on this strategy (if he hasn't already).

1. I'm having a little trouble identifying one specific thing that I learned. I was familiar with most of the techniques and concepts discussed, although my implementation of them has been sporadic at best (see below). I think the posters and the Tanner article will be great resources going forward. It's great to have so many techniques for increasing student engagement and equity complied in one place! I also liked that both the posters and the Tanner article included references. I find it is helpful to explain to students why I am using a particular technique, but in many cases I'm not familiar enough with the background research to actually attempt that. 

2. I am giving my midterm exams tomorrow and have already started working on an exam wrapper that I plan to distribute when I pass back the tests next week. After reading the posters earlier this week, I also developed a "pre-exam wrapper" (for lack of a better term...) that I gave my students during our review session today. My exams have 10 questions, so I gave them a sheet listing the specific topic addressed by each question and asked them to rate how confident they were explaining concepts and terminology related to each of the 10 topics on a 1-5 scale, then suggested that they use their responses to inform their remaining study and preparation time. Too early to say what the effects of that might be, but I'll report back with any insights! 

3. Something I think I do well is that I am open to trying to new things and experimenting with different techniques. I have tried nearly all of the techniques described in the posters at some point. However my implementation of these techniques has been somewhat inconsistent and I could use them more than I currently do. I was struck by something that Greg Hancock said in his video about TPS: "Make it part of the routine!" That's where I feel like I'm falling short right now. I don't use any particular technique often or regularly enough to the point where it becomes expected and students are comfortable with it. I hadn't really thought about it that way before, but now I realize that would be something to strive for in the future. 

One of the primary things I learned is that there is SO much work that has been done to help instructors at the college level incorporate active learning! I suppose I already knew that people were working on these things, but to know that there are so many practical ideas with concrete methods for implementation out there is very exciting. To know that I am working with a group of people that are all interested in this work is wonderful.

I'm definitely going to look specifically at "wrappers", concept tests, minute papers, and oollaborative exams. Basically, more of the kinds of assessments and activities that also incorporate best practices from a metacognitive standpoint. I am also going to evaluate my classroom practices, specifically with inclusion of all and not judging responses.
As a person that generally HATED group work, even just a small group discussion, I am wondering how other people who felt that same in school have integrated this into their classrooms? Are there ways to incorporate group work that avoids the uncomfortable feelings that some of them (and me!) might have?


I already have a fairly active-learning classroom. I rarely talk for more than 10 minutes at a stretch - breaking up the lecture with an activity, a thought question, a clicker-type question, etc, really helps keep students focused and frankly, awake. I also make sure to give them time to write, and take special care to repeat items that are of special note, complete with the spelling of more difficult words (if the sentence is not written on the board already.

Zachary - I too feel so sporadic in my implementation of these ideas! I tend to get excited about new things (from labs to teaching tricks) and my excitement sometimes cuts into the focused attention I need to implement something properly, with the appropriate follow-up and assessment. I need to be able to have more than anecdotal evidence that something worked in practice. Any tricks or ideas from peer leaders?

What are one or more things you learned from looking at the posters, watching the video, and reading the article?

- I was already familiar with the techniques described from the posters and videos, so most of what I learned is coming from the article. I learned that by not having the students raise their hands to respond to questions I ask, I might be limiting the number of students who want to answer the questions. I am guilty of trying to make my classroom a "relaxed" environment, so I often just say "Don't worry about raising your hands, just shout it out". But it is also true that I typically then have 1-2 students who are the only ones constantly answering my questions. On the positive side, I do use a lot of Think-Pair-Share techniques and "clicker questions" in my lectures allowing everyone some time to think and answer the questions.

Based on the posters, video, and/or article, what are your ideas for what you might implement? How might you apply this in your teaching? What is something you will do differently / what will you think about implementing?

- I do end up learning all the students names in the class, but I like the idea of the name card tents to help myself and others learn names. I also want to start working in time at the end of every week to have the students do a Muddiest point written assignment and I would like to start including lab wrappers into my labs to help the students connect what we did in lab to what we did in lecture. I also really like the idea of having the students work collaboratively on the study guide. What a great way for them to share other great resources they have found or created. I only worry that a few select people would do it and the others would just copy.


Briefly describe something that you do well in your teaching. For example, you might briefly describe an activity, assignment, or approach you use that is an example of a teaching strategy addressed in one or more of the posters, videos, or article.

- I did use almost every single technique listed on the posters at some point of my classes. My favorite are group exams. I have them take the exam as individuals one day and then the next they come back and get into their lab groups and take the same exact test again together. They are able to use their textbooks or labs as reference but nothing else. I really enjoy listening to the discussion they have while trying to solve the group exam. It has helped me realizes concepts that are still a little muddy when I hear them discuss the possible answers. I hear a lot of "remember when she said this.. or used this example....". It really allows me to see which things stick and which don't. Another of my favorites is I have been asking a question on their final exams that says: Using the sentence model “I used to think...but now I know...” write a statement about something you have learned in this class that has changed from what you used to think. I have received such amazing feedback from this including being able to identify common misconceptions that they are coming in, and which subjects they enjoyed the most or made the biggest impacts. My absolute favorite results are the large number of students who say something to the extent of I used to think climate change wasn't real or we were blowing it out of proportion and now I know the science is real and we are in deed the cause.

1. What are one or more things you learned from looking at the posters, watching the video, and reading the article?

I learned there are many, many ways to make the classroom more interactive and not just be solely lecture based. I was also interested in understanding/learning how equity can be practiced in a class room. I have been doing some of these things but not knowing their specific name but I also was not familiar with some of the techniques discussed on the posters.

2. Based on the posters, video, and/or article, what are your ideas for what you might implement? How might you apply this in your teaching? What is something you will do differently / what will you think about implementing?

There are two things that come to mind immediately. First, in my Conservation Ecology class I have students work on individual projects about an indigenous culture and their relationship to the environment. I have a large class this semester and I am going to try group work and have each group focus on a continent and its many indigenous cultures and guide them but let them find the threads that this various cultures have in common and possible areas of conflict with regard to their environment. Then present their findings as a group instead of individuals. Secondly, I am really intrigued by a group test. I have never tried this before but think I might in my Introduction to Water Resources course.

3. Briefly describe something that you do well in your teaching. For example, you might briefly describe an activity, assignment, or approach you use that is an example of a teaching strategy addressed in one or more of the posters, videos, or article.

I make a point of learning my student’s names and something about each student by the end of the first week. I work really hard in establishing community norms of inclusion in my class room.

In my introduction to water course I have relaxed the amount of information that I feel compelled to cover and have included a group project that students all participate in and contribute to. We use shared documents and students add to the folder each week. My students are building floating islands to be used mainly as habitat refuge but also for nutrient exchange in Fish, Wildlife, and Parks outdoor hatchery ponds. The students are researching native wetland plants, finding suppliers, growing the plants, designing and building the island frames, considering the lifespan of the islands, upkeep, maintenance, cost, and how to deal with the weight of the snow during the winter. I have very excited students and by working on an applied project they will get to see their results translated into action and I can teach them about aquatic ecosystems along the way. The amount of outside time the students have already put into the project has amazed me. I feel that this project is a winner and we haven’t started building the islands!

1. What are one or more things you learned from looking at the posters, watching the video, and reading the article?

I learned that I do several of these teaching and learning activities already, although I do not formally call these activities Think-Pair-Share, Lecture Tutorials, Collaborative Documents, Wrappers, etc. The article reinforced that I may need to do a better job with students raising their hands to allow for a greater number of students participating in answering questions during class.

Additionally, the "Cooperative Exams" poster was informative but I am not convinced of the effectiveness of assessing student learning using a cooperative exam.

2. Based on the posters, video, and/or article, what are your ideas for what you might implement? How might you apply this in your teaching? What is something you will do differently / what will you think about implementing?

I am considering implementing a Gallery Walk toward the end of the semester in preparation for my comprehensive final exam in Physical Geology. I think posing questions that cover cumulative material going back to the very introductory coursework learned 15 weeks earlier might be better reviewed and answered with effort by groups of students helping each other, plus it never hurts for students to get up and walk around a bit.

3. Briefly describe something that you do well in your teaching. For example, you might briefly describe an activity, assignment, or approach you use that is an example of a teaching strategy addressed in one or more of the posters, videos, or article.

I use what I guess could be called a "Wrapper" but more based on content covered than effort or time spent as discussed in the "Wrapper" poster. I conclude each lecture topic with an activity called "What's Wrong?" where I give the students a list of 8-10 false statements and I have them correct the statements prior to us moving onto the next topic. Sometimes, I have them complete this activity in small groups, sometimes as individuals, and sometimes we complete this as a class. Also, depending on the time available and/or the energy in the room, I either ask for volunteers or call on students, but don't allow the same student to provide more than one answer. It's an effective way to review key topics and assess learning.

1. What are one or more things you learned from looking at the posters, watching the video, and reading the article?
Over the past year, I have been introduced to nearly all of these active learning strategies; however, I recognize that I am overwhelmed by determining which strategies to implement when and how! In the “Interactive Lecture” video, I found it incredibly helpful to see specific examples of using the think-pair-share technique. Although I have attended workshops and participated in think-pair-share exercises, I struggled to employ the technique in my classroom. I felt like I needed one every day or for every concept. I learned from the video specific examples of using the technique. It was incredibly useful for me to be an observer of the exercise to see how I can implement it in my own classes.

2. Based on the posters, video, and/or article, what are your ideas for what you might implement? How might you apply this in your teaching? What is something you will do differently / what will you think about implementing?
I have so many ideas and changes I want to make, which can be quite overwhelming. Now, I would like to implement reading reflection wrappers and random calling using popsicle sticks.
Reading reflection wrappers would provide me with feedback from students regarding their understanding of reading material. I have recognized that students do not read their assigned materials. I could see this exercise incentivizing students to read prior to attending class. I would have my students complete a reading reflection due the evening before our scheduled lecture. This will provide me feedback prior to the lecture meeting and possibly grant me additional time to incorporate more active learning strategies during class.
Since I learned of random calling using popsicle sticks, I have wanted to incorporate this strategy. I have noticed that after the first few days into a new term, I will begin to recognize which students will always volunteer and which never will volunteer. I think this strategy will increase the number of student voices during class and may improve class discussions. I would implement this course during my “traditional” lectures and randomly call on students to answer concept questions.

3. Briefly describe something that you do well in your teaching. For example, you might briefly describe an activity, assignment, or approach you use that is an example of a teaching strategy addressed in one or more of the posters, videos, or article.
Something I do in my teaching that is part of an example of a teaching strategy is exit tickets. These are similar to the “end of lecture” portion of the lecture wrapper. I have students write down the 3 major themes of the week (on Friday’s) and submit them before they leave class (or online before midnight). The following class (typically a Monday), I reveal the three major themes and sketch a word map on the board to connect all of the responses students provided on their submissions. Usually all of the responses are associated with the topics covered in one way or another, but the feedback is helpful for the instructor – I recognize where the students may have been misled regarding the major themes. The word web provides students with a way to visualize how the different concepts all fit together and potentially help the students develop a study guide for exams.

1) What are one or more things you learned from looking at the posters, watching the video, and reading the article?

As someone who is pretty new to teaching, I have to admit that most of this was new to me, which makes it difficult to list all of the things I learned! I was surprised by some of the things that I am definitely guilty of though, like not asking students to raise their hands to answer questions in class, praising too liberally, or trying to do too much. I get so excited about new techniques that I'm always trying to think of ways that I can implement them and I've recently learned I have to pace myself.

2) Based on the posters, video, and/or article, what are your ideas for what you might implement? How might you apply this in your teaching? What is something you will do differently / what will you think about implementing?

I really loved the Think-Pair-Share technique. I teach hybrid courses though, so the students meet for labs, but everything else is online. I'm not sure how I would implement Think-Pair-Share into that format. I also really liked the idea of the wrappers. For my classes, I would probably use the lecture wrapper and reading reflection to help me get a better idea of what parts need further clarification and emphasis. Additionally, I've been thinking about using a cooperative exam for some time and will likely be doing that this quarter. It was really great to get some ideas and examples of how it has been done in the past.

3) Briefly describe something that you do well in your teaching. For example, you might briefly describe an activity, assignment, or approach you use that is an example of a teaching strategy addressed in one or more of the posters, videos, or article.

I'm not sure that I have actually used too many of these techniques yet, as in I can't think of any specific examples. I am always open to new techniques and ways to improve my classes. I give a survey at the halfway point and at the end of the class which asks the students what's working or is not working for them in the class and how I can improve the class. These surveys have been a valuable resource for me to see where I can make adjustments.

Jamie, I'm so glad you mentioned TPS and online teaching! I'm teaching online for this first time this quarter, and have found it very frustrating from an active learning standpoint. I've been able to adapt some things, but like you said, many of the techniques presented in this activity (like think-pair-share) I am at a loss for how to translate to the online environment. I would love to talk more with anyone who has experience doing these sorts of things in an online course. Are there any peer leaders out there that have experience in this area?

This post was edited by Shannon Othus-Gault on Feb, 2020
Hi Zachary,

This is Shannon from Cohort 2. I was reading through your post and I was struck by 2 things: 1) Your pre-exam wrapper. What an incredible idea, because it really allows the teacher to be proactive as opposed to reactionary after the test. I would be very interested in how that turned out in terms of test scores and student confidence.

2) Your ideas about consistency:



For me personally, when I began really diving into my pedagogy and really thinking about the why, consistency was the top of my list. I wanted students to know exactly what to expect every class so they were prepared and if they missed class they knew what was expected of them. For me, this consistency is also super important for student retention. One thing I really try to keep in mind when I plan classes is don't try to many techniques. I find the one/few that work for me and that is what I do.

This post was edited by Shannon Othus-Gault on Feb, 2020
Hi Karen, This is Shannon Othus-Gault from Cohort 2, reading through your thoughts really took me back to when I joined SAGE, I was a both overjoyed and overwhelmed with the idea that there were so many things I could try with the information in one place for me and that I really was going to have to dig through the information to find the things that worked the best for me personally.

In regards to your comment:



Usually I am pretty cognizant of those people who are not "group work" people; although, labs require that group work as well, so it's a bit of a tightrope. It looks like in your list of techniques you have chosen things that mitigate that issue. When doing group work, do you allow for students to work in pairs or a group if they choose but give them an option to work individually as well? I also sometimes try and pair similar students for group work once I get to know them a little, allowing the to work as closely as they choose.

Lastly, I don't know if you do projects, but I always do the dreaded group projects in my class. I have put in some fail safes that allow me to make sure everyone participates and they can do so without ever meeting up together. I'm going to plug Google's education apps here, which I bet most of us use. In the drop down file menu in slides and docs there is an option called "version history" where you can click on "see version history" and it shows you who worked on what portion and when. I show all my students this feature when introducing the project. It puts the responsibility of fair workloads on me and not the student.

This post was edited by Shannon Othus-Gault on Feb, 2020
Hi Michelle, This is Shannon Othus-Gault from Cohort 2. One thing that really struck me when reading your response was the following:



That is absolutely what I do as well. I like the relaxed feeling of a classroom where everyone can participate if they want because that was my college experience. I have found that one or two students take the initiative but if I wait for 30 to 60 seconds before responding in depth, other students will speak up. I also noticed that you're generally using shorter active learning techniques that allow all students to answer in their own time. These short techniques may be a function of class duration. I wonder if you've ever thought about worksheets or tying together think-pair-shares with the muddiest point at the end of class? Could you give students maybe 10 minutes to work together and/or individually allowing you to walk among the groups and ask questions individually so that everyone has to participate and with lower stakes involved?. There is another technique called a whip-around, where everyone has to answer a question after thinking about it for a minute or two. The last time I did a whip around was with 50 teachers and it took maybe 10 minutes and I allowed for the caveats of people passing if they didn't want to answer and they could also indicate someone had already stated their answer. This is a short technique that creates equity and, with the caveats, is fairly low stakes.

Hi Hillary, This is Shannon Othus-Gault from cohort 2. After reading your response I am super impressed with the strategies you are excited to implement and also how critically you've thought about how to implement them in your classroom. When you began by talking about active learning techniques and being overwhelmed by which strategy to use I was in total agreement with you.



This year I have been giving a presentation about quick and easy active learning techniques to colleagues across my college and the one thing I keep hearing is teachers asking basically when and how do I use these techniques. When I learned about these techniques myself I felt like there was so much I could be doing and I felt sort of frozen with questions because I didn't see exactly how they would work in my classroom. What I did personally when I began really making changes in my classroom was I wouldn't just implement a new technique, I would tell students what I was about to try and I would let them know that I was open to their comments, good or bad. When new techniques worked, for instance, when I incorporated my test wrapper, the students were very honest (I also made the wrappers anonymous, so they were very honest). When I did a worksheet that incorporated a webquest and it didn't work, my students told me and I'm still working on it and deciding when to unveil the updates. I personally like that open dialogue I have with my students, it gives them a voice and encourages me to continue growing as an instructor, even if it is through failure.

The other advice I give when I am presenting active learning techniques is not to try and do every single thing. My students really seem to like consistency, they know what to expect every time they show up. So, I usually try one new thing every semester or every two semesters and if it doesn't feel right or doesn't fit, I don't feel bad about letting it go. Keeping my focus on one technique at a time allows me and my students ease into a new technique without feeling overwhelmed.

1. What are one or more things you learned from looking at the posters, watching the video, and reading the article?

The posters, videos and article were really good reminders for me that, ultimately, what students DO in class is much more important for their learning than what they are TAUGHT. I’ve been hearing about many of these classroom strategies and techniques for years, and while I’ve slowly tried to adopt some of them, I find myself still often struggling with the idea of (potentially) “sacrificing” some course content for the time to include them, trying to “do too much.” I have to say that it doesn’t help that textbooks for introductory courses are very comprehensive, including more topics than any one course could ever cover, AND they are expensive enough that I feel obligated to make use of them. (Perhaps there will be a discussion on OERs in the near future?)

2. Based on the posters, video, and/or article, what are your ideas for what you might implement? How might you apply this in your teaching? What is something you will do differently / what will you think about implementing?

Think-Pair-Share: I often have students break out into small groups to go over review questions, where they are asked to "think" and "pair." In astronomy, some of the concepts are quite challenging, and I should implement the practice of leaving adequate time for the final step of "share" (or “multiple hands, multiple voices”). For example, there is a wide range in the ability of students to visualize objects in three dimensions, and/or from different perspectives. Giving students more time to discuss/teach each other and process questions requiring spatial reasoning and analysis will help all students better understand the concepts, and in the safety of a group of peers. For this example, which is from my astronomy course, a group test (or series of questions) might also be worth trying. I think the students would gain a lot from it.

3. Briefly describe something that you do well in your teaching. For example, you might briefly describe an activity, assignment, or approach you use that is an example of a teaching strategy addressed in one or more of the posters, videos, or article.

I have been using exam wrappers in nearly all my classes for the past few years, and while I have no quantitative data to show they are effective, they introduce students to metacognition, which they may not be learning about, or practicing, elsewhere. I leave room at the end for comments or suggestions on the pace and expectations in the course, and what I can do differently or better to support their learning and understanding, which is helpful for me. I also make a point of giving back each students’ exam wrapper shortly before the next exam rolls around, so they may be reminded by their own thoughts at the time of the previous exam.

This post was edited by Shannon Othus-Gault on Feb, 2020
Hi Jamie, this is Shannon Othus-Gault from Cohort 2. I really enjoyed reading your post because you're so excited to try new things. I was intrigued by your question about hybrid courses in particular because I, and many of my colleagues who have taught hybrids and online, are always looking to increase participation. You stated:



My response is going to be a bit stream-of-conscience, so bear with me. When I have taught online in the past I made 20% of their grade related to participation, which was responding to and interacting with others in a weekly discussion. It would be information posed from the weekly lecture or I would tie the lecture to some sort of current event. I wonder if you've ever thought about having one or two students responsible for a discussion each week, being moderators or finding the current event to discuss that week? I also wonder if a response rubric for how they are being graded would be useful if you chose to have online discussions? This would prevent students from writing something like, "Yeah, good idea" and expecting full points.

Also, you stated,

"Additionally, I've been thinking about using a cooperative exam for some time and will likely be doing that this quarter. It was really great to get some ideas and examples of how it has been done in the past."

I know of two people who have had really good results using cooperative exams, Michelle Harris actually talked about how she uses them in her discussion thread above. Also, Deron Carter from Linn Benton CC, who was my SAGE partner during Cohort 2, also uses them in a similar way as Michelle. When and if I start using cooperative exams, they would be the people I would talk to.

There were a number of items I had learned about or had tried that were in the posters/video/article. I hadn’t thought about too much praise before, however.

I would like to try the individual test/quiz and then have students complete one of the more challenging questions a second time as a small group with limited time.

I try not to lecture more than 10 minutes at a time with 10 minutes of students working on scaffolded questions. Also, I ask, my my lecture notes, higher order thinking questions students do in the think-pair-share style. If time permits, I like to give students “packets” in which they explore the math in small groups and “come up with” the rules or definitions of math.

Hi Teri, This is Shannon from Cohort 2. It sounds like you have some ideas of where you would like to go. I know that Michelle who works with you at Centralia does a group test, so she might be a great resource. There is also teacher from Lane Community College who was part of Cohort 2, (Richard) Rick Glover. He does a really interesting group test that involves using different colored pens the second time around. He is another person I know who might have some great insight into group tests. I also really like you idea of integrating group work into exploring math rules and definitions. You'll have to let us know if that works because we all struggle with student's math skills.

1. What are one or more things you learned from looking at the posters, watching the video, and reading the article?

Having no formal education in the actual process of educating I am always amazed at variation of existing teaching strategies. Reviewing this material causes me to do a lot of self reflection to help me understand what I am doing well as well as areas where I need to improve. I have a greater appreciation for the fact that everyone needs to participate and be provided to opportunity to do so. I generally struggle with getting all to participate, especially in classes with a few dominant personalities. I really like the strategies presented to allow for greater participation like wait-time, random name drawing (or color shirt, birthday, etc.), and not actually accepting responses until at least three hands have been raised. I've actually already started implementing some of these easy changes.

2. Based on the posters, video, and/or article, what are your ideas for what you might implement? How might you apply this in your teaching? What is something you will do differently / what will you think about implementing?

As stated above, I plan to implement more strategies to increase full participation in my classes, especially when there are a few dominant personalities. Also, in some of my classes I know I need to increase my use of active learning methods during lectures. I am fortunate to have labs associated with most of my classes, which allows for a deeper understanding of the material and opportunities to engage and develop relevant skills. Having said that however, I tend to push some of my active learning content to occur in labs rather than lecture. I would like to mix it up a bit more and include more strategies in my lectures. A goal I am going to start setting for myself is to review the active learning methods poster every Friday and commit to include at least one method in at least one of my classes the following week. I am already planning to do a gallery walk to present the harvesting methods of even-aged silvicultural systems. Some of these methods can be controversial (i.e. clear cutting) and filled with preconceptions. Can't wait to see what happens.

3. Briefly describe something that you do well in your teaching. For example, you might briefly describe an activity, assignment, or approach you use that is an example of a teaching strategy addressed in one or more of the posters, videos, or article.

I feel I do a great job on cultivating personal relationships with students to better understand their successes and challenges, career aspirations, and to some extent, some of their fears. I am fortunate to be associated with programs that are small, with strong experiential lab components. My classes are all face-to-face and typically range in size from 5 to 20 students. By cultivating these relationships, we are able to have positive interactions inside the classroom, even if I do push their comfort level to encourage greater participation and deeper understanding.

I am also comfortable taking risks in my classes. When doing so I usually tell my students I have no clue where this is going to take us, but let's find out. An example I can provide is one from my introduction to GIS class. I often attempt to include student interests in either lab mini-projects (projects that may take three weeks to complete) and during lecture demonstrations. I ask students to break into small groups and brainstorm ideas about a geospatial problem or simple map product. We report these ideas out, and as a group, select ones to pursue in some sort of analysis or map production procedures. The project may flop; but that's OK (and they usually don't). My main goal is to help them think spatially from an analytical perspective to problem solve. Students are often incredibly engaged and learn a lot more than if I just told them about the nature of geospatial problem solving and analysis.

Hi Anita, Becca from Cohort 1 here. Your response to question 1 was excellent and included a couple of points that I believe really resonate with other Change Agents in all three cohorts. One of your comments related to the ongoing dilemma between giving up some course content to infuse more active learning strategies into our classrooms and "getting through everything" that I think many of us have, especially those teaching introductory-level courses, perhaps with a significant percentage of non-STEM majors. The North Carolina Change Agent Team (Cohort 1) has some interesting things to say about their department developing student learning objectives (SLO) as related to breadth vs. depth and Bloom's Taxonomy.
https://serc.carleton.edu/sage2yc/teams/ncarolina/program.html

Regarding your response on exam wrappers, I'm considering trying them in one of my classes this year and appreciate reading that they are a handy reflective tool for your students. What was your initial motivation to adopt exam wrappers in your courses? I also wanted to pass along a reference from the Food Science community with some quantitative data exploring exam wrappers and metacognition.

Gezer-Templeton, P., Mayhew, E.J., Korte, D.S., and Schmidt, S.J., 2017, Use of exam wrappers to enhance students' metacognitive skills in a large introductory food science and human nutrition course: Journal of Food Science Education, v. 16, 28-36.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1541-4329.12103

Thanks for your thoughts!

Amanda
That is great news about your backwards design work. I did this for my Survey of Earth Science class about 5 years ago (maybe more). I too have found it useful, and I think the students find it more enjoyable. Was there something that worked particularl y well? [quote=Amanda Colosimo]

Karen
To your point about hating group work there was a paper published early September (link below) that showed that most students did not like group work or active learning. However, they generally learned the material better. You could mention that to your class, and tell them about the study

Dave


https://www.pnas.org/content/116/39/19251


As a person that generally HATED group work, even just a small group discussion, I am wondering how other people who felt that same in school have integrated this into their classrooms? Are there ways to incorporate group work that avoids the uncomfortable feelings that some of them (and me!) might have?

Zachary
Here is some information about using gallery walk and TPS online form a course I am facilitating. I have not tried them, but it sounds plausible

Gallery Walk
1.􀀁 Prior to beginning a new unit, identify the key core concepts.
2.􀀁 Create groups of three to four students.
3.􀀁 Assign each group a concept and set of resources, and give them the responsibility for becoming experts on the concept.
4.􀀁 Create a group discussion board, wiki, or collaborative meeting space for each group to develop a presentation to teach the concept to the rest of the class.
5.􀀁 Set check points to review the progress of each group. For example, if the unit extends
over two weeks, the first checkpoint can be three to four days after the assignment is given;
the second checkpoint can be seven to eight days later, when a draft of the presentation is
reviewed. On days eight to nine, check the presentation slides before each group presents
to the entire class on day 10.
6.􀀁 Students can record and post presentations for other students to view asynchronously, or a virtual (synchronous) class presentation time can be scheduled.
7.􀀁 To assess understanding after the presentations, students can complete one or more of the following: a quiz or a post to a forum summarizing their understanding of each concept.

TPS online
1. Assign students to read an article or chapter or watch a video or microlecture related to a
new topic or concept. Be sure to explain the purpose of the assignment.
2. Provide a clear prompt to help focus students’ thinking such as the following:
• How does this connect to previously learned content?
• What more do you want to learn about this topic in terms of your own learning
goals?
• Write down two to three questions that you still have about the new topic or
concept.
• Write down two to three things you found most interesting about the new topic or
concept.
3. Create pairs or trios of students, and have them share their responses, insights, and/or
questions via chat, text, or e-mail by a set deadline.
4. Assign one student from each group to post the questions and insights from their
shared discussion to a full-course forum (by a specific deadline) with a prompt such
as the following:
• What we wish we understood better.
• What we thought was most interesting.
5. After all student pairs and trios have posted to the full-group discussion, instructors
should follow up on the discussion forum or use the LMS’s announcement tool to:
• Answer questions,
• Clear up points of confusion,
• Summarize discussion (highlighting important themes or insights),
• Provide additional insights, and
• Connect the discussion to the next topic or activity.

Hi Eric! I wonder if I craft my praise more meaningfully, as in the article on microvalidation, if it would be more effective. Rather than just encouraging a correct answer, like, "Fantastic, Evan!", perhaps saying something like, "I really like how you connected with that concept from last chapter!" might better articulate some of the higher-level goals of a course.

Hi Dave! I found the structure of backwards course design to be very useful to me. There is such an overwhelming amount of material in Physical Geology, it allowed me to think, from a holistic sense, about what content was truly important and what was just "nice to have." Then I could spend my time designing active learning strategies that supported what I felt had significance! How about you?[quote=David Voorhees]

Hi Christina-
Becca from Cohort 1 here. Great that you have already been implementing some active learning strategies in your courses but got to put a proverbial name to a face as a result of the posters. Which techniques have you tried in the past?

I just tried a cooperative exam component for the first time in my oceanography lab class this term. I had no idea how it would go but like you, was curious to try it and figured that if it totally bombed, I wouldn't do it again. Briefly, students got to choose, once they finished their midterm, whether they wanted to submit it as-is, OR they could choose to cross out one of the sections on their midterm, turn the midterm in, and then work with 1-2 other students on a set of group questions to replace the deleted section on their midterm. About half of the class chose to do the group portion, and with some minor modifications, I plan to continue offering a group option in subsequent semesters. Please keep us posted on how it goes if you decide to try some version of a cooperative exam in your Water Resources course.

Here is a resource that you might find handy--it's a blurb on 2-stage exams, including a short video clip discussing the technique.
https://serc.carleton.edu/earth_rendezvous/2016/program/demos/tuesdayA/136755...

I am very intrigued about your establishment of norms of inclusion in your classroom. If you can weave it into another discussion board post, I would love to hear more about what you do to build these community norms, how students are involved in the process, and how you perceive that this impacts your class and students.

Finally, I want to take your intro to water course! The floating islands project sounds really cool and obviously resonates with the students if they are putting so much time into their work. This could be outside the scope of your course, but I wanted to share a module that I co-authored as part of the GETSI project, Eyes on the Hydrosphere. Summary of the module and link to the homepage below.

Summary: "This module introduces students to the basics of the hydrologic cycle but in a way that engages them with both societal challenges related to water and methods for measuring the water system. The data used in the module includes both traditional (ex. stream gages) and geodetic methods (ex. gravity satellites). Students also use real data to identify trends and extremes in precipitation and water storage. It is intended to require ~2-3 weeks of class to use in its entirety. It includes individual and group work, reading, reflection, and working with data on the computer. In the final exercise, students are able to investigate water resources a region of interest to them."

https://serc.carleton.edu/getsi/teaching_materials/water_challenges/index.html

Hi Tim-
Becca from Cohort 1 here. How is it going implementing some of the changes in your classroom designed to promote more equitable participation from students? I agree that it is incredibly challenging to elicit participation from everyone when there are dominant personalities. I find this a little less problematic when I use jigsaw activities because if there is only one person in the group who is the "expert" on each particular topic, the group really has no choice but to give everyone a chance to talk! For example, I did an exercise today in my oceanography class and gave 1/3 of the class Greenland air temperature and snowmelt data; 1/3 of the class Greenland ice velocity data; and the other 1/3 Greenland ice elevation data. Once those teams had familiarized themselves with their data sets, we formed new groups, each with one air temp/snowmelt, one ice velocity, and one ice elevation rep. Each person had to teach their colleagues about their dataset, then the team worked together to make some predictions about inferred changes in ice mass in different areas of Greenland.

I also have learned a lot from SERC's Starting Point webpages. This particular page offers some non-aggressive strategies for intervening during group work when intervention is necessary.
https://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/cooperative/monitor.html#intervene

Your gallery walk idea about harvesting methods sounds really interesting, especially because some of the methods are controversial. Keep us posted on how it goes. For discussing controversial topics, you could also consider weaving in a wall walk with the gallery walk. In a wall walk, each corner of the room represents a different opinion: strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. A statement is provided (maybe projected on a slide, maybe read out loud, whatever) and each student moves to the sign that best expresses his/her/their opinion about the statement. If time allows, perhaps students in each corner can provide a justification for their opinion, and students have the opportunity to move fluidly between corners if they change their minds during the discussion.

Hi Amanda-
Becca from Cohort 1 here. If you have a chance, I would love to hear about some of the content in Physical Geology that you eliminated (or trimmed substantially) to make more room for active learning strategies. I teach Physical Geology and agree that there is a tremendous amount of material to "get through"......so much, in fact, that I am no longer stressed about getting through it. Having said that, I am fairly happy with the first 3/4 of the semester, but I feel like the last ~25% of the term is disjointed and rushed. Do you feel like your work with backward design made your course more cohesive?

Hi Jessica-
Becca from Cohort 1 here. I want to respond to your comment about the effectiveness of assessing student learning using a cooperative exam by saying "ditto"! Is a cooperative exam something that you have any interest in trying? In responding to Christina's post about her use of cooperative exams, I described how I just tried them for the first time in my oceanography class. I'm hoping that someone else with more expertise/experience than me will chime in, but my motivation for trying it was less about assessing student content knowledge and more about giving them a chance to improve their scientific habits of mind and communication skills. This paper from the physics community talks about the use of some of these habits of mind (evaluation, collaboration and information flow, and thinking about assumptions) that came out of students working collaboratively on an exam.

Lin, Y., and Brookes, D.T., 2013, Using collaborative group exams to investigate students' ability to learn: AIP Conference Proceedings 1513, 254.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c0a4/d3e9724f0b2d2502e0922bc752f17520de66.pdf

Hi Zach-
I thought that Pamela Gore's idea for a gallery walk (aka gallery tour) in the Group 3 discussion was a really good one that was easy to envision doing online. She wrote "I do a Gallery Walk using graphs of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over varying time spans (week, month, several months, year, multiple years, etc.) and I post them going down the hall outside the classroom, along with questions (such as describe the trend, what do you think is causing it? etc.) with large sheets of paper to write on, and hand out markers to students. They discuss and write on the paper beside each of the graphs." There is no reason that the graphs couldn't be posted online and the writing on big sheets of paper couldn't be done by separate discussion boards.
-Eric

Hi Amanda,
As I have been learning more about the active learning strategies, I have become more and more interested in redesigning my course. I am interested in learning more about backwards course design. I have recognized that my lack of experience in course design has led to what feels like an uphill battle. Each term I make changes but also feel incredibly overwhelmed by the amount of work it takes to restructure courses.
I look forward to discussing course redesign with you,
Hillary

Hi David,

Thanks for the ideas! I am looking forward to revising my online course next quarter and hopefully implementing some things like this. In particular I think the online TPS outline sounds like it would lend a better structure to some of the open discussions I currently have, which can get a bit unwieldy given the size of the class.

-Zach