Slide 1

Good Practice in Learning Teaching and AssessmentWorkshopDesigning and Planning Learning Activities

ContentWhat is learning?Underpinning knowledge and theory for learning designDifferent learning methodsMemory & the transfer of learningPre-designing materials and being creative!

Learning

Before you can design effective learning you need to be clear about you mean by learning ..

Definitions of learningA relatively permanent change in behaviour resulting from experience (Kimble, 1961)

A relatively permanent change in an organisms behaviour due to experience (Myers, 1995)

Learning is the process by which a person acquires new knowledge, skills and capabilities(Reynolds et al., 2002)

Research into what adults think learning is ..Quantitative increase in knowledgeMemorising storing information that can be reproducedAcquiring facts, skills and methodsMaking sense of abstract meaning and understanding relationships in subjectsInterpreting and understanding reality

(Saljo, 1979)

.. other meanings .. is it?An increase in factual knowledge?Being able to memorise & reproduceApplying and using knowledgeUnderstanding abstract conceptsPerforming well in assessments?Learning to do something (e.g. presentations)Solving problems?Developing creativity?Developing an analytical approach?Change within oneself as a consequence of understanding the world differently?Something else?(Fry et al., 2009)

Psychology subject domains relating to learningBehaviourist PsychologySocial Learning TheoryCognitive PsychologyExperiential Learning

(Stewart , 1999)

Underpinning knowledge & theory .. to enable the effective design of learning

Threshold ConceptsIs there a hierarchy in concepts in what you are teaching . i.e. the student must completely understand A to be able to understand BFor example (in accountancy) must a student have an understanding of arithmetic BEFORE they can learn how to produce a companys annual report and accounts .?

The relevance of threshold concepts in designing learning is . ?Student approaches to learningSurfaceDeepStrategic / achieving

(Fry et al., 2009)VARK Learning StylesVisual (V)Aural/Auditory (A)Read/Write (R)Kinesthetic (K)

Comprehensive guide available http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp

Learner Student Styles Honey & Mumford

Kolbs Learning Cycle

Compare Kolb with Honey & MumfordLearning Cycle

Individual Learner Styles

If you were a ski or tennis instructor how would you Apply a different form of learning to best meet each of the Honey and Mumford Learning styles?Another individual styles model Myers Briggs (based on Jungian Theory)

EXTROVERT (E) or INTROVERT (I)drawing energy from outside or within

INTUITIVE (N) or SENSING (S)drawing energy from holistic big picture thinking intuition or from the five other senses)

FEELING (F) or THINKING (T)basing decisions on personal information or on logic/rules

PERCEIVING or JUDGING(preferring ongoing development / spontaneity or organization & goal completion)

So you can be an ENTJ or an ISFP or an ESTP etc(Swart et al., 2005)

What are your Learning Objectives seeking for students learn change in? (Cannon and Newble, 2000)KnowledgeSkillsAttitudeWell written learning objectives govern all the design that follows .

Race, (2007: 23- 26) has a list of 24 tips on designing learning objectives The process of learning designDecide whether it is Knowledge and/or Skills and/or Attitude that is to be learnedWrite the Learning Objectives (differentiate between Knowledge, Skills & Attitude)Decide on the mix of methods which will best deliver the most effective change / learning in Knowledge / Skill and / or AttitudeDecide on a mix of methods so that students of all learning styles have the chance to be reached and the Kolb Learning Cycle can be appliedCheck the timing of the activities in your session (s), to see that it all fits and flowsThe process of learning designConsideration must also be given as to

how you are going to check / assess whether what you intended to be learned has been learned and when will you do this?The process of learning designTwo slides above the process was presented in a linear fashion however it is an ongoing improvement cycle:

Systematic approach to course / module planningFry et al (2009)

Consider the aspect of student motivation when you are designing learning

See table 3.3 in Fry et al (2009: 35-36)

How could you use this underpinning knowledge in making the design of Learning and Teaching effective?

Write notes on this for 10 minutes

Different learning methodsSample of MethodsLecturingListening to presentationsDiscussionGuided readingCase studiesInformal skills / knowledge assessments quizzes, tests, skills questionnairesSelf reflection exercisesLog books, diaries, PDPs

Sample of MethodsUsing technology BB, pod casts, videos, online learning tools, computer assisted learningLearning from feedbackGroup workRole playsGames & competitionsBrainstormingProblem solving

Sample of MethodsWork experienceSimulationsExperiential learningOutdoor learningCarrying out experimentsDiscovery learningVicarious learningCoaching / MentoringAction learningConsider practical aspectsFacilities available rooms, texts, online resources, technology required, materials (take or get students to bring)Timing and sequencing (mix more passive sections with more active sessions)Timing of assessment & feedback

ActivityActivity compare the learning design in each exercise on the next 5 slides

For use following Stress Management LecturePairs exercise

Aims of this exercise:To aid students to consider what issues causes them most stressTo get students to reflect on what they have learned which might help them manage the stress situation better

Exercise:Ask students to spend 2 minutes making a note of the 2 issues that currently cause them most stress.Spilt them into pairs and ask them to take a turn each at describing an issue and discussing possible solutions for those reflecting on what they learned from the book / lecture materials. For use following lecture on Conflict Management

Group exerciseAims of this exercise:To get students to consolidate their learning on types of ways of dealing with conflict.

Exercise:Split students into groups of 5.Ask them to nominate one person to give the feedback. Ask them to complete the following table (taken from the points on P. 389 of 7th edn Whetton & Cameron) by:

Giving a definition for each type of approach to dealing with conflict.Giving 1 advantage of that approachGiving 1 disadvantage of that approachDeciding on which approach might be a more usual best approach

Requires:5 printed copies of the attachedThis can be printed on acetate and acetate pens taken along if you want them to give their feedback in a more presentation from the front format.

Brainstorming

In groups of 10 and appoint one person as The police person who must make the others follow the rules of brainstorming ie monitor the group (when they are doing the brainstorming) to make sure that the group does not break these rules:

Each person should take a turn go round the group in clockwise direction making sure each person has to contribute something when it gets to themThe ideas should be shortNo one is allowed to evaluate it (say oh thats good / bad / the same as has already been said)You can build on an idea from beforeWhen a person gets stuck wait until that person comes up with something before moving onWild ideas are allowed

The topic to be brainstormed is:How to deal with a difficult boss

Reflecting on group presentations

Aims of this exercise:To give Tutors an exercise where they can mix the students up, to get them to meet and work with other studentsTo give students an opportunity to get used to being a spokesperson in informal group workTo aid students to be reflective about how they can improve presentation skillsTo encourage students to use a constructive feedback technique (ie to feedback what is done well and what could have been done betterTo encourage students to reflect on the learning from the lecture / tutorial

Exercise: After presentationInvite students to go into your groups (possibly their own presentation groups A/B/C/D or if you want to encourage them to work with others split them into groups of e.g. 5 students)Ask them to elect a spokesperson to give feedback (make sure that everyone takes this role over the 10 tutorials:

2 things that the group presenting did well

1 thing that they could improve on

The 3 main lessons learned from the case presentation / the chapter / the lecture

Ask each group to give the feedback

For use following Power and Influence Lecture

Aims of this exercise:To get students to stop and reflect on how people can be more powerful than their position suggests.To get them to plan how they could benefit from applying similar behaviour.

Exercise:

Ask the students to think of someone who they respect as being more influential their position, some one who punches above their weight.

(i.e. more influential than their position in natural hierarchies in the family / work place / friends group hierarchies which can be based on position, financial wealth etc)

The person can be a friend, work colleague, someone in their family, someone famous etc.

Then ask them to write for 5 minutes on what it is that person does that makes them so influential.

Then ask them to spend 3 minutes making notes of 3 things they could do differently to benefit from observing the behaviour of this person who they respect.

Learning, memory & the transfer of learning(Primary source for memory: Baddeley et al., 2009)

Learning Conditioning & Reinforcement Classical (Pavlov) Operant Conditioning (Skinner)

Positive /negative reinforcement

Lesson consciously consider what reinforcement messages you are giving and how often (also relevant for managing the learning environment)

Other useful concepts from the domain of psychology Learned helplessnessCognitive mappingInsightVicarious learningDiscovery learningBehaviour modellingSource lecture handouts Dr Ian Bushnell was Strathclyde University now School of Psychology, Glasgow University

Memory - two sides of the coin is it what you have .... ?Remembered (retention)

or what you have

Forgotten (retrieval)Types of memoryKnowledgeFeelingsBehaviourSkills (presentation / interpersonal / language / creativity)Motor skills (driving / cycling / skating)

Student Learning and MemoryINOUT

Effective MemoryINOUT

Getting things into the (long term) memory effectivelyGetting things back out effectively i.e. RetrievalTime in betweenThe memory process getting things in and out

MemorySensory memory: Echoic / Iconic

Short term, working memory: Verbal / Spacial

Long term: Explicit Episodic / Semantic

Implicit Conditioning / SkillsAttentionAwareness Test:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSQJP40PcGI

From short term into long term memoryRehearsalCodingDecisionsRetrieval strategies

(Ebbinghaus, 1885, in Baddeley et al.2009)If you double the number of frequencies you rehearse / learn / practice there is a complete positive correlation with what you remember ANDDistributed practice is more effective Encoding - organising what goes in to memory can make it easier to retrieve

Encoding - if some mentions Spectrophotometer do you relate it to ...Atomic absorptionMass spectometryInfra-red spectometry

No? But a Chemistry student might ..

What does this tell us about (encoding) putting things IN to the memory?

Depth of processing Craik and Tulving, 1975 in Badderley et al., 2009)

A list of names of friends I have had:SallySteveAnneTiamiKaren

Can you remember What was the first time you had a piece of clothing in the colour red?

A list of names of friends I have had:What was the fourth name on the list?

Which list of my friends is the correct one?SallySteveAnneThomasinaKarenSallySteveAnneTiamiKarenDifferent levels of remembering? Is the level of RETENTION / RETRIEVAL required to enable:

Recognition .... and / orRecall .... and / orRepetition (in full)

Theories related to forgettingInterference Theory

Delay Theory

Primary and Recency EffectThe Kolb learning cycle has another use - consolidation (to get things from the STM into the LTM)

CuesCan help us access memoriesHow could you use this information about the different levels of memory in Learning and Teaching design?

Tips and techniques to improve memoryhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/memory/improve/

Transfer of Learning Perkins and Salomon (1992)Occurs when learning in one context enhances (positive transfer) or undermines (negative transfer) a related performance in another context.

Includes near transfer (to closely related contexts and performances) and far transfer (to rather different contexts and performances).

Transfer is crucial to education, which generally aspires to impact on contexts quite different from the context of learning.

What about TRANSFER?INOUT

TRANSFERTransfer of Learning Perkins and Salomon (1992)Findings from various sources suggest that transfer happens by way of two rather different mechanisms:

Reflexive or low road transfer involves the triggering of well-practiced routines by stimulus conditions similar to those in the learning context.

Mindful or high road transfer involves deliberate effortful abstraction and a search for connections. Conventional educational practices often fail to establish the conditions either for reflexive or mindful transfer.

Pre-design activities and be creative!Pre-design of activitiesActivityBe creative http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b2xUb0VofQConclusionsTo design effective learning, we need to be clear about what we mean by learning on each different occasionThere is a range of underpinning theory which can help us to understand how to more effectively design learningThere are different forms of learning, it is considered more effective to use a mixtureTheories on memory are useful when thinking about the input and the output of the learning processConsideration of how the learning is to transferred is essentialPrepare activities ahead and be creative!!

ReferencesArmstrong, M. (2006) A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. Kogan Page, London.Baddeley, A., Eysenck, M., Anderson, M. (2009). Memory. Psychology Press, Hove. Fry, H., Ketteridge, S., Marshall, S., (2009). Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, (3rdEdn). Routledge, London. Cannon, R., Newble, D. (2000) A Handbook for Teachers in Universities and Colleges (4th edn). Kogan Page, London.Kimble, G. A. (1961). Cited in Catania A. Charles. (1998) Learning (4th edn). Prentice Hall, New Jersey.Myers (1995) cited in Stewart, J. (1999) Employee Development Practice. Prentice Hall, Harlow.Perkins, D., Salomon, G. (1992) Contribution to the International Encyclopedia of Education (2nd edn). Pergamon Press, OxfordRace, P (2007) The Lecturers Toolkit (3rd edn). Routledge, Abingdon.Reynolds et al. (2002) cited in Armstrong, M. (2006) A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. Kogan Page, London.Saljo (1979) cited in Ramsden, P. (2003). Learning to Teach in Higher Education (2nd edn). Routledge Farmer, London.Stewart, J. (1999) Employee Development Practice. Prentice Hall, Harlow.Swart, J., Mann, C., Brown, S., Price, A. (2005) Human Resource Development. Elsevier, Oxford.

Extremely useful list under Teaching for learning section

Fry et al. (2009: 22-23)