We found 296 results that contain "learning"

How many times have you been on campus at MSU - using a restroom, walking by a bulletin board in a hallway, waiting for an elevator - and saw a flyer or poster for an upcoming event. "Ooo, that sounds super interesting!" You scan the printed sheet of paper for details. "Bummer! I missed it." I have been at MSU in a variety of capacities since 2008 and I cannot count the number of times this has happened to me. If I happened to walk through a building that was outside my usual route and see a program or event of interest, it usually had already passed. Once I began my work in educational development, alongside with my doctoral studies in HALE, this became increasingly frusterating. I saw really cool topics, relevant across disciplines, being offered to limited groups - or even worse, being open to all MSU educators but not being promoted broadly. I was missing out so I knew others were as well. So when I saw the #iteachmsu Commons Educator Events Calendar, I was super excited. There is now a common calendar that, just like all of the #iteachmsu Commons, is for educators by educators. Anyone with MSU credentials can log in to iteach.msu.edu and share an event on the calendar. From unit, college, or organization-sponsored programs like educator trainings and workshops, to individual initatives like communities of practice, coworks, or meet-ups, any scheduled activity with an intended/open audience of folx who support the teaching and learning, student succes, and/or outreach mission of the university can be shared here!
      
From a self-proclaimed lifelong learner, I'm really excited to have a "one stop shop" where I can determine MSU personal growth and professional development activities, but as an educator at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation I am also thrilled about some of the ways the new #iteachmsu site functionality supports program facilitators. The "Going" button on an event details page can be linked directly to your event's registration. You can upload supporting materials or pre-activity details. There are easy ways to designate both face-to-face and virtual events. There's even a discussion thread for comments on each event!            If you have events that support MSU educators, start sharing them on the #iteachmsu Events Calendar today!Article cover photo by Windows on Unsplash

Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash
 
The Learning Styles Myth
 
The Myth: “I’m a visual learner,” Similar to the left vs. right brain, another prevalent neuromyth in education is the belief that students have distinct learning styles–meaning that their ways of learning (i.e., visual, kinesthetic, auditory, etc) require different teaching practices [1].
 
The Facts: While some students may prefer different types of information delivery, there is no existing research to date to suggest that there is any benefit in teaching them in their preferred learning style [2]. In fact, everybody uses a mix of these styles, and some of us are dominant in one or the other. We may also use one style in a situation and another under different circumstances [1].
 
The Alternative: There is a variety of ways to engage students with the material they are learning. One of the most popular teaching methods that incorporates both student-centered learning and the multiple representations of information is the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL is a set of principles that helps teachers design flexible learning environments that adapt to the variability of learners. 
 
The Critical Window of Time for Learning Myth
 
The Myth: “I’m too old to learn this.” This misconception is often linked to the “myth of three,” which postulates that the brain only retains information during a critical period–rendering the first three years of a child’s life decisive for future development and success in life.
 
The Facts: While critical periods have been observed in animal behavior, scientists have agreed that these are not as delineated in human beings, and instead favor the term “sensitive periods” which can be impacted by many factors [3]. Instead, research in neuroscience shows that different brain systems showcase different types and amount of changes with experience. This is called plasticity–the capacity that the brain has to change through learning [4]. So while some skills can be acquired during optimal times (i.e., grammar rules), it doesn’t mean that exposure and training beyond that could not lead to changes and learning.
 
The Alternative: Many educators have been enthusiastic about the idea of a “growth mindset” in opposition to a fixed learning pathway. While the idea is popular, there is also growing concern that teachers might not have the resources to use the concept effectively in the classroom. For instance, a recent nationwide survey of K-12 teachers reported that 85% of them wanted more professional development in the area [5]. 
 
How to Avoid Neuromyths
Start with skepticism! Look beyond mere claims and dig a little deeper to research the science behind these claims. For instance, research shows that we get seduced by explanations that are accompanied by images of the brain, no matter how random they are. This doesn’t mean being a complete pessimist, but to try to strike a balance between popular facts and scientific research. Is the claim being sold as a cure-all? What does the evidence say? Does it sound too simple? One of the best ways to do so is to be informed and knowledgeable about the brain.
 
Resources

http://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/34926352.pdf
https://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/pspi
http://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/neuromyth1.htm
https://www.edcan.ca/
https://www.edweek.org/media/ewrc_mindsetintheclassroom_sept2016.pdf

Learning Scenarios
Whether you are teaching traditional credit-bearing courses, teaching in community outreach or Extension, or working in employee development, learning scenarios are a tool you don’t want to overlook.
Scenarios use problems to grab learners' attention and emotion to make learning stick. They reflect the reality that real life isn’t black and white. They are a great solution when learners need to solve a problem, make a decision, or apply their learning in the real world. They align to andragogical principles of autonomy, problem-based learning orientation, and the importance of tapping into learners' experiences. 
eLearning modules that make heavy use of scenarios are often authored in pricey software such as Articulate Storyline. ($499/year for educators. See some examples of scenarios created in Storyline.) Not an option for most of us! But you can think creatively and have similar results with other tools you have at your disposal.Desire2LearnIn Desire2Learn, you can use the self-assessments feature to present a simple scenario, and it allows you to add images and video. Then the multiple-choice options can be the various solutions to choose from. When you click on one, you get instant feedback. See the screen shot below. Easy and simple, but not very flexible or aesthetically pleasing, and you can't have branching scenarios. Another option is discussion forums- you can embed a scenario using images, video, and/or text into a discussion forum, and ask learners to post what they would do next or how to solve the dilemma. 
CamtasiaTechsmith's Camtasia video-editing software has some interactive features that allow you to present a scenario as a video, and then follow it up with a multiple choice question. The question is essentially embedded into the video, but the video is played within the special Techsmith video player.
In the (somewhat silly) example below, the video is hosted in Techsmith's Screencast online storage account, and then the embed code can be copied into Desire2Learn and inserted using the "Insert Stuff" button and then selecting "Enter Embed Code" and pasting the code. 
PowerPointPowerPoint can also be used. In a synchronous setting, use the slides to contextualize the scenario with images and text, and have learners discuss possible solutions or outcomes, or use them asynchronously in a way that allows for branching scenarios like this one:EXAMPLE: Click this link then launch the .pptx presentation in slide show view. 
To create a branching scenario like this, you need to follow the following steps.

Plan it out

Use whatever suits you- pen and paper, Power Point, flowcharting software- to plan the scenario and what happens next after a choice is made. An example of a plan for a branching scenario (done in Power Point) is below. Planning it all out helps you quickly build the slides and then link to the right place. 

Build the slides and add the links. 

Create the buttons which are the clickable choices using shapes. Then select it and right click on the shape. Select Link and then select Place in this document. You then select the slide it would link to. Repeat for all choices. 

Change settings to force learners to click a button and not use arrow keys 

Under the Slide Show tab, select Set Up Slide Show. Select the option of Browsed at a kiosk (full screen). 

The MSU Museum has a variety of great online resources that you can integrate into your teaching! Options include object-based activities, museum exhibition materials, and links to collection databases. Check out the options and let us know if you would like to consult with a museum staff member, to help with course activity design. Contact campus liaison Elesha Newberry (newber39@msu.edu).
 
 

Center for Teaching & Learning Innovation (CTLI)
Purpose: The mission of the Center for TLI is to support MSU’s educators and their practices through collaboration and consultation. What do we do:

Support MSU communities where educators work together across roles to provide inclusive, research-informed experiences that support student success.
Build a path to success for every educator by leading the university with unwavering integrity and a strong culture of teaching and learning
Collaborate with and empower all MSU educators in their engagement in equitable, student-centered teaching and learning practices.

Services Provided:

Instructional Consultation
Curriculum Development & Course Design
Online Program Management
Academic Entrepreneurship
Training and Workshops

Website: https://teachingcenter.msu.edu/Contact Usteaching@msu.eduRequest a ConsultationContact Staff Directly 

Topic Area: Information Session
Presented by: Mary Beth Heeder, Stefanie Baier, Hima Rawal
Abstract:
Imagine a picture of instructor best practices that could lead us out of a pandemic; it might include stories about time, trust, giving, caring, listening… and mindset. As we look at the picture, we see that mindset stands out. Because student mindset is so powerful, some faculty make it an integral part of their instruction. The importance of educator mindset, however, is often overlooked. Carol Dweck, the author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, has found that teachers’ mindsets about their students’ abilities and themselves affect student achievement. During this workshop, we will share stories that suggest a blueprint to inspire mindsets that allow for teaching with kindness, generosity, care and concern for all students. Central to the blueprint are the interconnected relationships with ourselves and our students. Attendees will 1) learn about current mindset research; 2) explore the impact their mindsets have on their work/life; and 3) share practices that can help faculty and staff reshape their mindsets and consequently their students’ mindsets. Participants will walk away with tools and stories they can use to shape a hopeful, compassionate learning environment that supports student success and offers a second wind. Pema Chödrön, a Buddhist teacher, reminds us that we have some control during this surreal experience. “We can let the circumstances of our own lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us. We always have a choice.”
Session Resources:
Mindset over Matter Final 4.28.21_Marybeth Heeder.pdf
Resources from Workshop

If you are looking for ways to bring some life back into your remote or blended instruction, Flipgrid may be the tool for you. At its core it is a video conversation tool, but in practice it is something much more. So let me point out some of the features that I think you will like about Flipgrid.
 

Free Educational Accounts: That's right! Since MSU is on Office365, all MSU faculty, staff, and students have Outlook accounts; which are recognized as Microsoft accounts. Therefore, you can use MSU email to setup your free flipgrid account
 Classroom Structrure: Flipgrid uses the term "Grid" to refer to a community space. For educational purposes, think of the Grid as a representation of your classroom. In each Grid, you can create collection of topics. Think of the "Topics" as your class assignments. 
Rich Posting Features: By default, video posts are 1:30, but you can make them longer or shorter. This helps to make every student post an equal length ; and encourages students to organize their thoughts ahead of time. Here are some features related to posting that make it fun:

Abilty to add text and sticky notes to your video posts
Apply different color themes, backgrounds, pixelate faces, etc
Students can also add emojis


Detailed Feedback: Instructor can provide feedback on student videos. Students can provide feedback on other student videos. Rubric can be applied to the prompt. Students can see how many views there videos are getting.
Topic Repository: Lastly, there is a content library filled with discipline specifc content created by educators in the Flipgrid community that instructors can use in their own student Topics (assignments). These can be filtered by Audience, Subject, and Keyword. Each of these Topics contain information about the usage and the engagment scores.

These are just some the cool features that I have come across on flip grid. If you would like a thorough overview of the tool, check out this tutorial by the New EdTech Classroom:
 

Photo by William Iven on Unsplash
 
Knowing Student Experiences
Ask yourself: Do I know my students’ experiences that bring them to this class?
 
Tip: You can, of course, set up surveys to get a glimpse of student experiences. Another way to tap into topics that students find relevant is by scaffolding discussions where students are given opportunities to provide examples situated in their experiences, choosing their styles of expression and communication.
 
Explicit Instruction
Ask yourself: Is it obvious to my students why this topic is important to study?
 
Tip: Include a quick list of significance and implications in your syllabus. This does not have to be a comprehensive list, but something to hook your students. If you wish to have some fun with, make it a catchy Buzzfeed-like clickbait sentence. However, make sure that you do not frame your clickbaits in a way that take the substance out of the topics, or essentialize students. Here are a few examples that do and do not work.
 
Situated and Transformative Practice
Ask yourself: Will students be able to go outside and use what they have learned in their real world?
 
Tip: Create projects or assignments that involve solving a real problem in students’ communities. These could be papers, a survey of their community, or actual working projects. There is always room for improvisation.
 
Critical Framing
Ask yourself: Are my students critical of the information they engage with, or do they agree without further questioning?
 
Tip: Show your own skepticism towards marginalizing and unscientific practices (e.g.: practices that are based in evidence, but still value other ways of knowing) in your discipline. Add a question at the end of each topic that makes connections to how it affects (or has affected) social and cultural issues.
 
Aesthetic Framing
Ask yourself: Are my students genuinely curious about this topic? Do they think about this when they leave my class?
 
Tip: Pay close attention to your word choice when framing the language in your syllabus, and more importantly, during your instruction. Keep in mind that music, lighting, and other modalities can also have an effect on emotions. Feel free to experiment with the ambiance of your classroom. For example, reading Edgar Allen Poe with dim lights and spooky music creates an eerie atmosphere often associated with Poe’s work and genre, thereby making it more engaging.
 
 
Related readings:

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2015). A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Learning by Design. Palgrave Macmillan.


Girod, M., Rau, C., & Schepige, A. (2003). Appreciating the beauty of science ideas: Teaching for aesthetic understanding. Science Education, 87(4), 574–587.


Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491.

 

The National Educational Association provides links to a number of different resources for teaching college students effectively.

In-Person Lectures vs. Online Instruction
Actively engaging students in the learning process is important for both in-person lectures and for online instruction. The ways in which students engage with the instructor, their peers, and the course materials will vary based on the setting. In-person courses are often confined by the fact that instruction needs to be squeezed into a specific time period, which can result in there being a limited amount of time for students to perform group work or to actively think about the concepts they are learning. Alternatively, with online instruction, there is often more freedom (especially for an asynchronous course) on how you can present materials and structure the learning environment.
Currently, many instructors are faced with the challenge of adapting their in-person courses into an online format. How course materials are adapted into an online format are going to differ from course to course – however, a common practice shared across courses is to create lecture recordings or videos for students to watch. The format and length of these videos play an important role in the learning experience students have within a course. The ways in which students engage with a longer video recording is going to be much different than how students engage with multiple shorter videos. Below are some of the important reasons why shorter videos can enhance student learning when compared to longer videos.
 
More Opportunities for Students to Actively Engage with the Material
Decades of research on how people learn has shown that active learning (in comparison to more passive approaches, such as direct instruction or a traditional lecture) enhances student performance (Freeman et. al., 2014). While “active learning” can often be a nebulous phrase that has different meanings, active learning can be broadly thought of as any activity in which a learner is metacognitively thinking about and applying knowledge to accomplish some goal or task. Providing multiple opportunities for students to engage in these types of activities can help foster a more meaningful and inclusive learning environment for students. This is especially important for online instruction as students may feel isolated or have a difficult time navigating their learning within a virtual environment.
One of the biggest benefits of creating a series of shorter videos compared to creating one long video is that active learning techniques and activities can be more easily utilized and interspersed throughout a lesson. For example, if you were to record a video of a traditional lecture period, your video would be nearly an hour in length, and it would likely cover multiple important topics within that time period. Creating opportunities to actively engage students throughout an hour-long video is difficult and can result in students feeling overwhelmed.
Conversely, one of the affordances of online instruction is that lectures can be broken down into a series of smaller video lessons and activities. By having shorter videos with corresponding activities, students are going to spend more time actively thinking about and applying their understanding of concepts throughout a lesson. This in turn can promote metacognition by getting students to think about their thinking after each short video rather than at the end of a long video that covers multiple topics.
Additionally, concepts often build upon one another, and it is critical that students develop a solid foundation of prior knowledge before moving onto more complex topics. When you create multiple short videos and activities, it can be easier to get a snapshot of how students conceptualize different topics as they are learning it. This information can help both you as an instructor and your students become better aware of when they are having difficulties so that issues can be addressed before moving onto more complex topics. With longer videos, students may be confused on concepts discussed at the beginning of the video, which can then make it difficult for them to understand subsequent concepts.
Overall, chunking a longer video into multiple shorter videos is a simple technique you can use to create more meaningful learning opportunities in a virtual setting. Short videos, coupled with corresponding activities, is a powerful pedagogical approach to enhance student learning.
 
Reducing Cognitive Load
Another major benefit of having multiple shorter videos instead of one longer video is that it can reduce the cognitive load that students experience when engaging with the content. Learning is a process that requires the brain to adapt, develop, and ultimately form new neural connections in response to stimuli (National Academies of Sciences, 2018). If a video is long and packed with content, developing a meaningful understanding of concepts can be quite difficult. Even if the content is explained in detail (which many people think of as “good instruction”), students simply do not have enough time to process and critically think about the content they are learning. When taking in various stimuli and trying to comprehend multiple concepts, this can result in students feeling anxious and overwhelmed. Having time to self-reflect is one of the most important factors to promoting a deeper, more meaningful learning experience. Unfortunately, long video lectures provide few opportunities (even when done well!) for students to engage in these types of thinking and doing.
Additionally, an unintended drawback of long videos is that the listener can be lulled into a false sense of understanding. For example, have you ever watched a live lecture or an educational video where you followed along and felt like you understood the material, but then after when you went to apply this knowledge, you realized that you forgot or did not understand the content as well as you thought? Everyone has experienced this phenomenon in some form or another. As students watch long video lectures, especially lectures that have clear explanations of the content, they may get a false sense of how well they understand the material. This can result in students overestimating their ability and grasp of foundational ideas, which in turn, can make future learning more difficult as subsequent knowledge will be built upon a faulty base.
Long lecture videos are also more prone to having extraneous information or tangential discussions throughout. This additional information may cause students to shift their cognitive resources away from the core course content, resulting in a less meaningful learning experience (Mayer & Moreno, 2003). Breaking a long video into multiple shorter videos can reduce the cognitive load students may experience and it can create more opportunities for them to self-reflect on what they are learning. 
 
More Engaging for Students
Another important factor to think about is how video length affects student engagement. A study by Guo, Kim, and Rubin (2014) looked at how different forms of video production affected student engagement when watching videos. Two of their main findings were that (1) shorter videos improve student engagement, and that (2) recordings of traditional lectures are less engaging compared to digital tablet drawing or PowerPoint slide presentations. These findings show how it is not only important to record shorter videos, but that simply recording a traditional lecture and splicing it into smaller videos will not result in the most engaging experience for students.
When distilling a traditional lecture into a series of shorter videos, it is important to think about the pedagogical techniques you would normally use in the classroom and how these approaches might translate to an online setting. Identifying how these approaches might be adapted into a video recording can help create a more engaging experience for students in your course.
Overall, the length of lecture videos and the ways in which they are structured directly impacts how students learn in a virtual setting. Recording short, interactive videos, as opposed to long lecture videos, is a powerful technique you can use to enhance student learning and engagement.
 
References
Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415.
Guo, P. J., Kim, J., & Rubin, R. (2014, March). How video production affects student engagement: An empirical study of MOOC videos. In Proceedings of the first ACM conference on Learning@ scale conference (pp. 41-50).
Mayer, R. E., & Moreno, R. (2003). Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning. Educational psychologist, 38(1), 43-52.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2018). How people learn II: Learners, contexts, and cultures. National Academies Press.

This workshop guides GTAs in developing strategies for supporting student motivation in any modality and apply motivation theory to support student success in any learning environment. In addition, workshop participants will identify potential barriers to student motivation and use tools to address these.
By the end of this session, GTAs will be able to: 

Develop strategies for supporting student motivation in their role and modality 
Apply motivation theory to support student success in a variety of modalities (e.g., face-to-face, hybrid, online asynchronous) and subject areas  
Identify and troubleshoot potential barriers to supporting student motivation 

Title: Rethinking Access: Fatigue, Hostility and Intimacy in Teaching and LearningPresenter: Emily Abrams (TRIO Student Support Services); Colleen Floyd (RCPD); Hannah Huey-Jones (RCPD); Jessica Lutz (RCPD)Format: WorkshopDate: May 11th, 2023Time: 11:30 am - 12:30 pmClick here to viewDescription:Disabled students have experienced access fatigue (Konrad, 2021) and access hostility (Samuels, 2021) throughout their college experiences long before the onset of the pandemic. Covid-19 has shown higher education professionals the many ways in which accessibility can be implemented, yet it is still denied (Campanile, 2020). In order to resist returning to the ableist practices of pre-pandemic times, we must learn from lessons of the last few years and create access intimacy (Mingus, 2011)–the elusive experience when someone deeply understands and cares about a disabled person’s access needs–and access beyond accommodations. Here, access is the practice of solidarity toward liberation in the disabled community that aims to enact disability justice (Mingus, 2019), not simply the implementation of accommodations. When we describe accessible teaching and learning, we refer to collaborative practices where disabled and non-disabled individuals thrive together, driving resistance against ableism. In this workshop, a panel of disability scholar-practitioners and the audience will offer ideas for reimagining accessibility to foster access intimacy (Mingus, 2011) in teaching and learning contexts. The learning goals of this workshop are (1) to develop an understanding of disabled students’ experiences with inaccessible university environments, (2) to develop the ability to recognize areas for growth in teaching and learning pertaining to accessibility and accommodations beyond legal compliance, and (3) to understand strategies for reimagining teaching and learning practices in ways that take the onus off of disabled students and foster access.