Author Archives: Carolyn Stallard

TMM 4: Retrieval Practice (the Testing Effect)

March 22, 2021

You prepare a great lesson and class goes well, but the following week the students seem to have forgotten all that they learned. What’s happening? Perhaps they’re missing the opportunity to practice retrieving information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj0XReikuvY

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj0XReikuvY 

Please add your own ideas for retrieval practice to the Open Space doc.

Items Referenced in This Video: 

  • Song: “Sonnymoon for Two” by Sonny Rollins
  • Book: Small Teaching by James Lang
    • The Brian Rogerson study mentioned in the video is found in Ch. 1 of this book
    • There is a follow-up book called Small Teaching Online co-authored with Flower Darby. Also worth reading. 
  • Ideas: 
    • If you use Blackboard learning modules, add ungraded questions at the beginning, middle, or end of a module. 
    • Your “training” should match the end goal – if your course ends with a short answer-based exam, multiple choice questions will not be effective conditioning for the end goal. 
    • Prioritize time for review at the end of each class meeting and again at the beginning of the next session (if you teach asynchronously, work this into lesson content posted online). 
    • If you hide Easter eggs in your course, consider using Google forms to create a retrieval practice exercise for students to “find” an egg. 
    • Online quiz games: Kahoot! (better for synchronous, real-time quiz games) or Quizizz (good for asynchronous quiz games). 

Questions to reflect on:

Which story in the video resonated with you? 

With that story in mind, how can you incorporate retrieval practice into your teaching? 

TMM 3: Wellness (Physical Activity & Novelty)

March 15, 2021

This week, consider how you can support your students’ mental and physical wellbeing through your course design. What are you doing to incorporate physical activity and novelty? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzvr-pF1ZZ0&feature=youtu.be

Video: https://youtu.be/Fzvr-pF1ZZ0 

Please add your own ideas for providing clear course navigation on the Open Space doc. 

Items Referenced in This Video: 

TMM 2: Course Navigation

March 28, 2021

In this video, consider the roadmap you’ve provided for your students. Are there clear descriptions of each sidebar tab, and a layout of what students need to do for their weekly routine? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYKDqbD4bkM

Video: https://youtu.be/UYKDqbD4bkM 

 

Please add your own ideas for providing clear course navigation in the Open Space doc.

Ideas Mentioned in Video: 

  • Pin a “Quick Start Guide” in an easy-to-access place that students visit often (such as the course landing page). 
  • Students may get overwhelmed when presented with too much information at once. Use the “Adaptive Release” feature on Blackboard so that not all information is available up front. 
  • If you use Google Docs for your syllabus, use a black highlighter to cover information that isn’t relevant this early in the semester. This allows students who do like to know everything up front to check what’s coming by highlighting over it, while those who are overwhelmed by too much information don’t need to access it yet. 
  • Think of your course like you would if you wanted someone to bake muffins or travel to a destination. What information do they need? 

Quick Start Guide ideas: 

The screenshot below is from a template I created for professors.
***I realize a screenshot is not fully accessible; if anyone reading this would like access to the entire Blackboard course template, email me at Carolyn.Stallard@guttman.cuny.edu***

Another example: Here is one version I’ve used for my courses. I also use a sort of delayed “quick start” video that I post after students have a handle on how the course functions, as a reminder. I send this video out at the end of Week 3, after all information on the syllabus has been un-blackened. Take this with a grain of salt, since my courses are set up in a kind of atypical manner. 

TMM 1: Syllabus Engagement

March 21, 2021

In this video, learn tips for student engagement with the syllabus. Then practice annotating a syllabus: https://bit.ly/TMMsyllabus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3ieUZmKhb4

Video: https://youtu.be/B3ieUZmKhb4 

 

Please add your own ideas for icebreakers and/or syllabus engagement on the Open Space document. 

Items Mentioned in the Video: 

Event: 

On Friday, March 5th, The CUNY Games Network will host a free workshop on quick activities to incorporate into your courses. Click here for more information. 

Ten Ideas for Syllabus Engagement

  1. Hide an Easter Egg in your syllabus. Easter eggs are hidden pieces of information that reveal who has accessed your material (an example is available in the syllabus annotation activity).
  2. Add images to your syllabus, but make them accessible with alternate text
  3. Design a syllabus quiz or scavenger hunt for students. 
    1. Kahoot! and Quizizz are free online tools for creating asynchronous or synchronous quizzes
    2. 321Go! for synchronous Zoom sessions. Ask students a question. Have them type responses in the chat but tell them not to press Enter until you say so. Then say “321Go!” as all answers appear at once.
  4. Black out portions of the syllabus you don’t need yet. If students see too much information at once, they are less likely to read it.
  5. Design a “choose-your-own-adventure” activity with Google Forms. A quick Google search can uncover many guides and templates for creating a form. Here is one guide.
  6. Check in with the students and have them workshop any syllabus revisions with you. They will feel more agency over the syllabus if they help design a piece.
  7. If you meet synchronously, use breakout rooms for student competition. First, ask the entire class what information they think they need to succeed in class. Collect the responses. Then, break students into group and have them compete against each other to find each piece of information in the syllabus. The first group to finish wins.
  8. Use Think Pair Share: Have students review the syllabus on their own, then pair them up to share their understanding of the document, discuss confusion, etc. Have them write out their feedback to share with you (they can even do this anonymously if they want).
  9. Embed this video from Snoop Dogg.
  10.  Syllabus annotation: Make a copy of your syllabus for students to annotate on Google docs. Change the privacy settings so anyone with the link can comment. Practice annotating a syllabus here. 

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