As we look forward to Commencement on Friday, May 24, it is
also time to begin to assess our progress as an educational institution. That
all starts and ends in each of your classes, whether you met face-to-face or
virtually. Looking at the amount of students who did not pass your class with an
acceptable grade is a good place to begin. A large number of failures indicate
serious problems. As the educational process is a partnership, we must take
part of the blame. If you taught in an online delivery mode this semester, you
can certainly use analytics available to you through Blackboard. Those can be
extremely helpful as you notice trends of when students stopped participating
or what resources they utilized on their semester journey. If you taught in the
classroom, it is more difficult to analyze the situation but you should still
attempt to do so. I have encouraged you to keep a journal of each of your
classes as you make your way through the semester. It is a great way to help
you redesign your class for greater effectiveness. Many of you took advantage
of the classroom observation resource that I offer. I urge those of you who did
to revisit the analysis as you begin to look at what worked and what did not. I
am pleased to tell you that we now have the capability to offer you a video
rendition of your class. You simply need to contact me to set this up. Seeing
yourself as your students do can be a very helpful exercise. I have also
updated the Active Learning Manual. If you would like to have the latest
version to help you plan new learning experiences, send me a request via email
(pourciaut@mybrcc.edu). Friday is about celebrating accomplishment. You have
had a significant part to play in all of our graduates’ lives. Let's come
together as a community and recognize the best of who we are in our graduates
on Friday.
TEACHING LESS ALLOWS BETTER LEARNING
Many faculty complain that their deans and chairs insist
that they "cover" a certain amount of material (usually defined by
chapters in a textbook) in their classes during the semester. I have shared
with you that research shows that teaching less allows our students to learn
better. We must focus on learning outcomes. It is vital to have students who
can think critically and integrate new material and then apply it to new
situations. Active learning is proven to produce just this kind of learning. If
a student is able to think critically, they can survive in any situations,
whether they are receiving a certificate and going to work or whether they are
transferring to a four-year institution. Faust and Paulson have developed a
terrific research paper that compiles the best of active learning data. They
note that the “coverage problem”—that is that an instructor cannot “cover” as
much material in a course incorporating active-learning techniques as in a
course using exclusively lecture—is built on faulty logic. A growing body of
evidence suggests that students learn and retain more information when they are
asked to engage it actively. However, weighing content coverage against active
learning creates a devil’s bargain: Either teach more material and have
students learn less, or teach less material and have students learn more of it.
Little purpose is served by the first choice. Students always will be better
educated if we expose them to slightly less content but require them to engage the
material. We all have had the experience of students coming into our classes
appearing to have little knowledge of what was covered in their previous
courses. The material was “covered,” but the students did not learn it. Thus,
even in courses in which there are mandates on the amount of material to be
covered, students are likely to be better prepared for successive courses if
they are actively engaged in learning the material.
COLLEGE DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Students show substantial gains in learning during college,
as measured by a standardized test of critical thinking, according to two
studies conducted by the creator of the test. While perhaps not a direct rebuke
to Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, the blockbuster
2011 book that documented what its authors argued was meager learning on
campuses, the studies, by the Council for Aid to Education, do offer a sunnier
counter narrative. In "Does College Matter?," the council found that,
at a typical college, students' scores on the Collegiate Learning Assessment,
or CLA, rose 108 points, on a scale that ranges from about 400 to 1600, between
freshman and senior years. The council also found distinctions in the
performance of students at different types of institutions. Students at
baccalaureate colleges demonstrated the highest average growth on the CLA,
followed by those at master's-level colleges and universities. Students at
doctoral and research universities showed the lowest average growth.
