As we begin our 12 week classes today, I thought it would be good to revisit some of the strategies we can use to integrate active learning into all of our classes. The goal is to create self-guided learning. Not stressing about coverage allows us to teach our students how to learn and thus create critical thinkers for the future. Students may approach coursework from a fairly mechanistic stance: If the instructor gives me information, I will memorize it, and get a good grade. This approach to learning doesn’t lend itself well to an active classroom, which requires students to wrestle with difficult ideas in order to lead to deeper conceptual learning. The good news is that most of your students are looking for cues from you on what you expect so they are malleable to your ideas. First, you might want to reflect on your own ideas about learning? Your own implicit ideas can have a big impact on how you teach (Good, Rattan and Dweck, 2012). Do you implicitly have performance goals for your students – and yourself -- and a "fixed" rather than a "growth" mindset about intelligence? Think about the messages that you send students. Do you show your students that you want to be questioned during class, that you own up to your own errors, and that you also can learn from them? Do you praise students for their effort or their grades? Consider intentionally framing your classroom for learning mastery. You can emphasize that learning takes effort and that anyone can improve if they work hard (Dweck 2010; Good, Rattan and Dweck 2012; Anderman and Dawson, 2010). You can create opportunities for students to reflect on the process of their own learning so they become more self-directed learners (Elby 2001; Redish and Hammer, 2009; Bransford, Brown and Cocking, 2000). Helping students reflect on their own learning, or “think about thinking” is termed “metacognition,” a learned skill that is unfortunately not directly addressed in many college courses. Spending a few minutes in each session about metacognition can pay off in big dividends when it comes to self-guided learning.

THE POWER OF YET
I often include #teachingmatters on the tweets of the Teaching+Learning Center's twitter account. But it's not just a hashtag that may be trending from time to time, it is something I believe in wholeheartedly. A great teacher brings so much to a class. Students respond to someone who is engaging, caring, organized, and committed to their success. I have posted about how grading and motivation are linked but I want to share with you an article by Amy Conley that synthesizes the research on this topic. I especially like the grading suggestions chart that draws on Carol Dweck's work, among others.

WHY THE FIRST EXAM ISN'T JUST THE FIRST ASSESSMENT
It is that time of the semester when we may be giving students an assessment of some type. It may be a quiz, full-blown exam, essay, or formative assessments in the class. Of course we are doing this to judge the students progress and to see how effective our teaching has been. I always spend some time explaining that the assessment is also a time for them to reflect. How did they do? Did their study effort equal their grade expectations? Have they learned the material yet? Dr. Maryellen Weimer has a post on this topic that you might find useful.

CREATING MINDSET MOMENTS
Bill Ferriter writes, "I've got a student this year -- let's call her Aliyana -- who just plain makes me smile.  She's unique times ten -- comfortable being different and always ready to think creatively.  She's also super funny and super kind -- which means she's super well-liked by her peers.  In a lot of ways, she's the kind of kid that I hope my own daughter will become. But at times, I think she doubts herself as a learner. She not the first to raise her hand in classroom conversations -- and when she does, there's a hesitance in her voice that hints at an intellectual insecurity that surprises me.  It's almost like school hasn't been kind to her over the years and so she's just not sure that being a thought leader is a role that she's supposed to fill in our classroom.  In her own mind, she's the funny kid -- not the smart kid.  She makes us laugh.  Other kids help us learn." Continue reading

MAXIMIZE YOUR TIME
One of the things that all faculty wish they had more of is time. That is why I try to give you as much information as possible in as many different formats as available. If you would like to see very brief teaching and learning tips, you should definitely become a follower on the Teaching+Learning Center's Twitter account. Each tweet is guaranteed to be 140 characters or less. You can easily create a Twitter account for yourself in order to follow. I would encourage you to use the account for your teaching as well. It is a great way to remind your students of upcoming deadlines, assessments, or any other important announcements or information.

NEW EDITION OF ALM AVAILABLE
The Active Learning Manual has been updated for the 2015-16 academic year. I have added additional methods on how you can quickly learn your student's names at the beginning of each semester. It is a sure fire way to enhance engagement and create an environment that promotes student success. I have also added a section specifically for our eLearning faculty but the methods can be used in face-to-face classes as well. Finally, I added a few interventions to help keep disruptive students on track. If you would like to receive the electronic version of the ALM, please send me an email request to pourciaut@mybrcc.edu.

GROWTH MINDSET AND SELF EFFICACY
During our most recent faculty professional development workshop. Dr. Crystal Allen of Lone Star College in neighboring Texas spoke about helping students develop a growth mindset. Although I have presented this theory in previous workshops, Dr. Allen brought a fresh perspective to this important topic. Enhancing each of our student's self-efficacy levels is vitally important to increasing our retention and completion rates. Helping them to understand that knowledge is not a fixed commodity but something that can grow throughout our lives is the key to this approach.