May 29, 2018







Charles Sturt University, Australia is one of 17 finalists in the 2018
Global Teaching Excellence Award

As a community of impactful professionals we are each thinking about how to best direct our efforts to secure results for our students and our communities.

Educational techniques. How do you use evidence-based strategies to plan your teaching and promote successful student learning? This week’s bulletin is the next in our series examining teaching strategies that support the nine Dimensions of Teaching (Crisp et al., 2009 – see below).

Dimension 7: Uses educational resources and techniques appropriately.

Professor Benassi from the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of New Hampshire is a professor of psychology.

By: Dr Victor Benassi and Dr Maryellen Weimer

Source: https://www.magnapubs.com/magna-commons/?video=13728

(See below for instructions on how to access the CSU free subscription to this resource).

This review focuses on the “educational techniques” component of Dimension 7. The 30-minute webinar draws from “science of learning” concepts to provide teaching ideas on how to structure content and how to help students gain long-term benefits from their learning.

The presentation refers to a few key texts that will be listed below, but the main reference is a 300-page FREE download book by Professor Benassi and co-authors:

Benassi, V. A., Overson, C. E., & Hakala, C. M. (Editors). (2014). Applying science of learning in education: Infusing psychological science into the curriculum. Retrieved from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology website: http://teachpsych.org/ebooks/asle2014/index.php

SCIENCE OF LEARNING CONCEPTS

Desirable difficulties:

Creating challenges and difficulties in the short-term to promote long-term gain for recall and application. The process includes allowing student errors and incorrect explanations, followed with correct information and explanation about why. Three manipulations to introduce desirable difficulties:

• Spacing study – distributing practice over time – both as a teaching technique and as a studying technique for students. The opposite is “massing practice”, or cramming.
• Interleaving – intermingling of new material with previously learned topics under varied conditions. The opposite is “blocked practice” – learning an entire topic once and then moving onto the next.
• Retrieval practice – evidence shows a more direct benefit for learning, compared to knowledge tests. Feedback is essential to ensure that errors are not perpetuated.

Techniques for learning from texts:

Examines common reading/studying techniques that we all do, but are shown to have limited effectiveness for long-term learning. These include Re-reading, Highlighting, Notetaking, Accessing the teacher’s notes or PowerPoint slides. So what does work?

• Giving guiding questions to answer – for every text that students read, provide questions to answer based on the text – for poor readers, produces significant increase in ability to answer similar conceptual questions, limited effect on increasing performance of high performing learners.

Cognitive Load:

If we try to impart all that we know and introduce interesting and seductive details, the amount of content can be more than students can process. Techniques to manage cognitive load include

• Chunking
• Spacing
• Getting rid of seductive details
• Challenge the assumption that “more is always better”

The transcript from this session includes answers to audience questions and a list of references for further study. Example: “should students be encouraged to take notes if they are in a lecture?”

Main extra references:

Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K., Marsh, E., Nathan, M.J., Willingham, D. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques: promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14, 4-58.

Mayer, R. E. (2011). Applying the science of learning. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Roediger, H. L., & Pyc, M. A. (2012). Inexpensive techniques to improve education: Applying Cognitive Psychology to enhance educational practice. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 1, 242-248. – Not available in our library, but we do have a more recent publication by the same author:

Brown, P., Roediger, H., & McDaniel, M. (2014). Make It Stick: The science of successful learning. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: Harvard University Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wprs3

Presentation handouts, full transcripts and supplementary resources are available for download from the Magna Commons website if you don't have time to listen to the seminar.

The Division of Learning and Teaching provides resources from all of its units to enhance teaching practice and promote student learning.

Learning Technologies - check out the alphabetical list of CSU-supported learning technologies here.

Learning Resources - for your Online and Interactive resources; Audiovisual production; Consultation on Media and Technology usage, dedicated production spaces, equipment and technical support. Submit an SRS request.

Learning Design - submit an SRS request to enlist the support of an Educational Designer for your curriculum and learning environment design, with evidence-based good teaching practice and professional learning support for academic staff.

Learning Academy - offers professional development for new, sessional and continuing staff. See the website for the long list of services you can access to support your teaching and assessment and develop your career.

Follow Teaching Tuesdays on Twitter.
Our Twitter feed includes links to further hints, tips and resources in the broader field of teaching in higher education. https://twitter.com/TeachingTuesday

We have two more Dimensions of Teaching to explore in the coming weeks.

The next series will be based around teaching strategies to maximise positive student responses in the Subject Experience Survey.

Access the full report of the national QILT 2017 Student Experience Survey to see the importance of this focus.

Suggest topics that you would like to see in Teaching Tuesdays; or
Share your own teaching tips article.

Click on the Green Contact Ellen McIntyre button (below, or at the top of the bulletin) to offer your suggestions.

Dimension 7: Uses educational resources and techniques appropriately

Indicative teaching strategies for demonstrating this dimension may include:

• using IT techniques effectively, e. g. PowerPoint or multimedia presentations of a professional standard
• using, as appropriate, a balance of IT and other strategies
• using available classroom resources to support student learning effectively
• supplying resources, materials and literature to support student learning
• using specific educational strategies and techniques in the design and delivery of teaching sessions, to achieve key objectives

Adapted from: Crisp, G. et al (2009) Peer Review of Teaching for Promotion Purposes: a project to develop and implement a pilot program of external Peer Review of Teaching at four Australian universities, University of Adelaide, an ALTC-funded project, 2007-8. Final Project Report June 2009. Thanks to RMIT and UNSW.

The nine Dimensions of Teaching are the key focus areas that underpin the main elements in the Peer Review of Teaching Practice templates used at CSU for both formative teaching development or to evidence your teaching in, for example, your promotion application.

(See Peer Review of Educational Practice at CSU).

You have access to a range of quality CSU resources to help you incorporate educational resources and techniques into your teaching. Check out the following:

• Teaching at CSU - the Division of Learning and Teaching website with links to resources for Teaching Staff, Online Learning, Assessment, Curriculum, Indigenous Curriculum, Workplace Learning, Technologies, Feedback and Analytics, and Learning Spaces.
  
• Resources for Learning and Teaching Academic and Professional Staff - searchable CSU database
  
• Learning Technologies - the starting point for a range of learning design options
• CSU Learning Exchange: Technologies in Context - a searchable database to promote online learning and teaching strategies
• The CSU wiki - a faculty-based source of learning and teaching information and strategies

Regular seminars on teaching-related topics are listed on the

CSU Professional Learning Calendar - accessed directly here

or from the Division of Learning and Teaching front page - accessed here

CSU Professional Learning Calendar: Let's get Personal about Learning: shaping learning and teaching around the different ways students learn.

Adobe Connect session 31 May 2018 at 1:00 pm

All CSU students and staff members have access to Lynda.com, an online subscription library that teaches the latest business, creative and software skills through high-quality instructional videos.

A search with a filter for Higher Education for 'educational resources' returned 246 resources. A search for 'educational techniques' returned a 73 resources. Some were about Microsoft, Adobe and Google products, but many others ranged from general teaching tips, to keynote lectures, to the specifics of various tools and applications for employing educational resources and techniques.

Have a look at this collection of practical tips:

Teaching Online: Synchronous Classes.

Short videos ranging from 2 to 4 minutes in length of tools, tips and techniques for leading real-time virtual classes. In total, just over 1 hour of combined tips. OR even

Teaching with Lynda.com.

Transforming Assessment, Next webinar session: 6 June 2018.

Panel Chair: Patrick Craven, Vice Chair, e-Assessment Association, UK.
A panel style review by selected awardees from eAAwards 2018.
Panel presenters:

• Gareth Hegarty, International Baccalaureate, "Delivering high stakes e-assessment at scale across four subject areas and a unique examination testing interdisciplinary skills".
• Captain John Lloyd, RD, MBA, FNI, The Nautical Institute, "Robust and repeatable e-assessment across 92 testing centres, in 30 countries, controlled from headquarters in London".
• Professor Graham Orpwood, Vretta Inc. "Personalized, interactive e-assessments in numeracy with immediate diagnostic feedback, developed in collaboration with colleges in Ontario, Canada".

Further information and FREE registration: http://ta.vu/6jun2018
-------------------------------
Further information: The Transforming Assessment webinars are part of a series of free events covering a range of assessment and e-assessment topics.

Sessions are hosted by Professor Geoffrey Crisp, PVC Education, University of New South Wales and Dr Mathew Hillier, Monash Education Academy, Monash University, Australia.
Further information on this and future events, recordings of past sessions, and links to resources can be found on the website at transformingassessment.com

All staff with a CSU email address have free access to our new

CSU subscription to the Magna Commons series of online seminars

Presentation handouts, full transcripts and supplementary resources are available for download if you don't have time to listen to the seminar.

How to subscribe

Staff with a CSU email address can obtain the Magna Commons CSU subscription code from Ellen McIntyre elmcintyre@csu.edu.au

Educational Techniques. Try a Magna Commons search for Educational Resources, and filter for "Faculty" topics that seem relevant, such as:

- What to Teach When There Isn't Time to Teach Everything

Magna Commons suggests these seminars to watch in the coming month:

From ensuring success of specific student populations to avoiding the teaching hazards that threaten instructor success, this month’s focus is designing effective and meaningful educational experiences. Below are some seminars related to success:

- Practical Strategies to Improve Student Retention in Online Classes

- Dealing with Student Behaviors that Compromise Learning

Folder with all previous issues.

Issue#1 Group Work: Seven Strategies to Enhance Learning through Group Work

Issue#2 Engagement: 10 Ways to Engage Your Students on the First Day of Class
Issue#3 Engagement: Motivate, Engage, and Inspire: Tips for Teaching Modern Learners

Issue#4 Academic Integrity: Why Students Cheat and What We Can Do About It

Issue#5 Feedback: Efficient and Effective Feedback in the Online Classroom

Issue#6 Feedback: Leveraging Technology to Support Effective Assessment Feedback Practices

Issue#7 Active Engagement: Three Strategies for Creating Meaningful Learning Experiences

Issue#8 Building on Prior Learning: How the Brain Learns: Teaching & Learning Implications

Issue#9 Student Diversity: Using Brief Interventions to Maximize Student Learning

Issue#10 Learning Outcomes: Should I share my learning outcomes with my students?

Issue#11 Deep Learning: Deep Learning and Student Engagement through Socratic Questioning

Issue#12 The Teaching-Research Nexus: 9 Strategies for Teaching with Links to Research

FoBJBS Newsletter: BOLD Issue#15

FoA&E Newsletter: NeXus Issue#2

Email: elmcintyre@csu.edu.au
Website: https://www.csu.edu.au/division/learning-and-teaching/about-us/learning-academy
Phone: +61 2 6933 4726

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