Research on Teaching and Learning The Center for Collaboration and Inquiry (CCI) will act as a clearing house for relevant resources on teaching and learning. This will include: Links to on-line educational resources
- FLAG
- The FLAG site is hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It represents proven, innovative assessment techniques specifically designed for courses in science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET). "A Primer on Assessment" explains the strategies and benefits of using alternative assessment in SMET courses. The site also describes several readily usable Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs), methods to guide and assess student learning,
- SALG
- If you have ever wanted to analyze which aspects of your course impact student learning, then the SALG the site is for you. This free site is designed for instructors of all disciplines who would like feedback from their students about how the course elements are helping them to learn. It is offered as a service to the college-level teaching community. Once you've registered, you can modify the SALG instrument so that it fits your own course design, enable your students to complete this instrument on-line, and review and download a statistical analysis of the students' responses.
- Teaching Goals Inventory
- (TGI) - The Teaching Goal Inventory (TGI) was published in Angelo & Cross's excellent book, Classroom Assessment Techniques (1993). The TGI is a 52-question instrument that averages responses to clusters of questions designed to help instructors identify their principal teaching goals (e.g., Basic Academic Success skills, Higher-order thinking skills). Instructors are asked to rank the value of specific teaching goals using a five-point Likert scale. The TGI is available on-line at the University of Iowa through the link above. Results are tabulated and scored automatically. Results can be used to identify classroom assessment techniques that best match instructor's goals.
- VARK - A Guide to Learning Styles
- The VARK site is based around a self-scoring questionnaire that guides students to recognize their particular learning style (Visual - Aural - Read/Wrtie - Kinesthetic) and then suggests how they can most effectively use that knowledge to improve their learning. VARK was developed by Neil Fleming, Lincoln University, New Zealand. The site includes links to articles by Fleming that describe the utility of VARK.
- Assessment Forum
- A huge list of assessment sites housed on the American Association for Higher Education's website. Among other things, the links take you to sites that discuss how to assess writing, critical thinking, or portfolios; sites that describe how to analyze data or plan an assessment program; or sites that describe different assessment tools and instruments.
- National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
- The case method has been used for years to teach law, business, and medicine, it is not common in science. Yet the use of case studies holds great promise as a pedagogical technique for teaching science, particularly to undergraduates, because it humanizes science and well illustrates scientific methodology and values. It develops students' skills in group learning, speaking and critical thinking, and since many of the best cases are based on contemporary — and often contentious — science problems that students encounter in the news (such as human cloning), the use of cases in the classroom makes science relevant.
- Peer Review of Teaching
- This is part of the American Association of Higher Education's Teaching Initiatives website. These web pages feature information and links to documents from the AAHE's Peer Review of Teaching Project. It includes links to a series of three exercises designed to help prompt faculty conversations about teaching and learning
Printable 'How to . . .' handouts on the use of classroom assessment techniques
Annotated bibliographies of articles on a variety of teaching/learning topics Getting Started - see Top Ten Teaching and Learning papers. These articles are heavily weighted to science education but include some excellent general articles as well. The majority are written by content specialists who became teaching scholars to improve learning in their courses.
Give me data - see Five articles with data on improving student achievement. Recently published data on improvements in student learning in biology, chemistry, and physics. Additional improvements in student retention and/or attitudes are discussed in some papers.
Using groups - see Five articles on cooperative learning. An effective strategy to improve student learning is to have students work together in groups during class. These papers describe both successful models of cooperative learning as well as the theories behind this strategy. What do you think? - see Five articles on student intellectual development. Ever wonder what students are thinking about or why they "just don't get it"? Read these articles and discover why the "empty vessel" model of student learning is unrealistic.
Student views - see Five articles on student views about instructional practice. This group of articles consider student cheating, faculty evaluations, and student perceptions about learning.
What are you doing? - see Five articles on the peer review of teaching. How can we helpfully review the teaching of others? What to look for and how to make peer review work without ticking people off.
What "good" looks like - see Five articles on using rubrics. Some ways to improve student answers before they write them and to reduce complaints about grading. |
