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Flow of Ideas: articles - Evaluating Different Teaching Methods |
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| EVALUATING DIFFERENT TEACHING METHODS:
ACTION LEARNING GROUP (ALG) TASK FOR THE CERTIFICATE IN LEARNING AND TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION (CLTHE) 2 Ruth Rikowski This exercise on evaluating, assessing, comparing and contrasting different teaching methods was useful. The members of my Action Learning Group (ALG ) all produced interesting and informative papers and between us we covered a wide range of different teaching methods. Steve Vary looked at the tutorial relationship; Aloyse Raptopoulos focused on teaching in large groups; Frances Lyons examined case studies, Anna Nelson looked at virtual learning environments, whilst I considered teaching in small groups. Steve Vary in reading Earwaker (1992) brought out some important points in regard to the tutorial relationship, such as the fact that it is in essence, a duet where one person leads; and it involves skilled personal interaction, where confidences can sometimes be shared but where clear boundaries clearly have to be drawn. Aloyse Raptopoulos looked at Felder’s (1997) article on large-group teaching, which outlines strategies for teaching large groups effectively. Felder thinks ‘student teams’ are important and looks at both ‘in-class exercises’ and ‘out-of-group assignments’. Some practical points are highlighted for large group teaching, such as the need to allow enough time for marking and to be organised re setting tests and examination dates, and giving out course packs etc. Frances Lyons teaches psychology, so the case study would be particularly useful for her. She looked at Teaching with case studies which emphasised that the aim of the case study method is to help students to learn to problem solve and make decisions, through engaging with the teaching material. This can be undertaken in three stages; exploratory, implementation and evaluation. The chapter that Anna Nelson read (Santy and Smith, 2007) focused on what the student should expect from their tutor within an on line environment, and emphasised the importance of having clear information and ground rules. Santy and Smith see students as becoming ‘knowledgeable doers’, which encourages deep learning. Anna is particularly interested in looking at virtual learning environments as a form of blended learning, combining conventional face-to-face teaching with online tasks. Finally, I read Light and Cox’s (2001) chapter on ‘Facilitating small group teaching’. Light and Cox covered the topic in considerable depth, making many important points, and included a lot of useful references. They recognise that small-group teaching is demanding but that it has many benefits, such as being able to understand new ideas, encouraging interdependence and a sense of belonging. Within this, they consider a variety of teaching methods such as changing group sizes and role playing. One of the concerns I had though was the fact that clear boundaries need to be drawn with students in regard to their emotional, personal and social needs. I looked at some of the contributions from other colleagues on the CLTHE course. Beth Ward, for example, read an article by Hejmadi (2007) about using blended learning as a teaching method in large groups (particularly in classes of over 180 students). A number of different teaching methods were highlighted in this regard – formal lectures, interactive online tutorial, formative assessments and small group follow-up workshops. Several benefits were highlighted such as evident improvement in both the quality and quantity of questions asked in workshops, positive student feedback, and that the fact that the quieter students became more confident. Yousuf Khan looked at Brown and Atkins (1988) work about teaching in small groups, usually in groups of 8-20 students. A number of benefits were noted such as student-centred learning, developing social skills and critical thinking and facilitating collective problem solving. Finally, I read a contribution from a CLTHE colleague on Blackboard on ‘Problem Based Learning’ (article by Rhem). This method is apparently now very popular in medical education in both the UK and elsewhere. It is seen to promote cognitive development and problem-solving skills and to be a part of active learning. A number of stages of the Problem Based Learning tutorial process can be identified (Diana Wood) including identifying and clarifying unfamiliar terms, brainstorming and group sharing results. Some argue though that PBL is narrow and reductive and does not embrace the complexities of life. All in all reading this variety of material has furthered my understanding of some of the main and important teaching methods. In most forms of traditional teaching a combination of large group, small group and tutorial teaching is used. These three methods all obviously have a valuable part to play, with the lecture traditionally giving the basic knowledge in a large group format, followed by greater participation from students in the seminars (small group teaching) with tutorials to address any other more individual problems and issues. The interactive lecture can also mediate between both the lecture and the seminar format, although it can only really be effective with smaller groups. Felder usefully highlighted some important points in regard to teaching effectively in large groups, particularly in the area of efficient organisation. The notion of the tutorial relation as a duet where one person leads I found to be quite an intriguing idea and also insightful. Problem based learning and case studies are more specific types of learning for certain situations and personally I learnt more from my reading of these methods than from the other methods. The idea of learning through solving problems and making decisions is an intriguing one I think and should aid those graduates in particular who want to become managers. However, the concern that it could be too narrow and reductive is quite serious, I think, and thus as a teaching method needs to be used with care. It is not something which I have explored myself in depth as a teaching method, but will perhaps consider using it more in the future, for specific scenarios. However I encourage students to think critically and to think about and address important problems and concerns in general. Reading about the virtual learning environment and blended learning was also interesting and as methods can be used in combination with the other teaching methods, although this may require considerable thought in some instances - e.g. for the tutorial method where the students needs to feel that there is an environment of trust and where they are being given enough individual attention. There is a lot of material being published today on online learning, virtual learning environments and blended learning (see e.g. Littlejohn and Pegler, 2007). The beneficial effects of blended learning as noted by Hejmadi are useful. These methods can also be combined with the IT social skills that I refer to in my reflective conclusion of CLTHE 1 and 2 (under learning outcomes 1-4) – see for example Corbyn (2008). In conclusion teachers of higher education need to think carefully about what the most appropriate teaching methods to use are and when to use them. Students learn most effectively by a combination of different methods – the trick lies in how to use these methods to maximise the benefit for effective learning. But within this context I am particularly keen to explore the possibilities of teaching in small groups further, also problem-based learning and possibly blended learning. References Brown, G. and Atkins, M. (1988) Effective teaching in higher education, London: Routledge Corbyn, Zoë (2008) Read it, like it, list it, share it: academics are using social bookmarking sites to share papers and to track research, Times Higher Education, 6th-12 March, pp.18-19 Earwaker, John (1992) The tutorial relationship (an edited version of ‘The Tutorial relationship in Helping and Supporting Students, Buckingham: The Open University Press) Felder, Richard (1997) Beating the numbers game: effective teaching in large classes, ASEE Annual Conference, Milwaukee, WI, June (online)] Hejmadi, M.V. (2007) Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of teaching large classes: development and evaluation of a novel e-resource Cancer biology bioscience education ejournal, The Higher Education Academy Light, G. and Cox, R. (2001) Facilitating small group teaching (Ch. 7) in Learning and Teaching in HE: the reflective practitioner, London: Paul Chapman Littlejohn, Allison and Pegler, Chris (2007) Preparing for Blended E-Learning, Oxon; Routledge. Part of ‘Connecting with E-Learning’ series edited by Allison Littlejohn and Chris Pegler Rhem, J. (1998) Problem-based learning: an introduction, The National Teaching and Learning Forum, December 8 (1) (online) Santy, J. and Smith, L. (2007) Being an e-learner in health and social care: a student’s guide, Oxon: Routledge Teaching with case studies (1994) Speaking of teaching: Stanford University Newsletter on Teaching, 5 (2). Stanford: Center for Teaching and Learning This piece was originally written when Ruth was studying for the Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education at London South Bank University, 2007-2008 © Copyright Ruth Rikowski, 25th March 2008 Print Friendly - Print Friendly with links |
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