I understand what you are saying about “reacting to the past”. I have played a form of that, but it was in a context that allowed for that soft of reflection to happen. I believe that type of game can be helpful in historical contexts where you are trying to understand history, how it happened, and why it happened to learn from it. I do not believe this would have worked in a scientific concept especially one where a lot of imaginative energy would be needed to visualize molecules or proteins that are not visible to the naked eye.
Author: britthip
Comment on HPR 2154: Introduction to Harry Potter by britthip
While reading your post, I was stuck on the idea that we do not have control over our course load. I find that true and not true at the same time. It is true in the fact that there are basic core areas within majors that any one graduating needs to understand. It is not true that those are the only courses they you would need to take. I had a different experience during my undergraduate studies. I majored in Chemistry, and I had to take physical chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, calculus, and instrumental chemistry. But, I was at a liberal arts school where I needed to take classes not in my major. I took History of Hawaii, Witchcraft in the 16th Century, American Film Studies, Banned Books, Ceramics, Political Science, and Introduction to World Religions. I chose those classes. I still had a choice in my education, and I excelled in those classes. I don’t mean to preach about liberal arts, but if choice is important in your education, then make sure that the chosen school that you attend has incorporated choice into their curriculum. Again, I’m not advocating or preaching, I’m just saying that choice is out there if you want to experience it. I agree that choice will allow a student to be mindful and get the most out of an educational experience, even if it is just reading a novel for fun.
Comment on It’s Not ‘What’ You Do, It’s ‘How’ You Do It by britthip
I can see what you are saying. Just today, I was at my office hours, and someone came to only ask the exact questions on the current homework set. They were only interested in divining the answers from me, and not the process of how to solve the problems. This sets them at disadvantage when they go to solve a similar problem on their first exam. Students and their teachers need to be more mindful rather than just drone on from homework to test, grade to grade.
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Comment on Game of Phones by britthip
Thank you, Erin. I’m glad someone brought up attention spans. Because of my background in science, I always like to find the sources of information. The study that the conclusion that our attention spans are shrinking is actually from a survey by Microsoft Canada that was reported several times by the media. An article by BBC News (http://www.bbc.com/news/health-38896790) also got to the bottom of it. Their investigation found that a fixed attention span is “meaningless” and in fact we as a species are becoming better at multitasking and task dependent attention. (They also had an ichthyologist debunk the 8 second attention span of goldfish). This sort of research can help in higher education. Instructors can think about ways to tap into the task-dependent attention during their teaching.
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Comment on Electronic devices in classrooms? by britthip
I think we mostly agree, but I do think that we as instructors need to do more than “get the best out of it”. Right now I am reminded of the Bob Dylan song, “The Times They Are A Changin’.” Our world, for better or worse, has embraced technology from the internet to cryptocurrency to globalization. Education therefore needs to”catch up” and integrate technology into our teaching. Online learning, in my opinion that every heard last week, is not as effective as it could be yet. Lectures are a relic of the 20th century, and the longer than instructors hold onto that institution, the longer it will be until we can develop effective digital and blended learning methods.
Comment on Game of Phones by britthip
Thank you for your advice. I would use the small changes approach if I was working on a course I already designed. As I am relatively new, I can identify projects and/or inquiry assignments from the get go and build my syllabus around those projects. I can’t make any promises, but I would like to believe that I would be constantly analyzing my teaching methods for effectiveness, just like I am constantly analyzing my experiments right now during my PhD, in order to identify areas where I am not engaging students or they are not fully mastering the material. I am building this skill now, and I can see myself applying that to my future career path.
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Comment on Game of Phones by britthip
I would agree with your comment that time is the factor that helps continue the lecture-based classroom. It is much easier to construct a speech to deliver to a class, then it is to design self-guided inquiry exercises that allow students to learn basic information and put the mastery together themselves. But, I believe that as future instructors, we need to invest the time to develop innovative teaching strategies, not only because it will be beneficial to students, but because the profession of teaching needs innovation in order to stay current with the fast paced world we live in today. The US prides itself on its educational system, but we will not be competitive at any level if we do not evolve from the 20th century teaching techniques.
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Comment on The technology balancing act by britthip
Nice blog post. I am a big advocate for technology in the classroom because it is what students want and expect in their education now. This semester I am helping teach a senior level Biochemistry course with 150 students. In this class, the professor is using an education system called TopHat. (https://tophat.com) This allows us to automate attendance because everyone uses a phone or a laptop to “join” the virtual classroom. This allows the professor to run the slideshow on everyone’s small screens at the same time as the projector. TopHat also encourages adding response questions into the slide show, so the professor can get instant feedback of how students are participating and learning the content. This use of technology is more of a way to keep students engaged while the professor is lecturing.
I had significant exposure to technology in the classroom during my undergraduate studies where I used laptops to work on group assignments in my chemistry classes. These were POGIL lessons that presented us with a logical inquiry driven exercise to develop the knowledge and master the material as peers with the instructor as a facilitator. My professor would teach the basics, and we would immediately begin to put those basics together for more application-based learning. I feel that I understood the material better with the POGIL lessons as I learned why and how the basics were important/applied.
Comment on Game of Phones by britthip
Who or what is at fault for the loss of focus? I feel that some people are quick to blame the technology and it’s impact on developing brains, but I believe that it is the instructor and their teaching that just fails to be engaging. The use of technology in the class room and innovation that can come with it is what higher education needs to recapture the imagination of the next generation of learners. Where would the human race be if technology wasn’t used at its full potential? The circuits in our phone might still be the size of rooms. We wouldn’t be gearing up to begin to explore the universe beyond Earth. Technology is the drumbeat in the March towards the future and education needs to reflect that. I got a little carried away, but reading through other blog posts, people are against any sort of technology in the classroom, which I think that is a mistake.
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Comment on Learning without being TAUGHT!! by britthip
I agree with you. I do think that because students want technology in their lives, we as instructors must begin to utilize technology more in the classroom. Your suggestions in your post are quite good, I must find similar ideas to implement when teaching in science. I dislike leading with purely lectures as I know they are ineffective, as you would probably agree. But, it will take innovative teachers to find new and exciting ways to reach and deliver course content to their pupils.
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