The workflow (shown above) consists of identifying the common elements found in most traditional lectures and shows how we convert each element into a more engaged method. Most lecture courses naturally cascade the material by first introducing it, then requiring students revisit it with homework, and finally revisit it again when taking an exam. This is pedagogically excellent. But, we believe that it is inefficient because the students are passive at first and then scared to death that they will make a mistake in the latter stages. Our method preserves that cascaded approach but requires that students are engaged in active learning experiences and have as much of a formative assessment and feedback process as possible. It also blends in team and project based learning in every aspect of the course.
Converting your course in 5 easy steps (details can be found under Components in the menu):
Step 1: [Easy] Take the reading assignments you use in your standard course and find a way to put them in a pdf format. Set up the reading assignments that you want completed before each class. Either upload pdfs to Perusall.com or work with your publisher to have the book available for purchase directly on Perusall.com (the easiest way)
Step 2: [Easy] Take a look at the homework you usually assign. Are these challenging? Add at least one more challenging problem to each set. Then give the homework to the students exactly the same way you usually do it.
Step 3: [Harder] Look at each of your lectures and identify the learning objectives (what you wanted your students to learn that day) if you have not already done that. Now create activities for the students to do in-class that will require that the students achieve those objectives.
Step 4: [Easy] Write a 30-45 minute exam. You can start the same way you would if you were teaching a lecture course. Now look at each question and ask yourself where it sits on Bloom’s taxonomy. Make sure that there are at least a few that are beyond the level of memorization of facts or algorithms.
Step 5: [Hard at first but gets easier] Create a project that will be exciting for the students to work on. It should be focussed on the material you are covering in a chunk of the class. Try to make a project where humans are helped or the world is enhanced. It also helps to infuse some whimsey into the project as well. You can use the templates in the Components section of the site as a starting point to create a project statement to give to the student. Decide what the deliverable will be (take a look at the examples on this site or come up with your own ideas.).
That’s it. The rest is just execution.
Converting your course in 5 easy steps (details can be found under Components in the menu):
Step 1: [Easy] Take the reading assignments you use in your standard course and find a way to put them in a pdf format. Set up the reading assignments that you want completed before each class. Either upload pdfs to Perusall.com or work with your publisher to have the book available for purchase directly on Perusall.com (the easiest way)
Step 2: [Easy] Take a look at the homework you usually assign. Are these challenging? Add at least one more challenging problem to each set. Then give the homework to the students exactly the same way you usually do it.
Step 3: [Harder] Look at each of your lectures and identify the learning objectives (what you wanted your students to learn that day) if you have not already done that. Now create activities for the students to do in-class that will require that the students achieve those objectives.
Step 4: [Easy] Write a 30-45 minute exam. You can start the same way you would if you were teaching a lecture course. Now look at each question and ask yourself where it sits on Bloom’s taxonomy. Make sure that there are at least a few that are beyond the level of memorization of facts or algorithms.
Step 5: [Hard at first but gets easier] Create a project that will be exciting for the students to work on. It should be focussed on the material you are covering in a chunk of the class. Try to make a project where humans are helped or the world is enhanced. It also helps to infuse some whimsey into the project as well. You can use the templates in the Components section of the site as a starting point to create a project statement to give to the student. Decide what the deliverable will be (take a look at the examples on this site or come up with your own ideas.).
That’s it. The rest is just execution.