IU Teaching Handbook: Section 2 — Teaching Methods

The second section of the IU Teaching Handbook discusses specific instructional methodologies, including lecturing, facilitating discussions, group work, assessing student performance, using case studies, managing science labs, and teaching with technology.

Lecturing

Adapted with permission from Farris, 1985

Lecturing is often equated with college teaching. This is rapidly changing, however, as university instructors have begun to recognize that not all students benefit from lecture, nor is lecture the most efficient way to disseminate information. Originally the “lecturer” read to an audience because access to written material was limited, and many of the learners were illiterate. The printing process, digitalized information, and general literacy have dramatically changed the lecturer’s function.

Lecturing still has its rightful place among dozens of other teaching techniques, but the question one has to ask is, “Which technique will do most to help students learn?” Some topics lend themselves much more naturally to lecturing than others. The lecture is valid for these reasons: to provide structure and organization to scattered material; to help pace student learning; to reinforce assigned reading by providing an alternative perspective or source of information; and to use the public speaking opportunity to motivate students.

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Preparing Lectures

Adapted with permission from Middendorf & Kalish, 1996

Being in the same room with someone saying something is not equivalent to learning it. Students must engage the material to retain it. Also, given that students’ attention span is around 15 to 20 minutes long and university classes last 50 to 75 minutes, you need to do something to control their attention. Lectures should be punctuated with periodic activities. Many IU instructors report that when they intersperse short lectures with active engagement for students for as brief a time as two to five minutes, students seem to become re–energized for the next 15– to 20–minute mini–lecture.

Planning a Lecture

Adapted with permission from Farris, 1985

When you start to plan a lecture, first consider your audience. Undergraduate students represent a broad cross–section of backgrounds and skills, and as a result may arrive at college with varying levels of competence. You neither want to talk over their heads nor to patronize them. You will be more effective if you try as much as possible to draw on knowledge they already have or appeal to experiences that, by analogy, suit the topic.

Before preparing the lecture, ask yourself: how does the lecture fit into the course as a whole? What are your objectives? Do you want to provide the students with an overview of the subject, give them some background information, or provoke them into further contemplation?

Once you’ve decided that the nature of your topic is indeed suitable for a lecture and have considered both your objectives and the knowledge level of your audience, you still want to make sure that what you need to cover will fit within the time allotted. A typical instructor lament is that there is so much material and so little time. Good organization will enable you to eliminate irrelevant material so that you may cover important points more thoroughly. One award–winning IU faculty member told us that “I believe in the ‘few things’ approach. Rather than going through a lot of topics, I cover a few in great depth. Having students stay with a few topics provides a longer–lasting learning experience than jumping through a lot of different things” (Middendorf et. al., 1990).

Another IU professor tells us that in 20 years of teaching a large introductory lecture course, he has gradually eliminated 75 percent of the material he tried to cover. He thinks it is much better for his students to really learn a little than for them to be buried under too much.

Analyzing the Audience

A lecture should be designed with the student’s perspective in mind. What are students’ current knowledge, assumptions, biases, and, perhaps, misconceptions about the topic? In planning the lecture, you will need to find a way to build on the knowledge students bring, and also provide a means for students to reflect upon their biases and misconceptions. The lecture overall should be planned to answer the question, “How will students’ understanding be different at the end of the presentation?”

Generating an Outline

Once you have determined your subject and what your students’ needs are, formulate one general question that covers the heart of it, one you could answer in a single lecture. Take time to write it down and study it. Then generate three or four points that you could develop to answer this question. Note these down under the question. You are now gazing at your lecture outline.

Choosing Examples

Your next task is to define the elements of your key points and generate effective examples or analogies for each. Examples generated “on the spur of the moment” in class tend to be trivial; if prepared in advance, examples can both illustrate a particular point and broaden students’ understanding of the subject. Think the examples through carefully and consider ways to illustrate them with chalkboard diagrams, slides, overhead transparencies, demonstrations, or case studies, any of which can increase students’ understanding and interest.

Choosing Learning Activities

To effectively teach concepts, we must tell our students the generality or rule and give them specific and carefully considered examples. However, that is not enough. If they are to learn the concept in a usable way, we must provide them with a chance to practice using it. For example, in an anthropology lecture on “ethnocentrism,” students could be asked to list foods from other countries that they find disgusting. Then, you could give them a list of things Americans eat that are unacceptable to people from other cultures (biscuits and gravy!). The value of this type of exercise is that it helps students to make connections between ideas and to create structures of meaning out of what otherwise might be merely a large number of unrelated facts.

Reviewing the Material

Adapted with permission from University of Nevada, Reno

Demonstrating that you know more than your students is easy; teaching is more difficult. Keep in mind that how you relate the material to students will determine your effect as a teacher more than will your ability to generate perfect, complete answers to every question students ask.

However, you will need to develop comfort with the material you are teaching, even if you are confronting it yourself for the first time. Ideally, you will be assigned to a course in the area of your particular expertise, but you should still review material to refresh your memory, and you might try explaining it to someone else as a way of anticipating students’ questions and problems.

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Delivering the Lecture

Your lecture will be more effective if you remember a number of points about the style and clarity of presentation. The following suggestions can help ensure that your lecture is clear and well received (adapted with permission from Cashin, 1985).

Speak clearly and loudly enough to be heard. This may seem obvious but undoubtedly we have all sinned against this prescription. Talk as though you are talking to the person sitting in the very back of the room. Perhaps in the very first class you should suggest that people signal you if they cannot hear, e.g., cup a hand behind an ear.
Speak slowly. Most of us tend to speak more rapidly when nervous, and this makes many lectures difficult to follow. We also do not notice how fast we are speaking unless it is pointed out or we hear ourselves on tape. Slow down.
Avoid distracting mannerisms, verbal tics like “ah” or “ you know,” straightening your notes or tie, etc. Use a videotape early in the semester to help you identify mannerisms that you want to shed.
Provide an introduction. Begin with a concise statement, something that will preview the lecture. Give the listeners a set or frame of reference for the remainder of your presentation. Refer to previous lectures. Attract and focus their attention. Try a broad question to students or a survey of opinions to help draw student attention to your presentation.
Present an outline. Write it on the chalkboard, or use an overhead transparency, or a handout. Then be sure that you refer to it as you move from point to point in your lecture.
Emphasize principles and generalizations. Research suggests that these are what people really remember—and what you probably really want to teach.
Repeat your points in two or three different ways. Your listeners may not have heard it the first time, or understood it, or had time to write it down. Include examples or concrete ideas. These help both understanding and remembering. Use short sentences.
Stress important points. This can be done with your tone of voice. It can also be done explicitly, e.g., “Write this down”; “This is important”; “This will be on the test.”
Pause. Give your listeners time to think, and to write.
Change activities frequently. The average adult attention span is 15 to 20 minutes, so change activities several times in a class. Many activities provide a change of pace: stop and ask questions; have your students discuss a point with one or several others, and then get several groups to report to the whole class; have them write for a few minutes; or have them work a practice problem using a method you have presented in your lecture. By adding a “change up” to your lecture, you can revitalize your students’ attention and thus give them renewed attention several times in one meeting, rather than just at the beginning.

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Questioning in the Classroom

How to Ask Questions

Adapted with permission from Hyman, 1980

By learning how to use questions effectively in the classroom, instructors can accomplish a number of interrelated goals. First, by engaging students in a question and–answer dialogue, the usual “one–way” flow of information from instructor to students is transformed into a more interactive process. Students become more active participants in their own learning. In addition, skillful questioning can encourage students to engage in higher–level cognitive processes (analysis, synthesis, and evaluation), thus helping to develop their capacity for critical thinking. The current literature suggests several tactics that may assist teachers in improving the use of questioning in their teaching.

After asking a question, wait for a response. Do not answer the question yourself; don’t repeat it, rephrase it, modify it, call on another student to answer it, or replace it with another question until you have waited at least three to five seconds. Studies show that the average “wait time” is as low as 0.9 seconds, which is clearly not long enough. Students need time to think about the question and prepare their responses. With a wait–time of three to five seconds, students respond more, use complex cognitive processes, and begin to ask more questions.
Ask only one question at a time. Do not ask a string of questions one after the other in the same utterance. For example, ask, “Compare the skeleton of an ape with that of a human.” Do not ask, “How are apes and humans alike? Are they alike in bone structure and/or family structure and/or places where they live?” A series of questions tends to confuse students. They are not able to determine just what the teacher is requesting from them. Napell (1978) states that videotape replays reveal an interesting pattern when the teacher asks a series of questions. “Hands will go up in response to the first question, and a few will go down during the second, and those hands remaining up will gradually get lower and lower as the instructor finally concludes with a question very different from the one for which the hands were initially raised.”
Collect several answers to your question, even if the first student to answer gives a perfect response. Not all students think at the same speed, and you want to encourage those who were not first to continue reflecting. Often, the third or fourth answers will add dimensions that the first answer missed.
When student questions are desired, request them explicitly, wait, and then acknowledge student contributions. For example, a teacher may wish to solicit questions about the plays of Shakespeare, which the class has been studying. The instructor might say, “What questions or clarifications of points need to be raised?” or, “Please ask questions about the main characters or the minor characters, whichever you wish at this point,” or “In light of Sally’s allusion to Lady Macbeth, I invite you to ask her some questions for embellishment or clarification.” Avoid soliciting questions without a context, as in the classic, “Any questions?”
Indicate to students that questions are not a sign of stupidity but rather the manifestation of concern and thought about the topic. Be very careful not to subtly or even jokingly convey the message that a student is stupid for asking for a clarification or restatement of an idea already raised in class or in the text.
Let students try out their answers by quickly discussing them in pairs or by writing for a minute or two. They are much more willing to share their answers with the class when they have had this opportunity.
Use a variety of probing and explaining questions. Ask questions that require different approaches to the topic, such as causal, teleological, functional, or chronological explanations. Avoid beginning your question with the words “why” and “explain,” and instead phrase your questions with words which give stronger clues about the type of explanation sought. Thus, for a chronological explanation, instead of asking, “Why did we have a depression in the 1930s?” try “What series of events led up to the stock market crash of 1929 and the high unemployment in the 1930s?”

Answering Students’ Questions

When answering a student’s question, keep in mind your goals for that day’s class. If the question moves the class toward that goal, you will want to give a complete answer or to redirect it to the class for discussion. If the question is not pertinent, you can tell the student where he or she can find an answer or offer to discuss it after class.

New instructors are often at a loss when they do not know the answer to a question. But it is not necessary to be able to field every question, and students can sense when an instructor “fakes” an answer. Instead, the instructor can offer to find the answer (and then should be sure and follow up) or suggest to the student where he or she can find the answer to the question.

Rewarding Student Participation and Providing Feedback

Adapted with permission from Hyman, 1980

In responding to student questions, a number of guidelines can positively reinforce good student responses and facilitate further discussion.

Praise the student in a strong, positive way for a correct or positive response. Use such terms as “excellent answer,” “absolutely correct,” and “bull’s eye.” These terms are quite different from the common mild phrases teachers often use such as “O.K.,” “hmm hum,” and “all right.” Especially when the response is long, the teacher should try to find at least some part that deserves praise and then comment on it.
Comment specifically about that student’s response. Tell the student why it is a good answer. For example, suppose that a student has offered an excellent response to the question, “What function did the invasion of the Kuwait serve for Iraq?” The instructor might say, “That was excellent, Pat. You included national political reasons as well as mentioning the Iraqi drive to become a pan–Arabic leader.” This response gives an excellent rating to the student in an explicit and strong form. It also demonstrates that the instructor has listened carefully to the student’s ideas.
Build on the student’s response. If the instructor continues to discuss a point after a student response, he or she should try to incorporate the key elements of the response into the discussion. If you do not acknowledge that this is the student’s point, you risk being seen as “co–opting” the student’s answer. By acknowledging the student’s response, the teacher shows that he or she values the points made. By referring to the student explicitly by name (e.g., “As Pat pointed out, Kuwait’s political status…”) the teacher gives credit where credit is due.
Avoid the “Yes, but…” reaction. Teachers use “Yes, but…” or its equivalent when a response is wrong or at least partly wrong. The overall impact of these phrases is negative and deceptive even though the teacher’s intent is probably positive. The “Yes, but…” fielding move says that the response is correct or appropriate with one breath and then takes away the praise with the next. Some straightforward are:
1. Wait to at least a count of five with the expectation that another student will volunteer a correct or better response.
2. Ask, “How did you arrive at that response?” (Be careful, though, not to ask this question only when you receive inadequate responses, ask it also at times when you receive a perfectly good response).
3. Say, “You’re right regarding X and that’s great; wrong regarding Y. Now we need to correct Y so we can get everything correct.”
4. Say, “Thanks. Is there someone who wants to respond to the question or comment on the response we’ve already heard?”
5. These four alternatives are obviously not adequate to fit all cases. Indeed, it is generally difficult to field wrong or partially wrong responses because students are sensitive to teacher criticism. However, with these alternatives as examples, you will probably be able to generate others as needed.

Teaching Outside your Field of Specialization

Adapted with permission from University of Nevada, Reno

If you are assigned to teach outside of your specialty, you’ll have to work to stay at least a week ahead of your brightest students. Remember that you are not responsible for knowing all the answers; don’t feel compelled to apologize for your “lack of knowledge.” If you cannot answer a question or you have made an error, admit it, but tell your students where they may find the answer or offer to look it up … and then do it. (This is good advice for teaching within your own field as well.) University students are usually forgiving in nature, but the one thing they will not tolerate is subterfuge on the part of an instructor.

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Discussion

Discussion is important to learning in all disciplines because it helps students process information rather than simply receive it. Discussion sections differ from lectures in many ways. Two major differences are that the students can be more active and that there can be more personal contact. But discussion is an instructional activity that has uses in classes of all sizes and disciplines. Students can and should talk to each other and the instructor even in a large class, as well as in small to medium–sized classes. Good discussions give students an opportunity to formulate principles in their own words and to suggest applications of these principles; they help students become aware of and define problems implied in readings or lectures; they can also increase students’ sensitivity to other points of view and alternative explanations (adapted with permission from Unruh, 1986).

Leading a discussion requires skills different from lecturing. The goal of a discussion is to get students to talk purposefully about the course material. Your role becomes that of facilitator. You moderate the discussion rather than convey information. If you want to hold a discussion, don’t do all the talking yourself; don’t lecture to the group or talk to one student at a time. Remember that the discussion isn’t just a matter of your communication with your students; it’s a chance for your students to share ideas and pool resources. Many instructors overlook this potential and end up trying to carry the whole conversation themselves. Remember that as long as you’re speaking, the students cannot (adapted with permission from Ronkowski, 1986).

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Preparing for Discussions

Adapted with permission from Middendorf and Kalish, 1994

Some instructors have an unfortunate misunderstanding about the amount of preparation that discussions require. Too many instructors assume that you can “just walk in” to the classroom and begin useful discussion. It is as if they think that, with a basic understanding of the subject, they can rely upon their students to fill 40 or 50 minutes with questions and answers. However, a good discussion takes a great deal of prior planning and review of the subject matter.

Decide How Much Time You Want to Spend

Do you want this discussion to be a five–minute break in the middle of a lecture? Two minutes at the beginning of class to be sure they read the assignment? Or will you spend the entire class period having the students develop their own ideas? Any of these might be appropriate, depending on what your goal for the discussion is.

Develop a Clear Goal for the Discussion

Knowing the content to be covered is not enough. Naming the chapter your students will read is not enough. If you’ve only thought as far as, “I want students to know,” you haven–t thought through enough about what needs to be taught. You should be able to articulate what the students will be able to do with the information or ideas. For example, in a philosophy class for which students have read a chapter on epistemologies or theories of knowledge, you might want students to be able to construct legitimate arguments for and against any epistemology about which they have read.

Problematize the Topic

Having a clear goal in mind makes it much easier to plan a discussion. You know what you want students to get out of it. But it is not enough: an instructor at IU several years ago told the story of how she wanted her students to deal with the issue of prejudice. She tried to start discussion merely by saying “Discuss prejudice.” No one spoke. She then asked if anyone had seen prejudice. One student raised a hand. When she asked what it was like, the student merely said “awful.” She had a goal, but not a problem or an activity to get the students to engage the ideas to achieve the goal.

The opposite end of the spectrum is also a problem. While “Discuss prejudice” is too open–ended, merely asking for the basic facts won’t work either. You’ve probably heard a professor rattle off a list of questions that require only brief factual replies and little student involvement:

Q. When was the Battle of Hastings?
A. 1066.

The result could hardly be called a discussion. So, give your students an open–ended problem to solve, a task to complete, a judgment to reach, a decision to make, or a list to create—something that begs for closure.

Select an Activity to Frame the Problem

Many discussion activities can be used in the classroom. You want to choose one that will help your students meet your goals for the discussion. The more specific you can be in assigning the task, the more likely your students will be to succeed at it. Some possible tasks are as follows: Think–Pair–Share, brainstorm, buzz groups, case analysis, role–playing, and press conferences. Some of these techniques are described in articles on this site.

Choose a Grouping Method

Vary groups by size, method of selection, and duration.

By size: Two to six is ideal. Smaller groups (two–three) are better for simple tasks and reaching consensus. Also, students are more likely to speak in smaller groups. Larger groups of four–five are better for more complex tasks and generating lots of ideas.
By selection: Randomly assigning students to groups avoids the problem of friends wanting to get off track. For long–term groups, you may want to select for certain attributes or skills (e.g. a statistician, a geology major, and a writer) or by interest in the topic, if different groups have different tasks.
By duration: Just for this activity or for all semester. Stop the discussion groups while they are still hard at work; next time, they will work doubly hard. Long–term groups allow students to practice collaborative skills and make stronger bonds, but sometimes they get tired of each other.

Choose a Debriefing Method

Many techniques can get students to share what their smaller groups have done with the entire class: verbally, on newsprint/flipchart, blackboard or overhead, ditto/photocopy, etc. And you don–t have to hear from everyone; calling on a few groups at random to report works quite well.

Always debrief students; it is the most important part of a discussionÊthe time to summarize and synthesize. Most of learning in discussions happens during debriefing, so don’t squeeze it in—a rule of thumb is to use one–third of the total discussion time for debriefing.

You can use debriefing to correct incorrect notions. You can slip in any points that students neglected but that are important. You can pick which student reports from each group, though you should tell them in advance that you plan to do this. This makes everyone in the group responsible. You don’t have to hear from every group, but can instead choose a few at random. When groups start repeating ideas, it’s time to stop.

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Facilitating Discussions

Adapted with permission from Middendorf & Kalish, 1994

Establish a safe atmosphere to encourage participation, one in which students feel comfortable with one another and safe from harsh judgment. No one wants to feel that his or her remark will be put down or put off. Students are also sensitive to what they think you really want. (e.g., Does he want a discussion or a chance for an extended monologue? Does she say she wants disagreement and then gets defensive when someone challenges her?) Your students will try to read you so that they can respond appropriately. Be sensitive to the clues you give them.
Create the expectation of participation by arranging the room so students can see one another’s faces. Devise ways so that students have something to say early in the semester. If discussion is to be a large component of the course, the first day of classes is not too early to start.
Set clear expectations. Provide clear directions for the discussion activity. Explain that your role is facilitator rather than presenter of information. Students should address their comments to one another, not to you. Avoid dominating the discussion by becoming the expert. When they try to put you back in the authority role, throw the question back to the group.
Pose a problem to solve, a question to answer, a task to complete, or a role to play. Don’t just name a topic and hope a discussion will ensue.
Monitor the discussion by listening and observing. Be sure that students understand the assignment. Help any group that begins to wander, not by providing the answer, but by initiating a line of inquiry to restore focus, even within a free–ranging discussion.
Summarize the discussion; sometimes a faltering discussion can be put back on track or shifted away from a thoroughly explored subtopic to another aspect of a main topic. Always summarize and synthesize at the end of the session. You may use this time to add any points to the discussion that the students overlooked.

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Problems with Discussion

Running a section skillfully requires creating a context of “organized spontaneity” in which “the good section leader gives the students opportunities and incentives to express themselves and develop skills within the otherwise somewhat passive context of the lecture course” (Segerstrale, 1982). One key to facilitating a discussion is to guide its course without appearing to do so. Here is a list of some common difficulties instructors encounter in leading discussions which relate to the problem of “control,” and some suggestions for overcoming them (McKeachie, 1994).

If you habitually can’t get discussion started, you first need to pay more attention to the topics you’re picking; they may not be broad enough. Or you may not be using good questioning skills—putting people on the spot or embarrassing them.
If your students are unwilling or unable to discuss as a whole group, try putting them into pairs or small groups with a question to answer. Then have at least several groups report their conclusions to the class. You might also have your students write for a minute or two, and then discuss. This gives them a chance to start to think through the issue in private before they have to go public. Seeing a thought in writing, even one of their own, often lets students feel like it is important enough to share.
If one or two students consistently monopolize the floor, you may want to take one of two approaches. Either use their comments to throw the discussion back to the class (You’ve raised an important point. Maybe others would like to comment.”), or acknowledge the comments and offer another outlet. (“Those ideas deserve a lot more time. Maybe we can discuss them after class.”)
If there is a lull in the discussion, relax. This doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Every conversation needs a chance to catch its breath. It may mean that your topic is exhausted or it may be a pause for people to digest what they’ve heard. If the lull comes too frequently, though, you may need to give more attention to the types of topics you’re picking. It is often not enough just to have a topic; you should come to class with several specific but open–ended questions prepared. You may also be inadvertently shutting down discussion by dominating rather than facilitating.
Most teachers tend not to wait long enough between questions or before answering their own questions because a silent classroom induces too much anxiety in the instructor; research actually shows an average wait time of 0.9 seconds. Try counting to 10 slowly after asking a provocative question to which you are just dying to respond yourself. Students don’t like a silent classroom either. Once they have confidence that you will give them time to think their responses through, they will participate more freely.
If students are talking only to you instead of to each other, you are probably focusing too intently on the speaker. You can help students talk to each other by leading with your eyes, looking occasionally at others in the room. This will lead the speaker to do likewise.
If there are students who seldom or never talk, see if you can find out whether they are shy, confused, or simply turned off. Watch for clues that indicate that they might want to speak up (“Alan, you seem disturbed by Dan’s idea. What do you think?”). However, be careful that you don’t embarrass a student into participating. You may want to make a point of talking to this student before or after class to indicate your interest.
If you run out of material before the end of class, ask your students if there are other topics they might be interested in discussing. If not, let them go early. Don’t keep them the whole hour just for form’s sake.
If a fight breaks out over an issue, then you’ve got a hot topic on your hands! Facilitate! Your major task here is to keep the argument focused on the issues. Don’t let it turn personal, under any circumstances. Remember to demand evidence and reasons, not name–calling.

AIs: Despite the fact that section participation is a requirement for many introductory courses, students may believe that their attendance is not mandatory since the AI rather than the professor is in charge. Therefore you may want to devise a way to structure required assignments, projects or presentations into your sections so that section participation will be a part of the final course grade. If students know that the AI has some responsibility for determining their grades, that AI will have considerably more authority in the classroom or in any interactions with students. Students will also be more likely to attend sections or lectures led by the associate instructor.

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Science Labs

Science labs can be among the richest experiences students have at the university. It is one of the few opportunities students will have to practice science much in the way professionals do. Often, though, labs are presented as mere recipes in which students follow precise instructions to arrive at a conclusion whose importance is not clear. In order for labs to be effective, students need to understand not only how to do the experiment, but why the experiment is worth doing, and what purpose it serves for better understanding a concept, relationship, or process.

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Preparing Lab Sections

Adapted with permission from Ronkowski, 1986

The most important thing you can do to ensure that your lab sections run smoothly is to be well prepared. Your preparation, prior to the start of the semester, should include being acquainted with the storeroom of the lab so that time won’t be lost during a lab looking for necessary equipment or materials, and if applicable, knowing the location of the first aid kit, basic first aid rules, and procedures for getting emergency assistance.

Basic weekly planning for your lab section might include the following.

Know exactly what the students are supposed to learn and why they have to learn these things. This will come in handy when your students start to wonder why they’re doing what they’re doing.
Perform the entire experiment in advance. There is no guarantee it’s going to work as advertised in the lab manual. By going through the lab yourself, you’ll be familiar with some of the stumbling blocks that your students may confront and you’ll know the subtler points of the process you are demonstrating. If this isn’t possible, at least read through the procedure as though you were doing it. And familiarize yourself with the equipment that your students will be using. Also, obtain some sample data and work the calculations and answer the questions (without using the key).
Read and study the theory on which the experiment(s) are based. Your understanding of the theoretical aspect of the lab should be useful to you in handling most student questions which don’t deal with concrete parts of the experiment(s).
Research the relevance of the experiment, both the technique being taught and the applications of the theory being demonstrated.
Talk to experienced instructors. They will often have very useful tips about things you are teaching.
Decide how to introduce the lab most effectively. Before students start the day’s lab, will they need you to demonstrate the procedures that they’ll be following? Is a handout with written instructions in order? Do you want two students in the class to demonstrate the experiment to the rest of the class? Will a 15–minute lecture about the theory and intent of the lab suffice? What safety information do they need? Your initial introduction to the lab or the day’s first activity can set the tone and motivation for the rest of the lab.
Plan how you will guide students in preparing their lab reports.

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Managing Laboratory Sections

Adapted with permission from Farris, 1985

Labs are sometimes offered in conjunction with large lecture courses so that students may acquire technical skills and apply concepts and theories presented in lecture. Labs, however, are often “stand–alone” classes with no connection to a parent course. Even where they are related to another course, they often have their own agenda that may not be related to the lecture. This hands–on experience encourages students to develop a spirit of inquiry and allows them to live for a semester as practicing scientists. It may sound trite, but you really do have an opportunity to help students develop some appreciation of the mysterious scientific method.

You needn’t overwhelm them with the Heisenberg “Uncertainty Principle” on the first day of class, of course. In fact, to realize your full potential as a laboratory instructor you’ll have to recover some of the neophyte’s enthusiasm for mastering fundamental principles and techniques of the discipline. Think of yourself as wearing bifocals so that you can examine a problem from the professional’s and the student’s points of view simultaneously.

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Safety Procedures

Safety takes on special importance when you are directly responsible for the health and well being of 25 or more laboratory students. Window shattering explosions are rare, but it is not uncommon for students to break beakers of acid, cut themselves while working with glass tubes, or ignite a stack of lab notes with a Bunsen burner.

Most departments’ orientations cover safety procedures, but if they do not, the professor or lab coordinator in charge of the course will probably take responsibility for describing departmental policies. Throughout the semester you should demonstrate to students the proper technique of decanting, mixing, and measuring liquids, handling and cleaning glassware, organizing a work area, disposing of hazardous materials, and using burners and other equipment—all of the precautionary measures you perform almost unconsciously; your students, however, don’t have your experience and will therefore appreciate your concern and advice.

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Student Preparation

Those who have only a hazy recollection of Wednesday’s lecture will follow directions mindlessly, but those who have reviewed lecture notes and the lab manual will have some understanding of the experiment’s importance. Devise some means to ensure that students are familiar with the lab before they come to class. Some instructors feel that grades on lab reports are incentive enough, while others require students to perform some pre–lab exercise, such as submitting a statement of purposes and procedures or an explanation of why and how the experiment is relevant to the course. Others invite students to office hours preceding the lab, helping highly motivated students to prepare. Students who have no understanding of why the experiment is important will not derive much knowledge from conducting it, nor will they remember or be able to use much of what they do learn.

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Supervising the Experiment

At the beginning of the lab, review the purposes and procedures of the experiment. You might deliver a brief introduction explaining how the experiment relates to current developments in the discipline, or you might discuss the students’ statements of objectives. Ask for questions, clarify any ambiguities in the lab manual, and demonstrate special procedures now rather than interrupting the experiment later.

If both you and your students are well prepared, you will be free to perform your most important role, that of guiding the students’ development. Try to talk with each student at least once during the experiment. Technical and procedural matters can be handled quickly in a few words of advice or a very brief demonstration. However, your primary role is to help students master the steps of scientific inquiry—recognizing and stating a problem so that it can be explored, collecting data, forming and testing an hypothesis, and drawing a conclusion.

Helping students master each step is not an easy task. The “11 steps of guided design” provide a good approach to problem solving:

identify the problem,
state the problem objective,
list constraints, assumptions, and facts,
generate possible solutions,
determine the most likely solution,
analyze the solution,
synthesize the solution,
evaluate the solution,
prepare a report,
implement the plan,
check results.

The sequence is designed to provide a clear process for thinking through the complexities of real problems (Wales and Stager, 1977).

Refrain from Giving Outright Answers or Advice

If lab partners ask, “Why can’t we get this to come out right?” try asking them a series of questions which leads them to discover the reasons for themselves rather than simply explaining why the experiment failed. Of course sometimes the reason will be relatively simple (“You used hydrochloric instead of nitric acid.”), but just as often the reason will be more substantial—a matter of timing, sequence, proportion, or interpretation. Perhaps the student had the necessary data but has overlooked an important step in analyzing the results or is unable to synthesize a solution.

It’s very tempting to help students by saying, “Aha! I see where you went wrong,” but unless you resist the temptation, they are likely to falter at the same stage in the next experiment. Students may become frustrated if they can’t get a straight answer out of you, but they will also learn more.

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Teaching with the Case Method

Cases are narratives, situations, select data samplings, or statements that present unresolved and provocative issues, situations, or questions. As a teaching/learning tool, cases challenge participants to analyze, critique, make judgments, speculate and express reasoned opinions. Above all, although information can be real or invented, a case must be realistic and believable. The information included must be rich enough to make the situation credible, but not so complete as to close off discussion or exploration. Cases can be short for brief classroom discussions, or long and elaborate for semester–long projects. Cases are important for bringing real world problems into a classroom or a workshop—they ensure active participation and may lead to innovative solutions to problems.

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Formats for Cases

“Finished” cases based on facts—for analysis only, since the solution is indicated or alternate solutions are suggested.
“Unfinished” open–ended cases, where the results are not yet clear (either because the case has not come to a factual conclusion in real life, or because the instructor has eliminated the final facts.) Students must predict, make choices and offer suggestions that will affect the outcome.
Fictional cases entirely written by the instructor—can be open–ended or finished. Cautionary note: the case must be both complex enough to mimic reality, yet not have so many “red herrings” as to obscure the goal of the exercise.
Original documents—news articles, reports with data and statistics, summaries, excerpts from historical writings, artifacts, literary passages, video and audio recordings, ethnographies, etc. With the right questions, these can become problem–solving opportunities. Comparison between two original documents related to the same topic or theme is a strong strategy for encouraging both analysis and synthesis. This gives the opportunity for presenting more than one side of an argument, making the conflicts more complex.

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Managing a Case Assignment

Design discussions for small groups: 3–6 students is an ideal group size for setting up a discussion on a case.
Design the narrative or situation such that it requires participants to reach a judgment, decision, recommendation, prediction or other concrete outcome. If possible, require each group to reach a consensus on the decision requested.
Structure the discussion. The instructor should provide a series of written questions to guide small group discussion. Pay careful attention to the sequencing of the questions. Early questions might ask participants to make observations about the facts of the case. Later questions could ask for comparisons, contrasts, and analyses of competing observations or hypotheses. Final questions might ask students to take a position on the matter. The purpose of these questions is to stimulate, guide or prod (but not dictate) participants’ observations and analyses. The questions should be impossible to answer with a simple yes or no.
Debrief the discussion to compare group responses. Help the whole class interpret and understand the implications of their solutions.
Allow groups to work without instructor interference. The instructor must be comfortable with ambiguity and with adopting the non–traditional roles of witness and resource, rather than authority.

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Designing Case Study Questions

Cases can be more or less “directed” by the kinds of questions asked—these kinds of questions can be appended to any case, or could be a handout for participants unfamiliar with case studies on how to approach one.

What is the situation—what do you actually know about it from reading the case? (Distinguishes between fact and assumptionsÖcritical understanding)
What issues are at stake? (Opportunity for linking to theoretical readings)
What questions do you have—what information do you still need? Where/how could you find it?
What problem(s) need to be solved? (Opportunity to discuss communication versus conflict, gaps between assumptions, sides of the argument)
What are all the possible options? What are the pros/cons of each option?
What are the underlying assumptions for [person X] in the case—where do you see them?
What criteria should you use when choosing an option? What does that mean about your assumptions?

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Managing Discussion and Debate Effectively

Delay the problem–solving part until the rest of the discussion has had time to develop. Start with expository questions to clarify the facts, then move to analysis, and finally to evaluation, judgment, and recommendations.
Shift points of view: “Now that we’ve seen it from [W’s] standpoint, what’s happening here from [Y’s] standpoint?” What evidence would support Y’s position? What are the dynamics between the two positions?
Shift levels of abstraction: if the answer to the question above is “It’s just a bad situation for her,” quotations help: When [Y] says “_____,” what are her assumptions? Or seek more concrete explanations: Why does she hold this point of view?”
Ask for benefits/disadvantages of a position; for all sides.
Shift time frame—not just to “What’s next?” but also to “How could this situation have been different?” What could have been done earlier to head off this conflict and turn it into a productive conversation? Is it too late to fix this? What are possible leverage points for a more productive discussion? What good can come of the existing situation?
Shift to another context: We see how a person who thinks X would see the situation. How would a person who thinks Y see it? We see what happened in the Johannesburg news, how could this be handled in [your town/province]? How might [insert person, organization] address this problem?
Follow–up questions: “What do you mean by ___?” Or, “Could you clarify what you said about ___?” (even if it was a pretty clear statement—this gives students time for thinking, developing different views, and exploration in more depth). Or “How would you square that observation with what [name of person] pointed out?”
Point out and acknowledge differences in discussion—“that’s an interesting difference from what Sam just said, Sarah. Let’s look at where the differences lie.” (let sides clarify their points before moving on).

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Group Work

Having the students work in a group encourages discussion among the students. Speaking in front of the whole class can be scary and combined with the tension of speaking to the teacher, the situation can be downright terrifying to students. Breaking them up into groups not only builds develops social skills useful in the professional environment for which they are training, but according to Astin (1993), it is also is one of the three most important ways to make a positive difference in learning at the college level.

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Organizing the Groups

Keep in mind the following elements of group work when selecting the appropriate type of group work for your class.

Size: Two to six people in a group is ideal. The smaller the group, the more likely each student will be to contribute to the discussion. Groups of two or three students are sufficient for simple tasks where consensus will be reached quickly. Groups of four to six are better for more complex tasks in which the greater number of ideas may improve the final results.
Selection: You should either assign students randomly to groups (which limits cliques) or select students so that each group has an equal distribution of talents.
Duration: Use the groups for a brief discussion in class or for all semester. Long–term groups work more substantively and less superficially.

To prevent problems with group interaction, you should spend a few minutes discussing the students’ roles and expectations for the work.

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Designating Roles in Groups

Groups that are created for in–class discussion can be easily organized around the following four–person model. Each member of the group plays a specific role that supports the team’s collaborative effort. These roles include:

Leader: Responsible keeping the group on task, maintaining the schedule (meetings, deadlines), and maintaining contact information (phone numbers, emails).
Encourager: Encourages conversation and inclusion of all opinions, and guides the discussion towards consensus.
Prober: Ensures that the assumptions are correct and that there is sufficient evidence for the solution.
Recorder: Writes down the group’s solution that will be submitted for the group grade.

While some people will tend to lead and some will tend to follow, everyone should be willing to compromise and modify their ideas in the interest of group unity.

If the groups are going to be working together on a long–term project or multiple tasks, you may wish to modify these roles to emulate roles that one might encounter in your discipline. Ensure that the students rotate through these positions. Try to break a long project into at least as many tasks as there are people in each group and have the students rotate through the roles each time they start a new task.

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Reporting Group Results

Students should share the results of their group with the class at large. They can do so verbally, on newsprint flipchart, blackboard or overhead, through photocopies, or web pages. Even if they are reporting in printed or electronic format, be sure to have some presentations in class. You do not have to hear from everyone; calling on a few groups at random makes everyone prepare in case they are picked to discuss their project. Use this time to give feedback and debrief the students as to the lessons they might have learned from the group work.

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Technology for Teaching

The technology for presenting instructional materials and enhancing communication has been rapidly changing in recent years, but it is important to remain focused on the pedagogic rather than the “gee–whiz” value of technology in your class. Technology can make presentations more effective by introducing information in various new and interesting ways. The key to successful use of technology in instruction is to know the learning objective before choosing a technical tool. Technology can help your students to learn better if you plan it carefully to support specific learning objectives.

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Presentation Technology

All classrooms should have an overhead projector. If you plan to use any other presentation technology in your teaching, whether it be videotapes, 35mm slides, 16mm films, computer display, etc., communicate the special attributes needed in the room you may be assigned to teach in to your departmental scheduling officer. These attributes may include such things as room darkening capabilities, ability to project dual slide images, active network connections, etc. If you have questions about the attributes of certain classrooms, call Instructional Support Services/Classroom Technology Services, 855 2921.

Video and Film

Adapted with permission from Middendorf, 1993

Most of our students have a great deal of experience passively watching video for entertainment. If you want them to actively watch video for educational purposes, you must help them to change their viewing habits. There are three stages to using video, film and other media in class:

Prior to Viewing

Introduce the video/film by providing an overview of its content, a rationale of how it relates to the current topic being studied, and a reason students need to know about it.
Direct student attention to specific aspects of the presentation, possibly by asking them questions beforehand that will be discussed following the presentation.

Viewing

Show only the relevant sections of a video/film, rather than the entire piece, for best use of class time and greatest impact.
It may also be appropriate to stop the video/film at appropriate points for discussion or clarification.

Post–Viewing

Follow up a video/film with an activity that allows students to respond to or extend ideas presented.
Discussions, short writing assignments, or application exercises, for example, will reinforce the concepts and increase learning from classroom media.

Several collections of films/videos are available for use in your classes. The Classroom Technology Services division of Instructional Support Services has a collection of curriculum oriented videos and 16mm films. This collection may be accessed via the Web at http://www.indiana.edu/~cts/resources/catalog_res.php. At the username prompt, type guest. Subject–specific lists of materials are also available. Call 855–8065 for more information or reference assistance. The Media Services department of the IU Library (855–1650) also has a collection of videotapes, laserdiscs and DVD’s. They are located in the first floor of the Undergraduate Library, beside the Reserve Desk. Their holdings, as well as those of the branch libraries, are included in IUCAT, the electronic catalog of the IU libraries.

Media equipment for classroom use, as well as training and support for faculty who teach in classrooms with installed technology, is available from Classroom Technology Services. Mobile equipment available includes TVs and VCRs, large screen video projectors, computer LCD display panels, laptop computers and peripherals (for classroom use only), laserdisc players, stereo CD and audiocassette players, 16mm projectors and operators, slide and overhead projectors, and record players. Equipment can be delivered to most classrooms. Call 855–8765, option 1, to schedule mobile equipment, and 855–8765, option 2, for consultation on installed technology classrooms. (If you are teaching in the Education Building, call 856–8407 instead.) Each classroom should be equipped with an overhead projector; if it is missing or malfunctioning, call 855–8765, option 3.

Slides

Less is more. Students learn more when they view fewer slides but have more time to analyze and interpret them. Discussions, short writing assignments, and application exercises will reinforce concepts and increase learning from slides.

With slides, the three steps are slightly different than those with video.

Prior to Viewing

Rehearse the points you want to make about each slide; plan questions to direct student attention and activities to encourage student participation.

Viewing

Direct student attention. Give them a question or two to answer as they view the slides.
Do not turn the classroom lights all the way off.
Do not show more than five slides in a row, or view multiple slides for more than five minutes at a time.

Post–Viewing

Leave an empty slot after every few slides. Ektographic projectors, the most commonly used type at IU, will shut off automatically when a blank slot is left between slides.
At this point, give the students an activity to respond to the slides: discussions, short writing assignments, or application exercises, for example, will reinforce the concepts and increase learning.

Chalkboard or Marker Board

Adapted with permission from White and Hennessey

Perhaps the most widely used medium of instruction is the chalkboard or dry marker board. The guiding principle of board work is to look at your writing as though you were a student in your own class. Almost anything you write will be clear to you. The task, however, is to make your presentation clear to your students.

Students must be able to see and to read what you have written
Illegible or obscured work is valueless. Watch out if you have small handwriting, tend to scrawl, or write too lightly. Before class write something on the board and then go to the back of the room to see if it is legible. Sit in one of the last rows and take a critical look at your board work. Some instructors like to mark off the “bottom line of visibility” with a chalk line. Try to keep your work visible for as long as possible. If you are right–handed, fill the right–hand panel first, then move to the panel on the left and continue your writing. In this way you will not be blocking the view of students copying the writing you have just completed.

Your board work must be organized so that students will be able to interpret their notes later:
First erase the board completely. This step is especially important in mathematics, where stray lines may be interpreted as symbols.
If you are to solve a problem or prove a theorem, write a complete statement of the problem or theorem on the board, or write a precise reference.
Fill one panel in at a time, always starting at the top and moving down.
Make your notation consistent with that in the textbook or lecture, so that students do not have to translate from one system into another.
Underline or in some other way mark the most important parts of your presentation: the major assumptions, conclusions, or intermediate steps that you plan to refer to later on. Colored chalk may help to clarify drawings.

Talk about what you are writing
Talking about what you are writing gives your students the material in both visual and auditory modes. Be sure to speak loudly enough; if you are facing the board to write on it, you must raise your voice somewhat to be heard.

Other tips for effective board use

Erase only when you have run out of space.
If you find that you have made a mistake, stop. Don’t go back over the last three panels madly erasing minus signs: first explain the error, then go back and make corrections, if possible, with a different color of chalk or marker.
If you are presenting material that you want students to duplicate in their notes, you need to give them time to copy what you have written. They will want to copy everything you put on the board into their notes, even if you tell them not to. Don’t ask them to analyze while they are writing. When you want them to discuss a point, stop writing. Let people catch up to you (they may be lagging behind by two or three lines). Then begin your discussion. Similarly, if you have engaged in a long discussion without writing very much on the board, allow them time to summarize the discussion in their notes before you begin to use the board or to speak.
Students will copy everything you put on the board (and sometimes nothing else) into their notes. The board should serve to highlight and clarify your discussion or lecture.

Find out if you are using the board effectively

After class, request one advanced and one average student to lend you their notes. If the notes seem inadequate, ask yourself what you could have done to make your presentation more clear.
At some point, ask your students if they can read or make sense of what you have written. Don’t do this every five minutes—an occasional check, however, is in order.
View a videotape of your presentation, putting yourself in the place of a student taking notes.

Overhead Projector

Adapted by permission from Middendorf, 1993

After the chalk or marker board, the overhead projector is the most frequently used teaching tool in the college classroom. Many of the points made above about board use apply to the overhead. Keep in mind these guidelines when producing and presenting transparencies.

Producing Overheads

Keep visuals simple—limit each to one point or comparison.
Use key words, not sentences.
Use a simple lettering style.
Use both upper and lower case lettering.
Use no more than 7 lines and 6–7 words per line.
Limit total number of words to 15–20.
Keep lettering to at least a ¼ inch (or 18 point) in height.

You can either draw on blank transparency film with a water–soluble marker or you can thermofax an image onto a transparency. Both write–on and thermofax film for transparencies are available at the Teaching Resources Center, Ballantine Hall 132, for instructors in the College of Arts and Sciences. Others should check with their own schools or departments.

Presenting Overheads

Use masks to control pace and audience attention, covering those parts of the transparency until you want to show them.
Use cardboard frames; write notes on margins.
Face your audience.
Use colored, water–soluble pen to add meaningful details.
Use overlays, adding additional information with additional layers of transparencies.
Switch the machine off when changing transparencies or to shift your students’ attention.
Point to the projector stage, not the screen.
Use a pen to point, not your finger.

These guidelines, if followed properly, will improve legibility of your projected materials, increase your students’ comprehension of presented materials, and increase your students’ retention of presented materials.

Presentations with Computers

If you are using computers to produce overheads or slide shows for presentation in the classroom, many of the design and presentation guidelines given above for overhead transparencies apply equally to computer–based materials. Some computer based presentation technologies, however, do present new challenges, even to those who use the technology to perform traditional functions such as visual support for a lecture.

Because computers can make a series of slides appear visually slick, with seamless transitions, it’s easy to rush through material too fast and to forget to keep students active and attentive. Developing a presentation sequence and rhythm that includes frequent interaction with students, writing exercises, problem solving, or other events will help keep students from being mesmerized by the march of slides.
Another challenge is the result of the increased access to information that computers facilitate. Instructors who choose to present Web materials during lecture will find that the selection and editing of those materials becomes critical. More is not always better. Overloading students with information and seemingly infinite resources can cause them to feel overwhelmed, numb, and lost, which can eventually dampen their enthusiasm. Even if you find excellent materials to download and present in class, these may not always serve your instructional objectives. Select carefully, and make sure students know what is important and why.
If you plan to surf on the web during a presentation, plan meticulously the navigation sequence. Students can grow fatigued and uninterested watching you click and browse, looking for the correct link. Also, if you are not the author of the pages you are planning to visit, it is a good idea to check the links the day of the presentation. Certain pages and links undergo continual editing, and may not always look the same from one visit to the next. Also make sure you’ve checked the pages in the browser you’ll use in class. Some pages interact differently with different browsers. It is less risky to download the pages and run them from a disk, rather than rely on the active server. Finally, be sure to enlarge the size of the display font in the browser and minimize clutter on screen by turning off extraneous buttons bars.
One of the most important considerations in using any large classroom media is instructor mobility. In particular, computers usually require you to stand close by in order to navigate. In a small, intimate, conversational setting, this is not a problem. In a large class, however, being glued to your computer for an hour or more can be static and boring for the students. In developing your presentation, allow for frequent periods when you can move away from the computer and out among the students, to share the students’ perspective on the projector screen. This will give you an opportunity to have a more informal conversation with students, or to stir to attention anyone who might be distracted. Another technique is to have a student run the computer. He or she does the pointing and clicking, while you are free to roam the room.
For help in development and production of computer–based presentations, visit the Teaching and Learning Technologies Lab, Ballantine Hall 307, 855–7829. Graphic Services (Franklin Hall M114, 855–4047) can help with production of the following kinds of computer–based visuals: charts, graphs, maps, medical illustrations, and animation. Classroom Technology Services (Franklin Hall 0009, 855–8765) schedules and delivers computer display devices and laptop computers for classroom use, and offers training on installed classroom technology.

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Communication Technology

Whether it is e–mail, electronic bulletin boards, chat rooms, or Web pages, the communication technology you use will depend upon what you want your students to accomplish. Here are some of the crucial teaching and learning objectives that communication technology can help you achieve, with a brief discussion of how technology might help you achieve them. (For more information on the learning objectives, themselves, see Astin, 1993)

More Student Time on Task

Examples:

Daily assignments submitted by e–mail before class
Study questions posted on bulletin boards for electronic discussion
Mock tests and quizzes posted for individual practice online

Of all the learning objectives that technology can help achieve, this is one of the most important. Electronic communication can extend the reach of the instructor and the classroom to keep students engaged and on task even outside regular contact hours. The examples listed here are just a few of the ways to accomplish this.

The reach of electronic communication beyond the classroom walls can ultimately improve the quality of the class meetings themselves. You can require students to e mail their out–of–class work—such as responses to questions based on their readings, answers to problem sets, lab reports, or short reflective essays on a relevant topic—well before class. This ensures that students will come to class prepared, and reduces the chance that they will do the assignment hastily just before or even during class.

Furthermore, requiring students to post their observations or responses to an electronic bulletin board, and to respond to the postings of their peers, can ensure that the conversation and interaction among students in class meetings will be richer. The instructor can use the bulletin board to stimulate student thinking before class, to monitor student comprehension, and to pull topics to be addressed at the next class meeting.

Another effective way to encourage time on task outside of class is to place practice tests and quizzes on the web, so students can access them and take them whenever they wish to assess their own progress. This technique can be made even more effective by asking students to post their answers to a bulletin board, then compare and discuss the different responses through e–mail.

BEST (Bureau of Evaluative Studies and Testing), Franklin Hall M005, 855–1595, offers two Web–based assessment tools:

Post’ Em!, which provides rapid, secure grade posting on the Web
QuizSite, which allows instructors to create and deliver homework, quizzes, exams, minute papers, or course evaluations via the Web.

Improved Collaboration among Students

Example:
Electronic conferencing to discuss assignments outside of class

Electronic communication allows students to work collaboratively outside of class, even when their schedules do not coordinate, and even when they live at a great distance from one another. Communication among students is now feasible at all times of day, and from almost any location on or off campus, depending on computer availability. Assignments can be tailored to take advantage of this reality: for example, team projects facilitated by e–mail, or structured discussion among groups of students after class hours.

Improved Communication between Students and Instructor

Examples:

Extended office hours by e–mail
Confidential questions to instructor by e–mail
Confidential feedback to students by e–mail

One of the factors known to influence positively student success is the amount and quality of contact with the instructor. Through e–mail, an instructor can extend office hours well beyond the historical norm. While the use of e–mail cannot and should not replace face–to–face availability of the instructor, there are some clear benefits to incorporating e–mail into the normal communication structure of a course. For one, students can send a question at any time, and anticipate a response fairly quickly. For another, shy students who do not take advantage of regular office hours may find e mail the perfect medium to maintain the contact they need. Students who normally do not ask questions might find safety in the written word, and yet not experience the distance and delays that accompany note writing.

The confidentiality of e–mail can also contribute to a healthy student–instructor relationship. Students can use the medium to ask questions that they would not dare ask in class or in person, or to provide painful explanations of situations that are influencing their work. The instructor can use the confidentiality of e–mail to give speedy and, if need be, sensitive feedback to students. Assignments submitted by e mail can be evaluated and returned immediately with comments, if the situation calls for it.

Using e–mail as a teaching tool does have its drawbacks, however, and many users of this technology have suddenly found themselves spending enormous amounts of time just to manage their mail accounts. Here are some ideas to consider when planning to use e–mail extensively in a course (with thanks to Greg Hanek):

Arrange to have separate e–mail accounts for the different functions of your work. Have one account for handling student or course–related e–mail, another for faculty, departmental or campus administration communications, and yet another for private, personal communication.
For student questions that become common and even predictable, develop a set of generic replies that can be pasted into a response. These should be identified as generic, and the instructor should also add enough to personalize the message.
Adopt a one–step, immediate response system. When you open a message, compose and send a reply before moving to the next e–mail. Unanswered messages can get buried after a day or so, and hunting for them later will multiply your work.
Make clear to students your policies concerning e–mail. Explain what kinds of questions are appropriate, and specify the times of day when you are likely to respond. Your e–mail policies should include deadlines for questions that request a same–day response.

Improved Access to Course Materials, Policies, and Assignments

Examples:

Syllabus and assignments posted on the Web
Course materials and texts archived on the Web
Hyperlinks to information worldwide

Putting a complete course syllabus on the Web can have several advantages for both students and teachers. First, students can access the information any time, and the instructor can update or revise without having to distribute printed copies. Second, when the syllabus exists as a Web page, the instructor may use it to store information—such as assignments, readings, lecture notes, archives of e–mail communications—to provide a permanent resource for students. Finally, by using hyperlinks that connect with sites worldwide, the instructor can vastly broaden the scope of the course to allow students to pursue new interests that develop, or customize the course and materials as needed throughout the semester. A Web–based syllabus allows for a great amount of flexibility for students and teachers. If this is something that you seek to develop in your courses, then creating a Web page may be useful.

Happily, putting your syllabus on the Web is no longer a high–tech, engineering endeavor. Software programs that help you write for the Web abound, and there are software packages that provide you with a course template, organizational structure, and course management tools all in one. The Teaching and Learning Technologies Lab in Ballantine Hall 307 can help you explore current options.

Appeal to Multiple Learning Styles

Examples:

Quiet, reflective students given means of expression and opportunity to socialize electronically, via bulletin boards
Social learners’ needs facilitated by communication through e–mail and e–mail conferencing

Many adopters of electronic communication as a central medium for their courses have discovered the unexpected: the medium of e–mail allows good students, who normally do not participate in classroom discussion, to become active members of the learning community. Quiet, self–conscious students may, when given the time to reflect and edit, post significant messages to an electronic bulletin board, and thus participate at a higher level.

E–mail can serve an important function to highly social learners as well. Collaboration and discussion are enhanced by the e–mail medium, in that e–mail makes possible out–of–class communication almost without limit.

Classroom Assessment for Students and for Instructors

Examples:

E–mail surveys of students
Anonymous electronic “suggestion box”
Documentation of student work and work habits by e–mail records

Electronic mail is an excellent medium for the ongoing assessment of how a class is doing. An instructor can e–mail a short survey to students to get their reaction to an assignment, or e–mail a question that checks how well students understood an important concept covered in the last class meeting.

Instructors can also, with relative ease, set up an anonymous electronic “suggestion box” in which students can deposit a confidential opinion or reaction to a burning issue in the class. The suggestion box account does not record the senders’ addresses, so the instructor will never see the author of any e–mail addressed to the box.

One of the least anticipated benefits of e–mail is the powerful record keeping it allows for both instructor and students. It is possible for all the correspondence in a course to be archived for any number of uses. To address a present situation, an instructor can retrace the history of communication with a student, or review that student’s output over the course of the semester. Similarly, a student can retrace a conversation among students or with the instructor, so as to enhance or refresh his/her understanding of a topic covered earlier in the course.

The Limits of Technology in Teaching: Some Lessons Learned

While communication technology can have a powerful effect on teaching and learning, that effect is not always positive. Below are some precautionary notes and suggestions for instructors to consider when experimenting with the ideas above.

Just because you can do it doesn’t mean it’s worth doing. There is no evidence to suggest that use of technology, in itself, improves student learning. Review the goals of your course, how and what you want students to learn, and consider whether there are easier, simpler, low–tech ways to meet them.
It is easy to confuse the reputed effects of a new technology with the effects of a new instructional method that might accompany the technology. Example: An instructor who normally lectures decides to put his/her course on the Web. In the new version of the course, now taught on–line in the computer lab, the instructor asks the students to process the material by working in groups, to study together, and to test one another to help them learn the material. At the end of the course the instructor sees that learning has improved compared to the lecture course, and concludes that the technology is responsible. In fact, the technology may have helped make some tasks more convenient, but it probably had less impact than did other components of the new course: the group work and practice assessments. Were the instructor to try group work and practice assessments in the lecture course, he or she might find that student learning improved there, too.
Learning and implementing a new technology take more time than imagined. Begin planning well in advance of the semester in which you intend to introduce it.
Start slowly and adopt gradually. Become comfortable with the technology you use before adopting it for your teaching. Students perceive and react negatively when you are not comfortable with a new approach.
Orient students carefully to the use of the technology at the beginning of the semester. This would include technological how–to’s, policies, procedures, netiquette, and civility guidelines. Use a short questionnaire or survey to ascertain your students’ level of experience and expertise, so that you can focus your orientation appropriately. If you have students who are behind in technical skill, pair them with more advanced students for informal tutoring and mentoring.
Plan and execute an assessment of the effect of the new technology as you go. It is important to keep a record of your innovations and their effects, so that you will have the basis for adjustments and improvements.
Mix electronic communication with face–to–face communication. This will ensure that you meet the needs of students with different learning styles.
Stay abreast of physical and procedural limitations that influence students’ ability to access the new technology. At the end of the semester, for example, students will be competing for computer lab time, and may have legitimate reasons for having difficulty with an assignment. Also, some university schools have set printing limits for students.
Get help from specialists at the Teaching & Learning Technologies Lab in Ballantine 307 (855–7829). They can save you a lot of time and shorten the learning curve. The specialists in TLTL have worked with a large number of instructors in a wide variety of projects. Their experience will be valuable to you. For more information, see their World Wide Web document entitled “Electronic Classroom Options” at http://www.indiana.edu/~ecopts/ecopts.html. You may also need the help of University Information Technology Services (UITS) Computing Support Center (855–6789).

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Assessing Student Performance

Adapted with permission from Farris, 1985

It takes some time for instructors to strike a comfortable balance between the “I’m tough—learn because you respect me” and the “I’m compassionate—learn because you love me” extremes of motivating students. Regardless of the approach you take, students will not respect you or your standards unless you also provide them with a means of meeting your expectations.

Evaluation of student performance has two primary purposes: 1) summative, to measure student progress or achievement, and 2) formative, to provide feedback to students to help them learn. As an instructor, it is easy to place emphasis on the first goal, since one of your most visible jobs is to assign grades that become part of the permanent record. The second goal, however—providing feedback for the purpose of helping students improve—is often the more important one for the success of your students, as well as for your success as a teacher. For that reason, plan your evaluation tools and events so as to help students learn, rather than merely as opportunities to generate grades. Frequent tests and quizzes, for example, rather than one big exam, will give students a better chance to monitor their work, and to alter their study habits if they perform poorly early in the semester.

Similarly, consider giving feedback in the form of non–graded short papers, surveys, and other exercises to find out how well students are doing. These are often grouped together under the rubric of Classroom Assessment Techniques. Sometimes they are even anonymous, for the purpose of giving both you and your students useful feedback on the teaching and learning process. Campus Instructional Consulting has several handouts and books on classroom assessment.

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Determining Evaluative Criteria

Adapted with permission from Farris, 1985

Students are very sensitive to grades and the criteria on which they are based: “Will this be on the test? How much does the quiz count toward the final grade? Do you consider attendance and participation?” You should be prepared to answer such questions on the first day of class; that means, of course, that you must have answered them for yourself well in advance.

Before constructing an exam or assignment, you need to decide exactly what it is you expect your students to demonstrate that they have learned. Reviewing the instructional objectives you established at the beginning of the term may be a good way to begin. The first step is to think carefully about the goals you set for the students. Should students have mastered basic terminology and working principles? Does that mastery entail an ability to generate the information from memory, or merely to identify it? Should students have developed a broad understanding of the subject? Should they be able to use the principles and concepts taught in the course to solve problems in the field?

The next question is how you can best evaluate the extent to which students have achieved these goals. Perhaps a certain type of test will suggest itself immediately (multiple choice, matching, fill in the blanks, short answer, problem solving, essay). If you know what you want to assess and why, then writing the actual questions will be much less frustrating.

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Test Construction

Closed–Answer or “Objective” Tests

Although by definition no test can be truly “objective” (existing as an object of fact, independent of the mind), this handbook refers to tests made up of multiple choice, matching, fill–in, true/false, or fill–in–the–blank items as objective tests. Objective tests have the advantages of allowing an instructor to assess a large and potentially representative sample of course material and allow for reliable and efficient scoring. The disadvantages of objective tests include a tendency to emphasize only “recognition” skills, the ease with which correct answers can be guessed on many item types, and the inability to measure students’ organization and synthesis of material (Adapted with permission from Yonge, 1977).

Since the practical arguments for giving objective exams are compelling, we offer a few suggestions for writing multiple–choice items. The first is to find and adapt existing test items. Teachers’ manuals containing collections of items accompany many textbooks. (AIso: Your course supervisor or former teachers of the same course may be willing to share items with you.) However, the general rule is adapt rather than adopt. Existing items will rarely fit your specific needs; you should tailor them to more adequately reflect your objectives.

Second, design multiple choice items so that students who know the subject or material adequately are more likely to choose the correct alternative and students with less adequate knowledge are more likely to choose a wrong alternative. That sounds simple enough, but you want to avoid writing items that lead students to choose the right answer for the wrong reasons. For instance, avoid making the correct alternative the longest or most qualified one, or the only one that is grammatically appropriate to the stem. Even a careless shift in tense or verb–subject agreement can often suggest the correct answer.

Finally, it is very easy to disregard the above advice and slip into writing items which require only rote recall but are nonetheless difficult because they are taken from obscure passages (footnotes, for instance). Some items requiring only recall might be appropriate, but try to design most of the items to tap the students’ understanding of the subject (Adapted with permission from Farris, 1985).

One way to write multiple choice questions that require more than recall is to develop questions that resemble miniature “cases” or situations. Provide a small collection of data, such as a description of a situation, a series of graphs, quotes, a paragraph, or any cluster of the kinds of raw information that might be appropriate material for the activities of your discipline. Then develop a series of questions based on that material. These questions might require students to apply learned concepts to the case, to combine data, to make a prediction on the outcome of a process, to analyze a relationship between pieces of the information, or to synthesize pieces of information into a new concept.

Here are a few additional guidelines to keep in mind when writing multiple–choice tests (Adapted with permission from Yonge, 1977):

The item–stem (the lead–in to the choices) should clearly formulate a problem.
As much of the question as possible should be included in the stem.
Randomize occurrence of the correct response (e.g., you don’t always want “C” to be the right answer).
Make sure there is only one clearly correct answer (unless you are instructing students to select more than one).
Make the wording in the response choices consistent with the item stem.
Don’t load down the stem with irrelevant material.
Beware of using answers such as “none of these” or “all of the above.”
Use negatives sparingly in the question or stem; do not use double negatives.
Beware of using sets of opposite answers unless more than one pair is presented (e.g., go to work, not go to work).
Beware of providing irrelevant grammatical cues.

Grading of multiple choice exams can be done by hand or through the use of computer scannable answer sheets available from your departmental office. Take completed answer sheets to the Bureau of Evaluative Services and Testing (BEST) located in Franklin Hall M002. If you have your test scored by BEST, they will provide statistics on difficulty and reliability, which will help you to improve your tests.

If you choose the computer–grading route, you must be sure students have number 2 pencils to mark answers on their sheets. These are often available from your department’s main office. At the time of the exam it is helpful to write on the chalkboard all pertinent information required on the answer sheet (course name, course number, section number, instructor’s name, etc.). Also, remind students to fill in their university identification numbers carefully so that you can have a roster showing the ID number and grade for each student.

If you would like to consult with someone about developing test items, call Campus Instructional Consulting at 855–9023 or Instructional Consulting and Technology at 855–9023.

If you would like to consult with someone about how to interpret your test results, call BEST at 855–1595.

Essay Tests

Conventional wisdom accurately portrays short–answer and essay examinations as the easiest to write and the most difficult to grade, particularly if they are graded well. You should give students an exam question for each crucial concept that they must understand.

If you want students to study in both depth and breadth, don’t give them a choice among topics. This allows them to choose not to answer questions about those things they didn’t study. Instructors generally expect a great deal from students, but remember that their mastery of a subject depends as much on prior preparation and experience as it does on diligence and intelligence; even at the end of the semester some students will be struggling to understand the material. Design your questions so that all students can answer at their own levels.

The following are some suggestions that may enhance the quality of the essay tests that you produce (Adapted with permission from Ronkowski, 1986):

Have in mind the processes that you want measured (e.g., analysis, synthesis).
Start questions with words such as “compare,” “contrast,” “explain why.” Don’t use “what,” “when,” or “list.” (These latter types are better measured with objective–type items). Writing Tutorial Services, Ballantine Hall 207, 855–6738, has a handout for students which defines these terms and explains how to study for and respond to essay questions.
Write items that define the parameters of expected answers as clearly as possible.
Make sure that the essay question is specific enough to invite the level of detail you expect in the answer. A question such as “Discuss the causes of the American Civil War,” might get a wide range of answers, and therefore be impossible to grade reliably. A more controlled question would be, “Explain how the differing economic systems of the North and South contributed to the conflicts that led to the Civil War.
Don’t have too many questions for the time available.

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Constructing Writing Assignments

Adapted by permission from Kurz, 1996

Like writing essay exam questions, constructing effective writing assignments requires some thought and preparation on your part. First, you need to decide what your goals are in assigning writing. If you keep your goals in mind, you will find that constructing a writing assignment will be easier and the assignment is more likely to accomplish those goals.

Role: What role is the student to take in writing this paper? If the student is writing a book review, for example, she takes on the role of critic.
Audience: Who is the audience for this paper? What can students assume about the knowledge and background of their readers? Often students have difficulty writing because they conceive of their audience solely as their professor: “the instructor already knows all this, what can I say?” By imagining an audience to whom they can speak with authority, students can often write better, more interesting essays.
Format: In what format should this paper be written? Business memos, for example, typically open with standard headings and are very different from academic papers.
Task: What task is the student to accomplish? The task might be, for example, to summarize a text, to compare and contrast two theories, or to analyze an argument. Make sure your assignment clearly specifies this information, which is often referred to by the acronym RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, Task). The more clearly you indicate what you want in your assignment, the more likely it is that you will get it.

When you assign writing, you need to decide and make explicit to students what standards you will use in evaluating you’re their essays. Some areas of evaluation include accuracy or richness of content, organization, and sentence–level correctness.

Making your criteria clear ahead of time eases your students’ fears about the evaluation process to some extent. Moreover, students who know what standards against which their essays will be judged are more likely to try to meet those standards when they write. One way to make your standards clear to your students is a rubric which describes the characteristics of an “A” paper, a “B” paper, and so on. Sample rubrics are available from Campus Instructional Consulting.

Another good method is to grade a paper in front of the class. The paper you grade might be one written in the previous semester (with the student’s name removed, of course). It is useful to perform this exercise with a paper which might receive an average grade rather than a superior one; the average paper that makes some interesting mistakes will teach students what to avoid, while a superior paper will only excite envy or hopelessness.

Regardless of the method you choose, you are welcome to consult with the Campus Writing Program, 855–4928. Its staff members will help you to construct rubrics or provide student papers to grade in class.

Responding to Student Writing

Writing is a tool for communication, and it is reasonable for you to expect coherent, lucid prose from your students. However, writing is also a mode of learning and a way for students to discover what they think about a subject. You should be willing to participate in this learning and discovery process as well as grade the product (Adapted with permission from Farris, 1985).

The quality of student writing is often far below acceptable standards. Many instructors try to ignore the problem by insisting that writing skills are not part of their assigned subject area. This attitude results in further problems for both instructors and their students. If you demand good writing, make your expectations known and offer help to those who need it (or refer students to Writing Tutorial Services, Ballantine Hall 206). Students will try to meet your demands; make your standards worth meeting.

Not all instructor comments on student papers are equal. Instructors often find it useful to involve themselves in students’ writing (and learning) processes, rather than simply “correcting” the final products by having them submit first drafts which are given constructive criticism on content, organization, and presentation. One–to–one conferences after the student has read the critique and perhaps begun a second draft are invaluable. The second draft is graded and usually demonstrates improvement on all fronts, especially in the depth of analysis and support for an argument so often found lacking in one–draft student papers.

Comments on a first draft are typically different from those given on a final draft. On a first draft, comments usually address whole–paper level concerns. Is there a clear thesis that appropriately addresses the assignment? Is the evidence appropriate and convincing? Is the organization clear? It is often a good idea at this stage to phrase you comments as questions you as a reader would like the writer to address. In addition, if you connect your comments to specific phrases or sentences in the student’s text and avoid vague directives such as “be specific” or “expand,” the student will have a clearer idea of how to revise the text. In the early stages of the writing process there is little point in addressing sentence–level problems, as during revision many of those sentences may disappear. Comments on a final draft have a different purpose—to justify a grade, to point to sections that are particularly effective or ineffective, or to address sentence–level concerns, for example.

As you read student essays and diagnose writing problems, you may notice patterns. A paper full of long, convoluted sentences, for example, may indicate that the student is struggling with very complex concepts. Ideally, in your comments you may be able to help the student find ways to discuss those concepts without adding to their complexity. If the essay contains glaring grammatical or mechanical errors, it may be because the student is unfamiliar with the discipline or topic. Even experienced writers may let grammar lapse when they are writing on a topic or in a discipline new to them. If your students are inexperienced writers, you may read many papers in which the thesis is stated in the conclusion rather than at the beginning. In these cases, the student may have begun to write before thinking through the argument to be presented; writing a draft at this preliminary stage becomes a process of discovering the argument. Such a student can benefit substantially from some carefully phrased comments and an opportunity to revise (Adapted by permission from L. Kurz, personal communication, 1996).

Peer feedback groups in which students read each other their first drafts for critique are also useful. These groups work best when students observe a fairly strict protocol: generally each student reads the draft twice. The first time group members listen only; on the second reading they write comments on their photocopy and/or fill out a form designed to address problems specific to the assignment. Then one at a time, the group members offer their comments to the writer. One advantage to the peer feedback method is that you are not the only audience for the students’ writing. They hear suggestions for improving their drafts from others before you read the papers.

Avoid the trap of editing papers for students. The point is to get the students to be able to edit their own papers; tell them there is a grammatical problem in a line, but don’t fix it for them. Written comments, especially about grammar and mechanics, do very little to improve the student’s next effort. Also, getting back a paper covered in red ink can devastate students’ morale and confidence in their writing ability.

Richard Haswell, in “Minimal Marking” (1983), advocates responding to surface error, grammar, and mechanics problems, by indicating the presence of such an error “only with a check in the margin by the line in which it occurs.” One check per error, so two checks in the margin means two errors in the line. He marks these problems, records the number of them, and returns the essay to the student. He requires the student to correct checked errors and resubmit the essay for evaluation. No grade is recorded until this stage.

Haswell claims that much less of his time is spent on surface error, allowing more attention to substance. This also reduces the reverse “halo effect” where the irritation caused by explaining and correcting surface errors causes an instructor to devalue the student’s content. Haswell also claims that he saves more time by not correcting surface errors than he loses in looking at each paper twice. (Adapted with permission from Kurz, 1996, Kalish 1993, and Farris, 1985).

If you have further questions about using writing in your class or about how to respond to it, contact the Campuswide Writing Program at 855–4928.

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Grading

Reading 50 papers or 200 essay exams presents special problems, especially when all 50 or 200 are responses to the same topic or question. How do you maintain consistency? You are more likely to be thorough with the first few papers you read than with the rest, and less likely to be careful with the comments when you are tired. To avoid such problems, read five or six papers before you start grading to get an idea of the range of quality (some instructors rank–order the papers in groups before they assign grades), and stop grading when you get tired, irritable, or bored. When you start again, read over the last couple of papers you graded to make sure you were fair. Some instructors select “range finder” papers—middle range A, B, C, and D papers to which they refer for comparison.

Depending upon the number of students you have, you may have anywhere from five to 20 minutes to spend on a three– to four–page paper. Try to select only the most insightful passages for praise and only the most shallow responses or repeated errors for comment. See the previous section on “Responding to Student Writing” for more detailed advice (Adapted with permission from Farris, 1985).

In assigning grades to essay questions or papers, you may want to use one of the following methods (Adapted with permission from Cashin, 1987):

Analytic (point–score) Method: In this method the ideal or model answer is broken down into several specific points regarding content. A specific subtotal point value is assigned to each. When reading the exam, you need to decide how much of each maximum subtotal you judge the student’s answer to have earned. When using this method be sure to outline the model (ideal or acceptable) answer BEFORE you begin to read the essays.
Global (holistic) Method: In this method, the grader reads the entire essay and makes an overall judgment about how successfully the student has covered everything that was expected in the answer and assigns the paper to a stack (grade). Generally, five to nine stacks are sufficient. Ideally, all of the essays should be read quickly and sorted into five to nine piles, then each pile reread to check that every essay has been accurately (fairly) assigned to that pile which will be given a specific score or letter grade.

If you are one of a group of graders, all reading responses to the same questions, it is usually a good idea to compare your grading to “norm” the grading scale. The Campuswide Writing Program, 855–4928, will help groups of graders norm their grading scales.

Records and Distribution of Grades

Be sure to develop a clear grading policy, whether you use a point scale, a curve, or a holistic method. Students expect that you will announce your grading scale in your syllabus and treat it like a contract. You can avoid many complaints at the end of the semester if you are clear at the beginning. If you are teaching a small section of a large course managed by someone else, procedures for grading and the distribution of grades to students will most likely be coordinated with that instructor. Some large section instructors will have established procedures for the distribution of grades, while others may leave it up to the small section instructor.

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), it is a breach of privacy to post grades, exam scores, or other documents in any kind of public area (outside the office, for example) without removing all personally identifiable information such as names and ID numbers. Grades should be posted by the last 4 digits of ID number. If the exams have been scanned and graded by Bureau of Evaluative Studies and Testing, you may request an “unsorted” printout includes partial ID numbers and grades only and is suitable for posting. Another method is to record grades on the attendance roster, photocopy it, and then clip out the section of names on the sheet, leaving only partial ID numbers and grades; however, this leaves the list in alphabetical order. Or you can post the grades via the World Wide Web, if you have set up an on–line grade book developed by BEST (855–1595).

Handing back papers or essays to a large class can be a very time consuming task. Some instructors deal with this by leaving time at the end of class to hand back assignments or tests, or they may ask students to come to their office to pick up papers. The latter alternative may provide an opportunity for students to get more personal feedback from you about their papers.

Don’t hand back graded work at the beginning of class unless you plan to spend time going over it; students will almost always pay more attention to the returned work than to the matter at hand. Also, be careful not to allow a discussion of the work you are returning to degenerate into a gripe session. Students’ grade complaints can easily degenerate into a “wolf pack.” If a student has a complaint about his or her grade, that should be discussed one to one in your office.

Anticipating Common Grade Complaints

Adapted by permission from Middendorf, 1993

“Five or six of my students were hostile when I returned the exam. They said it was too hard.”

“A student just left my class and said she was going to report me to the dean because she missed the last class session and I told her she still must take today’s quiz.”

Not infrequently, students get upset about testing or grading procedures. Some students go so far as to intimidate instructors as a means of either improving their grades or getting the instructor to make future exams and assignments less challenging.

Students may not all be doing this consciously, though some may be. Students feel great pressure to get A’s and will try many strategies to that end. Instructors should not ignore students’ complaints; student comments are an important source of feedback for improving teaching. However, you should be aware that students may try to get you to back off of rigorous demands. Teachers can increase student achievement by setting high, but attainable goals.

The bottom line is that instructors should expect hard work and sound thinking from students. At the same time, instructors should be aware that occasionally a student will resort to intimidation as a means of getting an instructor to lessen demands. The intellectual climate of Indiana University will be determined in part by whether students are challenged or have little demand placed on them.

The University Grading System

A student grade is officially recorded by letters evaluated as follows:

A+	=	4.0 (counts same as A in GPA)
A	=	4.0
A–	=	3.7
B+	=	3.3
B	=	3.0
B–	=	2.7
C+	=	2.3
C	=	2.0
C–	=	1.7
D+	=	1.3
D	=	1.0
D–	=	0.7
F	=	0.0
FX	=	Failed (course then retaken)
I	=	Incomplete
R	=	Deferred grade
S	=	Satisfactory
W	=	Withdrawn
P	=	Passed

For further information on grading policies at Indiana University, please consult the Academic Handbook or consult with your supervising faculty member.

IU Teaching Handbook: Section 2 — Teaching Methods

Contents

Lecturing

Discussion

Science Labs

Teaching with the Case Method

Group Work

Technology for Teaching

Assessing Student Performance

Lecturing

Preparing Lectures

Planning a Lecture

Analyzing the Audience

Generating an Outline

Choosing Examples

Choosing Learning Activities

Reviewing the Material

Delivering the Lecture

Questioning in the Classroom

How to Ask Questions

Answering Students’ Questions

Rewarding Student Participation and Providing Feedback

Teaching Outside your Field of Specialization

Discussion

Preparing for Discussions

Decide How Much Time You Want to Spend

Develop a Clear Goal for the Discussion

Problematize the Topic

Select an Activity to Frame the Problem

Choose a Grouping Method

Choose a Debriefing Method

Facilitating Discussions

Problems with Discussion

Science Labs

Preparing Lab Sections

Managing Laboratory Sections

Safety Procedures

Student Preparation

Supervising the Experiment

Refrain from Giving Outright Answers or Advice

Teaching with the Case Method

Formats for Cases

Managing a Case Assignment

Designing Case Study Questions

Managing Discussion and Debate Effectively

Group Work

Organizing the Groups

Designating Roles in Groups

Reporting Group Results

Technology for Teaching

Presentation Technology

Video and Film

Slides

Chalkboard or Marker Board

Overhead Projector

Presentations with Computers

Communication Technology

More Student Time on Task

Improved Collaboration among Students

Improved Communication between Students and Instructor

Improved Access to Course Materials, Policies, and Assignments

Appeal to Multiple Learning Styles

Classroom Assessment for Students and for Instructors

The Limits of Technology in Teaching: Some Lessons Learned

Assessing Student Performance

Determining Evaluative Criteria

Test Construction

Closed–Answer or “Objective” Tests

Essay Tests

Constructing Writing Assignments

Responding to Student Writing

Grading

Records and Distribution of Grades

Anticipating Common Grade Complaints

The University Grading System

Links