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Sparking Teaching & Learning Ideas!

SparkMails are produced by the College of Agricultural Sciences in partnership with CTL to support reflection, exploration, and development of your teaching style and methods.

What Do You Know? True/False:

Want to know how you did in determining if each of these is true or false? Click any of the cards to be taken to the answers and supporting literature on the CAS Spark Site.

Spring 2022 Spark Shops

Using Rubrics to Support and Assess Student Learning: Best Practices

Do you want to know how to use rubrics to support transparency in assessments and enhance student learning? Join Funmi Amobi and Weiwei Zhang for an informative discussion on how to help students understand the expectations for successful performance, how their current work relates to the expectations, and what they must do to close the gaps.

Friday, 5/20 at Noon PT sign up here

Media Series

(Opens in browser page)

Apply Story Design to your teaching using technology

Stories engage our thinking, emotions and imagination. Learn how to easily add Story Design into your teaching using Canvas, PPT & Video to improve student engagement, comprehension and retention.

Wednesday 5/11 at Noon PT sign up here

Recording Video in the Field– Know Before You Go!

Bring your subject to life by recording your own videos in the field. Learn how to prepare before you go and pro tips for what to do and NOT to do!

Wednesday 5/18 at Noon PT sign up here

Video Editing for Ease, Accessibility & Interactivity

Learn about different video editing tools, how to easily add captions, and how to create engaging videos using interactive video quizzing

Wednesday 5/11 at Noon PT sign up here

Designing or Redesign a Course?

Tip 5: +1

Course (re)design takes considerable time and attention. To alleviate any potential stress-induced paralysis, consider using the “Plus One Approach” to make the integration of new design ideas inspiring and manageable.

The Plus One Approach is targeted, responsive, flexible, and timely. It prompts you to anticipate student challenges and respond to student feedback but with boundaries. It does not require a ton of time up front but reduces time spent answering questions and it reduces student confusion increasing their overall persistence, retention, and satisfaction. It is recommended you begin the Plus One Approach by identifying “pinch points” where students might (or tend to) face challenges in your course. To identify the pinch points, consider the following questions.

Where and when do students always ask a lot of questions?
Which test and/or quiz questions do students frequently answer incorrectly?
What content is frequently being retaught or explained in different ways?

Then, experiment with small incremental changes such as: revise Learning Objectives so that they are SMARTE; provide students with an alternative resource for learning (such as a podcast); TILT an assignment; or introduce additional, opposing, historical, or seldomly heard perspectives. The goal is to target and break up your design efforts into manageable chunks to strategically support student success in the places where you are most likely to have the greatest impact.

Resources:

Tobin, T. J., & Behling, K. (2018). Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast, EPISODE 227.

For supporting literature regarding this tip. Click Here.

Teaching & Learning Literature

Chapter 5: How Do Model Teachers Assess Student Learning?

“What should your learning outcomes be (and what does that term even mean)? How do you balance content coverage with skill development? This chapter helps you decide what to teach.”

“When we busy ourselves with covering a lot of material, we may forget about discussing issues such as ethics and diverse perspectives.”

Have you noticed that each chapter has a top must-read list? Here are a couple titles from this chapter’s must-read list:

Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. (free)

Instruction Strategies

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Excerpted from “Pedagogical Approaches for Implementing Universal Design for Learning by Brooke Howland, Ed.D. 2020, OSU Center for Teaching & Learning

UDL Framework:

As you plan courses and lessons it is recommended you include multiple methods to engage, teach, and assess learners. SparkMails for the remainder of the academic year will feature a strategies within the UDL Framework. To find out more about UDL visit the CAS SparkSite.

This Week’s UDL Strategies

Stir the Classroom
Stir the Classroom uses a question and answer collaboration with rotating learners. Stir the Classroom is designed to: click for more information

Problem-Based Learning (PBL)
Groups of learners tackle real-world problems that they define and then present out their findings. PBL is designed to: click for more information

Carousel Brainstorm
Carousel Brainstorms is a cooperative learning activity focused around movement, conversation, and reflection. Carousel Brainstorming is designed to: click for more information

Looking for a Past SparkMail, SparkShop Recording or More CTL Resources?

Spark Mails are supported by the College of Agricultural Sciences
and the Center for Teaching and Learning.
Contact: Yvette Gibson, Rangeland Sciences Instructor &
CAS-CTL Fellow (yvette.gibson@oregonstate.edu)

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