March 28- April 4; Teaching and Learning (Important Information)

March 28- April 4:

From March 28 to April 4, I had mostly worked on “Teaching and Learning” class (Dr. Schreiner) based on teaching theoretical methodologies. Mostly I read Fink (2003) for this project. The following contents and quotations are very related with “Creating Curriculums” project:

 

THE MEANINGS OF SIGNIFICANT LEARNING EXPERIENCES FOR STUDENTS:

In a powerful learning experience, students will be engaged in their own learning, there will be a high energy level associated with it, and the “Whole process will have important outcomes or results. Not only will students be learning throughout the course, by the end of the course they will clearly have changed in some important way-they will have learned something important. And that learning will have the potential for changing their lives in an important way. It has been my observation that all significant learning offers one or more of the following values:

 

·      Enhancing our individual life: developing an ability to enjoy good art and music, developing a thoughtful philosophy of life, and so on.

·      Enabling us to contribute to the many communities if which we will be a part: family, local community, nation state, religion, special interest groups, the world.

·      Preparing us for the world of work: developing the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for being effective in one or more professional fields (p. 7).

 

Components of significant education in quality (p. 8):

Similarly, in higher education, colleges need to assemble good curricula, good instruction, and good faculty who can interact well with students.

 

New Forms of Teaching (pp. 20-22)

1.     Role-Playing, Simulation, Debate, and Case Studies

2.     Writing to Learn

3.     Small Group Learning

4.     The Assessment as Learning

5.     Problem-Based Learning

6.     Service Learning

7.     Online Learning

If learning is regarded not as the acquisition of information, but as a search for meaning and coherence in one’s life and, if an emphasis is placed on what is learned and its personal significance to the learner, rather than how much is learned, researchers would gain valuable new insights into both the mechanisms of learning and the relative advantages of teacher-controlled and learner-controlled modes of learning.

-PHILIP CANDY (1991) – p. 27

 

Fink’s Five Principles of Fine Teaching (p. 28)

Good courses are courses that. . .

·      Challenge students to significant kinds of learning.

·      Use active forms of learning.

·      Have teachers who care—about the subject, their students, and about teaching and learning.

·      Have teachers who interact well with students.

·      Have a good system of feedback, assessment, and grading.

 

The cognitive taxonomy (Bloom, 1956):- p. 29

The cognitive taxonomy consists of six kinds of learning arranged in a hierarchical sequence. These are, from the highest to the lowest:

1.    Evaluation

- A higher level question that does not have a single correct answer. It requires the student to judge the merit of an idea, a solution to a problem, or an aesthetic work. The student may also be asked to offer an opinion on an issue. (Q: Do you think schools are too easy? Is busing an appropriate remedy for desegregating schools? Do you think it is true that "Americans never had it so good?" Which U.S. senator is the most effective? To answer evaluation questions objective criteria or personal values must be applied. Some standard must be used. differing standards are quite acceptable and they naturally result in different answers. This type of question frequently is used to surface values or to cause students to realize that not everyone sees things the same way. It can be used to start a class discussion. It can also precede a follow-up analysis or synthesis question like, "Why?"

2.    Synthesis (종합)

                                    - Higher order question that asks the student to perform original and creative thinking. Synthesis questions ask students to:

                  Produce original communications. (Q: What's a good name for this invention? Write a letter to the editor on a social issue of concern to you. Make a collage of pictures and words that represents your beliefs and feelings about the issue.)

                   

                  Make predictions. (Q: How would the U.S.A. be different if the South had won the Civil War? What would happen if school attendance was made optional? What is the next likely development in popular music?)

                   

                  Solve problems--although analysis questions may also ask students to solve problems, synthesis questions differ because they don't require a single correct answer but, instead allow a variety of creative answers. (How could we determine the number of pennies in a jar without counting them? How can we raise money for our ecology project? Words typically used in synthesis questions: predict, produce, write, design, develop, synthesize, construct, how can we improve, what would happen if, can you devise, how can we solve.

 

3.    Analysis

                                    -  Higher order questions that require students to think critically and in depth. [Unless students can be brought to the higher levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, it is unlikely that transfer will take place, i.e., this is stuff I can use rather than this is just more dumb school stuff that I can forget after I take the test. If teachers don't ask higher-level questions, it is unlikely that most students will transfer school work to real life. They may not even be able to apply it to school situations other than the one in which it was "learned." E.g., we "know" that students know more than scores on the CAP Test or SAT would suggest.] In analysis questions, students are asked to engage in three kinds of cognitive processes:

 

                  Identify the motives, reasons, and/or causes for a specific occurrence (Q: Why was Israel selected as the site for the Jewish nation?), consider and analyze available information to reach a conclusion, inference, or generalization based on this information (Q: After studying the French, American, and Russian revolutions, what can you conclude about the causes of a revolution?), or 


Words typically used: identify motives/causes, draw conclusions, determine evidence, support, analyze, why.

 

4.    Application

-     A question that asks a student to apply previously learned information to reach an answer. Solving math word problems is an example. Q: According to our definition of socialism, which of the following nations would be considered to be socialist? 
Words typically used: apply, classify, use, choose, employ, write and example, solve, how many, which, what is. 


 

5.    Comprehension (이해, 파악)

-     Demonstrate that the student has sufficient understanding to organize and arrange material mentally. Q: What do you think Hamlet meant when he said, "to be or not to be, that is the question?" (Rosenshine, among others, would argue that one of the best ways to teach is to teach pupils how to ask their own questions about the topic under consideration.) 
Words typically used: describe, compare, contrast, rephrase, put in your own words, and explain the main idea. 


 

6.    Knowledge (meaning the ability to recall information)

-       Recognize or recall information. Q: What is the capital of Maine? Who wrote "Hamlet?" 
Words typically used: define, recall, recognize, remember, who, what, where, when. 


 

Major Categories in the Taxonomy of Significant Learning- By Fink (p.p. 31-32)

1.     Foundational Knowledge.

-       At the base of most other kinds of learning is the need for students to “know” something.  Knowing, as used here, refers to students’ ability to understand and remember specific information and ideas.  It is important for people today to have some valid basic knowledge, for example, about science, history, literature, geography, etc.  They also need to understand major ideas or perspectives, for example, what evolution is (and what it is not), what capitalism is (and is not), and so forth.  Special Value:  Foundational Knowledge provides the basic understanding that is necessary for other kinds of learning.

 

2.     Application.

-       This familiar kind of learning occurs when students learn how to engage in some new kind of action, which may be intellectual, physical, social, etc.  Learning how to engage in various kinds of thinking (critical, creative, practical) is an important form of application learning.  But this category of significant learning also includes developing certain skills (e.g., communication, playing the piano) or learning how to manage complex projects.  Special Value:  Application learning allows other kinds of learning to become useful.

 

3.     Integration.

-       When students are able to see and understand the connections between different things, an important kind of learning has occurred.  Sometimes they make connections between specific ideas, between whole realms of ideas, between people, and/or between different realms of life (e.g., between school and work or between school and leisure life).  Special Value:  The act of making new connections gives learners a new form of power, especially intellectual power.

 

4.     Human Dimension.

-       When students learn something important about their own Self and/or about others, it enables them to interact more effectively with themselves or with others.  They discover the personal and/or social implications of what they have learned.  What they learn or the way in which they learn sometimes gives students a new understanding of themselves (self-image) or a new vision of what they want to become (self-ideal).  At other times, they acquire a better understanding of others: how and why others act the way they do, or how the learner can interact more effectively with others.  Special Value:  This kind of learning informs students about he human significance of what they are learning.  

 

5.     Caring.

-       Sometimes a learning experience changes the degree to which students care about something.  This may be reflected in the form of new feelings, interests, and/or values.  Any of these changes means students now care about something to a greater degree or in a way than they did before.  Special Value:  When students care about something, they then have the energy they need for learning more about it and making it a part of their lives.  Without the energy for learning, nothing significant happens.

 

6.     Learning How to learn.

-       This occurs when students learn something about the process of learning itself.  They may be learning how to be a better student, how to engage in a particular kind of inquiry (e.g., the scientific method), or how to become self-directing learners.  All of these constitute important forms of learning how to learn.  Special Value: This kind of learning enables students to continue learning in the future and to do so with greater effectiveness.

 

Formulating Course Goals Around Significant Learning (pp. 33-35)- By Fink

Developing Course-Specific learning Goals

What might the learning goals look like when formulated in terms of a specific course? To give a quick answer to this question, let me describe the learning goals for a course on world regional geography that I have taught, formulated around the SIX categories of significant learning.

“After this course is over, students will. . . .”

Foundational Knowledge

·      Have a mental map of the world and be able to correctly locate major places countries, mountain ranges, rivers, cities, oceans, and so on.

·      Understand major geographic concepts-physical geography, human geography, scale, demographic transition, and so on.

 

Application

·      Be able to find information on and analyze regional problems from a geographic perspective.

·      Be able to use an atlas effectively and efficiently.

 

 

Integration

·      Identify the interactions between geography and other realms of knowledge such as history, politics, economics, social structure, and so on.

 

Human Dimension

·      Be able to identify ways in which one’s personal life affects and is affected by interactions with other world regions.

·      Be able to intelligently discuss world events with other people and the impact of geography on these events.

 

Caring

·      Be interested in other places of the world and want to continue learning about those places via reading, TV, the Internet, and travel.

 

Learning How to Learn

·      Be able to interpret the geographic significance of ne”- information and ideas acquired in the future.

·      Be familiar with a number of popular geography journals and other sources of knowledge about other parts of the world.

·      Have some specific ideas about what else it would be desirable to know about other places in the world.

 

Significant Learning the literature on College Teaching (pp. 35-55)

In addition, the new taxonomy can organize and make sense of a broad range of published statements on what students can and should learn at the college level.

First Kind of Significant Learning: Foundational Knowledge.

The basic meaning of this kind of learning is understanding and remembering. …

 

‘The central theme in all this is that almost all kinds of significant learning will be based on, and hence will require students to have, an in-depth understanding of some subject matter. And this is why it has been labeled here as foundational knowledge. (p. 38) 

 

… Conceptual understanding: Developing a full understanding of the concepts associated with a subject to a degree that allows explanations, predictions, and so on.

Application:

-       Critical thinking: Analyzing and critiquing issues and situations

-       Practical thinking: Developing problem-solving and decision-making capabilities

-       Creativity: Creating new ideas, products, and perspectives

-       Managing complex projects: Being able to coordinate and sequence multiple tasks in a single project

-       Performance skills: Developing capabilities in such areas as foreign language, communication, operating technology, performing in the fine arts, sports

 

Integration:

-       Interdisciplinary learning: Connecting different disciplines and perspectives

-       Learning communities: Connecting different people

-       Learning and living/working: Connecting different realms of life

 

Human Dimension:

-       Leadership: Learning how to be an effective leader

-       Ethics, character building: Developing character and living by ethical principles

-       ‘Self-authorship: Learning how to create and take responsibility for one’s own life

-       Multicultural education: Becoming culturally sensitive in one’s interactions with others Working as a member of a team: Knowing how to contribute to a team

-       Citizenship: Being a responsible citizen of one’s local community, nation state, and other political entity

-       Serving others (local, national, world); Contributing to the well-being of others at multiple levels of society

-       Environmental ethics: Having ethical principles in relation to the nonhuman world

Caring:

-       Wanting to be a good student: Wanting to have a high GPA or be an honors student

-       Becoming excited about a particular activity or subject: For example, developing a keen interest in bird watching, reading history, or listening to music

-       Developing a commitment to live right: tor example, deciding to learn and follow Covey’s seven habits of highly effective people

 

Learning How to Learn:

·      How to be a better student: Learning how to engage in self-regulated learning or deep learning

·      How to inquire and construct knowledge: Learning how to engage in the scientific method, historical method, and other forms of inquiry

·      How to pursue self-directed or intentional learning: Developing a learning agenda and plan; becoming an intentional learner; becoming skilled in autodidaxy (the ability to direct one’s own learning and life); being a reflective practitioner

 

Syllabus (Fink p. 263)

1.     General management information, instructor, office hours, phone and so on

2.     Goals for the course

3.     Structure and sequence of class activities, including due dates for major assignments, tests, and projects

4.     Text and other required reading material

5.     Grading procedures

6.     Course policies: attendance, work turned in late, make-up exams, and so on

 

March 23-27, 09 (Standards of Validation and Evaluation- Creswell, Ch. 10)

Analytic memos:

Creswell (2007)- Chapter 10 (Standards of Validation and Evaluation)

The following quotations are related with validation and reliability in qualitative research:

 

1.     Validation:

-       Validation also has been reconceptualized by qualitative researchers with a postmodern sensibility. Lather (1991) commented that current “paradigmatic uncertainty in the human sciences is leading to the re-conceptualizing of validation” and called for “new techniques and concepts for obtaining and defining trustworthy data which avoids the pitfalls of orthodox notions of validation” (p. 66). – p. 204

 

-       Validation has also been cast within an interpretive approach to qualitative research marked by a focus on the importance of the researcher, a lack of truth in validation, a form of validation based on negotiation and dialogue with participants, and interpretations that are temporal, located, and always open to reinterpretation (Angen, 2000). Angen (2000) suggested that within interpretative research, validation is “a judgment of the trustworthiness or goodness of a piece of research” (p. 387).

 

 

-       She espouses an ongoing pen dialogue on the topic of what makes interpretive research worthy of our trust. Considerations of validation are not definitive as the final word on the topic, nor should every study be required to address them. Further, she advances two types of validation: ethical validation and substantive validation.

 

-       Ethical validation means that all research agendas must questions their underlying moral assumptions, their political and ethical implications, and the equitable treatment of diverse voices. It also requires research to provide some practical answers to questions. Our research should also have a “generative promise” (Angen, 2000, p. 389) and raise new possibilities, open up new questions, and stimulate new dialogue. – p. 205

 

 

-       I consider “validation” in qualitative research to be an attempt to assess the “accuracy” of the findings, as best described by the researcher and the participants. This view also suggests that any report of research is a representation by the author. –pp. 206-207

 

-       I also view validation as a distinct strength of qualitative research in that the account made through extensive time spent in the field, the detailed thick description, and the closeness of the researcher to participants in the study all add to the value or accuracy of a study. (p. 207)

 

-       At best, there might be less emphasis on validation in narrative research and more emphasis on it in grounded theory, case study, and ethnography, especially when the authors talking about these approaches want to employ systematic procedures. I would recommend using validation strategies regardless of type of qualitative approach. (p. 207)

 

2.     Substantive validation

-       Substantive validation means understanding one’s own understandings of the topic, understandings derived from other sources, and the documentation of this process in the written study. Self-reflection contributes to the validation of the work. The researcher, as a sociohistorical interpreter, interacts with the subject manner to co-create the interpretations derived. Understandings derived from previous research give substance to the inquiry. –p. 206

 

3.     Suggestions of Validation Strategies from Creswell & Miller, 2000 (p. 207)

-       Peer review or debriefing provides an external check of the research process (Ely et al., 1991; Erlandson et al., 1993; Glesne & Peshkin, 1992; Lmcoln & Guba, 1985; Merriam, 1988), much in the same spirit as interrater reliability in quantitative research. Lincoln and Guba (1985) define the role of the peer debriefer as a “devil’s advocate,” an individual who keeps the researcher honest; asks hard questions about methods, meanings, and interpretations; and provides the researcher with the opportunity for catharsis by sympathetically listening to the researcher’s feelings. This reviewer may be a peer, and both the peer and the researcher keep written accounts of the sessions, called “peer debriefing sessions” (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). – p. 208

 

-       Rich, thick description allows readers to make decisions regarding transferability (Erlandson et aI., 1993; Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Merriam, 1988) because the writer describes in detail the participants or setting under study. With such detailed description, the researcher enables readers to transfer information to other settings and to determine whether the findings can be transferred “because of shared characteristics” (Erlandson et al., 993, p. 3).- p. 209

 

Methodological Memos:

1.     Phenomenological Research (pp. 215-216)

-       My own standards that I would use to assess the quality of a phenomenology would be:

·        Does the author convey an understanding of the philosophical tenets of phenomenology ?

·        Does the author have a clear “phenomenon” to study that is articulated in a concise way? Does the author use procedures of data analysis in phenomenology, such as the procedures recommended by Moustakas (1994)?

·        · Does the author convey the overall essence of the experience of the participants? Does this essence include a description of the experience and the context in which it occurred?

·        Is the author reflexive throughout the study?

 

2.     Case Study Research (pp. 218-219)

-       Stake (1995) provides a rather extensive “critique checklist” (p. 131” 31) L) for a case study report and shares 20 criteria for assessing a good case study report:

a.     Is the report easy to read?

b.     Does it fit together, each sentence contributing to the whole?

c.      Does the report have a conceptual structure (i.e., themes or issues)

d.     Are its issues developed in a serious and scholarly way?

e.     Is the case adequately defined?

f.      Is there a sense of story to the presentation?

g.     Is the reader provided some vicarious experience?

h.     Is the reader provided some vicarious experience

i.       Are headings, figures, artifacts, appendixes, and indexes used effectively?

j.       Was it edited well, then again with a last-minute polish?

k.     Has the writer made sound assertions, neither over- nor under-interpreting?

l.       Has adequate attention been paid to various contexts?

m.   Were sufficient raw data presented?

n.     Were data sources well chosen and in sufficient number?

o.     Do observations and interpretations appear to have been triangulated? Is the role and point of view of the researcher nicely apparent?

p.     Is the nature of the intended audience apparent? Empathy shown for all sides? Personal intentions examined?

q.     Does it appear that individuals were put at risk? (Stake, 1995,p.131)

 

3.     My own criteria for evaluating a “good” case study would include the following:

·        Is there a clear identification of the “case” or “case;” in the study?

·        Is the “case” (or are the “cases”) used to understand a research issue or used because the ‘case” has (or “cases” have) intrinsic merit?

·        Is there a clear description of the “case”? , Are themes identified for the “case”?

·        Are assertions or generalizations made from the “case” analysis?

·        Is the researcher reflexive or self-disclosing about his or her position in the study?