Engaging Students

CTL members shared their perspectives about how to engage students during our March 3, 2003 meeting. Very brief summaries follow.
Mark Ferrer: Since 1980 he has had students collaborate on multi-media projects. These projects give students purpose for their writing, making the activity active, or student-centered, learning. Students teach each other. “The more you engage people in actively producing something, the more they want to learn.”
Jack Ullom: Parker Palmer’s book, The Courage to Teach, profoundly inspires. Among other issues, Palmer discusses the integrity of the instructor. Jack believes that Lou Spaventa will begin a book club based on Parker's book.
Eric Wise: Use interesting and unusual cases to illustrate the course content.
Pam Guenther: Active learning and use of analogies counters students’ anxiety about math. Group work allows students to work through the material using cooperative learning. Go from concrete to abstract, and set them up for talking about problem solving. Group quizzes are completed by all students in a group and the instructor chooses one problem to grade, thus making the group responsible for checking all work.
Curtis Solberg: Demystify the university. Stress that SBCC courses can bring students up to the university level, thus appealing to the students’ self-interest. Have high, clear expectations.
David Kiley: Avoid “trained helplessness.” Teach the context of what students are looking for rather than a skill that is specific to a single library. Let students into parts of your life.
Mohammad El-Soussi: Be flexible so that students feel comfortable. For instance, this semester his students want to do group activities and case studies following each lecture. Find out what mode of learning they prefer.
Nina Warner: Bring oneself into the class and make oneself a human being. Uses Diane Arbus quotation: “Pass through boredom into fascination”: if you do something enough the meaning will unfold.
Melanie Eckford-Prossor: Be willing to diverge from the syllabus in order to show the relevance of what you’re teaching. This semester Critical Thinking students used theories of argument to debate waging war against Iraq.
Jerry Pike: Make assignments and conduct discussions that promote the practical application of skills, which is enhanced by getting student feedback up front to determine areas of real interest. -Make exams a learning opportunity, not a terminal event, by stressing that what is learned on one exam can be used in another. Alert students to learning styles assessment (e.g. Felder's on the LSS homepage). Realize that we often misread students' apparent lack of engagement as contempt when it is often a matter of confusion or embarrassment from a lack of understanding or skills.
George Federman: Bring a lot of oneself into class. If we show students why we love a class, they will gain an insight into the value of the material. Recognize that students, too, are human.
Gerry Lewin: Referring to the “Elements of Reasoning” and a list of questions from Critical Thinking by Richard Paul, Gerry suggested the use of these questions helps warm students up and assists them in developing a line of reasonable thought. When posed these questions, students start to bring rationality to their belief systems and see themselves as moral agents capable of independent thought.
-Question: Do we at SBCC need to look forward to students being film literate as a mode of showing knowledge, similar to being able to write essays (but not in place of writing)? It has been noted that an increasing number of students in K-12 make films now; students teach each other and are fully engaged in this mode.
More: CTL website has a discussion about student attention and engagement. One goal might be to help students attain concentration through a discipline of reflection. Note the difference between engagement with understanding and simple engagement.