[I’d love a picture of active learning here like this one, or this one, that is taken from the student perspective but highlights the role of the teacher in a way that a teacher would feel good emulating, and is diverse ethnically, but can’t find one with open permissions]
Organized Practices: Time on Task
In the Organized teaching practice group, a teacher looks at the course through the eyes of someone new to the discipline and thoughtfully structures activities by breaking down complex ideas to foster layered, iterative development. The materials in each section of this course follow this technique by introducing students to information in the What to Know page that will be needed during the Forming Connections hands-on activity. The Practice assignment, homework sets, and self-check experience further iterative knowledge acquisition of the concepts and skills in the section.
While the course has been designed to leverage evidence-based teaching practices like those in the Organized group, one of the most important components for success involves you, the teacher. Time on task – providing students the opportunity to practice the concepts and skills under your guidance – whether face-to-face or remote, is a powerful teaching strategy that facilitates students to do the heavy lifting of learning. Giving pairs and small groups of students the time on task in a synchronous environment while you circulate and ask guiding questions prompts students to synthesize information into knowledge. Asynchronous delivery can be supported as well by using a discussion board or student group spaces in the LMS to prompt effective discussion.
How to use time on task
The goal of the Forming Connections activity is for students to actively engage in making connections themselves rather than have the instructor lecture about the connections. It is generally understood that active learning is more effective than lecture, but students still crave passive learning in the classroom. Brief whole-class discussions can help to ease this desire for lecture and provide check-points to summarize understanding. The idea is to provide just the right amount of help so that students gain skills to persist through challenges and confusion own their own.
teaching in synchronous spaces
- Think-pair-share. After asking students to think about the opening question individually and discuss it in pairs, you can bring them all back together by asking a few students to share their answers, then transition to the activity with a brief overview of the objectives.
- Facilitate the groups by asking questions that prompt discussion, then build on what students say, and model how to express abstract concepts. When possible, use open-ended questioning techniques.
- Consider your body language. Students may watch for nonverbal confirmation or correction from you. It is important to keep a “poker face,” and avoid telling the students answers outright if they ask. Instead, you can respond with, “How would you decide if you were correct?” or “How would you know if the answer was right?”
- Summarize. As explicit connections emerge in the discussions, record them in a common space such as a whiteboard (or in a discussion board thread or similar space for asynchronous delivery). Encourage students to record those ideas in their notebooks.
- Use questions to continue student discussions after a correct answer is identified. For example, “Does this process always work? If not, when can and can’t it be used?”
Instructor guides for in-class delivery [link to these in pdf form]
- 3A Corequisite Activity Instructional Guide
- 3B Corequisite Activity Instructional Guide
- 3A Forming Connections Instructional Guide
- 3B Forming Connections Instructional Guide
Asynchronous Delivery
Support asynchronous discussion by using the discussion board or student group spaces in the LMS.
teaching asynchronously online
- Take a question or two from the Forming Connections activity that asks students to analyze, synthesize, or state an opinion, and post them to a discussion board.
- In Forming Connections 3A, for example, Questions 3, 9, and 10 are challenging because they ask students to pull information together without providing clues for how to form the answer.
- In Forming Connections 3B, Question 5 and 10 ask students to synthesize information and make an analysis.
- Monitor the thread and post guiding questions that help students to form the connections. Students may be hesitant to provide deep or thoughtful answers in a discussion board. For example, If students answer a question that asks for a description with just a qualification such as, “it seems true,” or “moderately so,” you can invite them to go deeper by asking for evidence supporting their answer; “can you tell us a few characteristics you saw that lead you to believe that?”
- As explicit connections emerge, post them to a new thread in the discussion board or in a common space such as an LMS page that contains key concepts per section. Encourage students to record those ideas in their notebooks.
Micro-Reflection: Time on Task
The sections Displaying Categorical Data and Applications of Bar Graphs began a deeper exploration of the types of variables that occur in datasets, their distributions and graphical displays, and comparisons of variables across groups. This part of the course concepts provided the opportunity to discuss the Organized evidence-based teaching practices group, which includes the following practices:
- Structured lessons: breaking down complex ideas for people new to them.
- Connections: pointing out relationships between topics and ideas in the course.
- Time on Task: maximizing the amount of learning time students spend actively engaged in practice while receiving support in any synchronous environment. In asynchronous environments, teachers can encourage time on task using guiding questions in discussion boards.
- Scaffolding: providing extra supports, which are removed slowly as students grow.
Time on Task was introduced in the Teaching Tips page prior to Displaying Categorical Data with specific examples for performing the practice to facilitate student learning during the Forming Connections activity. Hopefully, you had a chance to practice them in your class. If so, please use the questions below for a brief, honest, and compassionate reflection on your teaching practice.
Reflection Questions
- What ways did you use to engage your students using Time on Task (or one or more other practices in the Organized teaching practices listed above)?
- In what ways did you find evidence of one of these practices having an impact on your teaching? How would you be inclined to use it in the future?
