Barbara Walvoord
Faculty College
1998

1. Making large classes interactive (A handout for Faculty College)
  a. Ten teaching strategies suggested by research
    1. Have students write about and discuss what they are learning.
    2. Encourage faculty-student contact, in and out of class.
    3. Get students working with one another on substantive tasks, in and out of class.
    4. Give prompt and frequent feedback to students about their progress.
    5. Communicate high expectations.
    6. Make standards and grading criteria explicit.
    7. Help students to achieve those expectations and criteria.
    8. Respect diverse talents and ways of learning.
    9. Use problems, questions, or issues, not merely content coverage, as points of entry into the subject and as sources of motivation for sustained inquiry.
    10. Make courses assignment-centered rather than merely text- and lecture-centered. Then focus on helping students successfully complete the assignments.
  b. Yes, but . . . Four Common Myths
    1. Myth: You can't do this stuff in large classes. Research suggests: "The method of instruction used, not the size of the class seems to be the major ingredient of learning."
    2. Myth: Student evaluations are low if the teacher is too demanding. Research suggests: There is no correlation between student evaluations and the perceived difficulty of the course. Students value
      a. Sensitivity and concern with class level and progress.
      b. Preparation and organization.
      c. Knowledge of the subject.
      d. Stimulation of interest in the subject.
      e. Enthusiasm.
      f. Clarity and understandability.
      g. Availability and helpfulness.
      h. Concern and respect for students.
      i. Perceived outcomes or impact of instruction.
      j. Fairness; quality of the tests.
    3. Myth: Students prefer lecture. Research suggests: They don't.
    4. Myth: You can't do good research and also be a good teacher. Research suggests: There is a very small positive correlation--that is, good researchers tend also to be good teachers.
  c. How to save time and enhance learning by grading and responding.
    1. Separate commenting from grading, and use them singly or in combination according to your purpose and student needs.
    2. Use only as many grading levels as you really need.
    3. Comment in different ways for different situations.
    4. Don't waste time on careless student work.
    5. Use what the student knows.
    6. Ask students to organize their work for your efficiency.
    7. Delegate the work.
    8. Use technology to save time and enhance results.
  References available from Barbara Walvoord's handouts.
2. A selection from notes I took from Barbara Walvoord's workshop.
  a. Structuring assignments: What the course is going to do. The purpose.
  b. An appeal to not try to do too much in our classes. Do well a meaningful amount of material.
  c. Suspend all notions of class size. In an ideal world what would be the best teaching strategies to teach those things on my list (my purpose).
    1. For example, writing brief papers on an example or application in their life that illustrates each principle. And sharing that with each other.
  d. The assignment centered course
    1. Create a course skeleton--the course plan. It's a planning devise to prevent oneself from trying to do too much. It's purpose is to reduce and simplify what I'm doing.
    2. Don't list every assignment. It lists "what I would like students to know" on the timeline.
    3. An essay question not seen before the test does little except elicit a memory dump.
    4. A term paper without guidance from the professor leads to the same problem--encyclopedia-like writing.
    5. Create small assignments. One or two pages.
    6. The powerful advantage of assigning daily papers is that it increases time on task.
    7. For information on effective grading see:
      Walvoord, B. E., & Anderson, V. J. (1998). Effective grading: A tool for learning and assessment. Jossey-Bass.