COTE NOTE
The Center for Online Teaching Excellence What I know about Designing an Optimal Learning Experience to Meet the Needs of All Students I would like to share what I know about Enhancing Learning for All Students
Russel Kahn Russell Kahn is an Associate Professor of Communication and Information Design in the undergraduate program at SUNY Polytechnic Institute and a graduate of a fully online program in Information Design and Technology. His PhD is in Information Science from the University at Albany. Russ is a member of the FACT2 Advisory Council and an Open SUNY Fellow in the Exemplar, Coach & Mentor role. Russ teaches online and blended graduate courses in thesis project research, information theory, instructional design, and information design. His article, “A Taxonomy For Choosing, Evaluating and Integrating In-The-Cloud Resources In A University Environment” was published in the refereed Journal of Education and Technology Systems (JETS, (Volume 41 Number 2 / 2012-2013). Russ is also a proposal reviewer for the SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grants (IITG) 2011-2015.
“The research
My research shows that students prefer an environment that moves from teacher-centered to studentcentered activities and assignments.
What is it I have investigated how to apply Bloom’s Taxonomy as a tool for designing a classroom experience that meets the needs of the widest range of student learning preferences and created a matrix that faculty and instructional designers can use to choose an array of in-the-cloud resources that target multiple student learning preferences. This approach incorporates cognitive learning theory and Bloom’s Taxonomy to create a learning space designed to move your class along a continuum from lower to higher level thinking skills, using a set of freely accessible web-based tools. Instructors are able to set up online lectures, collaborative assignments, and learner-centered projects.
How it works Finding new ways of presenting, viewing, and sharing ideas using Web-based tools that move students from lower order thinking skills to higher order thinking skills can help enhance students’ skills in recall, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. For example, Prezi provides a new way of presenting, viewing, and sharing ideas using a flexible, non-linear approach that chunks ideas into distinct visual spaces that can be viewed in any order, are revisable in real time or asynchronously, and that can include stills, animations, and video controlled by the presenter or the viewer. It is different from more linear presentation tools such as PowerPoint in that both the creator and the viewer have control of the content.
What I did
hypothesis that students
In my classes, I have integrated a wide range of multimedia teaching tools and assignments that appeal to students’ varied learning styles. Each tool used helps students transition through levels of their learning and moves them along the spectrum of higher order thinking skills.
respond to a wide range of learning activities was largely supported with a
How I did it Starting from lower order teacher-centered thinking skills and ending with higher order, studentcentered activities, the students chose from among the following course activities: 1.
slightly higher motivation as activities moved up to
As a college faculty member with over 20 years experience in both the on campus and online classroom I have often been intrigued by the multiple preferences for learning that become evident as a course progresses. Some students clearly thrive on traditional teacher- centered learning such as lectures, multiple-choice tests, essays and papers while others favor more student-centered assignments such as team projects, interactive discussion groups, and student-based presentations and facilitations.
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higher order thinking skills.
Remembering: The lecture component of weekly webinars using Collaborate.
2. Understanding: A midterm exam that focused on viewing a series of videos and reflecting on their underlying information design; the interactive component of the weekly webinars, where students worked as teams in online breakout rooms or responded to questions in the chat tool. 3.
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Applying and Analyzing: Weekly discussion topics requiring annotation and description of websites they selected; journaling assignments applying concepts covered in the class to their own professional lives.
December 8, 2015 • Volume 4 • Issue 3
COTE NOTE Staff The COTE Community Team: Alexandra M. Pickett, Associate Director, Open SUNY; Patricia Aceves, Director of the Faculty Center in Teaching, Learning & Technology, Stony Brook University; Lisa Dubuc, Coordinator of Electronic Learning, Niagara County Community College; Christine Kroll, Assistant Dean for Online Education, Graduate School of Education, University at Buffalo; Deborah Spiro, Assistant Vice President for Distance Education, Nassau Community College; Vicky Sloan, Distance Learning Coordinator, Clinton Community College; Erin Maney, Senior Instructional Designer, Open SUNY; Lisa Raposo, Assistant Director, SUNY Center for Professional Development This publication is produced by the Open SUNY Center for Online Teaching Excellence under the SUNY Office of the Provost.
4. Evaluating: Students were broken into teams and facilitated assigned chapters from the text. They gave assignments to the class and evaluated their work. 5. Creating: Students applied design principles by producing a logo for the program and a set of PowerPoint slides.
Why I did it Research completed in a class that accommodated a wide array of learning styles found, in a post hoc survey, those students self-selected a range of assignments that reflected their array of learning styles.
What happened when I did it Qualitative responses from students indicated that older, more traditional students preferred lectures and journals because it was familiar. All types of learning styles, from remembering through to creating were rated highly by at least 20 percent of the respondents.
What I learned Based on the results, the research hypothesis that students respond to a wide range of learning styles was largely supported with a slightly higher motivation as activities moved up to higher learning styles.
How others can use it •
Remembering: Common tools include Twitter, texting, Ning, Slideshare, and discussion groups.
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Understanding: Blogs and wikis can be used for restating and summarizing as well as reflective discussions.
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Contact/Questions
Analyzing and Evaluating: These can be done with blog journaling, and peer review on learning spaces (such as Blackboard and Angel) and by responding to discussion posts.
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Creating: This can include podcasting, journaling and filming.
State University Plaza Albany, New York 12246
Links
ContactCOTE@suny.edu
http://tinyurl.com/CornellCIT http://tinyurl.com/CornellCITResources http://prezi.com/koe_ozq7wshj/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
How to Submit Material This publication is produced in conjunction with the COTE “Fellow Chat” speaker series. Please submit a proposal at http://bit.ly/COTEproposal for consideration. Visit http://commons.suny.edu/cote for more information. To join COTE, visit http://bit.ly/joinCOTE
This publication is disseminated under the creative commons license AttributionNoncommercial-Share Alike 3.0
The Open SUNY Center for Online Teaching Excellence
December 8, 2015 • Volume 4 • Issue 3