Groups Teaching Chapters of the Text

What’s wrong with this picture?

The instructor assigns each group a chapter in the text and tells them they must teach it to the class.

What’s wrong with this?

Students pay tuition to have an “expert” teach—and in higher education, adjunct faculty are selected for their work place experience and/or their ability to impart knowledge to others.

Some might argue that having students teach the class involves them, and while that is true, the quality of the content knowledge often becomes nothing more than an encyclopedia article.

If you really want groups to present to the class, I would suggest limiting the topic to something very specific so that the group enhances the content of the text and lectures, not replace it. Challenge them to include the most current, relevant “stuff” and incorporate technology in their presentations.

Most of all, follow the group management suggestions provided in an earlier post about group presentations.

Correcting Student Writing

If you are puzzled with how to correct a common expression used when speaking, but one that is unacceptable in formal writing, check this out:

"Being..."

Instructors will often see this expression at the beginning of sentences in student papers. Advise students that spoken and written language is different... what is acceptable in one is unacceptable in the other. Students don't often realize there is a difference, and that every class is always an English class!

Assessing Student Learning

K-12 teachers are trained in learning the difference between formative and summative assessments, but college instructors most often are not.

Understanding the difference between them, and knowing when and how to use formative assessments and when and how to use summative assessments, will help adjunct instructors to develop and design their courses.

So what is the difference between formative and summative assessment?

Formative assessment is an assessment that determines how much students already know, and if they possess mastery of the content matter. Examples of formative assessments might be a pre-test, rough draft, quizzes, homework, rough drafts of papers, or answering questions in class.
Information gathered from these assignments will provide insights as to how much students already know, and how well they can articulate what they know.

Formative assessments help instructors learn what needs to be taught.
Summative assessments are intended to determine how much, and to what extent, students have learned and mastered the content.

Summative assessments include final projects (be sure to use rubrics), final exam, final test over a unit of learning, portfolio, or final paper.

Summative assessment scores/ grades also help to provide information about the effectiveness of the curriculum, and the extent to which the curriculum is aligned with instruction and assessment. Wise instructors pay attention to summative assessments and make instructional adjustments during the teaching/ learning process.

Keeping Records

Whether you do this in paper-and-pencil format or an online spreadsheet, it's important to keep good records of student attendance, lateness or leaving early, along with details about grades.

Also keep any emails exchanged between you and the student.

Good practice dictates that you keep these records until the grade appeal time limit has passed, which is approximately 4 months.

Group Projects

The Dreaded the Group Project! Students tend to groan at the mention of group projects. It’s no wonder—group dynamics are complex! Most group projects wind up with groups that are too large, or 1-2 members do all the work. It’s quite common for groups to have a slacker or two in the group, or for someone in the group to go completely MIA until the end!
How can you turn this dreaded class assignment into a positive, value-added experience?

Instructors play a big role in making group projects become value-added learning experiences. Listed below are 7 suggestions for helping the group projects in your class become positive experiences for your students:

1. Keep the group size manageable. Group size should be between 3-5 students. Groups of 3 are best because there is little room for anyone to hide. Once the groups get larger they need to be managed more carefully using task specification, clearly defining outcome deliverables, group oversight and group status check-ins, a rubric for evaluating the final product, and a peer-evaluation for acknowledging each group member’s contributions.

2. Task specification: clearly explain what you want the group to accomplish and how you expect them to accomplish it.

3. Clearly defining outcome deliverables: define what the end product needs to be.

4. Group oversight and status check-ins: along the way, ask students to submit to a progress report. This could be done as a class mini-presentation as you ask each group to explain where they are in the process, and what’s holding them up. Treat status updates as a “grade-able assignment” and reward by giving points for progress.

5. Rubric: create a rubric for evaluating the final product. Share this rubric with the students at the beginning of the project so students will know what to aim for.

6. Peer evaluation: develop a peer evaluation form that asks members of the group to evaluate each other and support their evaluations with specific examples. Be sure to explain to students the importance of being honest in evaluating other members. This closely mimics the manager’s role in a working environment as managers have to evaluate and rank subordinates annually.

7. Self-evaluation: develop a self-evaluation form in which group members have to honestly evaluate themselves. Again, ask for supporting evidence through examples and specifics.

While there is no foolproof method for making group projects be successful, following the suggestions above will go a long way to helping ensure the project adds to learning instead of draining students’ energies!

Teaching the 5-Hour Class

Here is one suggested format for teaching a 5 hour class:

- Review
- Lecture
- Break
- Lecture
- Exercise or activity that provides students an opportunity to apply lecture material
- Report out at the end of class

Note there are many ways to teach a 5 hour class, and this is just one suggestion.

Importance of a Well-Planned Lecture

A few suggestions for a well-planned lecture:

- Cover the chapter
- Elaborate beyond the chapter with real life examples
- Engage students in a dialogue
- Assess understanding by asking students questions
- Select important points; add new ones not covered in the book
- Review the material and summarize