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Focus on Student Learning To illustrate student learning I have
chosen two different assignments: a web-based discussion board
assignment and a homework assignment in which students had to write a
description of the best study techniques that they would recommend
to other students. These assignments were chosen for several reasons: 1)
The
discussion board is on-going and was started at the beginning of the
semester. As such it provides a developmental view of the students’
learning. The questions relate to material read and discussed in class,
but they are meant to have students reflect on the application of these
concepts to their own lives. 2)
The
study technique paper is an assignment for which students have to be able
to assimilate new research findings and accommodate, synthesize, and
evaluate these findings to create new knowledge that can be applied to new
situations. In addition, students must be able to articulate these steps
in a concise and effective way. 3)
Both
assignments are relevant to my course goals. For example, in my Teaching
Goals Inventory, I assigned the following goals as “essential”: a) develop ability to apply principles and generalizations already learned to new problems and situations b)
develop
analytic skills c)
develop
ability to think holistically: to see the whole as well as the parts d)
develop
ability to synthesize and integrate information and ideas e)
develop
appropriate study skills, strategies, and habits f)
learn
techniques and methods used to gain new knowledge on this subject g)
develop
problem-solving skills In addition, in my syllabus I clearly
state that “I will try to present you with cognitive applications to
everyday situations. Virtually everything human beings do involves
cognition… My goal is to expose you to the incredibly complex and
intriguing processes that are involved in our everyday thoughts and
events.” Both assignments directly address this goal whereby students
are asked to reflect on everyday experiences and how these are connected
to the material we discuss in class. It also addresses my third course
objective…”achieve an ability to apply your knowledge to your own
cognitive processes…” All students have access to the
blackboard discussion board. In that sense, it is a public record of
students’ thoughts and reactions to certain situations. I think that it
is important for other students to be able to read, reflect, and respond
to their fellow students’ input. In-class discussions are often
intimidating and they don’t allow all students to participate. The types of questions I post on the
discussion board require students to reflect on the application of certain
cognitive concepts. Students learn best when the material is made relevant
to their own lives and when they are asked to teach the material to
another person. Expectations I expect students to be able to discuss
or write about a concept intelligently and apply it to another situation.
I expect them to have internalized the concepts and to be able to present
them to another person. For
example, the first answer to the question “Given what you know about
forgetting, how would you advise someone to schedule his or her time
studying in school?” (Forgetting) states that “we know that
people tend to forget a lot immediately after they learn something but
then this levels off and they don’t forget again until a long period
of time has passed… to help them (students) study, I would suggest that
they review their notes within a couple of hours (3 or 4) after going to
class. This will help prevent them from forgetting immediately after
learning it…Also, by spreading out their studying they will
probably have a deeper understanding/processing of the material as
they have had time to think about the information while when cramming, one
can’t do this.” This example illustrates how the student
synthesized the information, applying the information learned in class to
a new context. Several examples of integration are also present in the
second assignment (see copies of a few student examples). Because this
assignment was part of a take-home exam, students were not just reacting
to a short question (discussion board), but they had the opportunity to
incorporate the material using the proper psychological terms to describe
the concepts. My expectations on this homework
assignment were that students could describe the memory strategies using
psychological terminology, that these were inferred from research findings
(material that they have reviewed), and that they could articulate the
benefits of these applications to others.
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