Teaching to Diverse Learner Needs

As teachers, we want our learners be successful. The question, then, is how do we differentiate instruction to meet diverse learner needs? The challenge is, how do we translate this into manageable teaching practices?

What are Learning Styles?

"Learning style" refers to the way you perceive, organize, process, and understand information. For example, do you prefer to use a tape recorder during lectures or take notes and rely on instructor handouts? Do you prefer to work alone or in a group? Do you prefer to read a software technical manual or explore the software via the interface? Do you prefer to listen to an explanation of a process or look at a graphic depiction? Do you prefer to be given all of the project criteria or negotiate aspects?

Learning Styles Inventories

The first step to addressing the earlier question (how do we differentiate instruction to meet diverse learner needs) is to identify your learning style. Complete a learning styles inventory such as "Index of Learning Styles" (Soloman & Felder, 1999) or "VARK: A Guide to Learning Styles" (Fleming, 2001). Offer these tools to your students to help them understand learning preferences while increasing your awareness of their differences.

Identifying your learning preferences will assist with identify your teaching preferences, because we primarily teach to the way we learn best. So what happens to students with different learning needs? How do we reconcile these differences?

Some questions to ask yourself:

• Do you encourage students to speak up when they do not understand?
• Do you select readings and design activities related to the background of your students?
• Do you provide extra material or activities for students who lack essential background knowledge or skills?
• Do you find out about your students' learning styles, interests, or backgrounds at the beginning of each course?
• Are your course materials accessible ? face-to-face and online?
• Do you use different assessment methods - written, oral, projects, etc.?

The most effective teaching strategy is variability. Understanding how different learning styles affect approaches to learning can assist teachers in developing strategies that best serve individual differences.

Some approaches to consider:

• Use different activities in class - videos, discussion, lecture, groups, pairs etc.
• Use mind mapping for visual presentations.
• Engage in full-group discussion following small-group discussion.
• Encourage the use of email or bulletin boards.
• Value every answer and find some relevance to encourage participation.
• Offer contract learning to help students define their own objectives, determine the learning activities, and define the criteria and methods of evaluation.
• Utilize multimedia presentations.
• Consider field trips - physical and virtual.
• Diversify delivery methods.
• Give students a problem to solve that has multiple solutions.

From Spring 2003 ITC Topics

See It, Hear It, Read It

You may be surprised to learn that many students entering college today can best be categorized as visual learners-preferring, when choices are available, to learn through visual, aural, and kinesthetic means. This abundance of visual learners is primarily due to the image-centric, iconographic, visual culture in which they were raised. MTV and video games have created a dependency on messages that intertwine word, image, sound and, in some cases, interactivity. Ben Davis best describes this culture in his benchmark article Image Learning:

We live in a world of images. The electronic transmission of video (sound and picture) has literally wrapped the planet in an envelope of imagery. To navigate this realm we have relied on the passive medium of television. All of us have become image interpreters. (1991, retrieved from
http://www.mit.edu/people/davis/ImageLearn.html)

Today's media-centric culture propels us to look for new and meaningful ways to present learning material. The visual learner's classroom experience can be enhanced by incorporating learner-centered choice with the inclusion of additional media elements, such as pictures, audio, or video. These additional elements heighten the students' understanding of the desired subject while simultaneously stimulating active engagement from within online learning environments.

While the visual learner has the ability to read and comprehend text, consider how your perception of a sporting event is altered based on the mode of delivery:

Text:	Reading the sports page in the local newspaper
Image:	Deciphering facts about the players through charts and graphs, viewing photographs of decisive moments captured in time
Video:	Watching the nightly television news highlights
Audio:	Listening to your favorite radio personality describing the crowd

Ways to Make Your Message Understood

Appeal to your learner's sense of vision by implementing the use of imagery. Photography strengthens and enhances textual meaning by lending credibility and realistically portraying events and people. Illustrations bring intangible, complex ideas and objects into focus. Illustrations can also clarify the emotional intent of the written word. The interwoven message of word and image underscores and illuminates your point.

Appeal to the sense of immediacy, reality, or emotion with audio. Songs are a good example of how deeply one can be affected by aural stimuli. Time, place, and feeling can be recalled by hearing a familiar tune. Digital audio elements should always accompany the written word to aid online accessibility of you content.

Further support your ideas in context to your written word by adding short video clips to your online teaching materials. Video offers learners access to otherwise inaccessible, historical, or even dangerous events. Steps and processes can be studied prior to an actual hands-on experience.

From Spring 2003 ITC Topics

Engaging Visual Learners with Video

If you want to use video to enhance student engagement with course material, you do not necessarily need the skills to create these video clips. Let's take a look at a possible scenario: a marketing professor decides that her students would benefit from examining interviews with professionals in their field talking about their marketing strategies, but she does not own a digital camera or have the more sophisticated skills of editing raw video.

First, the professor can go to The Studio, located in the library, and check out a camera. She can shoot the interviews, then take the tape to Digital Media Services (DMS), who will stream the parts of the video that she wishes to use to illustrate the various marketing strategies. Thus, the clips can be created once and re-used in a number of different ways throughout the course.

Another route would be to use students as producers of course content. The professor assigns the students the task of interviewing local professionals. The Studio is designed to serve students in precisely this manner and they will monitor and tutor students through the process. The students will give the professor the tapes they have made; she will take them to DMS to be digitized or housed on a streaming server. By adding these clips into Online@UT, she brings students into the process of learning by having them become content producers.



From Fall 2004 ITC Topics

Varied Learning Styles

One simple way to address a classroom of varied learners is to use multiple activities such as visual, audio, and hands-on to convey certain components of your content. For example, an art instructor may emphasize the lighting, texture, and mood of Van Gogh's work via:

a face-to-face lecture with PowerPoint slides illustrating various Van Gogh paintings;

audio clips of artists on how they are (were) inspired to imitate Van Gogh's style; or

a project requiring students to produce their own rendition of a Van Gogh creation.

From Fall 2004 ITC Topics

Are Your Course Materials Accessible?

Students come to us with learning styles developed over many years, rooted in their culture, their family backgrounds, and their prior educational experience. Many of us use the Internet to enhance and supplement our courses by posting course materials online. We are developing stand-alone course Web sites and using Online@UT to deliver our course materials. We are going beyond text to take advantage of the wide range of media formats afforded to us by the Internet. We are incorporating technologies such as online audio, video, and computer-generated graphics into our courses. Additional learning resources are also available today from textbook vendors, including companion Web sites, CD-ROMs that may include videos, interactive exercises, glossaries, online quizzes, and other internet resources. The wealth of instructional material formats available to us poses both unique opportunities and special challenges for reaching students with disabilities. Course Web sites and Web-based course materials must be accessible to all students, including those with disabilities. How accessible are your Web-based course materials? Why should you care? How would you know?

Why should you care?

Consider how a user who is blind or visually impaired navigates or reads the content of a Web site, or how a user who is deaf or hearing-impaired understands the audio portion of video on the Web. How does someone with a learning disability make sense of a Web site cluttered with too many graphics, links, or flashing or scrolling text? People with sensory impairments, such as those who are blind, often use specialized software to access and operate their computers. Called "screen readers," such software reads the elements on the screen, window, or Web browser to the user. Users who are deaf depend on Web designers to provide captioned text that is synchronized with audio clips on the website. And users with certain learning disabilities greatly appreciate and benefit from Web sites that are well designed and uncluttered.

Certain laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which dictate that all persons be given equal access to education and public buildings, may also apply to educational materials placed on the Web. Although, there is a growing body of state laws and policies that addresses accessibility of information technologies, Tennessee has yet to establish such a state statute.

How would you know?

Web accessibility involves a set of simple guidelines that ensure your Web pages will be readable by everyone. Most pages will require only a few minor changes. Many people have the misconception that to make a Web site accessible, you have to strip the site of images and color, make it boring, or "dumb it down" in terms of design sophistication. That is not the case at all. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has developed a set of standards that encapsulate good design techniques and assure accessible pages. The standards are broken down into a set of Priority levels (Level 1-Level 3).

At a minimum, your website should meet Priority Level 1 standards. To determine if your site meets that level, go to http://bobby.watchfire.com (Note: You can check a page at a time using Bobby online, or purchase the Bobby software in order to check your entire site.) To be "Bobby Approved," a page must pass all of the Priority Level 1 accessibility checkpoints established by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) standards.

From Spring 2003 ITC Topics

Quick Tips for Accessibility

• Images and animations: Use the tag to describe the function of each visual.
• PDF Files: Use the accessibility checker option in Adobe Acrobat 5.
• Image maps: Use the client-side map element and text for hotspots.
• Multimedia: Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video.
• Hypertext links: Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid "click here."
• Page organization: Use headings, lists, and consistent structure.
• Graphs and charts: Summarize or use the "longdesc" tag.
• Scripts, applets, and plug-ins: Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
• Frames: Use the "noframes" tag and meaningful titles.
• Tables: Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize.
• Check your work: Validate. Use tools, checklists, and available guidelines.

From Spring 2003 ITC Topics

Accessibility Issues

Many instructors are unaware of the types of learning disabilities that students in their classroom may have, how students' learning can be affected by their disability, and what types of assistive technology (A.T.) solutions are available.

Reading Problems:

One of the most common learning disabilities affects skills in reading. Some difficulties that may be present are poor comprehension, slow reading rate, and confusion of similar words.

A.T. SOLUTIONS:

Students can get their books on tape or CD. These books are acquired from Readings for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D), http://www.bookshare.org/, or other online resources. Individuals can also use screen readers to read back their papers when composing essays or research papers. Two free screen readers that students can download are http://readplease.com/ and E-text reader (http://www.premier-programming.com/).

Writing Problems:

The next type of learning disability affects writing. A few of the affected areas may be grammar, spelling, organization of thoughts, and expressing ideas.

A.T. SOLUTIONS:

Speech-to-text software, word-prediction software, and mind-mapping organizational software.

Math Problems:

Another learning disability is math deficiency. These difficulties may include remembering sequences, reversing numbers, and confusion of operational symbols.

A.T. SOLUTIONS:

Talking calculators and drill-and-practice math software.

AD/HD Problems:

Another condition that is considered a learning disability is AD/HD. This disability may cause short or disorganized compositions, problems following a rapid speaker, slow reading rate, and short attention span when writing notes.

A.T. SOLUTIONS:

Colored paper, as well as previously mentioned technology, has proven effective in helping students with AD/HD.

Disabilities affect people in different ways and each person must be looked at as an individual. No single assistive technology will help all students with disabilities. A.T. trials are an important part of finding the right technology for the person with a disability.

From Spring 2005 ITC Topics

Dealing with a Difficult Student

Most student problems can be addressed through communication. The Penn State Teacher II: Learning to Teach; Teaching to Learn (1997) recommends meeting with the student in person and outside of class, and then focusing on the disruptive behavior and it's affects you as the instructor and the other students. A student who enthusiastically monopolizes class time could be asked to restrict his/her comments to not more than two per class session; a student who argues with classmates could be instructed to maintain a calmer tone and argue with ideas rather than people.

Not every disruptive behavior requires a formal meeting; some can be redirected in class. The University of Guelph's TA Handbook (2001) suggests strategies for dealing with problem students: thank the monopolizer for his or her comments, then say you'd like to hear from other students (a strategy which may also work with the know-it-all); redirect the questioner by stating that his/her questions will be addressed later in the material or that s/he can meet with you after class. Barrett et al. (2001) also recommend communication as a means to deal with a silent student (who may be apathetic, afraid to speak up, or more familiar with a cultural norm in which teachers lecture and students listen respectfully). Specifically, they suggest grouping students into smaller clusters so they get to know one another (reducing fear), asking open ended questions with multiple answers or requesting anecdotes of personal experience, and getting to know students individually.

Technology also offers possible solutions. For example, students can be assigned to groups using the features available in Online@UT. A shy student may feel safer in a smaller group; alternatively, a know-it-all may not get as much reinforcement for showing off. A student who is unwilling to speak up on the spot might feel more comfortable in an online discussion forum, where s/he can take as much time as needed to formulate ideas and refine their expression. That same discussion forum can moderate the effect of a belligerent or monopolizing student: no matter how much s/he writes, the instructor and other students can carry on unimpeded.

From Fall 2004 Topics

Gaining Student Attention

Students enter our classrooms carrying baggage that doesn't fit in their backpacks. When students come to class preoccupied with personal distractions or lack experience and exposure to course content, they disengage from the learning experience. Therefore, instructors must draw on a variety of techniques to "hook" student interest then sustain their engagement throughout class.

David Ausubel (1960) called these hooks "advanced organizers." Believing that the most important thing students could bring to class was what they already know, he proposed students would engage with learning material if they could 1) relate new information to what they already know, and 2) understand a need for learning this information. Madeline Hunter (1982) called these hooks "set"—those actions, activities, or experiences that pull students into the learning process to engage their emotions and focus their minds.

Try This: When introducing new information, ask students to brainstorm by drawing upon their existing knowledge. Here's a simple example: characteristics of the American hero. Ask students to list on notepaper their heroes (real or fictional) and the characteristics of those heroes. Scan the room—is everyone participating? Provide "hints" to those staring at a blank piece of paper. After three or four minutes, select two or three students to read from their notes. Provide feedback to those responding and ask for additional contributions (not already provided). When more than the "few" who normally look interested appear interested in the topic, it's time to proceed with presenting the new information and clarifying why this topic is important in the large context of what is being studied.

References

Ausubel, D.P. (1960). The Use of Advance Organizers in the Learning and Retention of Meaningful Verbal Material. Journal of Educational Psychology, 51, 267-272.

Hunter, M. (1982). Mastery Learning. El Segundo, CA: TIP Publications.

From Fall 2004 ITC Topics

Varied Knowledge of or Experience with a Subject

The advanced student's perception of marginal benefit in taking a class will likely not extend beyond the final grade. Some students in the class, though, may have never had prior exposure to the subject. The advanced questions that the former student asks can be intimidating to the latter. At the same time, the slow pace and basic answers that the novice requires will leave the expert bored and disengaged. How can the instructor bridge these two groups?

Try This:

Establish control of the classroom early. A question from a student in either of the above-mentioned categories can be a catalyst to digression. However, this presents an excellent opportunity to communicate outside the classroom via e-mail and discussion forums. If a student asks a question that is outside the scope of the day's lesson, offer to post an answer online. Everyone then can see the answer and absorb the information at his or her own pace, maximizing the limited in-class time. Introducing group projects can optimize the various skill levels of those in the class. Assigning individuals to groups so that the skill levels are evenly distributed allows students to learn from each other. On the other hand, grouping the students by skill level and assigning projects accordingly might be beneficial. Make it clear that everyone must participate in the assignment. Group discussion forums permit the instructor to monitor participation by observing the flow of conversations within each forum. In addition to group projects, building mentor relationships within the class could be helpful. In the past, scheduling conflicts between students might have made this all but impossible. Now, however, due to electronic communication, students do not have to meet together outside of the classroom in order to work together.

From Fall 2004 ITC Topics

Interactive and Engaging Online Content

Generally, there are two approaches you can take to make your site more inviting—and helpful—to your students. The first involves creating more engaging content to add to your current site. The second is to link to a broader range of online resources that supply those student engagement opportunities for you.

For an online example of these principles, look to Second Story Interactive Studios (http://secondstory. com/). This site plays host to an abundance of fascinating online approaches that serve to heighten user interest in the content. Exhibits, collections, story telling, reference resources . . . users easily forget about the medium and become engrossed in the message—an excellent accomplishment online or off. Some of their showcased sites offer database search functions, allowing students to easily explore related articles or images. Others use simple still or motion graphics to focus attention on important page elements. Many of the sites employ knowledge-retention exercises disguised as matching answer or hide-and-reveal games. The site featuring George Washington (http://georgewashington.si.edu) uses audio narration, elicits and catalogs learners? responses by inviting them to type in their thoughts, and even offers interactive games allowing the learner to apply their skills. "George" himself makes an appearance, reminiscing over his early days as he stands about in period garb. Each function is part of an overall strategy of engagement—that combination of curiosity and applied focus that optimizes the brain for learning.

From Fall 2004 ITC Topics

Participation in Online Discussions

Students will vary in their willingness to participate in online discussions—some lack confidence in their written communication skills or their ability to provide opinion and critique. Some students are just shy. Cultural differences can also play a role if challenging the views of others is considered disrespectful.

Try This:

At the start of the semester, create a forum for students to post their suggestions for rules and guidelines for participating in online discussions. What are their expectations for participation—honesty, responsiveness, relevance, respect, openness, empowerment, etc.? How do they define "netiquette," and what role will it play in discussions? Give them a deadline. Once everyone has posted at least once, synthesize to form the "rules" or "guidelines" for the class discussion. Post to the forum for further comment and/or agreement to follow. When the class is ready to pursue academic or content related discussions, be sure they are meaningful and have significance for the students. Pose questions that promote deep exploration of a topic. Encourage them to bring their life experiences into discussions. If you need to build student confidence, have them work in groups of three to discuss the issue/question (on e-mail) to prepare a "collective" response to the discussion forum. Give them a deadline. Once groups have posted their comments, open it up for individual comments. Encourage students to question each other. Reinforce quality, the rules and guidelines, and participation. Send a private e-mail to those who did not participate that you noticed they were "missing." Try to find out if the problem was technical, social, or cognitive. Recognizing the silent voice can be as valuable as recognizing the heard one.

From Fall 2004 ITC Topics

Woodstock is Bird; Using Technology to Engage the New Millennial Student

Digital Natives, Millennial Students, Net Geners . . . no matter what you call them, the first wave is coming to college now. They were born beginning in 1982. They have never used "white out." They have never heard a phone "ring." Spam and cookies are not necessarily food to this group. Woodstock is simply a bird in a comic strip.

While most of us remember writing and mailing letters, 8-track tapes, cameras with film and phones with rotary dials, this group uses e-mail and instant messaging (IM), MP3 players, digital photos, and total mobility with cell phones that can call and IM people, send e-mail, browse the Web, and take photos! Additionally, this group is on target to become the smartest, best-educated generation in American history (Howe & Strauss, 2003). How can we help these Digital Natives optimize their success at the university?

As reported by Wilson (2004), many scholars emphasize the importance of student- faculty contact in higher education. Staying in touch with your class via e-mail announcements, encouraging out-of-class conversation via online discussion boards, and offering both face-to-face and virtual office hours are a few effective strategies to connect with students frequently. Offering opportunities for students to join you in a research project, even once during their college experience, could have a major impact on their development. These students are compliant and may be less likely to challenge authority and the status quo (Wilson, 2004), so you will need to take the lead in establishing and communicating the process to facilitate contact.

These students feel pressure to succeed. Most achieved high grades with little effort prior to college. They were also "taught to the test." What does this mean to you? First, you will need to assist these students in developing realistic expectations about the amount and quality of effort required to be academically successful in your class and in college. They need clear expectations and an explicit syllabus. For example, they want to know exactly what they need to do to earn an A. These students will exert more effort to meet clearly stated high expectations and challenges. Second, it means that feedback and structure is a huge factor for optimizing their success! Provide prompt feedback to quizzes and assignments. Feedback, which can include remediation, can be automatically achieved with online quizzing. Create Web-based homework (drill and practice) that is automatically graded so you can provide more practice problems for students to solve. Constant quizzing and practice opportunities, rather than a few heavily weighted exams, will help these students be more successful. Educational gaming is also a strategy that these students will respond to and can provide additional practice, as appropriate (Prensky, 2001).

Net Geners are described as team-oriented, as many grew up working in groups and playing on teams (Howe & Strauss, 2003). Forming study groups or implementing other types of collaborative learning will help them achieve high standards.

Teaching techniques that combine teamwork and technology may yield fantastic results. The flip side is that these students are less comfortable working independently and taking intellectual risks. One strategy to combat this is to have students perform independent assignments that will ultimately require them to integrate all the work into a collaborative output. Incorporate peer evaluation and grade individual contributions to group projects.

Digital Natives can multitask with a variety of technological devices, and fast speed is a given. As a result, one key skill these students may lack is the ability for reflection (Prensky, 2001). Reflection is the process of "learning from experience." Try to build activities that include reflection and critical thinking into your teaching. Remember that this generation relies on the Internet for information, so they will need to know how to evaluate information on the Web and understand where originality and plagiarism begin and end. You will need to communicate clear expectations for academic honesty and integrity.

In summary, these students will expect faculty to incorporate technology into their teaching and to be proficient using it. At a minimum, e-mail communications and links to online resources will be expected. Other technologies, such as PowerPoint presentations, online discussion, and other Web-based activities will be welcome as well.

From Fall 2005 ITC Topics

Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries

Dr. Jennifer Franklin uses PowerPoint regularly, and strives to use it as a supplement to her lectures, rather than the backbone of her presentation. She uses PowerPoint primarily for showing photos—and is thrilled with the convenience of sorting, storing, and reorganizing all her photos on her laptop. She's grateful for her digital camera. Capturing her images in digital form means she avoids one of higher education's occupational hazards: scanning slides. (To apply for ITC's help in converting your slides to digital images, visit http://itc.utk.edu/services/apply).

She embeds video links in her PowerPoint slides, then puts the links in Blackboard for the students to reference throughout the semester. The Internet has changed everything, even in the study of Forestry. Dr. Franklin and her colleagues often rely on technology, especially the Internet, for access to detailed research about other climates, regions, and studies. During her lectures, she uses the Internet to show "what the other side of the world is doing in Forestry."

She recently demonstrated a concept using a brief video clip from a Web site in India and highlighted a second idea using a site that has developed a following among researchers and schoolchildren alike—google "Plants in Motion" to find it yourself. She feels supported in her efforts to expand her students' horizons - her department encourages an awareness of other nations and cultures and understands technology's role in attaining that awareness. In light of her own changing field, she welcomes the international perspective of UT's Quality Enhancement Plan. For her, the Internet is a convenient means of bringing the world to her classroom.

From Bringing the World into the Classroom; 2005 Spotlight on Jennifer Franklin, Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries

Finance

Dr. John Wachowicz's award-winning Web site provides a wealth of information in the form of links to other sites, PowerPoint slides, practice quizzes, glossaries, flashcards, and tutorials. The sections of the Web site correspond to the sections of the textbook he has written for his Financial Management course; however, one does not need to purchase the book in order to benefit from the site.

People from various backgrounds and even different countries take advantage of his site, as his site meter attests. Students at the university, professionals studying for certifications, and other teachers can use the material on the site at no charge. "We've got over 1,000 PowerPoint slides, about 60 per chapter, which somebody conceivably could use in their teaching. Or if you were doing distance learning, that could be very useful."

The site did not happen all at once. Dr. Wachowicz began in 1996 by distributing a list of finance web sites to his students on paper. He then hired someone to publish this list to the web. Gradually the list grew, which called for updating the site, a task which he eventually took upon himself. Now, a Google search on the topic "finance web sites" yields millions of results, with Wachowicz's World being at the top of the list. Companies have offered to pay Dr. Wachowicz to link to their site; however, he provides a link only if the site has an educational component, and he accepts no compensation for this.

From Tools of Engagement; 2005 Spotlight on John Wachowicz, Finance

Geography

Through her Faculty First 2004 grant, Dr. Lydia Pulsipher worked with ITC to meet the challenges posed by a large class. She determined to bring the discipline of geography and the regions of the world alive for her students. Geography 101 was scheduled to be taught in a well-equipped auditorium in the Alumni Memorial Building. The room is equipped with a smart podium, state-of-the-art projector and speakers -- perfect for incorporating multimedia elements. With multiple sections combined, her students numbered 250.

When students enter the auditorium for their 75-minute class, both the sights and sounds of other cultures and regions greet them. A slide show, featuring images from the area being studied that week, is running on the huge projection screen at the front of the room. Ethnic music pours out of the speakers in the front of the auditorium. Images and sound bring these areas to life for the students and shift their mental space from the campus to a distant land.

Once class begins, and despite the large class size, Dr. Pulsipher deftly employs both technology and her team of dedicated graduate students to bring the discussion alive and involve the students in active dialogue. After a week or two the students adjust to speaking out in front of a large group.

Each class session has been carefully choreographed, with the performance paced by means of a PowerPoint presentation that provides guidance, background, visuals, sample exam questions, and other cues for learning and sequencing the information. Dr. Pulsipher, wearing a lavaliere microphone clipped to her jacket, moves across the front of the room and up the aisles into the rows of seats in order to engage individual students dynamically with the topics of the day.

From Thinking Like a Geographer: Technology and Geography 101 - 2005 Spotlight on Lydia Pulsipher, Geography

Educational Interpreting

Dr. Jeffrey Davis recognizes that there is a high demand from students for web-based learning activities and coursework. Students have told him that they value having instructional resources readily available at their desk or laptops (or at least in the library or computer lab.)

By adding a streaming video component to his classes he can ensure that students do not have to come to campus to view or borrow cumbersome analog videotapes. Online teaching fulfills the needs of students who have previously relocated or traveled great distances to UT to pursue a degree with a deafness concentration. Using Online@UT for all his web-based instruction has generated positive feedback from his students.

Jeffrey relays that, "I have had several deaf and hearing-impaired students in my classes who have expressed an appreciation for this option. These students report that it 'levels the education playing field.' That is, since online teaching and learning activities (between students and between student and teacher) are typed out and readily accessible through the web, deaf students do not need sign language interpreters to fully participate with the rest of the class. Naturally, with online teaching and learning there is more reading and writing involved than in a typical face-to-face class. The trade-off is that this can be accomplished anytime and anywhere!"

From Video Technology to Enhance Online Learning; 2004 Spotlight on Jeffrey Davis, Theory and Practice in Teacher Education

Nursing

Dr. Shu-Li Chen first used Blackboard in 2001 as a method of surveying her students: within the online discussion forums, she collected frank, practical feedback that guided her modifications of the course the following year. Since then, like most experienced Online@UT users, she has gradually added new features and greater interactivity to her course sites. Now, three years later, she is developing a nursing leadership course that will be her first for UT to be delivered completely online. She says that it's already 75% of the way there.

That move to fully online learning is, in fact, a growing trend in nursing. Under the leadership of Dean Joan Creasia and Jan Lee, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, UT's College of Nursing hopes to address the professional needs of working nurses by making its RN-to-BSN program available at a distance through Online@UT. Working adults, many of them already struggling to balance the demands of careers and families, benefit directly from the flexibility of asynchronous online learning. Now able to "attend" class whenever and from wherever is most convenient for them, working RNs will have greater opportunities for professional development and career advancement.

Dr. Chen is already working to accommodate the particular needs of her working students. When offered opportunities to provide feedback, they consistently requested a balanced blending of traditional, face-to-face learning-they wanted to see their teacher-with online activities. Dr. Chen has met that challenge by turning a traditional course into a 50:50 hybrid. She meets her students in the classroom one day a week; the rest of the activities have been moved online. If that sounds like a sneaky time-saver, think again. "It's never less work," Dr. Chen said, echoing the sentiments of most experienced online teachers. "It's a trade-off." She typically spends two hours online every evening, checking emails, participating in discussions, and grading assignments.

Online@UT also allows Dr. Chen's students-even those with heavy work loads who live far from campus-to participate in team projects. Rather that meet in person, team members share documents and ideas online via email, group discussion boards, and group chats. The same learning objectives are met, the same skills acquired, but the exchange of information occurs electronically and at a much greater convenience to all involved. In the process, Dr. Chen says, the technology alters familiar teaching models. In the traditional classroom, teachers deliver information that is then absorbed and (hopefully) regurgitated by students. Online interactions change that, demanding more direct input from student voices, more give and take.

From Beginning and Ending with Students; 2004 Spotlight on Shu-Li Chen, Nursing

Special Education

When asked how technology has changed teaching for himself and his students, Dr. Michael Hannum notes that to interact with a disabled child, the teacher needs multiple strategies, the ability to analyze a task down to its most basic component parts and then communicate effective strategies based on those components. The camcorder and DVD technology allow him to present a visual record of a lesson and then offer multiple examples and elaborations of the skill sets that the video is making visible. Presenting from the DVD disc, he can stop, ask questions, go back and forth and lead the students into a deeper analysis of the critical techniques they will need to impact the lives of their students. DVD also allows an effective presentation of best practices, always critical in a field where success is determined by tiny correct steps.

While students are moving through the 100-hour practicum required by the licensure process, Mike uses observation and conferences with students to evaluate their progress. He performs two of the formal observations, and assigns the third to students who work as a 'triad.' A triad consists of a performer, a scriptor (someone who writes down every interaction), and a videographer equipped with tripod and camcorder. As the semester progresses, students change roles within the triad, insuring that each student gets to view the process from three different perspectives.

In the post-observation conference with the 'teacher,' Mike plays the videotape and together with the 'teacher,' they examine the documentation of the child's performance. His request of his students is simple yet profound: "Show me the data that indicates you have changed this child's life." In the most fundamental way, he defines this teaching operationally. Know what the student needs and 'make the match,' match the strategies to the child's developmental stage, and keep that child in the 'zone of proximal development,' as defined by the educational psychologist, Vygotsky (1978).

Resource:

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

From Assistive Technology: Extending the Reach of Children with Disabilities - 2002 Spotlight on Michael Hannum, Theory and Practice in Teacher Education

Astronomy

In 1996, Dr. Mike Guidry's department chair asked if he would teach introductory astronomy, a subject he hadn't taught in a decade. He immediately saw it as a natural vehicle for the new technologies he'd been exploring as an engaging hobby. He points out that astronomy is a discipline in which visual representation is a powerful tool.

Mike developed both a website and the software for online quizzes in order to support the course, which was intended for non-science majors. Without pressure, he offered it to the students as a supplement to the textbook. Remember, the technology landscape for students at that time was less rich than that of today's Internet-connected dormitories. To his surprise and delight, 90% of the students used these online offerings.

Noting the success of these online tools, Mike and a colleague, Tina Riedinger, decided to create a deliberately web-enhanced course in 1997. In response to their advertising of the new course, students signed up in large numbers, reversing a worrisome decline in the numbers. They added sections of the popular offering, accommodating 600 students. But each year they have to turn students away. Clearly, this web-enhanced format is a way students like to learn.

Mike continued his development work and eventually an interested publisher found out about the website. A book company representative came to Mike's office to demonstrate his wares, and was, in turn, shown the web-based materials. That rep called the home office to report the discovery, and soon publishers in the field of astronomy were visiting the Nielsen Physics building to view this new approach to teaching astronomy.

Eventually Mike and his colleagues signed with Brooks/Cole, a publishing house that specializes in the sciences, mathematics, statistics, computer science, and engineering. Working with this company, Michael and his team created "Online Journey Through Astronomy," a self-contained astronomy course that does not use a printed textbook. The online course is innovative in many ways, and ahead of its time in being untethered to a physical textbook. The company believes that universities will soon move toward this kind of educational resource, with its 350 animations and its effective instructional design. Please visit the online astronomy course.

From What Happens When Stars Collide?; 2002 Spotlight on Mike Guidry, Astrophysics

Broadcasting

Dr. Mark Harmon's experience has been that some of his best ideas come during casual lunch conversations with colleagues. In 2001, Mark was expressing some of his frustration with seeing the same basic errors in student projects in his radio and television news writing class. It seemed that no matter how many times he reviewed the material with students, they continued to repeat the same basic errors. Mark came up with an idea to create a resource for students to use outside of the classroom that would provide them with review and practice over key topics in broadcast news. He envisioned a resource with which students could check their understanding of key concepts and terminology vital to their success. He conceptualized a CD-ROM and/or website demonstrating certain aspects of "visual language": shot sequencing, use of natural sound, proper audio-video match, shot composition, transition techniques (wipe, fade, rack focus), the 180-degree axis, lighting, color balance, and good video editing.

Mark applied for and received an Innovative Technology Center (ITC) Faculty First Grant. Working closely with the ITC staff, his vision quickly became reality. You can access the Thinking Visually website at http://excellent.comm.utk.edu/~mdharmon/visual/. The site has been used by colleagues at UT and by programs around the globe. Newslab, associated with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, regularly links to the Thinking Visually website, bringing increased visibility to UT and the broadcasting department. The concepts demonstrated via the website are timeless, in that the principles demonstrated, such as what constitutes a well-framed shot, will not change over time.

From This Just In; Integrating Technology into Broadcast Journalism - 2003 Spotlight on Mark Harmon, Journalism and Electronic Media

Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries

In 2000, Dr. Richard Strange applied for and was awarded an ITC Teaching with Technology grant to redesign a limnology course for delivery on the Web. The reasons he chose this topic at this time are instructive. Limnology had once been a standard course for students in this field but had been dropped from the catalogue. However, Richard noted that "you must know limnology before you can proceed into fishery science." This acknowledgement created a perfect scenario for a web-based instructional module.

The Teaching with Technology grant provided Dr. Strange with funds to purchase equipment, both hardware and software, to support module development and delivery. Recipients also received a one-time salary supplement. He also worked with Adobe as a beta tester for LiveMotion 2 which now included a scripting component. Armed with these items, Richard went to work, re-envisioning limnology for the future.

In the past, to review the limnology material, students walked to the library, sat down in a special location and moved through a series of slides, while listening to an audio tape. Sound and pictures were used to enhance the concepts. But, the tapes wore out and the material wasn't conveniently accessible to students.

As he speaks about the redesign of the content, Richard points out that it remains essentially the same content, yet it is clearly transformed with a more dramatic and dynamic context. Slides capture static text illustrations, much as a textbook might. With his technical ability to use LiveMotion, he was able to tell the same story with motion. And he suggests that instructors ask this question about a course component that might move well to the Web: "How can I tell this story with motion?"

Because of the heavy time demands of using sophisticated software packages, he also began to rethink his content in a modular way, teaching himself to build small elements that one could reuse. Fortunately, the software makes this new chunking feasible.

From Fishing for Technology Advances to Enhance Student Learning; 2002 Spotlight on Richard Strange, Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries

Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures

Dr. Euridice Silva-Filho learned a great deal from working with Digital Media Services (DMS). Because effective material in Portuguese was in short supply and because VHS tapes had come with the now-dated textbook, he asked them to digitize the tapes.

With the power of CourseInfo (now Blackboard) at his command, he revisited the potential of these tapes to engage students with the Portuguese culture. He is now using them differently. In addition, the students are not locked into being in the room with the TV-VCR setup. They can access these materials from any networked location, at a convenient time for them.

VHS tapes as traditionally used for instruction can be thought of as static. Now, with the tapes' contents digitized, this raw material can be explored by students who will be improving upon the old material as they reframe it for presentation in the context of the cultural themes of the course. The tapes, the students, and their instructor interact in a more dynamic manner.

In the end, Euridice appreciated the fact that technology challenged his complacency. These powerful new tools ask you to rethink what you once took for granted. In addition, they can act as a creative catalyst for rescuing old material such as the tapes and traditional strategies such as class discussion and transform them for a new technology-enhanced learning environment. Sporting a new outlook, Euridice notes that he now cannot teach a class without technology.

From From VCR to Web: A Technology Journey; 2002 Spotlight on Euridice Silva-Filho, Modern Foreign Language and Literature

World History

Cultures distant in time and space can be challenging to communicate to students. Dr. Palmira Brummett's desire was to import images more directly into the classroom to engage students in visual as well as literary analysis. In the past, the use of imagery in the teaching environment meant both the hauling of AV equipment and the time-consuming task of setting it up properly for display.

Now, the smart classrooms allow the seamless use of images to enhance course material. For example, Palmira uses a clip from the movie "Cleopatra," which shows a triumphal procession into Rome. The question students must consider is "What role does Rome play in the imagination of 20th century America."

Technology also empowers students to bring in materials to be incorporated into their learning experience. Using the document camera, a component of the projector, instant sharing of relevant items becomes possible. For example, students might reference a country's website, geared toward the tourist market. They might bring in coins or guide books for a particular country. Using the document camera, the pages of the guide book or the coin can be shared visually. This collaborative work with visuals empowers the students.

From The Power of Imagery: World History - 2001 Spotlight on Palmira Brummett, History

Music

Before students can begin to produce higher level creations, they must master the basics of their craft. The goal of the computer-based "ear training" created by Dr. Donald Pederson and fellow faculty member Mark Boling is to help students arrive at this essential mastery through an efficient, learner-centric program. A typical course in "ear training" would meet in the classroom twice a week. Activities might include sight singing. The instructor would coach students and give them tips as to how to progress. The rest of the time students would work in one of the well-equipped music labs.

The software is interactive, self-paced, and content controlled. Over the years the programs have been improved through constant tweaking by its developers and these incremental improvements have been based on data, collected by the programs. The end result is a curriculum that is carefully sequenced to insure that students acquire each of the building blocks of mastery so that they can move on to higher level creation as soon as they are ready.

In any self-paced program, one of the crucial issues is how to indicate that the user has gotten the answer wrong. One way is to remind the user over and over that he/she is in error by identifying an incorrect answer as "wrong." The psychological impact of such repetition works against the student's motivation and willingness to continue in pursuit of that mastery. Boling and Pederson made the decision to identify a "correct answer" as well as "your answer," thus removing the opprobrium of the term "wrong." Because the computer is endlessly patient, because it can repeat teaching modules until the student masters the concept, and because the student is in control of his or her learning, the teacher becomes a coach or a mentor instead of the "bad guy."

The self-paced ear training programs are designed so that students cannot "guess" their way to mastery. Thus, when they successfully complete all the modules, they have indeed achieved mastery, whether it takes them one semester or four semesters.

From Learning to Listen: Music and Technology - 2001 Spotlight on Donald Pederson, Music

Law

An interview with Tom Galligan, Dean

We decided to use technology that would be beneficial to the student in the Law school environment, and that would also play to the strengths of the particular teacher. Now, I like to talk, so we thought we would try developing audio lectures and I'm going to come back and play with that word, lecture, in a second. We thought we would try using audio lectures and record the material, provide an outline of the material, and in the context of the outline place links. The lecture we recorded was broken up into sound bites of maybe two minutes to five minutes and then a one or two page outline of the lecture. If the student clicked on a blue link within the outline, she or he could then listen to the teacher talk a little bit about that particular material. We also provided instructions on how to download the RealPlayer, a free online resource.

These were also successful and I would say we have about half the class topics in these audio outlines. Next, we decided to record full lectures on each topic and to place these in their entirety on the Web. So, for half the topics, the student had two sources: the Web-based outline with short links and the full lecture. For the other half of the class topics, the student didn't have the outline, but had the entire lecture instead.

Now, let me back up and talk about the term, lecture. Anyone who isn't familiar with the law school teaching environment may have a perspective on lecture like I had a perspective on using technology in teaching. I learned that there was more than one way to look at the world, and there's more than one way to look at lecture, too. These were not entire hour long lectures that repeated the class, and we didn't record the class. What Jennifer Gramling (former ITC GA) and I did was meet once a week before class to record a ten to forty-five minute talk about the material.

I've spoken with folks about online learning and you will hear some people say that a talking head isn't as valuable as something truly interactive. And, I certainly wouldn't disagree with that. However, the way the Law School classroom works, especially in the first year, is that the teacher does not lecture. The teacher doesn't walk into the room and start talking at 9:00 and finish at 9:50 or 10:00 and then walk out and everybody writes everything down. What happens is the teacher goes in and calls on somebody and asks that person a series of questions and the person answers and the professor changes the question around, changes the hypothetical and there is a dialogue. Ideally, other students begin to participate in the dialogue by volunteering.

The professor moves around the room and calls on other people and it becomes the Socratic method, or a modified Socratic method since modern law Professors tend to give more answers than Socrates did. There are little bits of lecturing, but it isn't a traditional lecture.

Consequently, the audio lectures were a pedagogical variety for the students because they didn't replay the experience of the classroom. They didn't repeat a dialogue, instead, they provided the students with a lecture on the material so that even though the lectures included a talking head - me - it wasn't a talking head saying exactly what I was going to say in class. It was a talking head that took the material, condensed it, organized it and provided it an alternative fashion to what the students received in class. In the end it worked out that the audio lecture played to the pedagogy of Law School by providing those folks who may not have learned as effectively in a Socratic or quasi-Socratic classroom with an alternative form of the material, so perhaps, they could absorb it better that way.

From Teaching Law with Technology in the 21st Century; 2000 Spotlight on Tom Galligan, College of Law