Saint Leo University’s master’s degree programs in Education and Educational Specialist both have qualitative research courses that students find challenging. The courses are especially challenging for those students enrolled in the online programs where they do not have the opportunity to watch how others conduct
A previous column on how hard it is to sustain instructional change has got me thinking more about the change process. For years I’ve suggested that our efforts to change need to be more targeted. So often we change by doing some of this, a
Long before the written word, humans relied on stories to entertain, instruct, and preserve cultural traditions. Storytelling is a fundamental way that humans communicate, and yet it is often left out of the college classroom. Rather than telling students stories about how something works or
Many instructors realize the value of teaching students fundamental concepts rather than focusing on details. A certain number of basic facts may have to be memorized, but beyond that it is generally more important to have students learn how to apply those facts to solve
Every year I teach a compulsory first-year course on the basics of psychology, which includes an introduction to developmental psychology. Lately I have also been teaching a follow-up elective course on child development. When I discovered that many of the students in the elective had
As new courses begin, there’s another batch of students and lots of new names to learn. A few among us manage to learn names with, what appears to rest of us, considerable ease. Others have developed surefire methods that work for them but not anyone
Most online instructors fall back on tried-and-true writing assignments and the LMS discussion forum to facilitate student engagement with material. But papers do not provide the opportunity for students to engage with other students on their ideas, and discussion forums track the conversation into pre-established
When our teaching focuses entirely on learning outcomes, we can become narrowly focused on seeing our students as skillsets. This can lead us to break learning into smaller and smaller parts so that we can successfully measure student “success.” But if, as Palmer emphasizes, we
We start new courses with a raft of good intentions, especially when they begin during this season of resolutions. We aspire to have assignments graded promptly, learn students’ names quickly, wait patiently for answers, try that new group activity, and practice patience when students are
Faculty tend to lament that student evaluations are just opportunities for students with bad grades to hammer their instructor. But I always believed that student surveys where actually designed to inflate approval ratings. They always start by asking simple class format questions, such as “Did
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A second important element of the simulation is peer feedback. While the student is going through the simulation, other students in class are watching on the same video to see how avatars respond to the student’s words and actions, and they need to be ready to offer feedback. The student leading the simulation can say “pause classroom” at any point in the simulation to ask questions of peer students and the instructor. During this time, the student looks to the faculty member leading the session and his/her peers for suggestions to make lesson more successful. Then with the cue, “Resume classroom,” the simulation specialist brings the avatars back and the action is resumed.
Because it’s not always easy for online students to coordinate their schedules for a synchronous meeting, we made attending the live simulation optional. Those not able to attend live were required to watch the recording and engage in reflective discussion board questions with the other class members.
Although we currently rely on Mursion to provide the simulation specialist, St. Leo recently purchased a site license and we plan to use our own simulation specialist. As more and more universities adopt these simulations, they will likely be adding simulation specialists to their instructional design crew, allowing for simulations to be adopted across a variety of courses. A department might even train graduate students to develop and/or manage simulations for their courses. Companies like Mursion, simSchool, Simiosys, and others offer simple ways to create simulations from templates that do not require technical expertise. Simulations could be the wave of the future.
Holly Atkins and Lin Carver are associate professors of education at Saint Leo University.