Nationwide, the guided pathways movement is helping more students succeed. But as Sova co-founders Alison Kadlec and Paul Markham observe, “not nearly enough has been done to meet faculty where they are, speak to their interests, and bring them into this work as true partners.”

To bolster faculty engagement—for the strongest possible impact on student success—ACUE and Sova are developing a new certificate in guided pathways implementation. This credential will focus on best practices that ensure student learning and persistence to completion—pillars three and four of the Pathways model.

Sova supports higher education organizations across the country in efforts to scale evidence-based student success initiatives. It provides facilitation support to the Pathways Partner Collaborative, a group of leading student success-focused organizations responsible for supporting the implementation and scale of guided pathways nationwide.

“Sova bring a wealth of insights—all of which will inform our new certificate,” said Penny MacCormack, ACUE’s chief academic officer. “We’re going to ensure that faculty have a rich understanding of their role in guided pathways and are equipped with evidence-based teaching approaches.”

The guided pathways reform model has four main pillars: first, clarify programs of study to better inform students about the sequence of courses needed for a degree. Second, ensure that students choose the right program, one that fits their strengths and career aspirations. Third, help students stay on the path to complete their studies. Fourth, ensure learning at every step along the path, so that graduates are well-prepared.

To date, work across these pillars has largely been led by administrators, advisors, and student support personnel. But, as MacCormack notes, “it’s hard to overstate the influence of faculty on students’ career interests, choice of program, depth of learning, and determination to complete their studies.”

By Judith V. Boettcher

My granddaughter, a rising sophomore, is buried with assignments. She shared, somewhat despairingly, that rarely can she get anything done in advance—only work due ‘tomorrow!’ I felt her stress and realized she hardly has time for practice and review, to reflect on meaning, or question more deeply.

In our rush to ensure that we cover all the necessary course material, it’s easy to lose sight of how learning actually happens. When planning your courses and use of class time, here are some questions to keep in mind:

• What learning experiences will increase the odds that students will actually use the content to enrich their lives?
• What types of experiences actually support the learning process?
• How can students create rich concept structures that encourage use of knowledge rather than a focus on accumulating facts?

The teaching and learning research should guide our thinking:

• We know that learning takes time. This is a core principle. It means we need to make time for students to do something meaningful with the content for lasting learning to occur (Bloom, 1976; Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000; Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014; Boettcher & Conrad, 2016).
• We know that learning is a constructive activity, meaning that students must develop the knowledge within their own heads (Piaget, 1953; Bruner, 1977; Vygotsky, 1978). As instructors, we can’t do it for them. We can structure, illustrate, explain, and provide examples of the content. But we also need to create opportunities for students to inquire, explore, think, self-test, write, and use the content for themselves.

Let’s look at how we can spark active reflection and curiosity in two areas: lectures and readings.  

Lecture “Pauses”

Despite efforts to kill the lecture format, we’re often expected to teach classes that are scheduled in large halls with lots of students. Some even have stadium-style seating! Fortunately, there are proven ways to deliver an effective lecture and use active learning techniques in large classes.

For example, the calculated use of “pauses” can deepen learning. Before launching into a new topic, first ask students to reflect on what they already know about it. Students should think about and record their existing, sometimes called “prior,” knowledge, which helps to establish connections to the new knowledge that you’re about to introduce.

Take a moment for students to share their initial thoughts, such as through a tried and true “think-pair-share,” and listen carefully. You’ll be able to better link existing and new ideas and address any initial misconceptions.

Once you’re into your presentation, use examples from the students’ initial reflections and, as you go, turn the content into relevant questions. We know that listening to declarative statements can quickly get boring, whereas questions open students’ minds to inquiry, suspense, and potential links, connections, and patterns. This is also a good opportunity to leverage words from critical thinking practice, such as “accuracy, relevancy, patterns, relationships, perspective, and background.” (See Boettcher, 2009, Tip 67 for more trigger words.)

It’s also important to plan multiple pauses during your lecture—timed to reinforce key points or when building ideas on ideas. Otherwise, our brains simply stop paying attention when working memory begins to “overload,” and we don’t have time to process information.

During these mid-lecture pauses, you can increase reflection power and promote curiosity by asking students to:

• Summarize what they just heard in a sentence or two
• Connect, link, or think about the similarity or contrast of the content with what they already knew
• Predict what might come next or what they want to know more about
• Consider the contexts in which this information might be useful
• Identify patterns and relationships in the material
• Situate the new knowledge into case studies or common problems

 “Test and Retrieve During Reading”

In their 2014 book, Make It Stick, Brown, Roediger and McDaniel describe a number of testing and retrieval techniques that promote successful learning. The cited research made me rethink the positive role that testing can play in learning. In particular, self-testing while studying is a powerful way to learn because it gives students more meaningful time to engage with new content. It creates neuronal pathway connections that increase mastery and build student confidence.

A few techniques you can recommend to your students to use when they’re completing reading assignments or preparing posts for discussion forums include:

• Pausing regularly during reading an assignment (chapter, article, etc.) to self-quiz by asking themselves: What did I just read? What do I know now that I didn’t know before? How does this connect to what I have known before?
• Creating questions from the headings or illustrations, writing down their answers or observations, and telling a patient friend who will let them verbalize their thoughts
• Sending a text question or answer to themselves or a study buddy
• Reflecting on how the new information might be useful in solving a problem or creating a new idea.

What are your favorite reflection techniques? For your own learning or for your students? I’ve shared these ideas with my granddaughter, and she plans to use some. I reminded her that it may, at first, feel like her studying is taking even more time. But not to stress. She’ll find new joy in learning as she reflects and sees how things connect. Trust grandma.

Just announced:   Judith and Rita Marie’s book, The Online Teaching Survival Guide is now available as an audio book.  It is available from these three sites:

1. Audible
2. Audiobooks.com
3. Google Play

More information on this version is at

http://designingforlearning.info/audio-format-of-online-teaching-survival-guide-is-now-available/

References

Association of College and University Educators. (2019). ACUE’s Effective Practice Framework.  Retrieved from https://acue.org/?acue_courses=acues-effective-practice-framework. (Module B: Module 3b: Using Active Learning Techniques in Large Classes.

Bloom, B. S. (Ed.) (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain. Boston, MA: Addison Wesley Publishing Company.

Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R.-M. (2016). The Online Teaching Survival Guide: Simple and Practical Pedagogical Tips (2 ed.). San Francisco, CA Jossey-Bass.

Boettcher, J. V. (2009). eCoaching Tip 67: Developing Rigor in Our Questioning: Eight Intellectual Standards.  Retrieved from  http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-67/

Bransford, J. D., Brown, Ann L. & Cocking, R. (Ed.) (2000). How People Learn. Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (Expanded Edition ed.). Washington, DC: National Academy Press

Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. I., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Bruner, J. S. (1977). The process of education (2 ed.). New York: Harvard University Press.

Piaget, J. (1957). Construction of reality in the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention. Psychological Science, 17, 249-255.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

By R. Eric Landrum

I have never met a faculty member in my 30-year career who took the summer “off.” Even when an instructor has a nine-month contract, in my experience, most use the time to catch up on their field’s literature, conduct research, connect with colleagues, write, and strengthen their teaching. It’s who we are.

Over a break, I believe the “three Rs” are vital for continued and sustained success in teaching: reflecting, recharging, and readying.

Reflecting

The educational and cognitive value of self-reflection is well established in an existing and growing literature that has identified principles that apply widely—to students reflecting about assignment and exam performance (e.g., Lester, 2019; Nilson, 2013), faculty members reflecting on a particular class session (e.g., Gross Davis, 1993), and, in the present case, an educator reflecting on an entire semester, quarter, or term. It is a form of metacognition, with an individual comparing an outcome or their performance against a goal or standard and then assessing their affective feelings about that self-judgment (Silver, 2013), such as when an educator “takes stock” of her or his teaching effectiveness.

Increasingly, faculty members perform what I would call micro-reflections: a written assessment, such as in a teaching journal, immediately after the completion of a particular exercise, assignment, or class session,  For example, last fall I made notes about an assignment in my upper-level capstone class right after I finished grading 70 capstone student assignments. Ideas for improving the assignment were fresh on my mind. When I went to update and post that assignment this spring, I was pleasantly surprised by the notes. Like a letter mailed to myself, they included ways to improve the assignment instructions and the grading rubric.

Alongside these micro-level reflections are a type of “macro-reflection” developed in the action research literature (e.g., Holly, Arhar, & Kasten, 2009; Riel, 2011), as depicted by the graphic here. I consider these macro-reflections a self-assessment of one’s teaching over the first portion of a break between terms, to reflect about the previous semester or academic year.

What should macro-reflection entail? It should:

• Contain positive observations as well as suggestions for improvement

• Include your short view of teaching (e.g., day-to-day challenges to address through particular techniques) and your long view of teaching (e.g., major areas to refine in the coming years)

• Take into account where you are in your career path

• Be shared with a trusted mentor for candid feedback

• Contain goal statements for the future, like good learning objectives, that are clear, specific, actionable, and observable.

Recharging

I believe this type of macro-reflection is best done over an extended period of time, such as a summer break, and in combination with a recharging phase, when you can step away from your chief responsibilities of being an educator. You may not be able avoid all duties, may need the income from teaching a summer session, and may keep checking emails from time to time. But stepping away from the intensity of teaching creates the necessary space and perspective for quiet and deep reflection—and to avoid burnout.

Burnout is typically defined along three dimensions: emotional exhaustion (i.e., feelings of being depleted of emotional and physical resources; not able to give more of oneself), cynicism or depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment (i.e., inefficiency, the loss of professional sense, the tendency to evaluate negatively) (Garcia-Arroyo & Osca, 2017; Padilla & Thompson, 2015). The World Health Organization has recently redefined burnout as a chronic stressor at work (Chatterjee & Wroth, 2019). Burnout is classified as an occupational phenomenon rather than a medical condition.

If you feel like you are slipping into burnout, you can take steps to recover and recharge. In a survey of faculty from U.S. doctoral-grading research universities, Padilla and Thompson (2015) reported four statistically significant predictors related to reducing burnout:

• more social support

• more hours spent with family

• more hours spent on leisure activities

• more hours spent sleeping.

This might mean catching up on that stack of pleasure reading you’ve been meaning to enjoy. It might mean taking that trip to see family members or former college roommates like you’ve been promising to do for years. Remember that hobby you used to do when you were younger that you enjoyed so much? Why not take a little time in the summer to pursue that creative hobby, visit that local winery, or re-make those flower beds in the front yard? Odds are, when you next teach, you’ll find it more rewarding.

Readying

With the benefits of some recharging, it’s time to start to ready yourself for the next semester and avoid a rough re-entry. I made the mistake once of not making sufficient preparations for my next term—my syllabi weren’t updated like I wanted them to be, and my LMS course sites weren’t up and running on the first day of class like I prefer. I was just plain behind, and it caused avoidable stress for me and my students.

This is when your end-of-term macro-reflection becomes so useful. Rather than planning in the usual way, the adjustments you make in the weeks and days before new term, and continue to make during the term, should be informed by the observations you made when semester had just ended, the feedback from a trusted peer, and the goals you set. ACUE provides numerous resources to support this planning through its Community of Professional Practice, and ACUE-credentialed faculty members have continued access to course resources that are evidence-based and helpful. Your disciplinary association and teaching center may also provide teaching resources.

The bottom line, moral of the story is this: invest in yourself. Taking some time to reflect on what just happened is a good investment. Recharging, getting away from the grind, inoculating yourself against burnout and fatigue is a good investment in you and your future professional happiness. Planning the time to re-enter the rhythms and the flow of the semester, informed by your own reflection, is a welcome benefit.

References

Chatterjee, R., & Wroth, C. (2019, May 28). WHO redefines burnout as a ‘syndrome’ linked to chronic stress at work. NPR. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/28/727637944/who-redefines-burnout-as-a-syndrome-linked-to-chronic-stress-at-work

Garcia-Arroyo, J. A., & Osca, A. (2017). Coping with burnout: Analysis of linear, non-linear and interaction relationships. Anales de Psicologia, 33, 722-731.  http://dx.doi.org/10.6018/analesps.33.3.279441

Gross Davis, B. (1993).  Tools for teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Holly, M. L., Arhar, J. M., & Kasten, W. C. (2009). Action research for teachers: Traveling the yellow brick road (3^rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon/Pearson.

Lester, K. F. (2019, April 23). Multiple modes of reflection. Association of College and University Educators. Retrieved from https://community.acue.org/blog/multiple-modes-of-reflection/

Nilson, L. B. (2013). Creating self-regulated learners: Strategies to strengthen students’ self-awareness and learning skills. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Padilla, M. A., & Thompson, J. N. (2015). Burning out faculty at doctoral research universities.  Stress and Health, 32, 551-558. doi:10.1002/smi.2661

Riel, M. (2011). Understanding action research. Center for Collaborative Action Research, Pepperdine University. Retrieved from http://cadres.pepperdine.edu/ccar/define.html

Silver, N. (2013). Reflective pedagogies and the metacognitive turn in college teaching. In M. Kaplan, N. Silver, D. Lavaque-Manty, & D. Meizlish (Eds.), Using reflection and metacognition to improve student learning (pp. 1-17) [In J. Rhem & S. Slesinger (Series Ed.), New pedagogies and practices for teaching in higher education]. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Eric Landrum is a professor in the Department of Psychological Science at Boise State University in Boise, ID. He received his PhD in cognitive psychology from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, and his research addresses the improvement of teaching and learning using SoTL strategies as a scientist-educator.