TLC2017 Workshops

Workshop Presenter: Blackman, Claire 

In this workshop we'll discuss practical ways of moving from a traditional chalk-and-talk lecture style to facilitating a dynamic learning space for large first classes.
The futurist Alvin Toffler wrote: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” As teachers, then, we not only have a duty to our students to introduce them to prescribed course material, but to develop them as lifelong learners. My goal in teaching first year mathematics has become not only to facilitate my students in developing their quantitative ability, but also to develop the mental and psychological strength and agility that they will require to effectively learn things that have not yet been thought of. 
In his book "Visible learning: a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement", John Hattie identifies rapid feedback (from both teacher to student and from student to teacher) as one of the most effective influences on learning. Feedback cycles enable both students and teachers to efficiently adjust their behavior to maximise learning. However, there are three immediate problems with implementing rapid feedback cycles in large first-year classes: “adding” student participation to an already over-full syllabus, handling student activity in large classes, and, as a lecturer, adapting to feedback on the fly. 
In addressing the first problem, I’ll discuss some of the ways I’ve been experimenting with to save time in the classroom such as using a tablet and creating YouTube videos covering exemplar problems that I would previously have covered in class. I’ll also review the ways I’ve changed the support offered outside the classroom to include WhatsApp groups, whiteboard workshops, and lecture recordings.
Technology can be also be helpful in addressing the second issue. I’ll introduce Mentimeter and Socrative, two online tools that enable me to leverage the large class scenario to get and give immediate feedback.
Adapting to feedback from students on the fly is a daunting undertaking, but also provides an unparalleled opportunity to explicitly model learning, unlearning and relearning for my class. One of the key ideas in learning how to learn is to appreciate the usefulness of making mistakes. I’ll talk about how, by using the mathematical and pedagogical mistakes I make as starting point for discussion and change, I help my students learn to identify, accept and rectify their own mistakes.
Making changes to one’s teaching can feel daunting, so I will conclude with a few small yet powerful techniques that anyone can implement, without technology, that can have a significant impact on their teaching, and their students’ learning.

Keywords: large-class teaching; student engagement; continuous feedback cycles  
 

Presenter: Cliff, Alan 

This workshop explores the use of online learning spaces to facilitate student learning, using a variety of formative assessment approaches. Based on Dynamic Assessment principles (Poehner; Sternberg and Grigorenko), the workshop aims to introduce participants to the use of task mediation as an intentional, carefully sequenced and self-conscious process directed at supporting the qualitatively different ways in which students learn. Participants will be encouraged to consider the use of online spaces – such as forums, blogs, chat rooms, social media – to support students’ learning formatively. The workshop will engage with notions of qualitative differences in student learning using typological theories of cognitive and affective learning (e.g. Bloom and Krathwohl). Participants will then be invited to consider the different levels of learning they expect from their students in particular disciplinary contexts and for particular curriculum levels, for example, first-year or postgraduate studies. The workshop will allow space for participants to begin to develop processing frameworks. This will be followed by a consideration of the kinds of tasks that can be designed to enable students to learn, especially in online learning environments. Following on from this engagement, participants will be guided through the use of Dynamic Assessment principles and the use of structured mediation to facilitate students’ online learning. The workshop will consider the use of various models of mediation, for example, lecturer-student mediation; peer-peer mediation; and guided student self-reflection. The critical role of structured, meaningful mediated feedback will be explored and discussed.

Keywords: Dynamic assessment; Feedback as mediation; Online learning  
 

Faciltated by Tony carr and Nicola Pallitt

Want to design a online learning experience for your students? In this 90 minute workshop we start small to go big by trying our hands at designing a small blended or fully online learning activity. This is an opportunity to design and get feedback on an activity for our contexts. 

For this workshop, you will need to have identified one concept, or section of your course for which you are interested in creating an online activity. Arrive with an idea for one activity which you think would take 30 minutes to one hour for students to complete either in a blended or fully online mode to get maximum value from this event.  

What are some of the factors that we as educators need to consider when designing blended and/or online activities and student learning experiences? It’s not just about the technology - in this workshop we start with our pedagogies by thinking about our students and the learning outcomes, purposes and tasks within our courses. Often we worry too much about the technology. By engaging in the design of a short activity we will experience how good pedagogic thinking can drive the choice of tools. The design process for this activity is intended to spark useful thinking about key elements of course design. 
 

Keywords: Online learning; Blended learning; Hybrid learning; Technology mediated learning
 

Presenters: Campbell, Anita; Rafel, Kenny; Shock, Jonathan; Torr, Stuart

Campbell, A., Rafel, K., Shock, J., Torr, S., Nhapi, R., Goolam Hoosen, T., Abrahams, S.P
 
Collaborative learning spaces are environments conducive to group work, where peers learn from each other, build friendships and can attain a deeper level of understanding of material. Such a model, in particular using whiteboard workshops, has been used for first year mathematics learning for the last few years, both on campus and in residence settings, in collaboration with the Department of Mathematics & Applied Mathematics & the Department of Student Housing & Residence Life: Residence Life Division (Residence Academic Development Committee). Here we give a hands-on introduction to the way that such spaces can benefit students at all levels. Whiteboard workshops have been shown to fulfil Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. These consist of encouraging student-faculty contact, co-operation among students and active learning providing prompt, frequent and informative feedback, emphasising time on task, communicate high expectations and respect diverse talents and learning styles. Such whiteboard workshops also provide a setting where students with the same home language/s can communicate with each other in a rich tapestry of languages beyond merely English (Madiba, 2014), and where students can “brainstorm”. Come along, experience a collaborative learning environment and come away a little more maths-savvy.

Keywords: Collaborative learning; Active learning; mathematics on whiteboards  
 

Presenters: CILT, Global Citizenship Team

Introduction to the GC Programme
The UCT Global Citizenship Programme (GCP) is a programme of critical debate, voluntary service activities and reflection which engages students as thoughtful scholars and citizens who are keen to learn, think about, critique, and respond to key contemporary issues in a South African and global context. Though values underpin all learning programmes, they are very seldom made explicit or viewed as an inherent part of the learning process. The GC Programme’s aim is thus precisely to make visible the values associated with critical scholarship, global citizenship, and reflective civic engagement to advance our contributions to social justice. From the outset, we therefore bring social justice into the framing of our questions and considerations and use this lens to think about whether and how we might be responsive to and responsible for the world in which we live. 
The Workshop
In this workshop, we would like to extend our innovative learning space to members of staff or students who would not otherwise have an avenue through which they can explore their own voice and ideas in a challenging and creative space. The first aim of the workshop is thus to bring together like-minded peers, along with the disciplinary backgrounds, to explore questions of pedagogy and knowledge production as they link to the Programme’s broader values around global citizenship, leadership, and social justice. We will use popular education framework as a teaching and learning tool. This means disrupting the teacher-learning hierarchy that usually exists in teaching, thereby acknowledging that learning is not fixed, and that it can take different forms. The positionalities and experiences of the classroom participants will thus play a crucial role in this learning, as we believe that learning becomes embodied, rather than only consumed.
The workshop will thus focus on participant-centred learning, asking what prior experiences and forms of knowledge participants bring to the learning encounter, and thereby reposition the teacher and learner in the classroom. Through the activities we will undertake, we hope to show the various ways in which knowledge can be thought of as non-hierarchic, dynamic, and multicentred. What is more, the activities also intend on illustrating ways in which to connect content with context – in other words, linking what is taught and learnt in the classroom space with broader social issues. We therefore hope to create a classroom space that brings the dynamics of South African society into the classroom space such as to open discussions around transformative curriculums and alternative teaching methodologies. 

Keywords: Participant-centred learning; Alternative teaching methodologies; Pedagogy