DAY FIVE

I have mentioned using small group work several times in the first four “ideas” as an effective approach for breaking up the long hours of class, promoting student engagement and reducing mental fatigue, etc. The fifth “idea” here will answer some of your questions about how to do this effectively. Of course, several variables that affect that decision are the size of the class, the physical arrangement of the classroom and how much flexibility you have to change it, and the types of tasks that you want the small groups to work on. We’ll discuss each of these briefly in a moment, but first let me share with you some research findings about in-class small group work and student learning.

1. Peer teaching and student-led discussions are superior for learning compared to teacher-led discussions, even if the teacher provides the discussion questions. Why?

a. Preparing to teach and explain promotes more learning than hearing the explanations of others.

b. Constructing thought-provoking questions demands analysis of the readings.

c. Accepting responsibility for helping each other learn is motivating and gets students to class!

2. Using small groups regularly reduces absenteeism (students feel more accountable to their group).

3. Each student talks more in small groups than in whole-class discussions:

a. They ask more questions of each other when confused.

b. They work harder to explain and help those who are confused.

c. They offer positive feedback to each other.

d. They feel compelled to work toward having the meeting stay on track.

4. Heterogeneous groups are more successful than homogeneous ones. Use exam performance, learning style inventories, your first-day “getting to know them” surveys, or ??? to distribute groups evenly, or do random assignment such as birthdays between January and March. Natural group formations may work well too, e.g. all students at a DL site, the same employer or time zone.

5. Learning facts is not necessarily better than in non-group learning environments, but motivation is higher, students are more curious about the course content, and they develop deeper thinking skills.

6. Higher amounts of structure are needed if learners have little prior knowledge and little experience working in task-oriented groups.

7. Ideal group size in face-to-face groups is 5-6 and in virtual groups is 4, unless the virtual groups are only discussing, in which case up to 10 is workable.

Now, knowing these things about effective groups, you can think about your classroom situation and how these research findings fit. For example, if you teach in an auditorium with immovable, tiered seating, groups of 5-6 may not be feasible. Perhaps four would work, so that two can turn around to the two behind them. Perhaps your room has tables and chairs, but they all face forward and the room is not big enough or there isn’t time enough to move them for every class. Again, if two sit at each table, how about having them turn around their chairs to form a group of four? The point is, you want enough in each group so that if one is absent, you still have a group! And you want the group large enough for many tasks you might give them to draw on the expertise and points of view of several students.

Now, there may be times where you just want students to turn to one other person, discuss something for 2-3 minutes, and then share; in this case, you don’t need a larger group. But if you can see value in having students work through study questions together, practice applying course concepts to real-world scenarios or problems, produce a number of mini-deliverables on a large-scale project, or other learning activities in which groups are ideal and need blocks of time to do these tasks, small group work is possible to do in an evening class or extended time class. Plus, for all the reasons cited in the research and the positive impact small group work can make on keeping students engaged when in class for 2-4 hours or more, they are worthwhile!

If your students do not have much experience working effectively in groups, you may want to provide some group scaffolding for them, at least until they have had a chance to learn how to do it effectively and efficiently. Consider reviewing our “Groups and Virtual Teams” resource for additional guidelines on how to accomplish this.

Day Four: Teaching Evening (or Extended Time) Classes

Let’s consider an additional major factor (listed on Day Two) that affects students’ attention and engagement, nutrition. Of course, overall nutrition affects the brain also, things like enough iron, vitamins, calcium, and fiber. But here we are going to discuss how what and when your students eat the day of class can make a major difference in their ability to stay awake, focused and able to learn for several hours at the end of the day.

Brains need proteins, carbohydrates and fats to produce energy that can be draw upon while learning. However, not any type of protein, carb or fat will do. Some of these actually make a person drowsy or prevent the right kind of proteins, carbs and fats from doing their job! Consider these facts and then read more about it at http://www.askdrsears.com/HTML/4/T040400.ASP

1. Students who arrive hungry, in general, are likely to be irritable, restless, apathetic, sad, unmotivated, and less able to recall earlier learning or apply new learning to problem-solving tasks. Hunger contributes to mental fatigue, as discussed in Day Three. This goes for skipping breakfast before an extended morning class, as well.
   
2. Eating habits such as eating a large meal before class or eating a high-carbohydrate/low protein meal may solve the hunger problem, but makes your students drowsy and lethargic. Chocolate, pastries, bean burritos, sunflower seeds, bananas, dairy products, spaghetti with heavy sauce, and fattier meats tend to relax the brain and are ideal in the evening if you are trying to wind down!
   
3. Omega-3 fatty acids are important to general brain health. Foods such as eggs, flax or canola oil, salmon or tuna, soybeans, walnuts or pumpkin seeds, wheatgerm, and almonds are excellent sources of these healthy fats.
   
4. Best foods for pre-class eating before an evening class include:
   
   1. A lower-calorie, light meal, such as a salad with tuna, vegetables, and dressing made with canola oil, stir-fried vegetables on brown rice, or even yogurt and fresh fruit.
      
   2. A more filling, but nutritious meal such as a PB&J sandwich on whole grain bread and an apple and glass of milk.
      
   3. Complex carbohydrates such as fruits like apples or oranges (not fruit juice), whole grain cereals (e.g., oatmeal) or whole-grains (not wheat, but whole wheat, brown rice), and as little refined sugar as possible (e.g, colas, candy, pastries).
      
   4. Proteins containing tyrosine amino acids, such as seafood, turkey, tofu, lentils, peanuts (or peanut butter), tuna, salmon. These proteins wake up the brain, rather than relax and wind it down.
      
   5. When eating both energy-producing proteins and carbs, eat the protein BEFORE the complex carbohydrates.
      
   6. Avoid nicotine, artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated fats in prepared foods, alcohol, junk sugars and white bread before class.

What suggestions do you have for the “brain friendly food list” that you might provide to your class to take turns bringing for snacks?

Day Three: Teaching Evening (or Extended Time) Classes

In Day Two, I listed several challenges that can occur in an evening (or extended time) class that affect students’ attention and engagement. We explored ways to help students shift gears when getting to class. Today, we’ll take a look at another one on that list, mental fatigue…its impact on your evening students and a variety of easy-to-implement ideas to reduce its potentially negative effects on learning.

Of course, some mental fatigue may already be in place when some of your students arrive. They may have a demanding job, a full day of childcare behind them, a long drive to class, something stressful going on in their personal lives, or even incomplete nutrition. Other types of mental fatigue may set in during class as a result of intense prolonged concentration, emotional reactions to not understanding something or not being interested in the class’s topic that evening, or physical fatigue, among other things.

Psychological research tells us that mental fatigue effects the human brain in several ways that can impact a student’s ability to get the most out of class:

• Normal tasks may appear to be more complicated.
  
• The process of exploring solutions to problem-solving tasks is less systematic and more inefficient.
  
• Concentration is more challenging, increasing distractability (i.e., daydreaming, looking around at irrelevant things).
  
• Ability to recall prior learning is reduced, increasing errors.
  
• Reactions to normal tasks may prompt more emotions, such as impatience, fear.
  
• Sustained effort is more difficult.

Knowing that we have some students who arrive with mental fatigue or develop it during an extended-time class, what can we do to structure the learning environment in ways that would reduce the fatigue or at least minimize its impact on student learning? How about some of these tips?

1. Evening focus: At the beginning of class, outline what the 3-5 things are that you will be focusing on this evening, and some of the ways they will be experiencing this content. Several of the ideas in Day Two reveal this information in active ways. Then, revisit this often throughout the evening in the form of short summaries, review “minutes,” and transitional or orienting statements such as “We have just completed an analysis of _____ concept, as I mentioned at the outset of class; next we’ll explore how that that concept can be utilized in…”
   
   
2. Presentations: Use the “bob and weave technique” of moving between facts, concepts, and stories or vivid examples, making the connections between them clear and frequent. When possible, use visual aids (images, video clips, graphs, maps, etc.) to anchor core ideas and provide variety (reducing distractability). Limit presentations to 10-15 minute chunks with alternating activities in between.
   
3. Core content scaffolding: Provide incomplete handouts, review sheets, worksheets, or other printed resources that students work with while listening or doing throughout the evening. Having something to complete keeps them engaged and focused better, plus provides a tangible prompt to assist in recall or homework applications of the evening’s learning outcomes.
   
4. Physical movement: Plan for regular moving around of the students (changing small groups, posting discussion results on newsprint on the walls, etc.). Even standing up and stretching every 30 minutes can make a huge difference in getting blood to the brain!
   
5. Pacing: Besides the “10-minute rule” for presentations, plot the evening schedule around logical sequencing of content focus, but frequent changes in types of activities, such as: present, pair and share a discussion question, watch a video clip and brainstorm “what to do next” in small groups (posting ideas on newsprint to the wall), dot vote on all solutions posed by all groups, short summary of learning outcomes so far, break, present again…etc. Change of any kind helps refocus attention! Complex or challenging tasks need to be broken down into smaller pieces with “report outs,” and potentially handled in the first half of the evening.
   
6. Questions: Allow time at several junctures during the evening for questions. Adult learners often have many and will be more engaged when they are given the opportunity to share and ask.
   
7. Food: If you discover that many of your students come to class without having eaten anything since lunch (or what they did eat won’t give them lasting mental energy), consider asking them if they’d like to take turns bringing something from your “brain food” list to share with the class.

Let’s hear from some of you who have noticed this mental fatigue in your students. What have you found seems to help prevent or alleviate the situation? Click the Comments link below to share your thoughts or ideas, or questions!

DAY TWO: Teaching Evening (or Extended Time) Classes

The focus of our Day Two “idea” relates to the challenge of maintaining attention and engagement when the class is a long one. Consider these facts:

1. Research says that an adult’s attention span is not much more than 30 minutes, and for many, as little as 10 minutes is what they are used to! [Fact: Maintaining focus for 2-3 or more hours is tough!]
   
2. Add to that the mental fatigue for those students who have been working all day or handling other challenges during the day, such as childcare. [Question: How much mental energy do they have to process the learning experiences you have developed for them? Are there some types of experiences that can be handled better than others?]
   
3. Add the reality that many students need to shift mental gears from whatever they do during the day to think about the issues and topics in your course. [Example: Shifting from solving problems on the job that have nothing to do with the course’s content, for example, is challenging!]
   
4. Finally, a common situation that contributes to attention issues is students may be rushing from work to class without having time to eat anything, or at least nothing that the brain can use for thinking. [Brains need nutrition!]

Let’s take a look at #3 above for today. How can you assist your evening students in getting on track quickly, shifting gears to your course’s content?

• At the conclusion of the last class, put up on the screen and post to your course web site, the opening question that will be discussed at the beginning of the next class. Then, put that question up on the front screen up to 15 minutes before class, so that it is displayed as the students arrive.
  
• Begin the class with one of the following activities to help the students get on track quickly through active learning:
  
  
  • Display a focusing question related to the opening discussion topic in which students can reply anonymously with clickers. Use the composite answers that display on the screen to spark conversation. You may want to provide 3 or 4 of these clicker questions to wet their appetite and get all of their attention “on the same page” before launching other learning activities.
    
  • Display one or more focusing questions related to the opening discussion topic (in PowerPoint, or typed and projected using the document camera) that students in pre-assigned small groups are to discuss among each other for 10 minutes. Then, taking each question one at a time, have a spokesperson from each group share or be members of a panel for that learning activity/discussion.
    
  • If you have assigned study questions, an outline, a double-entry journal, or other homework assignment that involves summarizing the critical points from the reading, have the students join a pre-assigned discussion group to negotiate a common list of no more than five critical points. Each group can share one of them during the whole class discussion.
    
  • Play a short audio or video clip from a well-known movie or television show that contains a relevant story to that night’s topic. Invite students to pair up and generate three things that were happening in the clip that relate to the reading for that evening…this is an open-book activity that gets them back into the book from whatever they were doing before coming to class. Then, call on various pairs to share one of the themes they discovered as a starting point for a whole class discussion of the critical points.
    
  • Develop a series of scenarios in which the core concepts for the evening can be used to pose solutions. Have the students write down individual solution ideas, then pair up and discuss each other’s scenarios and solutions, and then have two of the pairs combine to form a group of 4 based on the color of their scenario (blue groups have the same scenario, for example). The new group is to use the text or other resource you give them to flesh out the details of a “best” solution. Then, each scenario is presented by a group along with the detailed solution. The rest of the class is invited to comment, ask questions, offer alternative analyses, etc.

Any of these activities can help students transition from their busy jobs or home life to the exciting world of learning about your content area. What other ideas have you used to jump start your evening classes? Use the Comment button below to share your ideas!

DAY ONE: Getting Started

According to Banner, 71 faculty are teaching evening classes in the spring of 2010. In other words, over a thousand students have chosen to take a weekly or bi-weekly class that meets for much more than the usual 50 or 75-minute class period. For some courses, this is a blessing, because it gives you time to do extended simulations, labs, and other time-consuming activities that enhance learning. It also minimizes travel to campus and gives the students access to an education after day-time responsibilities. However, it also creates a different set of challenges for both you and your students.

Our 15 Ideas in 15 Days theme this semester will provide you with ideas and insights into meeting these challenges and fostering the best learning environment possible in your evening or other extended time classes. Some of these ideas have been pulled from the literature and some from the experiences of other BHC evening instructors who have shared their tips with me! Please note that at the bottom of each “idea” is a Comments link. Just click it to add your own thoughts, experiences, questions. The blog will give you several choices for signing your post. Please select one that will add your name, or type your name into the post itself.

Let’s talk in this first idea about how you can utilize some valuable time on the first night of class to get to know your evening students better. Evening classes often contain more adult learners who have a wider variety of life experiences; knowing some of them can help you:

• identify what kinds of review of prerequisite knowledge is needed prior to introducing new content
  
• make intentional decisions about how to group the students for in-class activities or group projects
  
• invite their contributions in class discussions based on their relevant work or life experiences
  
• target the course to their collective career aspirations or personal interests.
  
• identify which students are new to college and might need additional support in the early weeks of the semester

You can have the students fill out a 4x6 note card or a survey in answer to your questions, interview each other and then introduce the other to the class or to a small group in the class, or make up a skit with 2 or 3 others about something they have in common. The point is, these kinds of activities show your interest in getting to know them, set the tone for active participation and sharing, and give you valuable information. Here are a few suggestions for the kinds of information you will want to find out, one way or another:

1. Name, nickname, contact information
   
2. Job or personal experiences relevant to the course
   
3. Current work; future career aspiration
   
4. Student status: what major? What degree are they pursuing, if any? Full-time/part-time? Other course work completed at BHC or elsewhere that they think might help them in this class? Class status (freshman?)
   
5. Learning style inventory (e.g., VARK)
   
6. Knowledge survey (like a prerequisite knowledge quiz, only instead of answers, the students indicate whether each content area is new to them, they have heard of it but don’t’ know much about it, can explain it in general to someone else, or could probably teach a short lesson on it). Email me if you’d like to see an example of one (bakerm@bhc.edu).

Now what kinds of other ideas or types of questions have you implemented on the first night of class to help your students get acquainted with you and each other? Click the Comments link below.