2013

Assessment: The Silent Killer of Learning, at Teaching and Learning Experience Sharing (TALES) Seminar, Hong Kong Baptist University (Hong Kong, China), Thursday, December 19, 2013:
Why is it that stellar students sometimes fail in the workplace while dropouts succeed? One reason is that most, if not all, of our current assessment practices are inauthentic. Just as the lecture focuses on the delivery of information to students, so does assessment often focus on having students regurgitate that same information back to the instructor. Consequently, assessment fails to focus on the skills that are relevant in life in the 21st century. Assessment has been called the "hidden curriculum" as it is an important driver of students' study habits. Unless we rethink our approach to... Read more about Assessment: The Silent Killer of Learning
Confessions of a converted lecturer, at Center for Enhanced Teaching and Learning Professional Development Lecture, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Hong Kong, China), Thursday, December 19, 2013:
I thought I was a good teacher until I discovered my students were just memorizing information rather than learning to understand the material. Who was to blame? The students? The material? I will explain how I came to the agonizing conclusion that the culprit was neither of these. It was my teaching that caused students to fail! I will show how I have adjusted my approach to teaching and how it has improved my students' performance significantly
Educating the Innovators of the 21st Century, at Teaching and Learning Experience Sharing (TALES) Seminar, Hong Kong Baptist University (Hong Kong, China), Thursday, December 19, 2013:
Can we teach innovation? Innovation requires whole-brain thinking — left-brain thinking for creativity and imagination, and right-brain thinking for planning and execution. Our current approach to education in science and technology, focuses on the transfer of information, developing mostly right-brain thinking by stressing copying and reproducing existing ideas rather than generating new ones. I will show how shifting the focus in lectures from delivering information to team work and creative thinking greatly improves the learning that takes place in the classroom and promotes independent... Read more about Educating the Innovators of the 21st Century
Peer Instruction, at Center for Enhanced Teaching and Learning Professional Development Lecture, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Hong Kong, China), Thursday, December 19, 2013:
The basic goals of Peer Instruction are to encourage and make use of student interaction during lectures, while focusing students' attention on underlying concepts and techniques. The method has been assessed in many studies using standardized, diagnostic tests and shown to be considerably more effective than the conventional lecture approach to teaching. Peer Instruction is now used in a wide range of science and math courses at the college and secondary level. In this short workshop, participants will learn about Peer Instruction, serve as the "class" in which Peer Instruction is... Read more about Peer Instruction
Engaging Students One-on-one, All at Once (Part I), at Teaching and Learning Experience Sharing (TALES) Seminar, Hong Kong Baptist University (Hong Kong, China), Tuesday, December 17, 2013:
Education is more than just transfer of information, yet that is what is mostly done in large introductory courses -- instructors present material (even though this material might be readily available in printed form) and for students the main purpose of lectures is to take down as many notes as they can. Few students have the ability, motivation, and discipline to synthesize all the information delivered to them. Yet synthesis is perhaps the most important -- and most elusive -- aspect of education. I will show how shifting the focus in lectures from delivering information to synthesizing... Read more about Engaging Students One-on-one, All at Once (Part I)
Assessment: The Silent Killer of Learning, at Teaching and Learning Experience Sharing (TALES) Seminar, Hong Kong Baptist University (Hong Kong, China), Tuesday, December 17, 2013:
Why is it that stellar students sometimes fail in the workplace while dropouts succeed? One reason is that most, if not all, of our current assessment practices are inauthentic. Just as the lecture focuses on the delivery of information to students, so does assessment often focus on having students regurgitate that same information back to the instructor. Consequently, assessment fails to focus on the skills that are relevant in life in the 21st century. Assessment has been called the "hidden curriculum" as it is an important driver of students' study habits. Unless we rethink our approach to... Read more about Assessment: The Silent Killer of Learning
Engaging Students One-on-one, All at Once (Part II), at Teaching and Learning Experience Sharing (TALES) Seminar, Hong Kong Baptist University (Hong Kong, China), Tuesday, December 17, 2013:
The basic goals of Peer Instruction are to encourage and make use of student interaction during lectures, while focusing students' attention on underlying concepts and techniques. The method has been assessed in many studies using standardized, diagnostic tests and shown to be considerably more effective than the conventional lecture approach to teaching. Peer Instruction is now used in a wide range of science and math courses at the college and secondary level. In this 2-3 hour long workshop, participants will learn about Peer Instruction, serve as the "class" in which Peer Instruction is... Read more about Engaging Students One-on-one, All at Once (Part II)
Assessment: the Silent Killer of Learning, at Interactive Teaching and Learning, Taibah University (Medinah, Saudi Arabia), Monday, December 9, 2013:
Why is it that stellar students sometimes fail in the workplace while dropouts succeed? One reason is that most, if not all, of our current assessment practices are inauthentic. Just as the lecture focuses on the delivery of information to students, so does assessment often focus on having students regurgitate that same information back to the instructor. Consequently, assessment fails to focus on the skills that are relevant in life in the 21st century. Assessment has been called the "hidden curriculum" as it is an important driver of students' study habits. Unless we rethink our approach to... Read more about Assessment: the Silent Killer of Learning
Peer Instruction, at Interactive Teaching and Learning, Taibah University (Medinah, Saudi Arabia), Monday, December 9, 2013:
The basic goals of Peer Instruction are to encourage and make use of student interaction during lectures, while focusing students' attention on underlying concepts and techniques. The method has been assessed in many studies using standardized, diagnostic tests and shown to be considerably more effective than the conventional lecture approach to teaching. Peer Instruction is now used in a wide range of science and math courses at the college and secondary level. In this 2-3 hour long workshop, participants will learn about Peer Instruction, serve as the "class" in which Peer Instruction is... Read more about Peer Instruction
Rubrics Workshop, at OnRamps Fall Professional Development Seminar, The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX), Monday, December 9, 2013:
Rubrics are powerful tools that can help prepare students for postsecondary success. In this workshop, we will use rubric exercises to simulate the academic behaviors and work habits rubrics can promote. We will also review six ways rubrics can go beyond scoring guides to personalize feedback, make students' practice more efficient, encourage scholarly engagement, and help students monitor their own learning and progress.

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