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2014

Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?, at Peer Instruction Event, Insper (São Paulo, Brazil), Friday, March 21, 2014:
talk_2282.pdf
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 Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?
Peer Instruction: Part I, at Program on Teaching and Learning Innovation, UNISAL (Lorena, Brazil), Thursday, March 20, 2014:
talk_2284.pdf
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 Peer Instruction: Part I
Disrupting Higher Education with Technological Innovation, at HEASPA Brown Bag, The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX), Thursday, March 20, 2014:
talk_2287.pdf
Charles Eliot’s elective system initiated at Harvard University in the 1890s radically transformed the field of higher education. It is one of only a few truly disruptive innovations to catalyze universal change in how people learn on American college and university campuses. The only other innovation in learning that approaches this scale is another Harvard pedagogy – the Case Study Method, also developed in the late 19th century. Around the same time, one of the world’s most enduring technological innovations was born: the automobile. With thousands of advances since that time, todayâ... Read more about Disrupting Higher Education with Technological Innovation
Peer Instruction: Part II, at Program on Teaching and Learning Innovation, UNISAL (Lorena, Brazil), Thursday, March 20, 2014:
talk_2285.pdf
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 short workshop, participants will learn about Peer Instruction, serve as the "class" in which Peer Instruction is demonstrated,... Read more about Peer Instruction: Part II
Flat space, deep learning, at Program on Teaching and Learning Innovation, UNISAL (Lorena, Brazil), Wednesday, March 19, 2014:
talk_2283.pdf
The teaching of physics to engineering students has remained stagnant for close to a century. In this novel team-based, project-based approach, we break the mold by giving students ownership of their learning. This new course has no standard lectures or exams, yet students’ conceptual gains are significantly greater than those obtained in traditional courses. The course blends six best practices to deliver a learning experience that helps students develop important skills, including communication, estimation, problem solving, and team skills, in addition to a solid conceptual understanding... Read more about Flat space, deep learning
Peer instruction and interactive learning in the future classroom, at Future Schools, Australian Technology Park (Sydney, Australia), Friday, March 14, 2014:
talk_2280.pdf
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 Peer instruction and interactive learning in the future classroom
Flat space, deep learning, at Team-Based Learning Collaborative Annual Conference (St. Petersburg, FL), Thursday, March 6, 2014
The teaching of physics to engineering students has remained stagnant for close to a century. In this novel team-based, project-based approach, we break the mold by giving students ownership of their learning. This new course has no standard lectures or exams, yet students’ conceptual gains are significantly greater than those obtained in traditional courses. The course blends six best practices to deliver a learning experience that helps students develop important skills, including communication, estimation, problem solving, and team skills, in addition to a solid conceptual understanding... Read more about Flat space, deep learning
The Principles and Practice of Physics, at Colorado School of Mines (Golden, CO), Monday, March 3, 2014
The Principles and Practice of Physics is a groundbreaking new calculus-based introductory physics textbook that uses a unique organization and pedagogy to allow students to develop a true conceptual understanding of physics alongside the quantitative skills needed in the course. The book organizes introductory physics around the conservation principles and provides a unified contemporary view of introductory physics. In this talk we will discuss the unique architecture of the book, the conservation-laws-first approach, and results obtained with this book.
Blended Learning 101, at OnRamps Spring Professional Development Seminar, The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX), Monday, February 24, 2014:
talk_2276.pdf
In this seminar, we will construct an understanding of what blended learning is and what it is not. Participants will generate their own definitions of blended learning and identify elements of their classroom teaching that qualify. We will also collaborate to determine why blended learning is important.

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