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2015

Reflection on the implementation of Peer Instruction at SPU, at Program on Peer Instruction, Singapore Polytechnic (Singapore), Monday, March 16, 2015
Part I: Three staff members who attended the Nov 2014 Peer Instruction online workshop will present their experience and challenges and have an open discussion on how to improve the implementation of Flipped with Peer Instruction lessons in their courses with Professor Mazur. See below for suggested structure.

Part II: Three (different) staff members who participated in the Nov 2014 Peer Instruction online workshop will each demonstrate a ConcepTest (format: brief intro, ConcepTest in action, wrap up). Participants will then discuss and reflect on the merits of each ConcepTest.

Engaging Students One-on-One, at Program on Peer Instruction, Singapore Polytechnic (Singapore), Monday, March 16, 2015:
talk_2440.pdf
This workshop will familiarize participants to the ideas of Peer Instruction and Just- in-Time-Teaching, two research-based methods for engaging students, improving conceptual understanding, increasing retention in courses and programs, and enhancing academic performance.
Technology and Peer Instruction, at Program on Peer Instruction, Singapore Polytechnic (Singapore), Monday, March 16, 2015:
talk_2434.pdf
Demonstration and discussion of the role of technology in the implementation of Peer Instruction. In particular, we will demonstrate Learning Catalytics as a platform for administering ConcepTests and implementing Just-in-Time-Teaching. We will also demonstrate a social document annotation system to get students prepared for class.
Confessions of a converted lecturer, at Brandeis University (Waltham, MA), Monday, March 9, 2015:
talk_2410.pdf
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
Confessions of a converted lecturer, at The Education Cooperative (East Walpole, MA), Monday, March 9, 2015:
talk_2411.pdf
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
Flat space, deep learning, at Annual Meeting of the Team-based Learning Collaborative (St. Petersburg, FL), Friday, March 6, 2015:
talk_2364.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
Effective teaching and how to engage students in the classroom, at Utah Valley University (Orem, UT), Wednesday, March 4, 2015:
talk_2430.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 Effective teaching and how to engage students in the classroom
Assessment: The silent killer of learning, at Physics Department Colloquium, Brigham Young University (Provo, UT), Wednesday, March 4, 2015:
talk_2394.pdf
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
The Principles and Practice of Physics, at Brigham Young University (Provo, UT), Wednesday, March 4, 2015:
talk_2428.pdf
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.
Confessions of a converted lecturer, at Brigham Young University (Provo, UT), Wednesday, March 4, 2015:
talk_2429.pdf
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

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