Peer Instruction

Educating the Innovators of the 21st Century, at Pearson Book Event, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA), Monday, April 7, 2014:
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 Universidad de los Lagos (Osorno, Chile), Tuesday, August 28, 2012:
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
Introduction to Peer Instruction, at Physics and Astronomy New Faculty Workshop (Greenbelt, MD), Monday, June 28, 2010:
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
Education: Transferring information or engaging the mind?, at HKUST Teaching and Learning Symposium, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Hong Kong), Wednesday, December 12, 2001:
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. Students get frustrated because they are unable to grasp simple concepts. Instructors get... Read more about Education: Transferring information or engaging the mind?
Memorization or Understanding: Are We Teaching the Right Thing? The Benefits of Peer-to-Peer Teaching, at Course on Advanced Teaching Skills: Stimulating Lively and High Yield Learning through the Use of Interactive and Innovative Teaching Techniques, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School's Postgraduate Medical Education Program (Boston,MA), Saturday, May 31, 2014:
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? The Benefits of Peer-to-Peer Teaching
Flipping the STEM classroom: How to turn your students' worlds upside down, at Frontiers of Engineering Education Educational Innovation Seminar Series, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA), Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Instructors all over the globe are turning their students' worlds upside down by flipping their classrooms. In a flipped class, teachers typically move information coverage out of the lecture hall so that they can better leverage in-class time to address student misconceptions. In this workshop, Dr. Julie Schell will introduce the flipped classroom technique, review its history, and present some practical strategies teachers can use to design learning environments that facilitate student engagement with STEM subject-matter both in and outside of class. Attendees will experience live... Read more about Flipping the STEM classroom: How to turn your students' worlds upside down
Why You Can Pass Tests But Still Fail in the Real World, at Making the Large Classroom Small: The Flipped Classroom, Winona State University (Winona, MN), Thursday, August 21, 2014:
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 Why You Can Pass Tests But Still Fail in the Real World
Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?, at New England Association of Schools and Colleges Annual Meeting (Boston, MA), Thursday, December 6, 2012:
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?
Confessions of a converted lecturer, at 10th Workshop on Active Learning in Engineering Education (Santiago, Chile), Tuesday, January 11, 2011:
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 Conversations about Active Teaching and Learning Faculty Seminar, Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI), Wednesday, March 17, 2004:
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. Students get frustrated because they are unable to grasp simple concepts. Instructors get... Read more about Confessions of a converted lecturer
Assessment: The silent killer of learning, at EduTECH 2015 K-12 Congress (Brisbane, Australia), Tuesday, June 2, 2015:
Why is it that stellar students sometimes fail in the workplace while dropouts succeed? Are current assessment practices authentic? How do you implement an assessment process that supports the new interactive teaching techniques and 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' learning and study. Unless we provide a holistic approach to assessment of teaching and learning, it is difficult to produce meaningful and sustainable educational change.

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