Let the Final Blog Begin:
It just seems like yesterday, that Michael said his infamous quote, “SHOW ME THE DATA!” and the TAs did their end of the semester TA lecture. That is just hard to accept, the end of the semester, we were just having so much fun! Why does it have to end? I guess it is fair, Dr. Gurung DOES need to have a summer break too!
Engagement for 250+
I have to be honest and I have never seen such a huge class be as attentive and involved with the lecture as this class. I have had Intro. to Psych in Rose Hall 250 before and it was completely different in so many ways. This semester’s set-up with the selective 6 TAs and having Dr. Gurung’s teaching energy and overall strategies have made quite the difference. The Teaching Tips book really goes into detail about using many different types of media and tools to help keep student attention during a lecture, and I really think that in this class, we had used it all very well. From the TA lecture to Dr. Gurung’s lectures, it was NEVER the same old slide-show lecture. I really believe the spontaneity in lecturing is crucial and that goes for the in-class activities. The Teaching Tips book has also praised and encouraged applying and using the class material to solve a problem in a collaborative group setting. These activities weren’t so hard to conduct and they really helped with gauging retention, application, attendance, and these activities were relatively easy points. The in-class activities were also spontaneous and very meaningful; I really do think that students appreciate the application and the points.
We don’t need to read a book or have to be told that students will become more engaged in class if they are called on, by name and feel like the professor and TAs know who they are. The fact that Dr. Gurung took the time to memorize a good 2/3 of the student’s names and know where each student sat in the classroom shows effort and consideration on his part. The students truly feel more important and a big part of the lecture when they are asked for input or their opinion. Sending out a friendly concerned email out to students who had missed some class also added to the feeling needed in class and cared about (hopefully not adding any kind of entitlement). Class doesn’t seem so daunting to the students when the professor and/or TAs know your name; this is especially important for first year and non-traditional students coming to college for the first time. Our school prides on being a school where professors and students have a personal and close interaction, unlike other schools where it is sometimes rare to have a professor even teach class. Even being an undergraduate and having the opportunity to be a TA is rare; this is where UWGB stands out and offers more opportunity to its students.
Brainstorming for Student Engagement
The G-Team had done well coming up with ideas and ways to prepare for 250+ students and how to engage such a large group of various students. I had a background of knowing how to engage first-year students and the potential benefit of using Facebook as a tool to help. However, I have learned that this doesn’t work for all groups of students and my research in social networks have sent me in circles. I have found that social networking is important for first-year students, students who are extroverted and involved to begin with (according to my experiment’s results). Past research on the matter has explained that introverted or socially awkward Facebook users are logged-on to the network more but are not socially engaged like their extroverted counterparts. I feel like that our use of Facebook did help; I feel like any use of it will do more good than no good. The use of Facebook for our class did bring out an extra source for our students; adding the neuron video and welcoming students and TAs to post interesting psych links just added more connections for these students to make between life and class (Connecting Learning to Life). We did well making sure that the group didn’t get too cluttered with useless and inappropriate information. Having the group as an option for students to join also gives students an extra feeling of belonging and feeling like a part of the class. I think use of social networks in college (just as how we used it) gives the idea to the students, that the professor and TAs are approachable (more human-like as opposed to being super-human) and are informed about current trends. When used appropriately, I feel like Facebook and other social networks can be used for engagement and another outlet for learning.
The Pod emails were another good use of internet technology. I had used emails for my seminar group but I didn’t send out nearly as many emails as some of the TAs had for this course. There were times where I sat there in my chair thinking, “Is anybody really reading my emails?” but with time, the students came around and responded, soon after I was meeting with students outside of class for their benefit. I started out using the Pod emails every week but was soon after, discouraged to send a weekly email; the students frankly thought that the pod emails were annoying and useless. I took that lesson and cut-back on the emails but did not complete eliminate sending the pod emails in order to continue the benefit for those students who relied on those emails for last minute reminders and tips. When I sent more meaningful emails such as Study Table/Review Session reminders and Exam tips, my pod students appreciated those more than the “check-in” emails (those may have been more meaningful for seminar students or in the beginning of the semester but certainly not weekly).Perhaps some groups of students appreciate those weekly emails more than my group did but that is something that has to be determined through trial and error.
I am not sure if I can speak for the other TAs but from what I have seen and heard, I feel like that I saw a greater number of students after each exam and for the paper. I did not mind that at all and I am not complaining, I just feel like I did something right and somehow I made myself more approachable for students who may feel very vulnerable, especially after bombing an exam. That “something right” may have been an inherited skill and experience gained from working with first-year seminar students (and I like to think that I have a good personality that makes students feel comfortable talking about such issues with me, I hate to think that cause I feel conceited). I had also dedicated my time after each review session to stick around and answer the questions that students may have had but were too shy to ask in front of the group (I know that I have earned the skill of reading confused expressions from my seminar work). I had also took the time to talk with students before, after, and outside of class to make myself more approachable and useful. I have learned a lot by meeting the students throughout the average day, and for example, I was asked outside of class by a couple of students if there could be a study table later on Monday or Tuesday nights. That is how the waterfall study table sessions started and they were highly attended and surprisingly easy to handle on my own.
There are going to be some students who just aim low in and achieve with such low standards, making it hard for the Team’s high standards of having a perfect or high attendance and quiz score rates. I mean, the Team had done well brainstorming for ideas and ways to increase these rates and meet our standards but we cannot engage those students who have set their low goals and put their mind to things other than attending class. I have learned this ALL too well working with my seminar class where I had two brilliant students just suddenly fall off the face of the earth. I have learned not to take it personally when a student fails to show up for class, take a quiz, or even talk in class; no matter how much effort and time you put into each student to stay engaged there is nothing you can do to help when a student has checked out or made their mind up not to come to class. It is a hard lesson to learn and experience but as a peer mentor, a TA, or a professor you can only go so far and from there, the student has to make the decision to meet you at that point in order to move forward.
As for future on-line quizzes, TAs could send out reminders to their pods reminding students about an on line quiz but this would cripple students for they need to learn responsibility. One way to encourage more students to take more on-line quizzes without crippling their ability to be more responsible, you could have the times, dates, chapters for each on-line quiz clearly posted on the syllabus or Facebook group page. If on the Facebook page, this would be a good place for students to check in and see what is happening with the page more often and you know that students procrastinate by roaming Facebook (chances are they will notice that they have an on-line quiz they need to take).
Having two different books could have added to the chapter confusion for each on-line quiz but that really doesn’t explain how having one book would encourage all students to take the on-line quiz. Perhaps changing the weight of the on-line quiz points would encourage students to do all of the on-line quizzes promptly and efficiently. Changing the point value of the quizzes would have students complete the quizzes and read the book more often!
Final thoughts, concluding this novel of a blog:
I want to start off by first saying thank you to Dr. Gurung, Trudi, Katie, Mandy, Josh, and Caitlyn, without the G-Team this TA experience would have been completely unfruitful and empty without an aspiring group. We were faced with a challenge and we have worked collaboratively to tackle the problem and bring out the best in a completely jammed class. You guys and dolls were extraordinary and I would have to say that we were the G-Team of the Year! You ROCK, gang!
Wow, 250 is a dramatic difference from 25 but there are similar struggles and goals for both numbers: 1.) Increasing student engagement and textbook reading. 2.) Providing the best learning experience and benefits for each student. 3.) Making the students comfortable seeking for help from TAs and approaching professor. I feel like we have done the best to ensure that our 250 students felt comfortable approaching each TA and professor which helped with enhancing each student’s learning experience. Although, there were some of those students who just failed in aspiring to go to class more and completing all the on-line chapter quizzes, we have to say that we gave it our best effort. We have learned and we can now grow from this learning experience. Our class attendance and engagement I felt were very successful than what I had anticipated. I felt like the Gang had done well in this area.
I had gained a lot of insight on the mechanics of teaching and learning for both large and small groups of students. I understand that as a mentor or teacher you can only go half-way for a student and the other half is dependent on the student; you can only do so much for a student but if their mind is made up to check-out, there is no stopping that student. As mentors, TAs, and professors, is it important to provide as many opportunities and benefits for students to take advantage of. Along with these opportunities, next comes providing the proper scaffolding that engages, challenges, and enables every student to learn the material to their full potential. If the students can connect the knowledge given to them from this course to everyday issues and problems and apply their skills and knowledge to solve these issues, then we have successfully completed the mission. This mission starts with a professor and his TA team, aiming for 250+ student classroom success.