These can be used in both 'show and tells' and 'hands on' workshops
Provide a rationale of why you are teaching something
Use a ‘seed’ to get interest – engagement. E.g. image, clickers, a personal story
Acknowledge prior learning (e.g. some may have attended another workshop - what might they get out of the session?)
Work with a sense of agreement (What are students expectations?)
Invite own experiences
Include stories
Always look out for ways to elicit info out of class
Guide students in own investigations
Using humour
Engaging attitude
Gauge your audience
Use learning objects e.g. Youtube clips
Provide practicality/relevance to the students
A gripping statistic e.g. correlation between Library use and grades
A powerful image e.g. tip of the ice berg
Funny image e.g. meme
Standing 1-2-3 in pairs (ice breaker, or refresh moment) ( Lisa)
Boolean - ice cream demonstration (Sanya)
Dancing intro video (Melanie)
Mr Bean in mini/Rowan Atkinson racing metaphor - what you are now, what we can get you to (Elaine)
Mix & Match ( Melanie)
Sponge ball - throw to talker (Sanya)
New terminology memory game (Sanya)
Bring physical books, journals to pass around the class and help understand the difference (Lisa)
How
Students first work on a problem individually (think). They then speak with the person next to them, and together the pair form a joint solution/response to share with the class
Why
Having students explain their ideas to a peer helps them clarify their own thinking.
Students learn from each other.
Students are more willing to share an idea with the whole class after first sharing it with a peer.
What I know / What I want to know / What I have learnt
How
Ask students to make a table with three columns:
| K = what I know | W = what I want to know | L = what I have learnt |
...and write what they know about the topic in the first column, and what they want to know in the second - this can be done at the beginning of class;
finally write what they have learnt in the third column.
They need only write one or two things per column, and they can do all of this at the end of class too.
Why
This is a way for the student to reflect on the topic and why it is relevant to them.
It is a way for the teacher to assess the prior knowledge of students, and it is a way to assess student learning and understanding of the workshop content.
How
A topic is split into smaller parts (as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle). Each member of a group of students learns about a different part of the topic, and then all members report back to the group. That way, the group members put the jigsaw together, and teach each other about a topic.
e.g. This could be used in information literacy to investigate aspects of databases - for example each student could look at how to use one function of a database and report back to the group, so the group together learns how to use many functions in the database.
Why
This activity helps students to build communication and teamwork skills. It means they are taking responsibility for a specifc task, and actively engaging in, their own learning.
More info
This means of learning (cooperative learning) was initially investigated by Aronson (1978) in a culturally diverse school classroom, and was found to be more effective than competitive learning (as cited by TeacherVision, n.d.). Other studies have also found cooperative learning to be useful in the tertiary environment (e.g. as noted in Kyndt et al, 2013).
References
Lincoln University. (n.d.). Active Learning. Retrieved April 21, 2017, from https://tlc.lincoln.ac.nz/strategies-for-engagement/
University of Waterloo. (2012, October 30). Active learning activities. Retrieved April 21, 2017, from https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/developing-assignments/assignment-design/active-learning-activities
