11 Active Learning Activities File Share

Below are the files associated with the article "11 Active Learning Activities".  Please feel free to use these in your active classrooms!

Here is a link to the article published on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/11-active-learning-activities-your-business-class-renae-kuhl?published=u

1. Card Game - Game Theory

Link to Article

2. Case Study - Several Topics

Examples coming soon..

3. Deal or No Deal - Prospect Theory

Link to Article
PowerPoint Game Template
Excel File (Banker's Answers)

4. Communication Pyramid

There are 5 Worker Instruction Sheets below.  You do not need to have exactly 5.  I have done this with anywhere between 3 - 7 workers.  If you do add more, you just need to ensure that there is one symbol on the CEO's instructions that is different/does not appear, on any of the workers sheets.

'A' Communication Instructions (CEO)
'B' Communication Instructions (Middle Manager)
'C' Communication Instructions (Worker 1)
'D' Communication Instructions (Worker 2)
'E' Communication Instructions (Worker 3)
'F' Communication Instructions (Worker 4)
'G' Communication Instructions (Worker 5)

5. Penny Slide - Quality Control/Control Charts

Control Chart Template

Student Instruction Sheet
Penny Slide Measure

7. Balanced Scorecard

Balanced Scorecard Example

8. Self Assessments

Link to Diversity Article

My Favorite Ted Talks

Margaret Heffernan

http://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_dare_to_disagree

Shawn Achor

http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work.html?source=email#.Uqvu58u-qeB.email

Simon Sinek

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action

Dan Pink
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation

Sir Ken Robinson
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity
http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_how_to_escape_education_s_death_valley

Two Great Ted Talks

One of the top 20 videos watched on Ted.com.  Reflection and Introversion - a great way to find who we are and what we want.

Introversion


Next, Why you will Fail to Have a Great Career


Why you will Fail to have a great Career

Those pesky "end of interview" questions. What should you ask, why and how.

One of the most forgotten/overlooked parts of the interview... those questions you are expected to ask the interviewer at the end.  In my experience, many people struggle with this and either offer a simple, run-of-the-mill question "why do you like to work here", or give a "you have answered all my questions throughout the interview" answer.  However, the “do you have any questions for us” question provides the interviewee an opportunity to sell themselves one more time.   As the interviewer, I respect when someone comes prepared with their own series of tough questions for me.  This proves to me that they are engaged and interested in the position, company, and interview. 

Take the opportunity with this final question in the interview and ask the right questions to ensure that 1 - they know you are right for the job, and 2 - you know you are right for the job.

 One of my favorite questions to ask at the end of an interview (and not so much my favorite to get asked) is "Is there anything about what you have heard from me today that causes you any concern?".. or another version "Based on what you now know about me, are there any areas of this position you feel that I do not have the adequate experience, skills, or education to do?"

A little scary - right?  You are asking them to critique you right there!  Right in front of you!   ARE YOU CRAZY ??  Yep, slightly, but that is neither here nor there. 

The truth is – impressions are made about you, right or wrong, throughout the interview based on how you talk, how you dress, how nervous you are, if you answer something too detailed/or not detailed enough, look confident, smell, maintain eye contact….  Asking the interviewer to verbalize these impressions gives you an opportunity to correct wrong ones, or expand into areas that you want to clarify.

That's the key - the opportunity to respond.  However, if you are going to be bold enough to ask these types of questions, you had better be ready to respond with a strong answer – even if you don’t agree with or like what they tell you.  This is another time that preparation comes in handy.

Sometimes the feedback they are going to provide is obvious and you can prep – for example you have the wrong degree, not enough education, little or no experience, etc. 

Sometimes it is not so obvious - not coming off as a team player, jumped jobs, a little to chatty... etc.    Either way, be prepared and do NOT, I repeat, do NOT give a wishy-washy answer.  This is your last chance to prove to them that you are the right person for this job.

Another use of the question “do you have any questions for us” is identifying your fit into the organization.  The interview is just as much about them learning about you as it is about you learning about them.   As J.T. O'Donnell recently documented in an article called "7 Lies Employers Use to Trick You Into Working For Them", a shortage in skilled labor is causing some employers to 'stretch' the truth a bit to get you in the door.  There are ways around this, however.  O'Donnell suggests that you use the end of interview questions as a way to ensure they are honest on those promises they are making.  Below are some examples of questions that can help you do this:

1. Can you give me an example of someone who was hired in the last two years to a similar role who has already advanced in their career here? In particular, can you explain what they did to make that happen?
2. Can I meet someone in the company who has doubled their income with the bonus structure? I'd like to learn more about how they accomplished that.
3. I know territories can change as the business changes, what do you put into place to ensure this never happens? Is there a written legal contact of some sort?
4. Can you break down the formal training versus the informal training I will receive? And, may I speak to someone who has been in this role a year to see how they best used the training to their advantage?
5. What is the procedure for requesting to work from home? Can I speak to someone who uses this scheduling flexibility so I can learn what he/she is doing to make sure she is meeting the company's goals when working remotely?
6. Can you share with me a recent example of someone who was hired on to help due to growth. What is the company's process for identifying and funding additional headcount?
7. Can you share with me a recent example of someone who was hired on to fix a problem and has now gone on to a new project? What did they do to ensure they were given the opportunity to move on?

These are great examples of professionally worded questions that can help you identify what they are all about.

Again, don't skimp on any part of that interview - especially those final opportunities to clarify, inquire, and justify your relevancy to the position.  A great way to get the last word in is to use those "do you have any questions" questions to your advantage.

J.T. O'Donnell.  "7 Lies Employers Use To Trick You Into Working For Them".  February 17, 2015. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/7-lies-employers-use-trick-you-working-them-j-t-o-donnell

 

Rigor vs. Rigid

     A few years ago a fellow instructor commented to me that I was "not rigorous enough in my classroom".  When I asked him to explain this comment further, he responded that my flexibility in the classroom was making the other faculty on campus look ‘bad’.  It is true that I allow late work and am willing to work with students on deadlines. And I agree that this flexibility may cause other “less flexible” instructors to look less appealing (when the student had a choice between professors), but how does that apply to rigor in education?  Does flexibility impact the level of academic rigor experienced by students? Have we used the term rigor less in the role of academic excellence and more in the traditional definition of "rigidness"?

     I understand greatly the need for deadlines and schedules.  I teach business courses and have several years of business management experience, so boy do I know deadlines.  I just don't understand how the concept of academic rigor applies to these hard lines of full credit verses no credit for work being done based on a predefined schedule set by relentless educators.  Lets take a look at the formal definition of academic rigor, which is different that the dictionary version (the definition my colleague was using earlier), but more along the lines of academic excellence.
   Strong, Silver and Perini (2001) defined rigor as "the goal of helping students develop the capacity to understand content that is complex, ambiguous, provocative, and personally or emotionally challenging".  I love the "develop the capacity" portion of that definition - it truly defines what our role should be as educators.   Other definitions of academic rigor are more focused: meeting course objectives, excellence in instruction, ability to apply knowledge gained...  These definitions are all appropriate for that excellence, that quality in the classroom educators should be seeking.  None of these academic definitions use the words deadline, inflexible, hard, harsh, etc.
     I realize that rigor has become the new buzz word in academics – Obama has been quoted saying that we need to expect more from our students and provide “complete and competitive” education (Obama, 2009).  The no child left behind also pushed the need for more competent students and academic programs.  I can align, however, with Nilson on her feelings of instructional inadequacies when she first became a faculty member, as described in her book “To Improve the Academy” (Nilson, 2010).  When I first became an adjunct faculty member I had delusions of all my students learning every topic I taught and images of them hanging on every word as I spoke.  I learned quickly the truth in education - I had to challenge students and engage them to develop application techniques.  I had to step out of my box and be willing to relate to students and their needs.  It was not enough to follow traditional lecture models, but if I wanted them to learn, I had to stretch my own abilities as an instructor and look beyond the traditional – all in the search of this academic ‘rigor’.

     As I grew in my instructional abilities, I found that students had been abused.  Maybe abused is a strong word, but they have had some pretty bad images set upon them.  In some cases these images are warranted, but not in most. They were treated less like academic adult learners, and because of a few bad examples over the years, had all been categorized into youngsters that did not want to learn and were only looking for a grade.  There became this separation between student and faculty or student and researcher.  We had lost our abilities as educators to motivate and encourage participation in learning. A friend of mine stated it very well to me once: "I get one year older each new academic year, and they stay the same age".  This distance in age, and ability to relate, continues to divide our interests and ability to trust.  As one educator recently stated in a group of her peers "why do I need to adjust my teaching to meet my student's expectations?  they need to adjust their learning style to the way I teach".  What if we took that approach to everything we do?  We no longer consider each other's needs, but rather expect others to succumb to our ways of doing things, because 'we' are always right?
     In my experience, I have found that a little trust and reaching out to relate goes a long way with students. For example, I allow student's to challenge me on graded test answers.  As we are reviewing assessment results, if they can effectively state a case as to why their incorrect answer is correct, I give them points back.  But I do it in a way that is open and trusting.  I then send around a sheet of paper asking anyone who missed that question to write their name down and I will return the points to them.  This exercise helps improve academic rigor on several levels:  1) it helps build trust in the classroom, 2) it provides me with an opportunity to review the objectives of the assessed unit one more time, and 3) what best way for students to learn than to 'teach' me?  When they challenge an answer they have to be ready to 'teach' me why their answer is correct.  In many cases, I have students writing notes in the margins of the exams, pre-explaining why they selected one answer over another - just in case they get it wrong.   Some of you are wondering how many students 'lie' on the sheet of paper that I send around, and get additional points when they are not warranted.  Personally, I do not care if one or two students earn an extra point or two this way - as it is not worth the time to me to have all the students return their exams back to me so I can go through each one to ensure that only the students who had the question wrong get the points back -- I call this chasing nickles with dollars.  The reward here is not an additional point or two, but the ability for students to challenge me and learn.  That what this education thing is all about.
     But, out of curiosity, I did recently test my theory that students would be more honest than not with this method.  After the last exam, I predetermined that I was going to give points back for a particular question, which had been worded strangely so several students had misunderstood the correct answer.  I wrote down all the students names who did not get a question correct prior to going into the classroom.  We went through the review as normal and they did challenge me on the question I had predetermined as a point back question.  I agreed with their case and asked everyone who had that question wrong to write their name on the paper going around.  The students had also successfully challenged me on one other question on the exam, so some students were earning 2 points back.  After class, I reviewed the list I had against the student's list and had only one student who had asked for an additional point that he should not have received back.  In a class of 55, 37 of the students were to earn the point back because they answered incorrectly, 38 students had written their name down on the paper to get the point back.   Interestingly enough, the student who added the extra point, stopped by my office later that week (after I had updated their grades online) and said that he made a mistake and he should not have been given the extra point.
      I was satisfied that the trust we were building was improving their ability to be open and collaborate in the classroom.  This increased collaboration was building their ability to learn effectively,  I was reaching out to them, letting them learn on their level.  I am also very open to allowing late work when they notify me they they will be out. As a business manager and leader I found that if you give employees flexibility in the workplace (hours, work from home, etc) they become more loyal and motivated to perform.  The same is true in education.  There are several articles available that refer to this as the "changing education paradigm". Online learning, active learning, collaborative learning, all have had entrances into the education arena recently.  These new approaches allow us to employ flexibility - to help the students by meeting their needs - while still ensuring academic rigor.  I relate this to the Hawthorne studies done around 1895.  These studies done by Mayo concluded that involvement by employees increased motivation and performance.  Leadership in organizations have used this model to transition from the scientific and bureaucratic leadership techniques to one that is more participatory - Human Relations focused.  We still use these methods in organizations today to motivate and lead employees.  The active/involved learning models have been able to demonstrate increased retention of materials and improved thinking skills ( Chickering & Gamson, McKeachie, Prince).  Although in most cases measuring such things is challenging and the results reported are small, in every case there was improved student attitudes about the class and objectives.
    I have employed these techniques in my classrooms and have identified increased participation and attendance.  Both of these factors helped improve performance overall.  Rather than focusing on the hard lines of schedules and due dates -- my students will get enough of that when they get into the 'real world' -- I focus on education as an area of open collaboration, learning groups, accountability to knowledge, excellence, flexibility and yes - academic rigor.

 

Guest Post - The Teacher's Apple

An Infographic by Open Colleges



This Guest Post was authored by Andrianes Pinantoan.  Andrianes Pinantoan is part of the team behind Open Colleges. When not working, you can find him on Google+.

A Justification for Collaborative Learning Environments. Part 4 - Comparative Analysis

A Justification for Collaborative Learning Environments. 

Part 4 - Comparative Analysis

INTRODUCTION

Collaborative learning, a form of active learning, is an alternative learning technique to the transitional lecture based styles.  collaborative learning involves teams of students working toward a common solution through group discussion.  This form of learning encourages active participation by the learners in the teams.  In this style of learning, the instructor's role changes from one of knowledge transfer to one of knowledge facilitation.  Instructors focus on encouraging engagement by team members and facilitating the learning process. 

Teamwork is a requirement in today's businesses.  Organizational structures have seen a change from the tall, formal hierarchies, to flatter, team-based structures.  Bishop and Mahajan identified that business managers use teams to meet organizational goals 68% of the time (n.d.).  Other studies identify that team development skills as the fourth most most cited required skills in organizations (Blanchard, n.d.).  During the process of learning the course objectives in collaborative learning, students develop the teamwork skills organizations rely on so heavily.  The process of the classroom is part of the learning.

Two different methods of teaching were used in the same course over different semesters.  The purpose of the study was to compare the learning outcomes between lecture-oriented techniques and collaborative learning techniques in a similar course.  The study evaluated student's average scores from an activity that was presented as a quiz in a lecture-oriented course against the same activity used as a collaborative learning team assignment in the following semester.  Additionally, retention was measured by presenting the above mentioned activity a second time to the collaborative learning students.

METHODS

In the Spring of 2012, a Business Course was taught using a lecture-oriented method.  In the Fall of 2012, collaborative learning was introduced for the same course for the purpose of this research.  The student's learning outcomes will be evaluated by the following two methods:

1.  The same activity was given in both semesters.  A careful diagnosis of average scores and student performance between the two semester can be utilized to analyze students' learning outcomes

2.  Students in the collaborative learning sections were asked to complete the activity a second time individually, in a later class, to identify retention of the assessed materials.

RESULTS/CONCLUSION

The results of this study indicate that collaborative learning techniques lead to an increase in learning and retention by students.  

Although the students in the lecture-oriented course received a longer lecture covering the assessed materials, their average score was 11% lower than the collaborative course students.  the average score for the assessed materials in the lecture-oriented course was a 63%.  The students who received a more condensed version of the lecture, but collaborated on the activity, averaged 74%.  

The second attempt at the activity by the collaborative learning students resulted in an average score of 70%.  This indicates a strong level of retention, and again, an increased understanding for the assessed materials over the lecture-oriented method from the previous semester.