As part of our orientation, we had a variety of faculty in-service activities which included ice breakers, team building exercises, and teacher training. In order to support new faculty and prepare them for their courses this fall, the McNally Smith administration invited a variety of educational consultants and PhD's from the University of Minnesota to work with all of us prior to the start of the semester.
While I have attended a myriad of teacher training workshops in the past, this year's activities felt different. As we progressed through topics like "Why Learning Styles Don't Matter and What to do About It", "Making Assessment a Learning Experience", and "Understanding Challenging Students", I realized that for the first time in my teaching career, I was intimately engaged in the topics and theories being discussed. Subjects like Bloom's Taxonomy, rubrics, Multiple Intelligences, Learning Theories, assessment, and Kolb's Learning Cycle were known entities. I was able to share, discuss, and ask meaningful questions with the seminar leaders at a higher level than any other time in my career.
Furthermore, I was able to put the technical side of my EMDT experience to good use as well. As all of us new faculty shared the inevitable issues that arise within the classroom, I felt prepared to offer creative educational solutions which involved video production, audio podcasting, blogging, and other Web 2.0 technologies with my new colleagues.
Without question, this past year at Full Sail has broadened my knowledge base in education while also empowering and inspiring me to become an even greater part of the academic discussion within my new institution.
Still, despite my enhanced background in educational theory, many of the University of Minnesota staff shared some very poignant tips and information. Dr. Paul Ching raised two very good points that I thought I should share. First, he recommended challenging students to "re-present" information in a variety of forums and media in order to assess their learning intake of a given lesson. While it seems commonplace to "test" or "quiz" or students as to their specific learning input, I really like the notion of "re-presenting". This term suggests a greater level of involvement on the part of the learner. The connotation alone of "re-presenting" alludes to oral presentation or multi-media broadcast. In short, I found this simple idea really encapsulated much of what we've learned here while also reminding me to develop assessment opportunities that involve a greater level of student participation and activity than a simple quiz or paper.
Later in the day, while discussing the value of mind mapping, (MLT anyone?) Dr. Ching also advised teachers to have students "practice retrieval" of critical concepts and topics. Through this type of practice, students are constantly recalling earlier discussions, facts, and ideas in order to solve more complex problems later on in the semester. The theory being, the more information is accessed within the brain, the stronger the neural networks involving that information will become.
Again, these ideas weren't necessarily revolutionary, however Dr. Ching was able to illustrate these concepts and techniques in a very elegant manner which reinforced the value and simplicity of employing them within the classroom.
In all, I'm really excited for the start of the school year. I feel more prepared than ever to really engage with my students and leverage technology to create an engaging learning environment. That you Full Sail, and thank you McNally Smith for taking the time to support, train, and work with teachers in helping to make a difference in the lives of young people.
I love in the photo you posted there's a woman in the background on her phone, now that's a roomful of educators. :-)
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