Further materials and references.
In this short encyclopedia, you will find brief definitions or descriptions of the terms used in ‘The teaching practice’.
‘The teaching practice’ is fairly short, and the idea of the encyclopedia is, then, that you can quickly look up central topics or concepts if you are not sure what they mean.
At the same time, the encyclopedia may be used as a stand-alone resource if you need a quick update and do not need to see definitions or descriptions in context.
In the individual paragraphs, there are references to the resource-site TREAT developed and maintained by the Centre for Teaching and Learning, Aarhus BSS, and to two books:
Furthermore, reference will be made to the video that is available on this resource site via the box ‘The body and the voice in the classroom’.
Internal references within this encyclopedia (See…) are given in alphabetical order and, thus, not in order of importance.
’Learning is not a spectator sport. You have to get down and dirty’
Our brains are designed to learn through activity. Among other things, activity is reflection, needed for our brains to really understand and construct usable knowledge (deep learning). Therefore, it is important that the students get the opportunity to reflect and test their new knowledge during class through various activities.
See attention and memory, breaks, deep learning, intermediate memory, long-term memory, note taking, think-pair-share, surface learning, time-out, voting with peer-instruction, working memory
TREAT: https://treat.au.dk/home-english > Teaching activities
In the design of both a full course and individual classes, five factors should always be taken into consideration:
Actually, the idea of alignment is based on the wish to plan the teaching so that the students construct real knowledge and do not end up mindlessly reproducing what the lecturer says or the textbooks write.
The concept is based on constructivism and, therefore, often called ‘constructive alignment’.
See constructivism, deep learning, intended learning outcomes, the SOLO taxonomy
Adults cannot keep their attention for more than 10-15 minutes at a time.
In a traditional class of 45 minutes, there are three attention phases:
What is taught during prime-time 1 is retained the best – the attention of the students is high and the things said here are often repeated during the rest of the class.
What is taught during the down-time is not retained or only feebly retained.
What is taught during prime-time 2 is retained to a certain extent – the attention has gone up but for obvious reasons, what is said will not be repeated much.
See this figure:
Thus, the lecturer should use attention-reinforcing breaks every 10 to 12 minutes. Moreover, s/he should repeat central points as much as possible and have the students work with the subject after class (for the sake of repetition of the items of the last part of the class).
The lecturer should keep the time and not go on for 2 x 45 minutes without a break. In this case, the down-time comprises a little less than 40 % of the total time. When something is especially difficult, the students would benefit from being taught in 20-minute blocks – then, the down-time is only 2 minutes or 10 %.
Of course, the performance of the lecturer also has an impact on the attention of the students – performance variety maintains and strengthens it.
See breaks, gestures, facial expressions, pose, motion, working memory, long-term memory
See performance
During class, the lecturer should insert three small breaks (after 10, 20, and 30 minutes) to strengthen the attention of the students. The breaks can have the form of a time-out, a think-pair-share, or voting with peer-instruction.
Keep the time. In practice, adults can keep their attention in max. 45 minutes, so students need a regular (15-minute) break after each lesson.
See attention and memory, deep learning, intermediate memory, long-term memory, note taking, think-pair-share, surface learning, time-out, voting with peer-instruction, working memory
See alignment
From a learning perspective, the concept of the core knowledge of the subject has nothing to do with knowledge – even though course catalogues and many lecturers use the word in that sense.
The ‘core knowledge of the subject’ is, in fact, nothing but a collection of fields within a subject defined as central by experts. The ‘core knowledge of the subject’ is not individually processed information – the definition of knowledge used here.
See information and knowledge
The learning theory stating that learning is an individual process during which the individual constructs his/her knowledge based on information from his/her surroundings and on his/her skills, existing knowledge, interests, motivation, beliefs, values, etc.
Neuroscience has proved that the constructivist concept holds true. In all respects, it is in line with the way the brain learns.
See information, knowledge
Deep learning implies that the student works to understand, to build up subject-related knowledge, and to be able to use his/her knowledge in a wider perspective. S/he does not limit him-/herself to rote learning, but strives to delve into and explore the subject. Likewise, s/he is active during class.
See active learning, attention and memory, breaks, intermediate memory, long-term memory, note taking, think-pair-share, surface learning, time-out, voting with peer-instruction, working memory
ECTS = European Credit Transfer System. It is a system used when transferring credits between universities; it makes it easier for students to have their achievements recognised across boarders (but also within Denmark).
1 ECTS = 25-30 student working hours
60 ECTS equal the working load of one year. Thus, 30 ECTS cover one semester and 20 ECTS one trimester.
Internships, BA and MA dissertations are also allocated a number of ECTS credit points.
Emotions are the motor of the learning process. Emotions decide what and how well we process information. The emotions that the information has evoked with the learner, are stored together with the contents, and they get activated when the knowledge is retrieved and reused in the working memory.
Thus, emotions are always there! Of course, they can be changed, but this only happens when the knowledge is retrieved from the long-term memory into another emotional framework.
The keyword in a teaching context: A positive learning atmosphere supports the students’ learning. The brain learns best when driven by positive emotions.
See learning atmosphere, motivation, performance
We never learn from scratch. We always relate new information to something we already know.
Therefore, each class/transition to a new topic should start with the teacher using an activity to rouse the individual students’ existing knowledge.
The lecturer may let the students reflect on certain words, expressions, or concepts – a video, headlines from newspapers or magazines, or whatever.
At the same time, the students may be asked to consider whether this has any relevance for them personally. The thing is that information that has some personal relevance, is learnt better and more efficiently than other information.
Signposting also contributes to activating the existing knowledge of the students.
See constructivism, signposting
See gestures, facial expressions, pose, motion
The brain works best if and when it has fixed patterns of support during the information processing.
Therefore, a well formulated study program, an agenda and a statement of the intended learning outcomes for the class, signposting, wrapping up, etc. are central ingredients in the teaching practice.
See structure, the SOLO taxonomy
Gestures, facial expressions, pose, motion are important elements of communication and should therefore be used in a targeted way during teaching. From a communication perspective, the body language should stress and modify what is being said.
But there is more to this: The bodily expression of the lecturer decides how the students view him/her (trustworthy or not? serious or not?) and, based on this, how they value the information delivered.
Furthermore, the body language may give an impression of presence and attentiveness. This, again, contribute to the positive learning atmosphere.
See emotions, learning atmosphere, performance
See the video ‘The body and the voice in the classroom’
Information is what we sense in and from our surrounding world – not least, what we see and what we hear. Information is input to our knowledge construction.
We find information in the internet, in encyclopedias, in manuals – and the lecturer is, actually, nothing but an information channel: The students themselves have to process the information delivered by the lecturer just like they do when they read a text, watch a video, etc.
We process information based on our skills, our existing knowledge, interests, motivation, beliefs, values, etc., and during this process emotions are added to the content. The information processing is, thus, deeply individual – no two individuals learn in the same way.
See knowledge
ILOs are statements of what the students should be able to do when they have completed a course or when they have participated in class.
The ILOs of the course are published in the course catalogue and the ILOs of the individual classes should be shown on a slide together with an agenda for the classroom session.
The ILOs are formulated based on the SOLO taxonomy: After this course/class you should be able to…
See alignment, fixed patterns, the SOLO taxonomy
An intermediate station between working memory and long-term memory. The knowledge stored here is fleeting and, typically, it will disappear after a short period of time (2-3 weeks). Furthermore, the knowledge is rather one-dimensional because it is not attached to other fields of knowledge.
The prerequisite for knowledge in the intermediate memory being stored in the long-term memory is steadily working with it – that is, repeating it and trying to fully understand it.
Students who re-read texts and revise a subject before an exam without trying to really understand and connect the new knowledge to existing knowledge, will usually realise that the knowledge disappears again – it hasn’t found its way from the intermediate memory to the long-term memory.
Se working memory, long-term memory
Whenever we meet another person, our brain starts interpreting this other person in a quick and unconscious process: his/her looks, gestures, facial expressions, pose, motion, use of his/her voice (and definitely also looks and dress, but there is no research on this so far).
The result of the interpretation (trustworthy or not trustworthy, arrogant or friendly, organised or unorganised) has an important impact on how we receive information from the other person (can we take him/her seriously) and, thus, on the learning outcome.
The result also influences the learning atmosphere and the emotions attached to what is being taught.
See learning atmosphere, emotions and performance
A positive learning atmosphere is crucial to the students’ learning.
See emotions, performance
Individually processed information stored in the long-term memory.
We process information each in our very own way based on our existing knowledge, emotions, interests, motivation, beliefs, values, etc. Therefore, no person knows exactly the same as another – and not at all in the same way.
The emotions evoked during the learning process are re-evoked when we retrieve our knowledge and use it in our working memory.
See working memory, the core knowledge of the subject, long-term memory and information
Our knowledge is stored in the long-term memory – neural networks spread out all over the cortex (the folded surface of the brain). Here, the knowledge remains – at least if we reactivate it at regular intervals; otherwise, it will disappear.
Storing new knowledge can be a very long process – storing does not happen quickly, but can last several years.
The way goes from the working memory and via the intermediate memory. The technique behind the storing is repetition, repetition, and repetition. The incentive for the enduring work with a given topic, the repetition, is positive emotions and motivation.
What we store and how we store it, depends to a large extent on our emotions. If we add negative emotions to a given topic, the brain will have difficulties activating this knowledge in toto, for, in principle, the brain fights negative emotions and will try to suppress them and the content they are attached to. On the other hand, positive emotions mean that we retain the knowledge well. They will make us more curious and ready to learn more.
See working memory, intermediate memory, emotions, motivation, and knowledge
See working memory, intermediate memory, long-term memory, and attention and memory
See gestures, facial expressions, pose, motion
See the video ‘The body and the voice in the classroom’
Psychology defines motivation as the sum of processes that give our behaviour direction and goal. Motivation is a crucial factor in the knowledge construction; without motivation, learning does not happen. A student’s motivation supports his/her learning behaviour and learning strategies.
Research lists many types of motivation; one way of describing the field is as follows:
Intrinsic and performance motivation usually leads to deep learning (being able to use one’s knowledge in a constructive, innovative, and qualified way). Performance motivation, however, can degenerate to senseless rote learning and, thus, surface learning, first of all if the requirements of a course are too low.
Social motivation can also lead to deep learning if it is based on a serious wish to pursue goals important for one’s culture, family, friends, etc.
Extrinsic motivation typically leads to surface learning (rote learning without real understanding).
Also a fifth type of motivation should be mentioned: work avoidance. This concept implies that a student tries to get through a course as quickly and easily as possible and with a minimum of effort.
When teaching, the lecturer should try to support the types of motivation that lead to deep learning. Engagement, enthusiasm, well-dosed praise, etc. can contribute to ignite the inner motivation of the students (‘This is really interesting’), their social motivation (‘I would like to be like the lecturer – as an expert and as a person), and their performance motivation (‘I really want to do this, come hell and high waters – I’ll work hard on this!’).
On the other hand, if a lecturer keeps saying that something really is difficult, that students usually do not work enough, or that the failure rate of the course is generally outrageously high, the students’ motivation might drop and their self-efficacy go down (their belief that they can develop within the subject).
See deep learning, emotion, learning atmosphere, performance, self-efficacy
Many students use too much time and too much effort to more or less write what the lecturer says in shorthand. Thus, the most frequent question during lectures is, ‘Would you please repeat what you just said?’
A lecturer should make it clear to the students that there is an important difference between
This can be accomplished by the use of ‘Nifty notes’: The students bring a document uploaded by the teacher with broad questions concerning the topics of the class – e.g. ‘What is new to me?’, ‘Something I now understand’, ‘Something I still don’t fully grasp’. Nifty notes may be introduced during a break in the lesson when students are given 1-2 minutes to write something under the headlines given.
The students should definitely write by hand – hand written notes have a much better learning effect than notes written on a pc/tablet.
Now and then, the lecturer should ask the students to help one another solve any problems they may have (‘Something I still don’t fully grasp’). Furthermore, s/he can ask the students to write down their problem on a piece of paper and leave the note after class; thus, the lecturer gets a good impression of the difficulties the students still struggle with.
See active learning, deep learning
The performance of the lecturer is important for the way the students evaluate the quality of the topics taught and for maintaining their attention.
Furthermore, the performance of the lecturer has an impact on the interaction between him/her and the students: Openness regarding gestures, facial expressions, pose, and motion lets the students feel that the lecturer talks to them and not in front of them with no contact whatsoever.
See attention and memory, emotion, motivation, interpretation
See gestures, facial expressions, pose, motion
The 7-second technique
The technique is based on what we know about our limited working memory: When the students hear your question, their working memory starts processing the information. If new details/clarifications are added, the working memory must take in more information. Thus, some of the information being processed must be let go. At the same time, the lecturer speaking disturbs the fragile working memory, and the student loses the thread.
Like the willingness to make an effort, repetition (repetition and repetition) is the basic prerequisite for a successful learning process, from a brain perspective at least. Without repetition, the information processed in our working memory will not reach the long-term memory.
Of course, other factors are paramount, too (beliefs, emotions, motivation, values, etc.), but the core factors are those mentioned.
See intermediate memory, long-term memory, working memory
According to the psychologist A. Bandura, self-efficacy is the belief that one can develop within a certain field – e.g. a discipline or a work field.
The concept does not equal self-confidence or self-esteem. On the contrary: Self-confidence or self-esteem have to do with the individual’s general view of him/herself.
Self-efficacy has many shapes according to the discipline or work field in question: teacher-efficacy, nurse-efficacy, doctor-efficacy, etc. In this context, we work with student-efficacy.
See emotions, motivation
Through signposting, a lecturer organises his/her lecture and creates coherence by the use of various linguistic expressions.
Signposting helps the students navigate in and among the topics taught and contributes to establishing the fixed patterns that the brain needs in the learning process. Furthermore, signposting reactivates the students’ existing knowledge.
When teaching, signposting may be used in the following cases:
See existing knowledge, fixed patterns, structure
The SOLO-taxonomy (SOLO = Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome) defines five levels for formulating intended learning outcomes – from the unorganised and fragmented level with no comprehension to a high academic level:
A university course does not always intend to reach the abstract level. The intended learning outcomes of some courses do not go further than the multi-structural level (basic introductions), whereas most courses will aim at reaching one of the higher levels. The level is determined by the materials chosen for the course: At BA, a given level of the taxonomy often covers fewer and easier materials than a similar course at MA level, the difference being the comprehensiveness of the course content.
The levels can be described rather precisely through various verbs; here are a couple of examples (the pre-structural level is not included here):
See intended learning outcome, structure
The total course structure should be presented to the students at the beginning of the semester.
Likewise, today’s agenda and the intended learning outcome should be stated – in writing, even though everything is published on Blackboard; the students are to manage much information so the lecturer cannot take it for granted that they are updated regarding all details of the course.
During class, the lecturer should refer to the agenda and the intended learning outcomes. This helps the students navigate through the topics and materials and give them some fixed patterns to relate to.
See fixed patterns, intended learning outcomes, signposting, SOLO taxonomy
Surface learning – as opposed to deep learning – implies that the student does not work to understand, to build up subject related knowledge, and to be able to use his/her knowledge in a wider perspective. S/he limits him-/herself to rote learning and does not strive to delve into and explore the subject. Likewise, s/he is usually inactive during class.
Superficially learned topics rarely go further than into the intermediate memory and will therefore be lost very quickly. If superficially learned topics reach the long-term memory, it will typically be in the form of fragmented definitions, descriptions, or mere lists of concepts, etc.
See active learning, deep learning, intermediate memory
See self-efficacy
See active learning
Activity that strengthens reflection and argumentation and usually leads to a higher number of answers from the students.
TREAT: https://treat.au.dk/aktiviteter/think-pair-share-2
See attention and memory, deep learning, intermediate memory, long-term memory, note taking, think-pair-share, surface learning, time-out, voting with peer-instruction, working memory
A short break during class (a minute or so) when the lecturer does not say anything and the students can do what they like: check notes, chat with another student, stand up, stretch their arms, relax – whatever.
The students are not allowed to leave the room during a time-out.
See attention and memory, deep learning, intermediate memory, long-term memory, note taking, surface learning, think-pair-share, voting with peer-instruction, working memory
Setup:
According to research on the technique (by its inventor, Eric Mazur, at Harvard University) the amount of right answers skyrockets by two thirds in this process.
See attention and memory, deep learning, intermediate memory, long-term memory, note taking, surface learning, think-pair-share, working memory
TREAT: https://treat.au.dk/aktiviteter/break-up-lessons-and-sharpen-attention
‘Working memory’ is, in fact, another word for ‘thought word’.
The working memory cannot cope with many units at a time (thoughts/thought chunks) – between 4 and 9 depending on how difficult the subject is for the student.
Furthermore, the working memory is fragile – we are easily disturbed in our thought word and lose the thread.
When we process ideas and thoughts (based on sensory input from the surrounding world that is associated with our existing knowledge/based on thoughts on some problem), it is stored in our long-term memory as knowledge.
See intermediate memory, long-term memory
