Writing set free

Many assessments in HE involve writing, and yet this is something that students often find intimidating, as writing within their discipline has particular rules and styles that often feel unnatural and constraining. In my experience, one solution to make the writing process a bit easier is to get students to do more writing in class – to show them that writing doesn’t have to be perfect, and to get them used to writing more regularly.

Students can also feel uncomfortable answering questions in front of others – especially if they feel like they haven’t had enough time to collect their thoughts. I think free writing can help with both of these issues when used in class.

Essentially, free writing is where a student writes something that’s only for them to see, and just writes for a set amount of time, without focusing on the quality of what they’re writing, or their spelling, grammar or style. You’d give them a prompt of an open-ended question about the topic of the lesson, and then give them a set amount of time (perhaps five minutes at first) to respond. Emphasise that the important thing is to keep writing, and not to worry too much about what they’re writing – tell them that if they can’t think of anything, they can start by writing that (perhaps in a positive form, such as ‘I don’t have an idea right now but I’m hoping one will come in a minute … ‘).

This exercise not only helps to take away some of the fear and perfectionism around writing and idea generating, but helps to increase writing fluency and gives students a safe space to try out and develop some responses to the question. This can be used in both small and large groups – in a large group, it can be an effective way of getting everyone to respond to a question without feeling like they’ve been put on the spot, or have to risk sharing with others.

I’ve found that this can be most useful with repeated use, as students can often be troubled by the idea of ‘just writing’ the first time they do it, and become more comfortable in subsequent exercises. Using it throughout a term or year also ensures that students keep writing in this low stakes way, rather than only writing when it comes to an assessment.

Have you used this before, or are you thinking of trying it out?

Ali’s key resources for lab teaching

My colleague Ali, a fellow Lecturer in Educational Development has special responsibility for the School of Mathematics, Computer Science & Engineering. Many of the staff that she supports in this school are engaged in lab teaching, and so she’s identified a few key resources which may be useful to those of you who teach in labs (whether you’re in SMCSE or another school).

Learning and Teaching in Laboratories: an Engineering Subject Centre Guide by Clara Davies.

This resource considers the practical challenges of designing laboratory learning within a modern engineering curriculum. It provides ideas and practical guidance for people new to teaching and for more experienced people looking to rethink or reinvigorate their approach.

Stanford Teaching Commons Laboratory Teaching Guidelines

The laboratory is an exciting place where students investigate, analyse, and reflect. They test and apply theories and make abstract concepts concrete. However, the process of investigation doesn’t always run smoothly, and students need guidelines to make sense of their results. This guide contains strategies for designing and supervising effective sessions.

The Role of Computer Labs in Teaching and Learning Process in The Field of Mathematical Sciences

This paper discusses the use of a computer lab among lecturers at the School of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The objective is to determine the role of the computer lab as a medium of teaching and learning process in mathematical sciences. The paper ends with some appropriate approaches to promote the use of computer labs in the teaching and learning process.

Flinders University Science Demonstrators Handbook

This handbook gives a useful overview of many aspects of science demonstrating in the laboratory, and the kinds of things you will need to consider. Some of it is specific to people actually working at Flinders (i.e. payroll advice, local emergency phone numbers), but the teaching and learning advice is quite universal, and applicable to anyone working in the lab environment.

 

 

 

How to snowball student discussions

Many students are reluctant to take part in discussions, especially when they’ve just started at university, or on a new course. Students may feel nervous about whether their opinions have values, or a group of students might have one person who takes over and dominates the conversation. To enable students to feel more confident about talking through ideas with their peers, you might ask them to form into pairs to answer a question. However, if students are solely working in pairs, it might mean that they’re not exposed to the full range of experiences and knowledge of the rest of the class. Snowballing is one technique which enables students to initially think about their own response to a question, then converse with just one other person, and then join together with other pairs to enable a wider discussion.

This is how you might run a snowballing activity:

  1. Give learners a task to do individually for one minute. For example:
    “What you think are the three most important points from the last section of the presentation?”, or
    “What two suggestions you would come up with to solve the problem presented?”, or
    “Suggest three responses you could make in the scenario I have just outlined.”
  2. Individuals form pairs and have two minutes to hear what each other has come up with and agree on their joint response.
  3. Pairs form groups of four and have three minutes to agree on their joint response.
  4. Fours form groups of eight and have three minutes to agree and appoint one person ready to announce what they have agreed as a group.
  5. At this point you may want to hear briefly from each group of eight and comment on or record their suggestions. In a sense, what you do at this point is less important than the previous stages because everyone in the group, however large the group is, has had to talk and be actively involved in the task.

Have you tried snowballing? How did it work for you? Have you got any other ideas for engaging students in discussions?