Video one recalls the reasons why I chose to teach in
the Active Learning Classroom. I
jumped on the chance to teach in that space that summer and also applied to and
was accepted into the Faculty Fellowship Program in the fall, which would give
me dedicated time on course redesign. Teaching in the ALC the first summer was
teaching "on the fly".
September 2009 Archives
When I had the opportunity to reflect on my first
experience teaching in the Active Learning Classroom in Summer 08, I discovered
that, even though I think of myself as a facilitator in the classroom, not the
expert, I still was quite central to the activities in the course. I also
tended to utilize the laptop projection capabilities to the exclusion of other
affordances in the room, such as the whiteboard space and the document camera.
The example given in video two demonstrates my reflection on my teaching and
how I saw the "active" part of the ALC was still being directed (in summer one)
by me as the instructor in the class.
One pedagogical technique that we have explored in the
Faculty Fellowship Program is Team-Based Learning. Although I haven't adopted
Team-Based Learning overall in the class I am redesigning for the Active
Learning Classroom, there are elements of it I incorporated in Summer 09 that I
see as directly impacting not only the activities we conducted in class, but my
own teaching style and my students' learning. Video three is a discussion of one
aspect of team-based learning success in my class and video four explains how
this TBL focus is different from how I previously taught the content.
Video four explains how this TBL focus is different
from how I previously taught the content.
Although using video is a pedagogical technique that can
be used in any classroom, the ALC is particularly well-suited for it. The focus on redesigning the course for the ALC led to other
change not necessarily contingent on the space. Video five is a reflection of
my teaching with video in the ALC in Summer 09.
One unintended but welcomed cross-impact from my
participation in the course redesign process is my own renewed engagement in
the content I teach. Video six is my reflection on how the use of video in the
classroom in Summer 09 kept me engaged in class, as well as my students.
