Increasing Students Capacity to Retain Knowledge and Understand Key Concepts

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Increasing Students Capacity to Retain Knowledge
and Understand Key Concepts

• Action Research Case Studies from Maryville
  University
• Karen Fletcher, Information Systems Instructor
• Mark Roman, Associate Professor of Accounting

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Students Ask. . .
Will this be on the test?
Why do I need to know . . .?
What do I need to know to get an A?
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Center for Teaching Learning

• Established in 2005
• Provides support for excellence in teaching and
  assessment of learning
• Encourages intellectual dialog about the
  teaching/learning process
• Encourages research and other scholarly
  activities and
• Provides mentoring support for faculty

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Faculty Seminar on the Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning

• Maryville Faculty Development Seminar
• Built upon the recent thinking and practice of
  the Carnegie Academy
• Built on the long-standing methods of action
  research
• Co-led by
• Mary Ellen Finch, Interim Vice President for
  Academic Affairs at Maryville University
• Marilyn Cohn, a former Carnegie Fellow, with
  extensive experience in action research

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Action Research Group I
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Action Research

• Research done on ones own practice
• Marilyn Cohn

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Action Research in Education

• Continuous and systematic inquiry and
  self-reflection process
• by educators, individual and collaborative,
• that aims to examine and change ones practice
• toward the end of improved student learning

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Action Research Model

• Diagnosing
• Identifying or defining a problem
• Action Planning
• Considering alternative courses of action
• Taking Action
• Selecting a course of action
• Evaluating
• Studying the consequences of an action
• Specifying Learning
• Identifying general findings

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DiagnosingIdentifying or Defining a Problem

• How can I (we) increase our students capacity to
  retain knowledge and understand key concepts?

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Case 1 ISYS 100 Computer Applications

• Karen FletcherInstructor, Information Systems

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ISYS 100 Computer ApplicationsKaren Fletcher

• ISYS 100 Computer Applications
• Course broadly covers microcomputer hardware and
  software concepts
• Hands-on experience with operating system
  software and application software packages
• Word processing
• Spreadsheet
• Database
• Desktop publishing
• Presentation graphics

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ISYS 100 Class Demographic

• Freshman-level, 15-week class
• Mostly traditional-aged students
• Ages 17-60
• Students of mixed achievement
• Many students think they know
• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• A few students have never used email

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ISYS 100 Computer Applications

• Prerequisite for Accounting classes
• Excel spreadsheets
• Word papers
• Required Class
• School of Business
• Health Professions
• Pre-law / Paralegal

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Observations

• Cookbook-style Projects
• My Class
• Attendance
• Engagement
• Accounting Students
• Formatting
• Formulas

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My Questions

• How do I keep my students tuned in?
• Would changing the presentation of the material
  help?
• Do I need to change the content?

• Can I increase their learning of the
  applications?
• How do I get my students to understand the
  material?

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Action Planning, Taking ActionISYS 100Teaching
for Understanding (Blythe, 1998)
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Action Planning, Taking ActionTfU Throughlines
ISYS 100 Computer Applications

• What are the most important understandings my
  students should get out of my class?
• Create papers, spreadsheets, charts,
  presentations, and databases
• Create documents to effectively communicate ideas
• Understand how the use of these applications can
  have an impact on their lives
• Understand what makes up a good document

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Action Planning, Taking ActionTfU Generative
Topic

• Criteria
• Centrality
• Engagement
• Accessibility
• Connections
• Summary Reflection

ExcelFrom Electronic Carpenters to Electronic
Architects
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Action Planning, Taking ActionTfU Understanding
Goals

• How are Excel spreadsheets and charts created?
• Why bother to make it look nice?
• How can students create their spreadsheets and
  charts?
• How can students choose the appropriate form to
  communicate numeric information?

What concepts, processes and skills do I want my
students to understand?
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Action Planning, Taking ActionTfU
FrameworkPerformances of Understanding/Ongoing
Assessments
OngoingAssessments
UnderstandingGoals
How can I provide clear responses to PoUs that
will help students improve their next
performance?
Which Understanding Goals are targeted by each
performance?
Performances of Understanding
What will students say, do, or make to show that
they understand?
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Action Planning, Taking ActionTfU
FrameworkPerformances of Understanding/Ongoing
Assessments
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Action Planning, Taking ActionTfU Ongoing
Assessments - Ladder of Feedback
Suggest

• Suggest
• Suggest ways to improve the document based on the
  concerns stated.
• Concerns
• State what concerns you may have about the
  document or project in its current form
• Value
• Describe what you value about the document or
  project
• Clarify
• Questions or concerns

Concerns
Value
Clarify
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Student Examples of Work

• Grade organizer Step 1
• Peer assessment using Ladder of Feedback
• Revised grade organizer
• Self assessment with mention of peer assessment
• Example of midterm worksheet and chart

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Grade Organizer 1st Step
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Peer AssessmentLadder of Feedback
Clarify Are the page numbers and question
numbers given the only homework you have in the
class? Value I like the auto format used, it
makes your organizer easy to read. I also like
how you chose to use the same colors for your
chart as you did on your worksheet, that makes it
easy to read. Concerns Your chart seems to be
pretty wordy. I wasn't able to glance at it and
read the information. I also think putting page
numbers for your homework assignments makes the
sheet a little hard to read. Suggest I would
take the page numbers off of your chart and just
leave it as ch. 1, ch. 2, etc. I would also take
the page numbers out of the homework assignments
column.
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Revised Grade Organizer
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Student Self Assessment
. . .With the Ladder of Feedback from my
classmate, XXXX, I was able to clarify and make
my table better. For example, XXXX suggested
deleting the page numbers and questions numbers
of the Math assignments because it was too wordy,
and I agreed. Graphs were also used to show the
data in a different, maybe, even more readable,
way. On the graphs, the separate bars of the
graph were changed to other colors to help make
the colors of the entire worksheet match and look
comparable. . .
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Midterm Example Student Chose Topic
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EvaluatingEvaluation Comments Received

• Strong in-class examples
• It is interactive and fun and very informative
• The assignments helped me learn
• Hands-on experience. You really get to use what
  you learn. The presentations you have to do in
  class work on your communications skills also.
• She makes the class fun by using topics that
  interest college students

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Specifying LearningGeneral Findings

• Students are engaged
• Some of my students come up after class and tell
  me how excited they are to talk about . . .
• Accessibility and Connections
• Higher quality of work
• Midterm, Financial Accounting, LoF
• Managerial Accounting

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DiagnosingIdentifying or Defining a Problem

• Ive retooled Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Can I do the same for Access?
• Do students retain and understand concepts
  throughout their school career?
• Assessments --Grades were initially lower
• Am I assessing understanding?

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Case 2 Retention in Accounting

• Mark RomanAssociate Professor of Accounting

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Sequence of Accounting Courses

• Intermediate Accounting I
• Intermediate Accounting II
• Advanced Accounting

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Frustrated when Students Could not Remember
Course Material.

• Lack of Interest?
• Enrolled in too many courses?
• Working too many hours?
• Failure to communicate importance?
• Human Nature?

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The Issue

• The importance of understanding a complete body
  of knowledge upon graduation.

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Collection of Data

• Early in the Spring 2006 semester
• Intermediate Accounting II
• Assessment Exam

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Results of Assessment ExamSpring, 2006
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Why Were the Results so Bad?

• I decided to ask.

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Assessment Questionnaire Q1

• How do you think you performed on the assessment
  exam?
• Excellent (1)
• Above Average (2)
• Average (4)
• Below Average (5)
• Poorly (2)

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Assessment Questionnaire Q2

• Were you surprised at how much you could remember
  or not remember?
• Yes (11)
• No (3)

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Student Comments

• I knew the information I just couldnt put it
  together at the moment.
• I could recall the basic concepts not the
  details.
• I was surprised at how much I forgot in a months
  time.

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Common Theme

• Students believed more repetition would help.
• Problem Time constraints

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Second Questionnaire

• Do you think a comprehensive project that begins
  in Acct 318 and continues in Acct 319 would help
  you remember the major topics learned in Acct
  318?
• Yes (14)
• No (0)

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Second Questionnaire

• Do you believe a final exam that has two parts
  (one part being comprehensive) would help you
  remember the major topics learned in Acct 318?
  (Remember that your response to this answer will
  not affect you since you have already completed
  Acct 318)
• Yes (13)
• No (1)

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Second Questionnaire

• If you answered yes to question 2, which of the
  following do you believe would be the most
  beneficial in helping you retain the information
  learned in Acct 318? (Please select the answer
  that would be the most beneficial in helping you
  retain the information learned during the
  semester, not the type of exam you would prefer
  to take)
• The comprehensive portion of the final exam is
  open book however, I would not provide any
  guidance on the topics to be tested. (3)
• The comprehensive portion of the exam is closed
  book however, I would provide a list of the
  topics that would be on the exam. (10)

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Taking Action

• Added a comprehensive project (through line).
• Added a comprehensive portion to the final exam.

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The Challenge

• In the past, students have not performed well on
  comprehensive final exams.

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Motivation to Learn
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Motivation to Remember
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Using a Hook

• At the beginning of every chapter share a real
  world example with class
• Article
• Annual Report
• Etc.

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Lets Try It Again!Spring, 2007
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Assessment Exam Averages
49 to 60!
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Why Were the Results Better?

• I was putting more effort into my classes and did
  a better job?
• The students knew they were part of a research
  project and put more effort into the class
  (Hawthorne Effect)?
• The course changes that I implemented actually
  worked?

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Plans for the Future

• Continue to integrate topics throughout the
  courses that I teach.
• Begin looking at ways to improve the graduate
  courses that I teach.

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Discussion

• Questions and Comments