VCU CTE - Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning

Principle 7 - Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning

Scenario:

Professor Jim Cavett does not believe “lectures” work for his online political theory class. He wants his students to experience politics, not read about it. So he has broad guidelines in the projects he assigns. Students are tasked to contact and interview local politicians. Before doing that, however, students use a wiki to develop common questions that each will use in their interviews. Jim gives the students wide latitude in how they present their materials back to the class. Some students provide a text-based report, others use podcasting, and still others develop a video.

Jim models this for his students by providing his instructional material in multiple formats. His powerpoints are narrated and text-only transcripts are provided for those visually impaired. He uses screencasts to demonstrate search techniques for his students, but allows them to develop the topics and resources they use for their projects.

Jim believes in the power of collaboration, so he has his students complete a Myers-Brigg Personality Inventory during the first week of class so that he can suggest team groupings that build on the strengths of different personalities. He also surveys their technical skills to add capabilities to his student teams in terms of video and audio production. His student teams are thus equipped to approach local politicians and develop projects that they find relevant. Several of Jim’s class projects have ended up impacting local initiatives, creating engaged students who now understand how theory is applied at the local level.

Chickering and Gamon noted that students “bring different talents and styles of learning to college. Brilliant students in the seminar room may be all thumbs in the lab or art studio. Students rich in hands-on experience may not do so well with theory. Students need the opportunity to show their talents and learn in ways that work for them. Then they can be pushed to learning in new ways that do not come so easily” (p. 2).

The web with its capacity for individual publishing and multimedia production freely available to both students and faculty offers amazing new options for learning. Learning objectives can be assessed in multiple ways. Asynchronous formats give flexibility to students who learn at different rates.

Yet, this plethora of options and diversity can be unsettling to students used to the standard lecture format of instruction. Body language is missing. Feedback, while in some cases faster than the next class period, is nevertheless missing in cases where one-to-one feedback was provided inside the classroom. This suggests that faculty need to provide an orientation to their students on “how” learning will proceed in their particular class.

Mupinga, Nora and Yaw (2006) did not identify a particular learning style to be predominant with the online undergraduate students they surveyed. However, about half of the students (46 percent) surveyed were introverts, sensors, and judgers based on their Myers-Brigg Inventory¹. They suggested that this was not surprising because introverts need space and time alone, making the Web learning environment ideal. However, they were somewhat surprised to find that 36 percent of their online students expected to work in teams with on-campus students. This seems to suggest that students are taking online courses for convenience of the delivery method and not necessarily because of their learning styles.

¹ According to the Myers-Brigg Type Inventory, an introvert preferred time to reflect, have thought-oriented interactions, and have more substantial interactions. Sensors liked information that was concrete and tangible. For them, the meaning was in the data. The judging function indicated that they are thoughtful and observant.

Principle 7 - Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning

Scenario:

Tool Box