Great Teaching at University of Michigan

Practicing Disciplinary Critical Thinking Skills Using Google Docs

A short video describing this teaching strategy can be seen here.

Orie Shafer, LSA-Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, wants students in his 400-level cellular neuroscience course to: (1) appreciate the incremental progression of research that leads to major break-throughs; (2) develop the skills and confidence to identify the next logical research question, given the state of the field; and (3) design the experiments to systematically test that question. In the past, Shafer had students work in small, instructor-formed groups to develop these skills. Small group discussions leveraged differences in students' backgrounds and experience and fostered deeper engagement and practice.  However, these discussions were often dominated by particular students and it was difficult for Shafer to monitor and provide feedback on discussions. Read more »

shadow

Blogging to Apply Disciplinary Concepts and Critically Analyze Current Events

A short video describing this teaching strategy can be seen here.
Examples of student work can be seen here.

Scott Moore,  School of Business, teaches Business Thought & Action where sophomores are challenged to apply the analytical tools they learn in class to business news articles via a class blog. Students’ blog posts include, but are not limited to, analyses of corporate mergers, new business models and practices, and new markets for products and services.

Students are required to post once per month and to read and reflect substantively (comment) on the writings of other students at least twice per month, helping the entire class learn about current events in business while practicing the application of key concepts and skills. Moore comments on students’ posts, reinforcing desired behaviors, and he also provides guidance on how to write provocative posts that invite comments and responses. Read more »

shadow

Improving Team Projects Through Cloud-Based Storage and Collaboration

A short video describing this teaching strategy can be seen here.

Students of Melissa Gross,  School of Kinesiology, use 3D animation and motion capture technologies to study the biomechanics of human movement in a studio course. Students’ group projects are presented as narrated movies and include animations to illustrate their research findings (e.g., differences between a healthy knee and a reconstructed knee climbing stairs). Read more »

shadow

Using Online Collaboration Tools to Improve Student Teamwork

Can technology help student teams improve their group process—and ultimately their learning? CRLT's recent Occasional Paper on "Teaching in the Cloud" explains some ways it can. In particular, the paper highlights how Online Collaboration Tools (OCTs) can enhance students' ability to collaborate effectively. OCTs can facilitate group members' access to one another and the team's efficiency by reducing spatial and temporal barriers. OCTs can also provide novel, efficient, and effective means for instructors to monitor and provide feedback on group projects.  

The paper features two U-M faculty members who successfully utilize OCTs to improve student teamwork as well as instructor management of group projects. 

  • Robin Fowler of Technical Communication and Engineering: Fowler has improved student teamwork in Introduction to Engineering by shifting from face-to-face team meetings to synchronous, text-based online discussions. Her students share and assess design plans using Google Docs, a system that has increased student engagement and participation in group decision-making. Click here to learn more and watch a short video of Fowler discussing this teaching strategy and some of its outcomes.
     
  • Melissa Gross of Kinesiology: Gross's studio course uses 3D animation and motion capture technologies to study the biomechanics of human movement. Students' group presentations include such animations to illustrate their research findings, and these require sharing and collaborating on many large video files. Gross uses Box.net, a cloud-based storage and sharing service, to solve storage and capacity challenges and facilitate student management and coordination of their teamwork. Click here to learn more and watch a short video of Gross discussing this teaching strategy. 

For additional resources about using student teams effectively in a range of course settings, see this section of our website and this recent CRLT Occasional Paper. 

 

Submitted by tbraun on Mon, 03/25/2013 - 11:56am
shadow

Improving Student Writing: U-M Faculty Using Online Collaboration Tools

There's no question that students' writing improves most when they have frequent opportunities for practice and feedback. But instructors sometimes struggle to find ways to provide those opportunities, especially in large courses. One method that many U-M instructors use to good effect is structured peer review. These three faculty members--featured in CRLT's recent Occasional Paper about Online Collaboration Tools (OCTs)--have made creative use of OCTs to facilitate collaborative writing as well as timely, frequent, low-stakes peer feedback: Read more »

Submitted by tbraun on Fri, 03/01/2013 - 8:45am
shadow