2. Research Guides

Digital Pedagogy & Online Teaching

Created by the VU Libraries Teaching & Learning Committee.

Classroom uses include having students curate information found online, group projects, categorize information, brainstorm topics, evaluate sources. See an example of Padlet here.

Uses: polling students in class, displaying results in real-time, anonymous polling, guaging students' experience with a topic

Brainstorming tools encourage topic development, help students plan research projects, and encourage critical thinking. Concept maps can be created as a class, in small groups, or individually.

"Where" do I teach?

If you are teaching a live in-class session, you'll likely use whatever tool the instructor uses (probably Zoom or perhaps Virtual Classroom in Brightspace). These resources from the Center for Teaching walk you through each option.

If you are scheduling & teaching your own workshop or class, you can use Zoom or another tool such as Google Meet or Jitsi (recommended for it's security and privacy features).

Jitsi

Synchronous Teaching (Optional Assignment)

Revisit a lesson plan (or learning object, or training documentation, etc.) that you used in the past year, and that you anticipate you might want to use again. When reviewing these learning materials, reflect on one or all of the following questions:

  1. What are the core concepts or core skills I wanted learners to gain? Was the number of concepts or skills feasible given the time I had? 
  2. Where are the moments or sections in this lesson where cognitive overload might occur?
  3. Did I separate my core concepts or skills into discrete chunks? What would a redesigned lesson with discrete chunks look like?
  4. What would a mini-lesson for each of these chunks look like? 

These resources will help you with teaching synchronously ("live").

Active Learning in Online Courses
Breakout Rooms (in Zoom)

During a synchronous session, assigning students to breakout rooms (when teaching in Zoom) is a great way to mimic small group activities. Here are some sample activities you could do:

  • Assign each group a database – have them do some sample searches, noting what they find on a google doc that you set up ahead of time 
  • Create a slideshow presentation in Google Docs – assign each group a “type” of search tool (e.g. news sites, social media, academic database, Google Scholar, etc) … have each group create a slide in the slideshow for their type of search tool, listing out 1) a benefit, 2) a downfall, 3) types of sources found in that search tool, etc.  

Some things to remember:

  • Provide instructions at beginning of activity (see example below) 
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  • Tell each group they need to have a designated “reporter” 
  • You can “broadcast” messages to the groups, letting them know they have 5 min left.  

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Using Mini Lessons to Promote Learning!

Learning and Retention

When learners encounter new information, it is placed into working memory - what is currently in your "mind's eye." When information successfully moves from working memory to long term memory, retention has occurred. For a learning experience to be meaningful, learners must retain the information or skills they have been introduced to.

Cognitive Overload

When too many items are placed in working memory at once, learners experience cognitive overload. Cognitive overload negatively impacts attention, information processing, and recall, which prevents information from moving into long term memory. If our learners are experiencing cognitive overload, meaningful learning will not occur! 

When our learners are attending a remote synchronous lesson, we should assume they have additional cognitive loads placed on them: they may they may be distracted because they do not have quiet, private spaces to work, or they may find learning on a computer screen distracting in and of itself. This makes it more important than ever to be intentional about trying to minimize cognitive overload.

Chunking

To avoid cognitive overload, consider using chunking to design your synchronous sessions. Chunking is a process our minds use to attempt to divide large pieces of information into smaller components that are easier to remember. If we organize our synchronous sessions into discrete chunks that each focus on a single skill or piece of information, we can design more effective lessons.

Mini-Lessons

To design lessons that recognize the limits of working memory and that use chunking to promote retention, a useful pedagogical method is the "mini lesson" framework. There are four components of a mini-lesson.

Connect - Set the context by describing the learning that has been taking place. Explain what you’ll be teaching them (that is, what the learning outcome is) and why it will help them in their course / assignment / research / etc.

Teach – In this part, blend together explanation and demonstration. Explain what your demonstration will be, then model the behavior, skill, or strategy. Additionally, in order to help your learners “see” what is happening, think aloud about your process.

Have-a-Go – Give the learners hands-on practice with the teaching point and assess their understanding. 

Link – Restate the teaching point one more time. Encourage the learners to plan and commit to applying it in their independent work.

From: Children’s Literacy Initiative. (2016). Mini-Lesson. Literacy Education and Resource Network. https://learn.cli.org/best-practices/reading-workshop/instruction/mini-lesson