Good Teaching in Higher Education: Practical Tips for Planning and Designing Courses [1 ed.] 3658391367, 9783658391362, 9783658391379

Table of contents :
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
About the Author
1 How Do I Use This Book?
Abstract
1.1 A Brief Introduction
1.2 Basic Idea of This Book
1.3 How to use this book
References
2 Popular Myths
Abstract
2.1 You Can’t Say What Good Teaching is
2.2 You Can Say What Good Teaching is, but it Differs Depending on the Subject
2.3 Good Teaching Does Not Work if the Conditions are Bad
2.4 It is Not My Task as a Teacher to Deal with the Students in My Lessons
2.5 The Teacher Personality: Good Teaching Can Either Be Learned or Not
2.6 The Special Teaching Method (Insert Name Here) is the only Right One
2.7 I Have to Change the Teaching Method or Do Something Original Every 15–20 min
2.8 The Teaching Format (Lecture, Seminar, Exercise) Determines My Teaching
2.9 One Must Take into Account Learning Types
2.10 Teacher-Centered Vs. Student-Centered Teaching: Teacher-Centered Learning is Generally Bad, Student-Centeredness is Generally Good
2.11 Surface vs. Deep Learning: Deep Learning is Always Better
2.12 Teaching Evaluation Results Say Nothing
2.13 Good Teaching Doesn’t Matter, a Student Needs to Have the Right Personality
2.14 Students Just Want to be “Entertained” and Do Nothing Themselves
2.15 Students Must Take Notes, Otherwise They Will Not Learn Anything
2.16 Students Must Fear the Teacher, Otherwise They Will Have No Respect
2.17 The Students are Getting Dumber
2.18 Expert Opinion Beats Empiricism: “In My Experience..., However, It Is so That …”
2.19 Good Researchers are Also Always Good Teachers
References
3 What is Good University Teaching and What Can I Do as a Teacher?
Abstract
3.1 Definition of Good University Teaching
3.2 Dimensions of Good University Teaching: What Can I Influence as a Teacher?
3.2.1 How Big is My Influence on the Result?
3.2.2 Individual Dimensions of Good University Teaching
3.3 The Effectiveness of Good University Teaching
3.4 Most Effective Aspects of Good University Teaching
3.5 Practice Examples—In General
References
4 Lesson Planning
Abstract
4.1 Clarify Framework Conditions
4.2 Set Learning Goals
4.3 Selecting Content Based on Learning Goals
4.4 Choose Teaching Methods (Adapted to Learning Level)
4.5 Choose Examination Methods (Adapted to Learning Level)
4.6 Create Course Schedule
4.7 Plan Individual Sessions
4.8 Practical Examples of Lesson Planning
4.8.1 A Practical Example from the Humanities
4.8.1.1 Conditions
4.8.1.2 Learning Goals
4.8.1.3 Selection of Content, Teaching and Examination Methods
4.8.1.4 Course Schedule
4.8.1.5 Plan Individual Sessions
4.8.2 A Practical Example from the Social Sciences
4.8.2.1 Learning Goals
4.8.2.2 Selection of Content, Teaching and Examination Methods
4.8.2.3 Course Schedule
4.8.2.4 Plan Individual Sessions
4.8.3 A Practical Example form the Natural Sciences
4.8.3.1 Conditions
4.8.3.2 Learning Goals
4.8.3.3 Selection of Content, Teaching and Examination Methods
4.8.3.4 Course Schedule
4.8.3.5 Plan Individual Sessions
References
5 Teaching: Presentation Skills
Abstract
5.1 Basics of Communication
5.2 Nonverbal and Paraverbal Communication
5.3 Rhetoric and Presentation
5.3.1 Argumentative Figures
5.3.2 Specifics of Presentations
5.4 Initial and Final Phases in Teaching
5.5 Practical Examples for Presentation Skills
References
6 Teaching: Managing Professional Relationships
Abstract
6.1 Friendliness, Respect and Authenticity
6.2 Helpfulness and Availability
6.3 Fairness, Commitment and Consistency
6.4 Your Role as a Teacher
6.5 Dealing with Difficult Students
6.6 Practical Examples for Professional Relationship Management
References
7 Teaching: Activating Students
Abstract
7.1 Theoretical Learning Basics of Activation in University Teaching
7.2 Activation Does Not Automatically Lead to Learning
7.3 Input Methods—What Promotes Learning, What Endangers Learning Success?
7.4 Activating Methods—What Promotes Learning, What Endangers Learning Outcomes?
7.5 Asking Questions and Using Them Skillfully
7.6 Leading Conversations and Discussions with Questions
7.7 A Good Didactic Concept is More Important then Activating Teaching Methods
7.8 Teaching Learning Strategies and Self-Management Skills
7.9 Practical Examples for Activating Students
References
8 Teaching: Motivating Students
Abstract
8.1 The Teachers’s Enthusiasm
8.2 Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation (Including Interest)
8.3 Achievement, Power and Affiliation Motivation
8.4 Goal Orientations
8.5 Rubicon Model of Action Phases
8.6 Practical Examples for Motivating Students
References
9 Teaching: Didactic Subtleties
Abstract
9.1 Adaptive Teaching
9.2 Intercultural Teaching
9.3 Plagiarism: Forms, Identification, Handling and Prevention
9.4 Excursions as a Specific Teaching Format
9.5 Details of Teaching Design
9.6 Practice Examples of Didactic Subtleties
References
10 Teaching Outside the Classroom: Blended Learning and E-Learning
Abstract
10.1 Blended Learning instead of E-Learning
10.2 Possible E-Learning Tools
10.3 Optimal Blended-Learning Formats
10.4 The Concept of the Flipped or Inverted-Classroom
10.5 Practice Examples for Blended Learning and E-Learning
References
11 Teaching Outside the Classroom: Consultation and Supervision
Abstract
11.1 Consultation by Teachers
11.1.1 Consultation Process and Conversation Guide
11.1.2 Teaching Consultant Competencies
11.2 Supervision by Instructors
11.3 Mentoring by Teachers
11.4 Examples of Counseling and Support for Students
References
12 Testing Students and Evaluating Teaching Quality
Abstract
12.1 Feedback—Basic Constant of Good Teaching for Testing and Evaluating
12.1.1 Criteria for Good Feedback
12.2 Examinations
12.2.1 Purpose and Forms: Why and How Do I Test?
12.2.2 Quality criteria and reference standards: How do I assess exams correctly?
12.2.3 Grading Errors: How Do I Grade Correctly?
12.2.4 Quality of Individual Examination Forms: What Am I Testing?
12.3 Evaluation - in Particular, Teaching Evaluations
12.3.1 Teaching Evaluation: What Can I Measure?
12.3.2 Distortion of Results in Teaching Evaluations: Does It Measure Correctly?
12.4 Carrying Out and Interpreting Teaching Evaluations Yourself
12.4.1 Preparing the Teaching Evaluation
12.4.2 Carrying Out and Evaluating the Teaching Evaluation
12.4.3 Interpretation and Consequences of the Teaching Evaluation
12.5 Alternative Evaluation Methods for Teaching Evaluations
12.6 Practical Examples for Teaching, Testing and Evaluating
References
13 Reflecting on and Innovating Teaching
Abstract
13.1 Processes of Reflection
13.2 Aspects of University Teaching Worthy of Reflection
13.3 Innovative University Teaching
13.4 Examples of Reflecting and Innovating Teaching Practices
References
14 Method Collection
Abstract
14.1 Cognitive Techniques
14.1.1 Input
14.1.1.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.1.1.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.1.1.3 Duration and Material
14.1.1.4 Variations of the Method
14.1.2 Individual Work
14.1.2.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.1.2.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.1.2.3 Duration and Material
14.1.2.4 Variations of the Method
14.1.3 Group Work
14.1.3.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.1.3.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.1.3.3 Duration and Material
14.1.3.4 Variations of the Method
14.1.4 Jigsaw / Group Puzzle
14.1.4.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.1.4.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.1.4.3 Duration and Material
14.1.4.4 Variations of the Method
14.1.5 Project Work
14.1.5.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.1.5.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.1.5.3 Duration and Material
14.1.5.4 Variations of the Method
14.1.6 Experiment
14.1.6.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.1.6.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.1.6.3 Duration and Material
14.1.6.4 Variations of the Method
14.1.7 Brainstorming
14.1.7.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.1.7.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.1.7.3 Duration and Material
14.1.7.4 Variations of the Method
14.1.8 Mind-Mapping
14.1.8.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.1.8.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.1.8.3 Duration and Material
14.1.8.4 Variations of the Method
14.1.9 Guest Lectures
14.1.9.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.1.9.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.1.9.3 Duration and Material
14.1.9.4 Variations of the Method
14.1.10 Case Studies
14.1.10.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.1.10.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.1.10.3 Duration and Material
14.1.10.4 Variations of the Method
14.1.11 Lucky Dip
14.1.11.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.1.11.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.1.11.3 Duration and Material
14.1.11.4 Variations of the Method
14.1.12 Text Work: Reading and Discussing Texts
14.1.12.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.1.12.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.1.12.3 Duration and Material
14.1.12.4 Variations of the Method
14.1.13 Scenario Method
14.1.13.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.1.13.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.1.13.3 Duration and Material
14.1.13.4 Variations of the Method
14.2 Feedback Techniques
14.2.1 Asking Questions
14.2.1.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.2.1.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.2.1.3 Duration and Material
14.2.1.4 Variations of the Method
14.2.2 Flash
14.2.2.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.2.2.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.2.2.3 Duration and Material
14.2.2.4 Variations of the Method
14.2.3 One-Minute-Paper
14.2.3.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.2.3.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.2.3.3 Duration and Material
14.2.3.4 Variations of the Method
14.2.4 Teaching Evaluations
14.2.4.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.2.4.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.2.4.3 Duration and Material
14.2.4.4 Variations of the Method
14.2.5 Target
14.2.5.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.2.5.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.2.5.3 Duration and Materials
14.2.5.4 Variations of the Method
14.2.6 Inquiry into Expectation, Interest and Prior Knowledge
14.2.6.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.2.6.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.2.6.3 Duration and Material
14.2.6.4 Variations of the Method
14.3 Simulation Methods
14.3.1 Business Game
14.3.1.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.3.1.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.3.1.3 Duration and Material
14.3.1.4 Variations of the Method
14.3.2 Problem-based Learning
14.3.2.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.3.2.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.3.2.3 Duration and Material
14.3.2.4 Variations of the Method
14.3.3 Simulation
14.3.3.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.3.3.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.3.3.3 Duration and Material
14.3.3.4 Variations of the Method
14.4 Behavioral Modeling
14.4.1 Role-playing
14.4.1.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.4.1.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.4.1.3 Duration and Material
14.4.1.4 Variations of the Method
14.4.2 Fishbowl
14.4.2.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.4.2.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.4.2.3 Duration and Material
14.4.2.4 Variations of the Method
14.5 Moderation Techniques
14.5.1 Card Query
14.5.1.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.5.1.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.5.1.3 Duration and Material
14.5.1.4 Variations of the Method
14.5.2 Multi-point Query
14.5.2.1 Aim (Including Application Field)
14.5.2.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.5.2.3 Duration and Material
14.5.2.4 Variations of the Method
14.5.3 Action Plan
14.5.3.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.5.3.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.5.3.3 Duration and Material
14.5.3.4 Variations of the Method
14.5.4 Open Space
14.5.4.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.5.4.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.5.4.3 Duration and Material
14.5.4.4 Variations of the Method
14.5.5 Discussion
14.5.5.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.5.5.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.5.5.3 Duration and Material
14.5.5.4 Variations of the Method
14.5.6 Expert Q & A
14.5.6.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.5.6.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.5.6.3 Duration and Material
14.5.6.4 Variations of the Method
14.5.7 Pyramid Method or Atoms-molecules
14.5.7.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.5.7.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.5.7.3 Duration and Material
14.5.7.4 Variations of the Method
14.6 Presentation Techniques
14.6.1 Presentations
14.6.1.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.6.1.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.6.1.3 Duration and Material
14.6.1.4 Variations of the Method
14.6.2 Impulse Presentations
14.6.2.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.6.2.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.6.2.3 Duration and Material
14.6.2.4 Variations of the Method
14.6.3 Poster Presentation
14.6.3.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.6.3.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.6.3.3 Duration and Material
14.6.3.4 Variations of the Method
14.7 Methods for Counseling and Supervision
14.7.1 Counseling Guides
14.7.1.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.7.1.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.7.1.3 Duration and Material
14.7.1.4 Variations of the Method
14.7.2 Supervision Protocols
14.7.2.1 Aim (Including Area of Application)
14.7.2.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.7.2.3 Duration and Material
14.7.2.4 Variations of the Method
14.7.3 Supervision Contracts
14.7.3.1 Aim (Including Area of Application)
14.7.3.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.7.3.3 Duration and Material
14.7.3.4 Variations of the Method
14.8 Icebreaker and Relaxation Methods
14.8.1 Introduction Board
14.8.1.1 Aim (Including Application Field)
14.8.1.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.8.1.3 Duration and Material
14.8.1.4 Variations of the Method
14.8.2 Cooperation Agreements
14.8.2.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.8.2.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.8.2.3 Duration and Material
14.8.2.4 Variations of the Method
14.8.3 Partner Interview
14.8.3.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.8.3.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.8.3.3 Duration and Material
14.8.3.4 Variations of the Method
14.8.4 Student Line-up
14.8.4.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.8.4.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.8.4.3 Duration and Material
14.8.4.4 Variations of the Method
14.8.5 Tropical Storm
14.8.5.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.8.5.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.8.5.3 Duration and Material
14.8.5.4 Variations of the Method
14.8.6 Compound Words
14.8.6.1 Aim (Including Field of Application)
14.8.6.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered)
14.8.6.3 Duration and Material
14.8.6.4 Variations of the Method
References
Goodbyes and Innovations for the Author of this Book
References

Citation preview

Immanuel Ulrich

Good Teaching in Higher Education Practical Tips for Planning and Designing Courses

Good Teaching in Higher Education

Immanuel Ulrich

Good Teaching in Higher Education Practical Tips for Planning and Designing Courses

Immanuel Ulrich Professor of Higher Education Didactics and Psychology, IU International University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main, Germany

ISBN 978-3-658-39136-2 ISBN 978-3-658-39137-9  (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39137-9 This book is a translation of the original German „Gute Lehre in der Hochschule“ by Ulrich, Immanuel, published by Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH in 2020. The translation was done with the help of an artificial intelligence machine translation tool. A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Responsible Editor: Eva Brechtel-Wahl This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature. The registered company address is: Abraham-Lincoln-Str. 46, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany

To all teachers in higher education & for Anna & for Jonathan

Preface to the Second Edition

For the second edition, the book was completely updated to correct individual errors that were still found and to expand the content. For this purpose, new research results were integrated into all chapters and the following new chapters were written: Teaching Learning Strategies and Self Management Skills (Chap. 7), dealing with Plagiarism and the sSpecific Teaching Format Excursion (both Chap. 9) as well as The Concept of the Flipped- or Inverted-Classroom (Chap. 10). In addition, a new teaching myth (Chap. 2) and several teaching methods (Chap. 14) were integrated. The second edition shows that the book was apparently useful for readers. May this second edition, having been adapted based on the most current research, be helpful to you as well. P.S. Addition to the translation in English I would like to thank the Springer publishing house for the possibility of the English translation of my book. In particular, I would like to thank Mr. Maximilian Rittelmann as well as Ms. Eva Brechtel-Wahl from Springer-Verlag for their support. I would also like to thank Ashley Melucci for her help with proof reading. Frankfurt am Main, April 2020

Immanuel Ulrich

VII

Preface to the First Edition

When I decided in 2007 as a doctoral student that my dissertation should be dedicated to good university teaching or higher education didactics, I encountered a lack of understanding among my colleagues at the university as to why I wanted to dedicate myself to such an unimportant university topic. Although higher education didactics has a long tradition in Germany (cf. Dany, 2007, pp. 11–80), it had hitherto led a “shadowy existence”. Over the last eight years, the situation has changed dramatically, in part because of strong support from the federal and state governments. The number of people working in higher education didactics, papers presented at scientific conferences and publications have all significantly increased. Several comprehensive books for university teachers on how to develop strong university teaching skills have also been published. Nevertheless, higher education didactics still has to struggle - often being accused of lacking scientific rigor and/or practical applicability. This book is intended to help refute these arguments. It systematically combines the scientific foundations of good university teaching, their implementation in specific practical examples, and a detailed description of teaching methods at the university  or college level. May this be of great help to you and all other teachers at universities. Frankfurt am Main, October 2015

Immanuel Ulrich

IX

Contents

1

How Do I Use This Book?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1 A Brief Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.2 Basic Idea of This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.3 How to use this book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2

Popular Myths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.1 You Can’t Say What Good Teaching is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.2 You Can Say What Good Teaching is, but it Differs Depending on the Subject. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.3 Good Teaching Does Not Work if the Conditions are Bad . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.4 It is Not My Task as a Teacher to Deal with the Students in My Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.5 The Teacher Personality: Good Teaching Can Either Be Learned or Not. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.6 The Special Teaching Method (Insert Name Here) is the only Right One. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.7 I Have to Change the Teaching Method or Do Something Original Every 15–20 min. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.8 The Teaching Format (Lecture, Seminar, Exercise) Determines My Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.9 One Must Take into Account Learning Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.10 Teacher-Centered Vs. Student-Centered Teaching: Teacher-Centered Learning is Generally Bad, Student-Centeredness is Generally Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.11 Surface vs. Deep Learning: Deep Learning is Always Better. . . . . . . . 11 2.12 Teaching Evaluation Results Say Nothing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.13 Good Teaching Doesn’t Matter, a Student Needs to Have the Right Personality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

XI

XII

Contents

2.14

Students Just Want to be “Entertained” and Do Nothing Themselves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2.15 Students Must Take Notes, Otherwise They Will Not Learn Anything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2.16 Students Must Fear the Teacher, Otherwise They Will Have No Respect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2.17 The Students are Getting Dumber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2.18 Expert Opinion Beats Empiricism: “In My Experience..., However, It Is so That …”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2.19 Good Researchers are Also Always Good Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3

What is Good University Teaching and What Can I Do as a Teacher?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.1 Definition of Good University Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 3.2 Dimensions of Good University Teaching: What Can I Influence as a Teacher? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3.2.1 How Big is My Influence on the Result?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3.2.2 Individual Dimensions of Good University Teaching. . . . . . 23 3.3 The Effectiveness of Good University Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 3.4 Most Effective Aspects of Good University Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 3.5 Practice Examples—In General. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

4

Lesson Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 4.1 Clarify Framework Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 4.2 Set Learning Goals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 4.3 Selecting Content Based on Learning Goals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 4.4 Choose Teaching Methods (Adapted to Learning Level) . . . . . . . . . . . 53 4.5 Choose Examination Methods (Adapted to Learning Level) . . . . . . . . 53 4.6 Create Course Schedule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 4.7 Plan Individual Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 4.8 Practical Examples of Lesson Planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 4.8.1 A Practical Example from the Humanities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 4.8.2 A Practical Example from the Social Sciences. . . . . . . . . . . 66 4.8.3 A Practical Example form the Natural Sciences. . . . . . . . . . 73 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

5

Teaching: Presentation Skills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 5.1 Basics of Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 5.2 Nonverbal and Paraverbal Communication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 5.3 Rhetoric and Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 5.3.1 Argumentative Figures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 5.3.2 Specifics of Presentations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

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5.4 Initial and Final Phases in Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 5.5 Practical Examples for Presentation Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 6

Teaching: Managing Professional Relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 6.1 Friendliness, Respect and Authenticity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 6.2 Helpfulness and Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 6.3 Fairness, Commitment and Consistency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 6.4 Your Role as a Teacher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 6.5 Dealing with Difficult Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 6.6 Practical Examples for Professional Relationship Management. . . . . . 105 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

7

Teaching: Activating Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 7.1 Theoretical Learning Basics of Activation in University Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 7.2 Activation Does Not Automatically Lead to Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 7.3 Input Methods—What Promotes Learning, What Endangers Learning Success?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 7.4 Activating Methods—What Promotes Learning, What Endangers Learning Outcomes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 7.5 Asking Questions and Using Them Skillfully. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 7.6 Leading Conversations and Discussions with Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . 115 7.7 A Good Didactic Concept is More Important then Activating Teaching Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 7.8 Teaching Learning Strategies and Self-Management Skills . . . . . . . . . 118 7.9 Practical Examples for Activating Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

8

Teaching: Motivating Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 8.1 The Teachers’s Enthusiasm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 8.2 Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation (Including Interest). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 8.3 Achievement, Power and Affiliation Motivation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 8.4 Goal Orientations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 8.5 Rubicon Model of Action Phases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 8.6 Practical Examples for Motivating Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

9

Teaching: Didactic Subtleties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 9.1 Adaptive Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 9.2 Intercultural Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 9.3 Plagiarism: Forms, Identification, Handling and Prevention. . . . . . . . . 143 9.4 Excursions as a Specific Teaching Format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 9.5 Details of Teaching Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

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9.6 Practice Examples of Didactic Subtleties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 10 Teaching Outside the Classroom: Blended Learning and E-Learning . . . . 157 10.1 Blended Learning instead of E-Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 10.2 Possible E-Learning Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 10.3 Optimal Blended-Learning Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 10.4 The Concept of the Flipped or Inverted-Classroom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 10.5 Practice Examples for Blended Learning and E-Learning . . . . . . . . . . 165 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 11 Teaching Outside the Classroom: Consultation and Supervision . . . . . . . . 169 11.1 Consultation by Teachers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 11.1.1 Consultation Process and Conversation Guide . . . . . . . . . . . 170 11.1.2 Teaching Consultant Competencies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 11.2 Supervision by Instructors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 11.3 Mentoring by Teachers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 11.4 Examples of Counseling and Support for Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 12 Testing Students and Evaluating Teaching Quality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 12.1 Feedback—Basic Constant of Good Teaching for Testing and Evaluating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 12.1.1 Criteria for Good Feedback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 12.2 Examinations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 12.2.1 Purpose and Forms: Why and How Do I Test? . . . . . . . . . . . 180 12.2.2 Quality criteria and reference standards: How do I assess exams correctly? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 12.2.3 Grading Errors: How Do I Grade Correctly?. . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 12.2.4 Quality of Individual Examination Forms: What Am I Testing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 12.3 Evaluation - in Particular, Teaching Evaluations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 12.3.1 Teaching Evaluation: What Can I Measure?. . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 12.3.2 Distortion of Results in Teaching Evaluations: Does It Measure Correctly? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 12.4 Carrying Out and Interpreting Teaching Evaluations Yourself . . . . . . . 195 12.4.1 Preparing the Teaching Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 12.4.2 Carrying Out and Evaluating the Teaching Evaluation. . . . . 200 12.4.3 Interpretation and Consequences of the Teaching Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 12.5 Alternative Evaluation Methods for Teaching Evaluations. . . . . . . . . . 205 12.6 Practical Examples for Teaching, Testing and Evaluating. . . . . . . . . . . 206 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

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13 Reflecting on and Innovating Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 13.1 Processes of Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 13.2 Aspects of University Teaching Worthy of Reflection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 13.3 Innovative University Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 13.4 Examples of Reflecting and Innovating Teaching Practices . . . . . . . . . 219 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 14 Method Collection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 14.1 Cognitive Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 14.1.1 Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 14.1.2 Individual Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 14.1.3 Group Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 14.1.4 Jigsaw / Group Puzzle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 14.1.5 Project Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 14.1.6 Experiment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 14.1.7 Brainstorming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 14.1.8 Mind-Mapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 14.1.9 Guest Lectures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 14.1.10 Case Studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 14.1.11 Lucky Dip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 14.1.12 Text Work: Reading and Discussing Texts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 14.1.13 Scenario Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 14.2 Feedback Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 14.2.1 Asking Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 14.2.2 Flash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 14.2.3 One-Minute-Paper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 14.2.4 Teaching Evaluations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 14.2.5 Target. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 14.2.6 Inquiry into Expectation, Interest and Prior Knowledge. . . . 247 14.3 Simulation Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 14.3.1 Business Game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 14.3.2 Problem-based Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 14.3.3 Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 14.4 Behavioral Modeling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 14.4.1 Role-playing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 14.4.2 Fishbowl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 14.5 Moderation Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 14.5.1 Card Query. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 14.5.2 Multi-point Query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 14.5.3 Action Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 14.5.4 Open Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 14.5.5 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 14.5.6 Expert Q & A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

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14.5.7 Pyramid Method or Atoms-molecules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 Presentation Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 14.6.1 Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 14.6.2 Impulse Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 14.6.3 Poster Presentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 14.7 Methods for Counseling and Supervision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 14.7.1 Counseling Guides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 14.7.2 Supervision Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 14.7.3 Supervision Contracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 14.8 Icebreaker and Relaxation Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 14.8.1 Introduction Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 14.8.2 Cooperation Agreements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 14.8.3 Partner Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 14.8.4 Student Line-up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 14.8.5 Tropical Storm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 14.8.6 Compound Words. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 14.6

Goodbyes and Innovations for the Author of this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

List of Figures

Fig. 2.1

Fig. 3.1 Fig. 3.2 Fig. 4.1 Fig. 4.2 Fig. 5.1 Fig. 5.2 Fig. 5.3

Fig. 8.1 Fig. 9.1

Teacher-Centered vs. Student-centered Approaches. (From Rheinberg et al., 2001, p. 337. Reprinted from Learning and Instruction, Vol 7 (3), David Kember, A reconceptualisation of the research into university academics’ conceptions of teaching, Pages No. 264, Copyright, 1997, with permission from Elsevier. Extension by Rheinberg et al., 2001, p. 337, with kind permission). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Model of good university teaching. (Taxonomy according to Donabedian, 1966). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Model of good university teaching with individual dimensions. . . . . . . 25 Interlinking of learning goals, learning content, teaching and examination methods, and student learning outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Meshing of the intended student learning priorities for teachers as well as motivated and less motivated students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Four sides of a message (Schulz von Thun, 2007a, p. 30). . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Model of interpersonal communication (Schulz von Thun, 2007a, p. 81) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Examples of argumentative figures of the "five-sentence-method". (From Dall, 2014, p. 86; Dall, Martin: Sicher präsentieren—wirksamer vortragen. © 2014 Redline Verlag, an imprint of Münchner Verlagsgruppe GmbH, Munich. http://www.redline-verlag.de All rights reserved. With kind permission of the publisher). . . . . . . . . . 89 Rubicon model of action phases (Achtziger & Gollwitzer, 2009, p. 151) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Cultural dimensions 1 and 2 from Hofstede et al. (2010, p. 103). (© McGraw-Hill Education. From: Hofstede et al. [2010]. Cultures and organizations. Software of the mind [3rd ed.]. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

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Fig. 9.2

Fig. 9.3

Fig. 12.1 Fig. 12.2 Fig. 12.3 Fig. 12.4 Fig. 12.5 Fig. 13.1 Fig. 14.1 Fig. 14.2 Fig. 14.3 Fig. 14.4

List of Figures

Hofstede et al.’s cultural dimensions 3 and 4 (2010, p. 214). (© McGraw-Hill Education. From: Hofstede et.al. [2010]. Cultures and organizations. Software of the mind [3rd ed.]. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Hofstede et al.’s cultural dimensions 5 and 6 (2010, p. 287). (© McGraw-Hill Education. From: Hofstede et al. [2010]. Cultures and organizations. Software of the mind [3rd ed.]. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Model of good university teaching—possible teaching evaluations. . . . 193 Strengths and weaknesses of open and closed questions in a teaching evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Example result from one of my teaching evaluations (single question). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Example result from one of my teaching evaluations (scales). . . . . . . . . 202 Example result from one of my teaching evaluations (reference values). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Aspects of university teaching worthy of reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Clustering for good teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 Mind map for good teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Concept map of good teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 Future scenarios of the scenario method (t = relevant time). . . . . . . . . . 241

Fig. 14.5 Example target with 4 dimensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

List of Tables

Table 3.1 Table 3.2 Table 3.3 Table 4.1 Table 4.2 Table 4.3 Table 4.4 Table 4.5 Table 4.6 Table 4.7 Table 4.8

Table 4.9 Table 4.10 Table 4.11 Table 4.12

Table 4.13 Table 4.14 Table 4.15

Individual dimensions of the model of good university teaching by book chapter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Effectiveness of the individual dimensions of the model of good university teaching by chapter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 TOP 5 of the most effective aspects of good teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Relevant framework conditions in curriculum planning. . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Main goal, intermediate and fine goals differentiated according to competence areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Seven levels of learning (Biggs & Tang, 2011, p. 6). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Teaching and examination methods, categorized according to the seven learning levels (Biggs & Tang, 2011, p. 6). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Course schedule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Goals per teaching unit phase of 90-minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Learning goals: A practical example form the humanities. . . . . . . . . . 59 Hierarchy and learning level of learning goals as well as selected teaching and examination methods based on a practical example from the humanities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Course plan example from the humanities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 The curriculum of individual lectures: Practical examples from the humanities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Learning goals: A practical example from the social sciences. . . . . . . 67 Hierarchy and learning levels of learning goals as well as selected teaching and assessment methods based on a practical example form the social sciences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Course plan example from the social sciences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 The curriculum of individual lectures: Practical examples from the social sciences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Learning goals: A practical example from the natural sciences. . . . . . 74

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XX

List of Tables

Table 4.16 Hierarchy and learning levels of the learning goals as well as selected teaching and assessment methods based on a practical example form the natural sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Table 4.17 Course plan example from the natural sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Table 4.18 The curriculum of individual lectures: Practical examples from the natural sciences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Table 5.1 Aspects of nonverbal and paraverbal communication.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Table 6.1 Dimensions of the teacher's role. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Table 6.2 Motives and “types” of difficult students and your possible behavior as a teacher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Table 6.3 Main points of relationship management by Thomas M.. . . . . . . . . . . 106 Table 6.4 Main points of relationship management by Markus T.. . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Table 6.5 Main points of relationship management by Sandra F.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Table 7.1 Paradigms of learning.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Table 7.2 Types of questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Table 7.3 Question forms to activate students according to Winteler (2011, pp. 90 ff.), elaborations from Ulrich (2013b, pp. 121–122). . . . 116 Table 7.4 Learning strategies according to Landmann et al. (2015, S. 53) and their effect on grades according to Richardson et al. (2012). . . . . 119 Table 8.1 Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Table 8.2 Overview of goal dimensions with possibilities for teachers.. . . . . . . . 129 Table 9.1 Cultural dimensions according to Hofstede (1986) and Hofstede et al. (2010) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Table 9.2 Preparing and conducting an interview regarding plagiarism accusations. (From Schiefner, 2010, p. 19). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Table 9.3 Possible field trips of selected colleagues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Table 9.4 Aspects to be considered from a didactic and organizational point of view.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Table 10.1 Blended Learning Formats—Potential Benefits for Students. . . . . . . . 163 Table 10.2 Advantages and disadvantages of traditional and flipped-classroom formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Table 11.1 Course of the consultation process.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Table 12.1 Overview of examination methods at universities.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Table 12.2 Quality criteria in detail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Table 12.3 Reference norms for examinations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Table 12.4 Rating errors and measures to avoid them.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Table 12.5 Overview of the examination forms including their assessment and achievable learning levels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Table 12.6 Evaluation levels according to Kirkpatrick (1979).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Table 12.7 Disturbing factors of teaching evaluation results.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

List of Tables

XXI

Table 12.8 Validated scales and closed questions for teaching evaluations including reference values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Table 14.1 Overview of all teaching methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

About the Author

Immanuel Ulrich is  a Professor of Higher Education Didactics and Psychology at IU International University of Applied Sciences, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He researches, teaches and trains teachers in good university teaching. His dissertation was awarded the Johannes-Wildt-Young Researchers’ Prize for Higher Education Didactics Research by the German Society for Higher Education Didactics in 2014. He is a 2019  teaching fellow of the Stifterverband in the Fellowship Program for Innovations in Higher Education Teaching.

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1

How Do I Use This Book?

Contents 1.1 A Brief Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.2 Basic Idea of This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.3 How to use this book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Abstract

In this chapter you will learn—after a brief introduction—about the basic ideas behind this book. Furthermore, you will be informed of the book's structure and which chapters to prioitise.

1.1 A Brief Introduction Thank you for purchasing this book and taking the time to read it. I assume you want to expand your (university) teaching skills and would like to use this book for this purpose. It will provide you with a comprehensive, well-founded overview of good teaching. Allow me to continue to address you directly as though we were conversing in a university setting—we are, after all, among peers.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 I. Ulrich, Good Teaching in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39137-9_1

1

2

1  How Do I Use This Book?

1.2 Basic Idea of This Book When I started teaching—in 2001 as a tutor for statistics (beeing a BA and later MA student in psychology) and in 2007 as a “real teacher” (resp. a young doctoral student)— I possessed a specialiesed education in psychology, but, in fact, I had no real teaching qualifications whatsoever. Not only was I unsure of how to teach because of my lack of teaching experience, but I was also at a loss as how to teach well. I had to qualify myself for teaching by a) trying things out myself, b) observing other teachers1 as well as c) reading literature on university teaching. In the end, I made many unnecessary teaching mistakes and wasted years by not offering more effective lessons. Welcome to the (German) higher education system.2 However, since the “Quality Pact for Teaching” 2011 (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, 2011), free optional further education courses in higher education didactics for teaching staff are often offered. The qualification of all teaching staff in higher education is only a university standard in other countries, such as the USA or Great Britain. My book is intended to help you make up for this deficiency. It is aimed at teachers of all disciplines, but especially at teachers with little or no teaching experience who are interested in improving their teaching methods. But even experienced teachers can use this book to break down the established teaching structures and recieve new input. The theory, practice and methods presented in this book are based on all English and German scientific empirical studies on good teaching in higher education I found and that were published up until this book's print date. So that you do not drown in the mass of individual findings, I concentrate mainly on meta-analyses.3 I supplement these sources with real examples from my own teaching experience and that of the around 250 teachers I have been worked since 2009. I would like to inspire you as a teacher and give you the courage to try something new in your own lessons. Good teaching can be learned!

1 I

use neutral formulations where possible (e.g. “students”). This is sometimes not possible. Unfortunately, despite decades of discourse, there is still no social consensus on which of the many different linguistic formulations does justice to men, women and (in recent years) transgender people. To make matters worse, there are contrary recommendations within gender research. E.g., Germanlanguage gender research recommends gendering job titles (e.g., "the authoress," DGPs, 2016, p. 45). Accordingly, the sentence "Theresa May was Prime Ministress of Great Britain" would be correct according to German-language gender research, whereas the sentence "Theresa May was Prime Minister of Great Britain" would be sexist. English-language gender research, however, takes the opposite position and generally does not gender job titles (e.g., APA Style, 2022, in "6. Specifying gender when it is not relevant"). Given these conflicting research findings, I have tried to find what seems to me to be the best possible solution (e.g., the teaching examples always describe teachers of the underrepresented gender in the subject of study – a female teacher name in physics, a male teacher name in psychology). However, all people are meant to be included. 2 I normally use the general term university, but this always refers to all higher education institutions (vocational schools, colleges etc.). If there are two per sentence, I use alternative terms. 3 What a meta-analysis is and what its values (effect size d = X,YZ) mean, I explain in Chap. 3.

1.3  How to use this book

3

1.3 How to use this book What follows this introductory chapter and what should you read: • Chapter 2 deals with popular teaching myths, which I refute with studies. If you do not believe any of the myths in the list at the beginning, you can skip the chapter. • Chapter 3 includes the scientifically verified basics of good university teaching and explains how learning works and what you can do as a teacher. I strongly recommend that you read this chapter if you doubt the scientificity of higher education didactics. • Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 deal with the individual aspects of good university teaching, which are arranged according to the typical phases of teaching: Plan (Chap. 4), carry out (Chaps. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11), check and evaluate (Chap. 12) as well as reflect and innovate (Chap. 13). Each of these chapters can be read individually. Start with the chapter that interests you the most—possibly after reading the summary.4 • Chapter 14 contains a comprehensive collection of didactically useful teaching methods including aim and field of application, detailed procedure, duration and material and method variations. Read through the aim and field of application of all methods as well as the further information on the methods that appeal to you. Chapters 4 through 8 and 10 through 13 contain not only theoretical sections with scientific studies but also practice sections with three “Best Practice” teaching examples. These examples are consistent across the individual chapters, i.e. the example remains the same, but the topic changes (in Chap. 8 “how to motivate in course A”, in Chap. 11 “how to support in course A”). I discuss one example from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences to address the main issues of each subject: Reading scientific texts, (statistical) method training, basic mathematical basic. Since, for example, reading scientific texts also plays a role outside of the humanities, the examples from other disciplines may also be interesting for you. At the beginning of each chapter, I summarise what you will learn in this chapter.

4 If

you do not want to work through the whole book from beginning to end  in one sitting and do not know where to start, I recommend the following: According to the current research (cf. Hattie, 2011), the most effective aspects of good university teaching are: a) Transparent performance requirements (learning objectives and performance criteria, cf. Chap. 4) b) Stimulating teaching strategies (cf. Chaps. 7 and 14) c) Use of feedback (cf. Chap. 12). Start with that. If you have little time, tackle just a single, shorter chapter.

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1  How Do I Use This Book?

Since we can often only invest little time in teaching because of non-teaching tasks (research, etc.), I explain at the end of each chapter what effectively promotes good teaching with minimal time investment. What is Effective for Good Teaching with Minimal Time Investment?

• Read only the respective boxes at the end of the chapters entitled “What Can Be Done Quickly Without Effort” in Chaps. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13. ◄

References APA Style. (2022). Gender: Examples of bias-free language. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/biasfree-language/gender. Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung. (2011). Qualitätspakt Lehre – Einsatz für optimale Studienbedingungen. https://www.bmbf.de/de/qualitaetspakt-lehre-524.html. Accessed 3 May 2020. DGPs. (2016). Richtlinien zur Manuskriptgestaltung (4., überarb. u. erw. Aufl.). Hogrefe. Hattie, J. A. (2011). Which strategies best enhance teaching and learning in higher education? In D. J. Mashek & E. Y. Hammer (Eds.), Empirical research in teaching and learning. Contributions from social psychology (pp. 130–144). Wiley-Blackwell.

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Popular Myths

Contents 2.1 You Can’t Say What Good Teaching is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.2 You Can Say What Good Teaching is, but it Differs Depending on the Subject. . . . . . . . 6 2.3 Good Teaching Does Not Work if the Conditions are Bad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.4 It is Not My Task as a Teacher to Deal with the Students in My Lessons. . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.5 The Teacher Personality: Good Teaching Can Either Be Learned or Not. . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.6 The Special Teaching Method (Insert Name Here) is the only Right One . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.7 I Have to Change the Teaching Method or Do Something Original Every 15–20 min. . . 8 2.8 The Teaching Format (Lecture, Seminar, Exercise) Determines My Teaching. . . . . . . . . 9 2.9 One Must Take into Account Learning Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.10 Teacher-Centered Vs. Student-Centered Teaching: Teacher-Centered Learning is Generally Bad, Student-Centeredness is Generally Good. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.11 Surface vs. Deep Learning: Deep Learning is Always Better. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.12 Teaching Evaluation Results Say Nothing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.13 Good Teaching Doesn’t Matter, a Student Needs to Have the Right Personality. . . . . . . 12 2.14 Students Just Want to be “Entertained” and Do Nothing Themselves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2.15 Students Must Take Notes, Otherwise They Will Not Learn Anything. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2.16 Students Must Fear the Teacher, Otherwise They Will Have No Respect. . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2.17 The Students are Getting Dumber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2.18 Expert Opinion Beats Empiricism: “In My Experience..., However, It Is so That …”. . . 14 2.19 Good Researchers are Also Always Good Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 I. Ulrich, Good Teaching in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39137-9_2

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2  Popular Myths Abstract

This chapter contains popular myths about good teaching at universities. If you do NOT believe the following points, you can skip this chapter.

2.1 You Can’t Say What Good Teaching is But there is decades-long, worldwide research on this. For details, see Chap. 3. Therefore, this argument is an (easily refutable) self-serving declaration made by teachers who would rather avoid confronting any researched quality criteria regarding their lessons. In fact, teachers and students have quite similar ideas of "good teaching" (cf. Ledić et al., 1999, p. 221).

2.2 You Can Say What Good Teaching is, but it Differs Depending on the Subject In Germany, we have a long tradition of subject-specific didactics. Therefore, this argument suggests that good teaching is subject-specific. But if you look at the aspects of good university teaching (see Chap. 3), it is generally not apparent why central aspects such as, • Constructive Alignment: Matching of learning goals, teaching and examination content; • Professional relationship management: Fairness, respect, friendliness; • The motivation of students; • … should not be valid in individual subjects. Of course, there are some specific differences in individual subject groups such as the US customary distinction between the natural sciences (focus in teaching: Mathematical knowledge), social sciences (methodological knowledge) and humanities (text work). For example, in the natural sciences, the discussion of questions of natural law, chemical reactions, etc. is only meaningful in thought experiments (e.g. “What if gravity were 1% stronger in the universe?”). In the humanities, discussions of questions such as “What is knowledge?” and “Which philosopher is right in what respect?” are central. However, the detailed distinction between individual, similar subjects is not useful in the case of good university teaching—for example, subject-specific teaching in a chemistry laboratory vs. subject-specific teaching in a biology laboratory—, especially since the differences within the subjects are often much greater (for example, theoretical physics vs. experimental physics, educational psychology vs. neuropsychology). Hattie (2009, p. 248–249) could not empirically prove differences in good teaching or good university teaching.

2.5  The Teacher Personality: Good Teaching Can Either Be Learned or Not

7

2.3 Good Teaching Does Not Work if the Conditions are Bad No. Bad conditions do indeed adversely affect good teaching, but you as a teacher and your students are much more important for good teaching (cf. Hattie, 2015). The effect of class size—the more students, the worse the teaching—is indeed documented, but small (Kokkelenberg et al., 2008) and often overestimated. For more details, see Chap. 3.

2.4 It is Not My Task as a Teacher to Deal with the Students in My Lessons Some teachers represent the principle that they present teaching content, but whether the way, form, didactic preparation of the content or the form of presentation by the teacher etc. help the students or not is unimportant to them. Either the students can compensate for this, or they have to leave the university. With this argument, as a teacher, one has to work very little when teaching. But this simplification of work is legally inadmissible, see paragraph 7 of the Higher Education Framework Act, “Objectives of the Study” (own highlights in the quotation): “Teaching and learning should prepare the student for a professional activity and impart to him the corresponding professional knowledge, skills and methods required for this in each case, in accordance with the respective degree programme, in such a way that he is able to carry out scientific or artistic work and to act responsibly in a liberal, democratic and social onstitutional state.” (Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz, 2007, p. 5). This “conveyance of corresponding knowledge” by the teacher includes the empowerment of all students who are in the respective lesson as well as "good teaching" in terms of content and didactics without “low-level teaching”.

2.5 The Teacher Personality: Good Teaching Can Either Be Learned or Not If the teacher's personality were so relevant, only a personality test at the beginning of their career would suffice, and we could dispense with all further education in higher education didactics. However, hardly any specific personality traits of (mentally healthy) teachers could be found which generally have a (positive) effect on teaching (Murray et al., 1990) - Most personality traits have no effect at all on good teaching. Some personality traits, however, havea slightly to moderately positive or negative effect on the quality of teaching, depending on the teaching unit (type of student target group, teaching unit format, etc.). Only one “personality trait” had a consistently positive effect: demonstrated leadership behavior. And this is more of a trainable behavior than a personality trait.

8

2  Popular Myths

In contrast, further education in higher education didactics has a consistently positive effect on teaching (e.g., Claus & Zullo, 1987; Gibbs & Coffey, 2004; Howland & Wedman, 2004; Johannes, 2011; Penny & Coe, 2004, d = .69; Ulrich, 2013), i.e., good teaching can be learned.

2.6 The Special Teaching Method (Insert Name Here) is the only Right One Depending on the decade and fashion, different special teaching methods have been alleged to be generally right for good teaching. This is not the case: A general superiority of specific teaching methods for all teaching situations or learning goals could not be proven (Hattie, 2009, 2015). It is important that you teach adaptively, i.e., use the appropriate teaching method for each learning goal or teaching situation (Kerres et al., 2003; Terhart, 2005; Whitener, 1989). An appropriate teaching method is a greater determiner of good teaching than the respective level of teaching experience an instructor holds (Deslauriers et al., 2011). You will find more details on this theory in Chap. 3 and on teaching methods in Chap. 14.

2.7 I Have to Change the Teaching Method or Do Something Original Every 15–20 min Some authors recommend changing the teaching method1 or doing “something original” every 15–20 min (e.g., Brauer, 2014, pp. 58 and 71; Jenkins, 1992). The reason they provide for this is that students' attention in lectures continuously decreases after 10 min of lecture until it stabilizes at a low level (Penner, 1984) . The 15–20 rule prevents this and promotes continuous attention (Middendorf & Kalish, 1996). These conclusions are clearly to be contradicted: Firstly, Brauer’s idea is somewhat daring to generalize a finding from a classic lecture ( where students passiveley receive content) to all existing teaching formats and types. If, for example, in your seminar, the students have been excitedly discussing or attentively carrying out the laboratory experiment or intensively participating in a business simulation for longer than 20 min, then do not interrupt this under any circumstances with “something original” or a change of method. This damages your didactic goal—the students’ learning success. As long as your students are actively learning (cf. Chap. 7), a change of method is didactically unnecessary.

1 E.g,.

after a lecture you change to group work. No change of content has to be made.

2.9  One Must Take into Account Learning Types

9

It is true that with longer inputs and simultaneous passivity of the students, attention decreases overall. In this case, a change of method and the incorporation of “something original” (such as unusual scientific findings, effects, etc.) make sense. Depending on the content and form of the input, however, attention may decrease either much more slowly or even faster than the 10 min. mark.

2.8 The Teaching Format (Lecture, Seminar, Exercise) Determines My Teaching Many university didactic works are oriented towards teaching formats such as lecture, seminar, exercise, etc. (e.g., Brauer, 2014; Schneider & Mustafic, 2015). However, this is unnecessary. The predetermined designation (lecture, seminar, exercise, etc.) of your teaching event is not relevant. The main factor is your didactic concept (cf. Deslauriers et al., 2011) . Nobody prevents you from using seminar teaching methods in a lecture. The only relevant framework conditions that influence your teaching are the number of students or the characteristics of the room (e.g., fixed rows of chairs, acoustics).

2.9 One Must Take into Account Learning Types A popular misconception is the division of learners into certain “learning types”, in which case students learn better when their learning types are taken into account (e.g., Brinker & Schumacher, 2014, p. 83). Currently, at least 71 different taxonomies of learning types have been published (Coffield et al., 2004, pp. 166 ff.; Álvarez-Montero et al., 2018). The learning type taxonomy according to Vester (2004) occurs most often in higher education, according to which, people learn mainly either • • • •

auditorily through hearing and discussing, visually through graphics, haptically or kinesthetically through their own actions or intellectually through texts.

This may appear to be correct at first glance, but it is not. On the one hand, the taxonomy is inconsistent: So the question arises how someone can auditorily, visually and/or haptically learn without using his intellect . On the other hand the sense organs are not equally weighted: You can take in a lot more information visually than auditorily or haptically because the visual system is generally dominant in adults (e.g., Robinson & Sloutsky, 2004). You can find further criticism of Vester (2004) in Looß (2001).

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2  Popular Myths

In total, not a single one of the 71 learning typologies could be proven relevant for learning success in research, and most of the (few) effects were even contrary to learning type theory (Pashler et al., 2008).

2.10 Teacher-Centered Vs. Student-Centered Teaching: Teacher-Centered Learning is Generally Bad, StudentCenteredness is Generally Good In the course of the Bologna Process and the associated competence orientation (“shift from teaching to learning”), the typology of teacher-centered vs. student-centered teaching was often propagated (cf. Fig. 2.1; Kember, 1997). In the past, one drew upon a continuum of a teaching attitude. tToday, one draws upon two independent teaching attitudes (Lübeck, 2009). Often, student-centered teaching as a teaching attitude is presented as normatively desirable because it promotes better student learning outcomes. This is inaccurate. Fischer and Hänze (2019) even found a negative effect of student-centered teaching methods on the cognitive activation of students (cognitive activation beeing that which leads to student learning success). On average, teachers who have a moderate attitude (positions 2–3, Fig. 2.1) have the best student learning outcomes (Hattie, 2009, p. 243–244). In general, however, it is less about the approach of the teachers because these have relatively little impact on concrete behavior (e.g., Aronson et al., 2014, pp. 238 ff.). Neither constructivist nor transmissive teacher attitudes have an impact on their use of teacher-centered or student-centered teaching methods (Fischer & Hänze, 2020). What is ultimately important is the adaptive

LECTURER-CENTRED INFORMATION TRANSFER

(1) Knowledge transfer

Student as passive information recipient

(2) Providing structured/organised knowledge

Student as receptive information recipient

STUDENT-ORIENTED SUPPORT FOR LEARNING

3) Transition from a teaching focus to a learning focus

Interaction lecturer/student

(4) Facilitating understanding/ active learning

(5) Development and change of knowledge structures

Student as active learner

Student as independent learner

Fig. 2.1   Teacher-Centered vs. Student-centered Approaches. (From Rheinberg et al., 2001, p. 337. Reprinted from Learning and Instruction, Vol 7 (3), David Kember, A reconceptualisation of the research into university academics’ conceptions of teaching, Pages No. 264, Copyright, 1997, with permission from Elsevier. Extension by Rheinberg et al., 2001, p. 337, with kind permission)

2.12  Teaching Evaluation Results Say Nothing

11

behavior of the teacher, i.e., the teacher employs the best possible teaching methods for his learning goal—sometimes teacher-centered, sometimes student-centered, sometimes mixed forms (cf. Walberg & Lai, 1999, p. 424). The teaching approach tends to have no influence on the teacher's evaluation results. There is only a small positive effect between the student-centered approach of the teacher and the teaching evaluation regarding the intrinsic motivation of the students (Ulrich, 2013, p. 269 ff.). If in doubt, a synthesis of the two approaches is usually the best: Activate your students but instruct clearly. Good teachers adapt their teaching behavior to the respective didactic situation (cf. Chap. 9). When mentoring students on their master’s thesis, a (almost) pure student-centered approach is important, since the didactic goal here is in the student's autodidacticism.

2.11 Surface vs. Deep Learning: Deep Learning is Always Better According to the taxonomy by Marton and Säljö (1976), deep learning would generally be preferable to surface learning because deep learning has a positive effect on student learning success on contrary to surface learning (Richardson et al., 2012). However, a general deep learning is only meaningful if there is unlimited time and resources, as the effort required is much greater. Surface learning is quick, so it is also important for general education. You have only superficially touched upon many topics during your school career (due to a lack of time) but have nevertheless received a good general education. It is important that you have a deep understanding of the main content (e.g., deeply understanding the basics English of while only superficially grasping the individual vocabulary). In some cases, surface learning is even much more sensible: When you learned the alphabet, you did not work out the linguistic origin, development and derivation of the individual letters, but you learned the letters superficially and have been using them successfully for reading and writing ever since. In this case, deep learning would only be important for students of linguistics . Analogously, in teaching, especially in introductions, surface learning makes sense for providing an overview. This is also shown empirically: Students who used surface learning and deep learning strategically, i.e., depending on the didactic goal, had greater learning success (d = 0.65) than students who only used surface learning (d = −0.39) or only deep learning (d = 0.06; Richardson et al., 2012).

2.12 Teaching Evaluation Results Say Nothing But! “Under appropiate conditions, students' evaluations of teaching (SET) are a) multidimensional, b) reliable and stable, c) primarily a function of the instrcutor who teaches a course rather than the course that istaught , d) relatively valid against a variety of indicators of effective teaching (e.g., learning tests, external evaluations), e) relatively

12

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u­ naffected by a variety of variables hypothesized as potential biases […] and (f) useful in improving teaching effectiveness when SET are coupled with appropriate consultation” (Marsh & Roche, 1997, p. 1187; examples from Rindermann, 2001). In meta-analyses, there is a moderate relationship between performance data (grades) and teaching evaluations (Cohen, 1981; see Chap. 3), i.e., both measure approximately the same thing. This is also evident in Chap. 3: the same dimensions of good teaching that have a positive effect on teaching evaluations and performance data—only the weighting is different. More recently, more critical meta-analyses have found small to moderate relationships (Clayson, 2009).2 There are popular myths about the lack of usefulness of teaching evaluations, which can all be refuted (Aleamoni, 1999, available online). It is only important that you select the results of the teaching evaluation that are relevant for your own learning goals (see Chap. 4) or teaching unit (Renkl, 2015).

2.13 Good Teaching Doesn’t Matter, a Student Needs to Have the Right Personality According to Hattie (2015), the personality of the students has only a minimal effect on performance (grades). The found effect size (d = 0.17) does not even reach the lower limit for “small effects” (d = 0.20, see Cohen, 1988). Of the individual dimensions of personality, only the dimension of “conscientiousness” (d = 0.47, Poropat, 2009) is relevant. All other dimensions (extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness) are not relevant here. Even less conscientious students can study successfully because the influence of a student's conscientiousness is too low.

2.14 Students Just Want to be “Entertained” and Do Nothing Themselves The frequent accusation is that students only want to “consume” teaching passively and not become active themselves. Studies show the opposite to be true (Sander et al., 2000): Students prefer interactive teaching events where they have to be active themselves (through questions, discussions, etc.). This is followed by tutorials and teaching events with group work. Lectures by teachers with passive students are unpopular, but expected. Presentations are similarly unpopular, role-playing even more so. It should be noted in passing that role-playing is hardly expected or known by students and after completion is

2 The

currently most recent meta-analysis (Uttl et al., 2016/2017) criticizes the previous analyses as methodologically inadequate and comes to only small relationships in their calculation, but is itself criticized as methodologically inadequate (e.g., Ryalls et al., 2016).

2.16  Students Must Fear the Teacher, Otherwise They Will Have No Respect

13

rated as helpful. Here, the fear of having to be active as a role-player in front of one’s fellow students and being evaluated may be a reason for its lack of popularity.

2.15 Students Must Take Notes, Otherwise They Will Not Learn Anything This argument is often used to withhold teaching materials in whole or in part: The students’ learning success increases through the addition of missing information and the selection of relevant aspects of the teaching presentation. However, this only applies to certain media: Notes on audio presentations (e.g., digitally recorded event, d = 0.43) and text (e.g., longer passages of text in the slides, d = 0.27) are helpful for learning success. Taking notes on visual or audio-visual media (e.g., graphics in the slides, films, demonstrations) is of no use at all because students cannot simultaneously observe the medium and write legibly (d = −0.02, Kobayashi, 2005). Make all visual media available to your students before your teaching event (then you will save the time they would use for taking unnecessary notes). Auditory and text-based media can work well with notetaking, provided you give the students enough time. However, this effect of note-taking decreases with the increasing competence of the students (Shrager & Mayer, 1989) and is, therefore, more suitable for lower-semester students.

2.16 Students Must Fear the Teacher, Otherwise They Will Have No Respect The Duden (2019, own translation) defines respect on the one hand as “esteem based on recognition and admiration” and on the other hand as “fear felt in front of someone because of their higher, superior position, which is expressed in the effort not to cause displeasure”. A tmidity, which one develops to avoid causing displeasure, is achieved when teachers present and consistently sanction their own (value) concepts while teaching (cf. Chap. 6). Fear is unnecessary for this. Recognition and admiration of the students is achieved through a professional relationship design (friendliness, respect, helpfulness, fairness, cf. Chap. 6) as well as generally through good performance in teaching (and subordinate also through new research findings). In general, fear of the teacher is harmful. On the one hand, it reduces the level of respect felt: “Fear makes contemptible, and contempt is more dangerous than hatred.” (Engel, 1802, p. 332, own translation). On the other hand, it is didactically harmful. Fear of the teacher shifts the student’s focus from the learning object to the teacher because it draws attention to the object of one's fear or the person one is afraid of (Sokolowski, 2013, pp. 234 ff.). A certain fear of the students for a performance test, but not the teacher, is didactically useful (i.e., extrinsic motivation or performance motivation, cf. Chap. 8), provided

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that the students know under which conditions they can achieve the best grade in the performance test.

2.17 The Students are Getting Dumber No, neither the students nor the population as a whole are getting dumber. The overall intelligence quotient of the population has been slowly rising for decades both across countries and specifically in Germany (Pietschnig & Voracek, 2015). The intelligence quotient of students has also been stable for each generation of students for decades, even as the number of students increases (Dutton & Lynn, 2014; Plant & Richardson, 1958). This subjective impression of teachers may be due to the fact that teachers gain more expertise with each year or each level of qualification while first-semester students are equally ignorant every year. However, expert-layman communication (see Bromme et al., 2004) becomes more difficult with increasing expertise, as experts must anticipate the layman’s competence level correctly. For this purpose, teachers can try to remember their “layman level” as younger students, but this becomes more difficult with increasing time distance. I, myself, have read an old work from my studies before evaluating the work of my students. This was a good value reference, even if it has lowered my retrospective assessment of my competence during my studies.

2.18 Expert Opinion Beats Empiricism: “In My Experience..., However, It Is so That …” People tend to trust the experiences or advice of experts (important to them) more than scientific knowledge (Yates, 2008) As a result, “gray eminences” and anecdotal stories are given more weight than research reports. Unfortunately, it turns out that expert opinions provide less accurate knowledge and advice than scientific studies in predicting what is favorable or helpful (Grove et al., 2000; Meehl, 1954, pp. 83 ff.). Therefore, trust the scientific findings regarding good teaching more than even the most respected experts.

2.19 Good Researchers are Also Always Good Teachers The Humboldtian ideal is based on the unity of research and teaching since, according to this, a good teacher must also do research themselves. This is often derived from the assumption (!) that a good researcher is automatically also a good teacher (“myth of good teaching”, cf. Metz-Göckel et al., 2010). In antiquity, in the Middle Ages and in the early modern period, this may have been correct (cf. Radke, 2007) because lessons by individuals who were not researching at the time were often oriented towards non-scientific works of doubtful nature. For our modern science systems, no connection could be found

2.19  Good Researchers are Also Always Good Teachers

15

between good teaching and good research (Marsh & Hattie, 2002)—both aspects were completely independent of each other (correlation r = 0.03, not significant). Some good researchers are also good teachers, some good researchers are bad teachers, some bad researchers are good teachers, and some bad researchers are bad teachers. In between, there are many intermediate stages but no connection between research and teaching. Hattie and Marsh (1996, pp. 514 ff.) represent, inter alia, the thesis that good teaching and good research are indeed (somewhat) positively related, but this is due to temporal limitations (if only one of them is done correctly or both only half-heartedly). It is difficult for most scientists to achieve good results in both areas. What is Effective for Good Teaching with Limited Time

• Read through the table of contents at the beginning and simply don’t believe any of the points mentioned. To have a better understanding of the context, however, you still have to read it. ◄

References Aleamoni, L. M. (1999). Student rating myths versus research facts from 1924 to 1998. Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education, 13, 153–166. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008168421283. Álvarez-Montero, F. J., Leyva-Cruz, M. G., & Moreno-Alcaraz, F. (2018). Learning Styles Inventories: an update of Coffield, Moseley, Hall, & Ecclestone’s Reliability and Validity Matrix. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 16(3), 597–629. Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., & Akert, R. M. (2014). Sozialpsychologie (8th updated ed.). Pearson Studium. Brauer, M. (2014). An der Hochschule lehren. Springer. Brinker, T., & Schumacher, E.-M. (2014). Befähigen statt belehren. Neue Lehr- und Lernkultur an Hochschulen. hep. Bromme, R., Jucks, R., & Rambow, R. (2004). Experten-Laien-Kommunikation im Wissensmanagement. In G. Reinmann & H. Mandl (Eds.), Psychologie des Wissensmanagements. Perspektiven, Theorien und Methoden (pp. 176–188). Hogrefe. Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz. (2007). Hochschulrahmengesetz. Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz. http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/bundesrecht/hrg/gesamt.pdf. Accessed 3 May 2020. Claus, J. M., & Zullo, T. G. (1987). An adaptive faculty development program for improving teaching skills. Journal of Dental Education, 51(12), 709–712. Clayson, D. E. (2009). Student evaluations of teaching: Are they related to what students learn? A meta-analysis and review of the literature. Journal of Marketing Education, 31(1), 16–30. Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E., & Ecclestone, K. (2004). Learning styles and pedagogy in post16 learning: A systematic and critical review. Learning and Skills Research Centre. https:// www.leerbeleving.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/learning-styles.pdf. Accessed 3 May 2020. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). L. Erlbaum Associates. Cohen, P. A. (1981). Student ratings of instruction and student achievement: A meta-analysis of multisection validity studies. Review of Educational Research, 51(3), 281–309.

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Deslauriers, L., Schelew, E., & Wieman, C. (2011). Improved learning in a large-enrollment physics class. Science, 332(6031), 862–864. Duden. (2019). Respekt. Dudenverlag. http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Respekt. Accessed 3 May 2020. Dutton, E., & Lynn, R. (2014). Intelligence and religious and political differences among members of the U.S. academic elite. Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, 10, 1–29. Engel, J. J. (1802). Der Fürstenspiegel (Schriften, Vol. 3). Myliussische Buchhandlung. Fischer, E., & Hänze, M. (2019). Back from „guide on the side“ to „sage on the stage“? Effects of teacher-guided and student-activating teaching methods on student learning in higher education. International Journal of Educational Research, 95, 26–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. ijer.2019.03.001. Fischer, E., & Hänze, M. (2020). How do university teachers’ values and beliefs affect their teaching? Educational Psychology, 40(3), 296–317. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2019.167586 7. Gibbs, G., & Coffey, M. (2004). The impact of training of university teachers on their teaching skills, their approach to teaching and the approach to learning of their students. Active Learning in Higher Education, 5(1), 87–100. Grove, W. M., Zald, D. H., Lebow, B. S., Snitz, B. E., & Nelson, C. (2000). Clinical versus mechanical prediction: A meta-analysis. Psychological Assessment, 12(1), 19–30. Hattie, J. A. (2009). Visible learning. A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge. Hattie, J. A. (2015). The applicability of visible learning to higher education. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 1(1), 79–91. Hattie, J. A., & Marsh, H. W. (1996). The relationship between research and teaching: A metaanalysis. Review of Educational Research, 66(4), 507–542. Howland, J., & Wedman, J. (2004). A process model for faculty development: Individualizing technology learning. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 12(2), 239–262. Jenkins, A. (1992). Active learning in structured lecture. In G. Gibbs & A. Jenkins (Eds.), Teaching large classes in higher education: How to maintain quality with reduced resources (pp. 63–77). Kogan Page. Johannes, C. (2011). Bedingungen für kohärentes Lehrhandeln in der Hochschullehre: Vorstellungen und Reflexionen von Lehranfängern und deren Bedeutung für die Professionalisierung. Dissertation, Technische Universität München. https://mediatum.ub.tum.de/ doc/1094688/1094688.pdf. Accessed 3 May 2020. Kember, D. (1997). A reconceptualisation of the research into university academics’ conceptions of teaching. Learning and Instruction, 7(3), 255–275. Kerres, M., de Witt, C., & Stratmann, J. (2003). E-Learning. Didaktische Konzepte für erfolgreiches Lernen. In J. Gutmann & K. SchwuchowA (Eds.), Jahrbuch Personalentwicklung und Weiterbildung 2004. Wolters Kluwer Deutschland. Kobayashi, K. (2005). What limits the encoding effect of note-taking? A meta-analytic examination. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 30(2), 242–262. https://doi. org/10.1080/01443410500342070. Kokkelenberg, E. C., Dillon, M., & Christy, S. M. (2008). The effects of class size on student grades at a public university. Economics of Education Review, 27(2), 221–233. Ledić, J., Rafajac, B., & Kovač, V. (1999). Assessing the quality of university teaching in Croatia. Teaching in Higher Education, 4(2), 213–243. Looß, M. (2001). Lerntypen? Ein pädagogisches Konstrukt auf dem Prüfstand. Die Deutsche Schule, 93(2), 186–198. https://publikationsserver.tu-braunschweig.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/dbbs_derivate_00044748/Lerntypentheorie_Loo%C3%9F.pdf. Accessed 3 May 2020.

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Lübeck, D. (2009). Lehransätze in der Hochschullehre. Dissertation, Freie Universität Berlin. http:// www.diss.fu-berlin.de/diss/receive/FUDISS_thesis_000000011078. Accessed 3 May 2020. Marsh, H. W., & Hattie, J. (2002). The relation between research productivity and teaching effectiveness: Complementary, antagonistic, or independent constructs? The Journal of Higher Education, 73(5), 603–641. Marsh, H. W., & Roche, L. A. (1997). Making students’ evaluations of teaching effectiveness effective: The critical issues of validity, bias, and utility. American Psychologist, 52(11), 1187–1197. Marton, F., & Säljö, R. (1976). On qualitative differences in learning. I – Outcome and process. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 46, 4–11. Meehl, P. E. (1954). Clinical versus statistical prediction: A theoretical analysis and a review of the evidence. University of Minnesota Press. Metz-Göckel, S., Kamphans, M., Ernst, C., & Funger, A. (2010). Mythos guter Lehre, individuelles Coaching und die Wirksamkeit genderintegrativer Lehrinterventionen. In N. AuferkorteMichaelis (Eds.), Hochschuldidaktik in der Lehrpraxis. Interaktion und Innovation für Studium und Lehre an der Hochschule (pp. 13–29). Budrich UniPress. Middendorf, J., & Kalish, A. (1996). The “change-up” in lectures. The National Teaching and Learning Forum, 52(1–2), 2. Murray, H. G., Rushton, J. P., & Paunonen, S. V. (1990). Teacher personality traits and student instructional ratings in six types of university courses. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(2), 250–261. Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3), 105–119. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/pspi/PSPI_9_3.pdf. Accessed 3 May 2020. Penner, J. G. (1984). Why many college teachers cannot lecture. Charles C. Thomas. Penny, A. R., & Coe, R. (2004). Effectiveness of consultation on student ratings feedback: A metaanalysis. Review of Educational Research, 74(2), 215–253. Pietschnig, J., & Voracek, M. (2015). One century of global IQ gains: A formal meta-analysis of the Flynn effect (1909–2013). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(3), 282–326. https:// doi.org/10.1177/1745691615577701. Plant, W. T., & Richardson, H. (1958). The IQ of the average college student. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 5(3), 229–231. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040731. Poropat, A. E. (2009). A meta-analysis of the five-factor model of personality and academic performance. Psychological Bulletin, 135(2), 322–338. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014996. Radke, G. (2007). Koryphäen der Lehre. Die Einheit von Forschung und Lehre in der Antike: Ein Rückblick mit aktuellem Bezug. Forschung und Lehre, 23(5), 266–268. Renkl, A. (2015). Drei Dogmen guten Lernens und Lehrens: Warum sie falsch sind. Psychologische Rundschau, 66(4), 211–220. Rheinberg, F., Bromme, R., Minsel, B., Winteler, A., & Weidenmann, B. (2001). Die Erziehenden und die Lehrenden. In A. Krapp & B.Weidenmann (Eds.), Pädagogische Psychologie (4th fully revised ed., pp. 270–355). Beltz. Richardson, M., Abraham, C., & Bond, R. (2012). Psychological correlates of university students’ academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 138(2), 353–387. Rindermann, H. (2001). Die studentische Beurteilung von Lehrevaluationen – Forschungsstand und Implikationen. In C. Spiel (Ed.), Evaluation universitärer Lehre. Zwischen Qualitätsmanagement und Selbstzweck (pp. 61–88). Waxmann. Robinson, C. W., & Sloutsky, V. M. (2004). Auditory dominance and its change in the course of development. Child Development, 75(5), 1387–1401. http://faculty.psy.ohio-state.edu/sloutsky/ pdf/Auditory_Dominance.pdf. Accessed 3 May 2020.

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Ryalls, K. R., Benton, S. L., & Li, D. (2016). Response to „Zero correlation between evaluations and learning“ (IDEA Editorial Note #3). Kansas State University, Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development. https://www.ideaedu.org/Portals/0/Uploads/Documents/Response_to_ Zero_Correlation_Between_Evaluations_Teaching.pdf. Accessed 3 May 2020. Sander, P., Stevenson, K., King, M., & Coates, D. (2000). University students’ expectations of teaching. Studies in Higher Education, 25(3), 309–323. Schneider, M., & Mustafic, M. (2015). Hochschuldidaktik als empirisch-quantitative Wissenschaft. In M. Schneider & M. Mustafic (Eds.), Gute Hochschullehre. Eine evidenzbasierte Orientierungshilfe (pp. 1–12). Springer. Shrager, L., & Mayer, R. E. (1989). Note-taking fosters generative learning strategies in novices. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81(2), 263–264. Sokolowski, K. (2013). Allgemeine Psychologie für Studium und Beruf. Pearson. Terhart, E. (2005). Lehr-Lern-Methoden. Eine Einführung in Probleme der methodischen Organisation von Lehren und Lernen (Grundlagentexte Pädagogik, 4th ed.). Juventa. Ulrich, I. (2013). Strategisches Qualitätsmanagement in der Hochschullehre. Theoriegeleitete Workshops für Lehrende zur Förderung kompetenzorientierter Lehre. Springer. Uttl, B., White, C. A., & Wong Gonzalez, D. (2016/2017). Meta-analysis of faculty’s teaching effectiveness: Student evaluation of teaching ratings and student learning are not related. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 54, 22–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2016.08.007 [online veröffentlicht 2016, print 2017]. Vester, F. (2004). Denken, Lernen, Vergessen. Was geht in unserem Kopf vor, wie lernt das Gehirn und wann läßt es uns im Stich? (Ungekürzte, vom Autor überarb. Ausg., 30. ed.). Dt. Taschenbuch. Walberg, H. J., & Lai, J.-S. (1999). Meta-analytic effects for policy. In G. J. Cizek (Ed.), Handbook of educational policy (pp. 419–453). Academic. Whitener, E. M. (1989). A meta-analytic review of the effect on learning of the interaction between prior achievement and instructional support. Review of Educational Research, 59(1), 65–86. Yates, G. (2008). Roadblocks to scientific thinking in educational decision making. Australasian Journal of Special Education, 32(1), 125–137.

3

What is Good University Teaching and What Can I Do as a Teacher?

Contents 3.1 Definition of Good University Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 3.2 Dimensions of Good University Teaching: What Can I Influence as a Teacher? . . . . . . . . 21 3.2.1 How Big is My Influence on the Result?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3.2.2 Individual Dimensions of Good University Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3.3 The Effectiveness of Good University Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 3.4 Most Effective Aspects of Good University Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 3.5 Practice Examples—In General. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Abstract

First, you will learn a definition of good university teaching based on the Humboldtian ideal of education. Then I will introduce you to the individual dimensions of good university teaching—in particular, the areas that you can influence as a teacher. We then focus on the effectiveness of the individual dimensions of good university teaching, after which we will discuss the five strongest effects. Finally, I will explain the practical examples that you will find in chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. Because university didactics are sometimes cirticized for being unscientific, the following chapter includes a detailed scientific derivation of university didactics as well as an enumeration of all results from meta-analyses. All findings can also be found later in their respective chapters.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 I. Ulrich, Good Teaching in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39137-9_3

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3  What is Good University Teaching and What Can I Do as a Teacher?

3.1 Definition of Good University Teaching What is good university teaching? This question leads most (prospective) teachers on the one hand to a certain insecurity because to answering this question does not require subject-specific but rather didactic knowledge, which is rarely imparted to students during their studies. On the other hand, every teacher has, based on his own experiences as a student, at least a diffuse idea of what he considers to be good teaching. Unfortunately, the instrcutors that current teachers had during their studies were not always the best. As a result, the acquired standard that teachers holds is neither necessarily high or correct. Let us first leave these lowlands and turn to the highest standards postulated by universities: According to the Humboldtian ideal of education (cf. von Humboldt, 1851/1927), to which the German universities refer, “The freest form of education, as little as possible directed at bourgeois conditions sould precede everywhere. The thus educated man would then enter the state and the constitution of the state would be tested on him, as it were. Only in such a struggle would I hope, with certainty, for a true improvement of the constitution by the nation … ” (Humboldt, 1851/1927, p. 72, own translation).1 Wilhelm von Humboldt sees in (university) education a means to an end—to train competent citizens. For this, they need knowledge but also practical skills and competences and should, above all, have (civic) values. The mentioned aspects must be imparted by competent university teachers at universities. Which conditions of imparting are optimal can be clarified by research on university didactics (teaching, teachers and students) and quality management (framework conditions). Thus we can—in the sense of Humboldt—define:  Good University Teaching Good university teaching includes the professional imparting of knowledge, skills, competences and values, in particular within the framework of the respective subject. Good university teaching makes use of quality management standards and the latest university didactic research results for its continual optimization. The goal of good university teaching is the education of competent, responsible and value-oriented (state) citizens (Ulrich & Heckmann, 2013, p. 4, own translation). Concrete assistance cannot be provided by this definition. However, we can record the following characteristics of good university teaching that are relevant for this book:

1 To

be found in the chapter “Sorgfalt des Staats für die Sicherheit der Bürger untereinander. Mittel, diesen Endzweck zu erreichen. Veranstaltungen, welche auf die Umformung des Geistes und Charakters der Bürger gerichtet sind. Öffentliche Erziehung”, which can be translated to “Care of the state for the security of the citizens among each other. Means to achieve this end. Measures which are directed to the transformation of the mind and character of the citizens. Public education.”

3.2  Dimensions of Good University Teaching …

21

1. The (learning) result of the students is important for good university teaching. This is the primary goal of all the research results, practical tips etc. that I present: I would like to increase the learning success of your students by increasing your university didactic competence and offering you (even) better instruction. 2. The (learning) results of the students include not only knowledge but also skills, competence and values. I would like to encourage you to convey all of this to your students. Be a role model for your students as a teacher, just as good teachers, university teachers, etc. were for you. 3. Good university teaching must be carried out professionally by good teachers. Relevant aspects can be identified by research into university didactics and quality management in university teaching. You will find all of these necessary content in this book. Let us now begin with more concrete details.

3.2 Dimensions of Good University Teaching: What Can I Influence as a Teacher? From the perspective of us teachers, teaching involves various people and aspects that can positively or negatively influence us and our teaching. First, we teachers are subject to the a) framework conditions of our universities, subjects etc. (workload, infrastructure etc.). In addition, there are us b) teachers with our competencies, commitment etc. as well as the c) students with their prior knowledge, interests etc. Under the framework conditions we teachers and students come together in the d) taught lessons. This teaching leads (usually) to e) (student learning) processes with increased interest, higher motivation, which (ideally) improves f) (student learning) results, such as knowledge and competence building, value transmission, etc. The aforementioned people and aspects are partly easy and partly relatively difficult to influence from the teaching side. According to a taxonomy by Donabedian (1966), we can differentiate between processes, structures and results. The processes of good university teaching (teaching and student processes/activities in Fig. 3.1) are directly influenced by us teachers. They include the design of the course, including planning with learning objectives, implementation with student activation, examination and evaluation, as well as innovation and reflection. The structures (teacher, students and conditions in Fig. 3.1) determine our processes and can only be indirectly influenced. They include, on the one hand, structural aspects within the individuals, such as our teaching competence or prior knowledge of the students, which can only be changed in the medium term. On the other hand, the struc-

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3  What is Good University Teaching and What Can I Do as a Teacher?

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ĨĨĞĐƚƐͬ ZĞƐƵůƚƐ

'ĞŶĞƌĂůĐŽŶĚŝƚŝŽŶƐ

Fig. 3.1   Model of good university teaching. (Taxonomy according to Donabedian, 1966)

tures include the conditions, such as the equipment of the teaching rooms, the time of the teaching lesson, and our workload, which can also only be partly influenced. They influence the processes and the results of good university teaching. The results of good university teaching (effect/results in Fig. 3.1), i.e. the student learning outcomes, can only be indirectly influenced by us teachers through our teaching processes and are influenced by student prior knowledge, student interests (etc.) as well as the conditions. When we apply this taxonomy to teaching with its persons and aspects, we get the following model of good university teaching (cf. Fig. 3.1): We teachers meet with our students when teaching (in-person or virtual). We as teachers bring certain structural characteristics with us (e.g., teaching competence), with which we design our teaching methods of high quality. Likewise, our students bring certain structural characteristics with them (e.g., prior knowledge). Depending on the quality of the teaching and the prior knowledge of the students, the lesson triggers student (learning) processes or (learning) activities, which ultimately lead to (learning) results. What has been learned is available to the students in the courses of the following semesters as prior knowledge. All these aspects are promoted or impaired by the conditions.2 2 The

conscientious researcher may rightly object that, in reality, the interactions represented by the arrow do not only go in one direction. E.g., both professors and students influnce the learning process. However, this model has focused—for reasons of practicability—on the perspective and influence possibilities of a teacher and only shows the main aspects, rather than every conceivable connection. So a teacher—as a rule—cannot change the conditions but can, e.g., change the type of student participation.

3.2  Dimensions of Good University Teaching …

23

3.2.1 How Big is My Influence on the Result? Pedagogical-Psychological research (cf. Hattie, 2015) can predict relatively well what influcence the individual aspects have on the successful learning result: 1. As a teacher, you can only really influence your person and the teaching itself, but this explains around 30%3 of the variance differences4 of the student learning outcomes. 2. The students with their properties and the student processes clarify around 50% of the variance differences of the student learning outcomes. One of the great factors is the student’s interest in the lecture topic (cf. Ulrich, 2013, p. 50), which you can influence as a lecturer. 3. Despite your diverse factors, the framework conditions only have an influence on 20% of the variance differences of the student learning outcomes.

3.2.2 Individual Dimensions of Good University Teaching In order to reduce the previous aspects to individual, concrete dimensions, one can fall back on the rich pedagogical-psychological research. Currently, Hattie (2009) has presented an extremely comprehensive analysis in which he presents the entire (Englishlanguage and published) research on success factors for good teaching or good teaching (e.g., in kindergarten, primary school, secondary school, university and [vocational] further education): A total of 52,637 studies from 800 meta-analyses with 146,142 found effect strengths were brought together. Hattie (2009) estimates the number of study participants to be 236 million people, i.e., we have the most comprehensive worldwide analysis of pedagogical-psychological research here. These crucial findings are extremely helpful but should always be interpreted with caution. On the one hand, the results include all pedagogical-psychological studies

3 Unfortunately,

there are only general evaluations across all educational institutions to date (primary school, secondary school and university, sometimes even kindergarten and vocational training), so the values—based on the university—are to be understood only as tendencies. 4 What is a variance explanation? Let’s take a simplified example: Imagine I categorize teachers according to the quality of their teaching. The categorization is based on (school) grades. Now I compare these teachers’ grades with the student learning outcomes, i.e., the grades in the exam. If all the teachers I rate with 1 (very good) had exclusively very good student exam results, the variance explanation of the teachers would be 100%. I can predict the students’ exam results 100% based on the teacher, i.e., I clarify the differences or variance of the exam results based on the teacher. If, on the other hand, exceptionally good teachers had just as bad student exam results as the worse teachers, the variance explanation would be 0%. In this case, the teacher can be as good or bad as he wants: The students’ exam results are completely independent of the teacher. In fact, the student’s influence on his own learning success is the greatest, followed by you as the teacher. The framework conditions have only a small influence.

24

3  What is Good University Teaching and What Can I Do as a Teacher?

that have been carried out in kindergartens, schools and universities up to and including professional further education. On the other hand, the focus of pedagogical-psychological research, particularly in the German-speaking world, is on the school while the university sector has been hardly researched in comparison. Therefore, school studies from English-speaking industrial nations dominate these results. Many of these results are indeed also valid at the university level without restriction (e.g., the fairness of the teacher), but some are only partially or not at all transferable to universities (e.g., the educational mandate of the school). I will, therefore, present to you—in addition to Hattie’s comprehensive analysis—university-specific research results (see also in Schneider & Preckel, 2017). Where possible, I will present studies from the German-speaking world, as, in a global comparison, our university systems have relatively mature students who have to learn relatively independently. Therefore, in our systems in particular, the success factors from school research have to be critically examined (cf. also Hattie, 2009, pp. 247–248). As part of my own habilitation studies (Ulrich, 2014, 2016), I interviewed award-winning teachers of the largest German universities5 as well as university didactic researchers6 and trainers of the largest German university didactic institutions7 as part of a Delphi study. A large number of individual dimensions of good university teaching could be extracted from the 62 interviews (cf. Fig. 3.2). As a teacher, you should—according to this expert group—not only have professional expertise but also didactic competence, as well as be enthusiastic and committed. You have a role model function and are constantly continuing your education. The quality of your teaching is reflected in the curriculum planning of “constructive alignment” (the alignment and integration of learning goals, learning and examination content or methods, see Chap. 4). Its good implementation involves professional relationship management (fairness, respect and friendliness as well as clear and consistent appearance), student activation and motivation, didactic subtleties such as method variance and contextualization (beyond the topic of the course), blended learning formats (faceto-face teaching supplemented with e-learning resources), supervision formats such as mentoring as well as frequent feedback to check the students’ progress and the constant innovation of your teaching. The student processes or activities stimulated by your good teaching lead to an increased interest of the students in the topic of the course, which leads to greater activity, intrinsic motivation and engagement. At the same time, the students’ organizational skills (e.g., when learning) and scientific working methods—under the supervision of the teacher—are promoted. The students also give you feedback (e.g.,

5  Since

there is the strongest competition among the teaching staff there. The commitee who decides who recieves the award must consist of students by more of 50%. The teaching prize had to be potentially attainable for all teaching staff. 6 Criterion: The number of university didactic empirical publications. 7 Since there is intensive university didactic expertise exchange here.

3.2  Dimensions of Good University Teaching …

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ŶƚŚƵƐŝĂƐŵΘ ĐŽŵŵŝƚŵĞŶƚ >ĞĂĚŝŶŐ ďLJĞdžĂŵƉůĞ KǁŶĨƵƌƚŚĞƌ ĚĞǀĞůŽƉĞŵĞŶƚ

25

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/ŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ĐƚŝǀĞƉĂƌƚŝĐŝƉĂƚŝŽŶ ŽŵŵŝƚŵĞŶƚ ^ĞůĨͲŽƌŐĂŶŝƐĂƚŝŽŶ

see also reference standard Competition vs. individual 0.24 for C. Cooperative vs. competition 0.53 for C. Cooperative vs. individual 0.55 for C. Fair and objective grading (Feldman, 1989) Own self-assessed student learning success (Feldman, 1989) Own self-assessed student learning success in teaching evaluation (Cohen, 1981) Feedback from students on teaching evaluations (Walberg & Lai, 1999) Feedback from students to the teacher and to teaching in the middle of the semester (Cohen, 1980) Multiple (short) tests during the semester and the corresponding adjustment of the teaching (Başol & Johanson, 2009) [majority college-level] Trying out and allowing mistakes instead of avoiding mistakes (Keith & Frese, 2008) Continuous self-training and development (Hattie, 2015)

Mentoring

Student feedback; Category student processes/activities: Feedback providend to teachers; Category effects/results (everything)

Own further development, Leading by example (teacher); Innovating teaching; Conditions: System aspects (teaching incentives, time)

11. Teaching outside the lecture: Consultation and supervision

12. Testing students and evaluating teaching quality

13. Reflection on and innovating teaching

(continued)

0.45

0.41

0.19

0.38

0.47

1.04

0.54

0.39

0.27d

0.30

Effect size Evalua- Grade tion

Single dimensions of the Source (italic Teacher's stimulation of interest in the course and its subject matter: Metamodel of good university analysis with mostly primary and secondary school studies) teaching

Chapter

Table 3.2   (continued)

3.3  The Effectiveness of Good University Teaching 35

GENERAL

Leading by example (teacher); Category Student processes/activities: Scientific Approach; Category effects/results: Personnel Competence

0.51 0.68

0.35 0.77 0.36

Small student groups with specific learning tasks assigned by the instructor, which are worked – out independently under the supervision of the instructor (Springer et al., 1999) – – – – – – – – – – – – See above

Collaborative student work (Ruiz-Primo et al., 2011) Conceptual tasks that promote or require an understanding of the whole, rather than of individual facts (Ruiz-Primo et al., 2011) Experiments in teaching: Students observe experiments or carry them out themselves (Hattie, 2015) Concept-Maps (Nesbit & Adesope, 2006) self-create or study from others Problem-based learning: (Hattie, 2015) Problem-based learning: • for knowledge building (Dochy et al., 2003) • for skills (Dochy et al., 2003) • Concepts: Finding examples (Gijbels et al., 2005g) • Generate principles (Gijbels et al., 2005g) • Correct application (Gijbels et al., 2005g) Discussions (Hattie, 2015) All of the above

(continued)

See above

0.82

−0.22 0.46 0.07 0.80 0.34

0.12

0.47

0.60

Effect size Evalua- Grade tion –

Input (Hattie, 2015)

Single dimensions of the Source (italic Teacher's stimulation of interest in the course and its subject matter: Metamodel of good university analysis with mostly primary and secondary school studies) teaching

Method variance 14. Method Collection (Methods, the effects of which are described in Chaps. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 are not listed again in this table)

Chapter

Table 3.2   (continued)

36 3  What is Good University Teaching and What Can I Do as a Teacher?

0.43 0.68 0.30 0.63 0.80 0.85 0.72, n.s.

– – – – –

Influence of school average grade on grades in bachelor’s and master’s studies (Trapmann et al., 2007) Importance of previous performance from bachelor’s degree or high school grade for grades in master’s studies (Kuncel et al., 2001) Intelligence quotient (Richardson et al., 2012) Skills (“Aptitude”) (Li, 2016) (exclusive competence development in foreign languages) • Knowledge: Grammar • Knowledge: Vocabulary • Competence: Listening • Competence: Speaking • Competence: Reading • Competence: Writing

(continued)

1.15

1.17 0.67

0.97

–

Influence of prior knowledge on performance testing (Flaig, 2018)

–

Basic student competencies

0.69

0.39

Higher education didactic consultation of teachers (Penny & Coe, 2004)

–

Training in the (teaching) subject or in subject didactics (Qu & Becker, 2003, April)

0.72

Higher education didactics

1.09

Effect size Evalua- Grade tion

Teacher’s knowledgeof the subject (Feldman, 1989)

Single dimensions of the Source (italic Teacher's stimulation of interest in the course and its subject matter: Metamodel of good university analysis with mostly primary and secondary school studies) teaching

Expertise (teacher) Not a core topic in the book, but still relevant influencing factors of good teaching

Chapter

Table 3.2   (continued)

3.3  The Effectiveness of Good University Teaching 37

–

Contradictory findings – – –

Quantitative invested time in studies (Credé & Kuncel, 2008) Size of the course (Marsh, 1984; Toth & Montagna, 2002) Size of the class (Hattie, 2009) (solely primary and secondary school data) => Smaller (N = 15 students) is better Programs to promote student reading skills (Walberg & Lai, 1999) Financial endowment (Hattie, 2015)

Boundary conditions: Infrastructure: Event space (media, size, noise pollution), library and laboratory equipment; System aspects: Education system, universityspecific, teaching incentives, time

–

The personality trait conscientiousness (Poropat, 2009)

Student personality and behavior

0.23

0.94

0.21

0.32

0.47

Effect size Evalua- Grade tion

Single dimensions of the Source (italic Teacher's stimulation of interest in the course and its subject matter: Metamodel of good university analysis with mostly primary and secondary school studies) teaching

Notes: n.s. not significant aEffect size is here Glass Delta. Is relatively similar to Cohens d bComparison of the thus promoted students with fellow students of the same “high performance”, who received no promotion cOnly motivational-emotional aspects dEffect refers to very socially weak students with and without special supervision e0.22 with satisfaction and 0.28 with motivation fRefers to the attitude of the individual and its effect on their general work results. Applies to teachers and students alike gEffect size is here Glass Delta. Is relatively similar to Cohens d

Chapter

Table 3.2   (continued)

38 3  What is Good University Teaching and What Can I Do as a Teacher?

3.4  Most Effective Aspects of Good University Teaching

39

If studies contradicted each other, I took those with the same properties (e.g., only university reference) that presented more effects in individual studies (e.g., computerassisted teaching according to Hattie, 2009, p. 222: 745 effects vs. 101 effects of computer-assisted teaching according to Walberg & Lai, 1999, p. 434). In Table 3.2, I present to you effect sizes, specifically Cohens d (Cohen, 1988). From 0.20 there is a small, from 0.50 a moderate and from 0.80 a large effect. The higher the effect, the more effective the mentioned aspect is for good learning outcomes of the students or your teaching evaluation results.11 The sorting is done according to the chapters and, within them, according to thematic similarity. IF you implement all of the points in Table 3.2, you employ the best possible teaching methods according to the current state of science. Congratulations! But since all this is a bit much at once—even for the most experienced teachers—let’s start with a few points. If something in this table has aroused your enthusiasm, your passion, then take this aspect of good teaching and focus only on it! Teaching should be fun, so let’s first consider what you enjoy the most. If you don’t exactly know where to start (e.g., because there is so much that is interesting): No problem, let’s first discuss the factors that have the biggest effect on student learning and teaching evaluation (see Sect. 3.4 afterwards).

3.4 Most Effective Aspects of Good University Teaching Table 3.3 shows the five largest effects of good university teaching from Table 3.2, differentiated according to the impact on teaching evaluations and the performance data of students. It is clear that, according to the main factor “good” feedback utility aspects (course materials and content) and relationship factors (willingness to help, availability, friendliness, interest and respect) influence teaching evaluations. In addition, a fair assessment is important. For measuring performance, usually in the form of grades, clear structures, learning goals at the beginning, comprehensible content with clear classification (similarities vs. differences of the individual theories, results, etc.), and the teacher waiting a sufficient amount of time after posing questions to students are all important. After the first five places represented in Table 3.3, there is no break or large distance to those that follow. Instead, the list continues with (slightly less) important factors. (The TOP 6 would be, e.g., with d = 1.50 for teaching evaluation “Teacher encourages 11 Nine studies mentioned correlations or correlation coefficients, which were converted according to the specifications of Cohen (1988) (affects Allen et al. 2006; Cornelius-White 2007; Crede et al. 2010; Feldman 1989; Flaig 2018; Richardson et al. 2012; Robbins et al. 2004; Trapmann et al. 2007; Whitener 1989). I do not give Hedges g separately, but subsume it under Cohens d (because of the most similarity).

40

3  What is Good University Teaching and What Can I Do as a Teacher?

Table 3.3  TOP 5 of the most effective aspects of good teaching Place

Teaching evaluation

Grades (italics = findings from school)

1

Nature, quality and frequency of feedback from the teacher to the students (d = 3.53)

Good preparation (teacher) and structure of the course (d = 1.39)

2

Willingness to help and availability of the teacher (d = 2.20)

Teacher presents the students at the beginning of the lesson his specific learning goals for the course (d = 1.37 for skills)

3

a) Fair and objective grading (d = 2.08) Clarity and understandableness of the b) Quality and usefulness of teaching mate- lecturer (d = 1.35) rials (d = 2.08)

4

Relevance and usefulness of the course content (d = 1.96)

Clear emphasis on similarities and differences (different theories) (d = 1.32)

5

Teacher’s friendliness as well as interest in and respect for students (d = 1.71)

Sufficient waiting time of the teacher after questions to the students (d = 1.27 for competence)

students to (even critical) questions and discussion” and d = 1.24 for grades “Structuring the subject area yourself with the help of graphics”). However, lists of effect sizes are not meaningful if we cannot transfer these characteristics to concrete teaching behaviors (Gold, 2014). This will be done in the following chapters, where theoretical models and examples from practice are presented.

3.5 Practice Examples—In General In Chapters 4 through 13, after theoretical explanations, I will present you with a practice example from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. These show possible, good practical implementations and solutions. I have integrated the main problems into these examples, i.e., in the humanities, the texts are read insufficiently; in the social sciences, the methodological and statistical competencies can be optimized; and in the natural sciences, the actually expected professional (e.g., mathematical and natural scientific) prior knowledge is lower than expected. In addition, I have varied the student groups and their problems so that the “non-subject-specific” practical examples may also be interesting for you. Of course, the mentioned problems do not apply to all students but usually to a sufficiently large group that you have to take into account in your teaching in order to make your course good as a whole. What is Effective for Good Teaching with Limited Time

• Go through the big table of success factors for good university teaching and pick 3–5 points that inspire you the most or that you enjoy the most. Or: • Take the main success factors for good teaching (Table 3.3, TOP 5) and focus only on those. ◄

References

41

References Adesope, O. O., & Nesbit, J. C. (2012). Verbal redundancy in multimedia learning environments: A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(1), 250–263. https://doi.org/10.1037/ a0026147. Allen, M., Witt, P. L., & Wheeless, L. R. (2006). The role of teacher immediacy as a motivational factor in student learning: Using meta-analysis to test a causal model. Communication Education, 55(1), 21–31. Başol, G., & Johanson, G. (2009). Effectiveness of frequent testing over achievement: A meta analysis study. International Journal of Human Sciences, 6(2), 99–121. http://www.j-humansciences.com/ojs/index.php/IJHS/article/view/757/398. Accessed 3 May 2020. Bernard, R. M., Borokhovski, E., Schmid, R. F., Tamim, R. M., & Abrami, P. C. (2014). A metaanalysis of blended learning and technology use in higher education: From the general to the applied. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 26(1), 87–122. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s12528-013-9077-3. Cohen, P. A. (1980). Effectiveness of student-rating feedback for improving college instruction: A meta-analysis of findings. Research in Higher Education, 13(4), 321–341. Cohen, P. A. (1981). Student ratings of instruction and student achievement: A meta-analysis of multisection validity studies. Review of Educational Research, 51(3), 281–309. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). L. Erlbaum Associates. Cornelius-White, J. (2007). Learner-centered teacher-student relationships are effective: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 113–143. https://doi. org/10.3102/003465430298563. Credé, M., & Kuncel, N. R. (2008). Study habits, skills, and attitudes: The third pillar supporting collegiate academic performance. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(6), 425–453. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2008.00089.x. Crede, M., Roch, S. G., & Kieszczynka, U. M. (2010). Class attendance in college: A meta-analytic review of the relationship of class attendance with grades and student characteristics. Review of Educational Research, 80(2), 272–295. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654310362998. Dochy, F., Segers, M., Van den Bossche, P., & Gijbels, D. (2003). Effects of problem-based learning: A meta-analysis. Learning and Instruction, 13(5), 533–568. Donabedian, A. (1966). Evaluating the quality of medical care. The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, 44(3), 166–203. Eby, L. T., Allen, T. D., Evans, S. C., Ng, T., & DuBois, D. (2008). Does mentoring matter? A multidisciplinary meta-analysis comparing mentored and non-mentored individuals. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 72(2), 254–267. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC2352144/. Accessed 3 May 2020. Feldman, K. A. (1989). The association between student ratings of specific instructional dimensions and student achievement: Refining and extending the synthesis of data from multisection validity studies. Research in Higher Education, 30(6), 583–645. Flaig, M. S. (2018). The contributions of knowledge and stress to academic achievement: A metaanalysis, a latent transition analysis, and a latent state-trait model. Dissertation, Universität Trier. https://ubt.opus.hbz-nrw.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1084. Accessed 3 May 2020. Gijbels, D., Dochy, F., Van den Bossche, P., & Segers, M. (2005). Effects of problem-based learning: A meta-analysis from the angle of assessment. Review of Educational Research, 75(1), 27–61. Gold, A. (2014). Vergesst Hattie! Warum John Hatties Meta-Metaanalyse für die Lehrerbildung wenig brauchbar ist. SchulVerwaltung HE/RP, 19(12), 332–336. Hattie, J. A. (2009). Visible learning. A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge.

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4

Lesson Planning

Contents 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8

Clarify Framework Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Set Learning Goals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Selecting Content Based on Learning Goals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Choose Teaching Methods (Adapted to Learning Level) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Choose Examination Methods (Adapted to Learning Level) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Create Course Schedule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Plan Individual Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Practical Examples of Lesson Planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 4.8.1 A Practical Example from the Humanities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 4.8.2 A Practical Example from the Social Sciences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 4.8.3 A Practical Example form the Natural Sciences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Abstract

In this section, you will learn all the basics of lesson planning: The conception of learning goals, the selection of teaching content, the employment of teaching and examination methods based on learning goals, the creation of a teaching schedule as well as the planning of individual lessons. Three different practical examples with different teaching scenarios can be used as inspiration for your lesson planning. When a novice teacher has to take over his first teaching assignment, his first thoughts are usually: What is the topic? What do I have to check? Who will come and how many? Only then does the thought arise: What exactly should the students learn and to which extent? © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 I. Ulrich, Good Teaching in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39137-9_4

45

46

4  Lesson Planning

Unfortunately, lesson planning is usually done in the same order (by putting the cart before the horse): Too much content is researched, the examination format does not fit the course content, the teaching methods do not take into account the number of students or their qualifications, and what was actually learned, you can only know later if you read the term papers or exams. This can be done better—teaching can be professionally planned, with many elements of “good teaching” being implemented before the lesson begins (e.g., having a didactic concept as well as a plan for the lesson). Good preparation and effective structuring of your lesson (d = 0.90 or d = 1.39; Feldman, 1989), a teaching strategy with matching teaching methods (d = 0.60 on learning success; Hattie, 2015) as well as transparent learning goals and performance requirements (d = 1.01 or d = 0.75; Feldman, 1989) will all have a strong positive effect on your teaching evaluation and the learning success of your students. Ideally, professional curriculum planning proceeds according to the following scheme: 1. Clarify framework conditions: Subject, examination formats, topic (if applicable), lecture size, etc. 2. Set learning goals 3. Select content based on learning goals 4. Choose teaching methods (adapted to learning level) 5. Choose examination methods (adapted to learning level) 6. Create course schedule 7. Plan individual lessons Important: Your professional curriculum planning requires more time in the lecture-free period than the previous approach. Overall, however, you will save time as there is much less to do during the semester. The central criterion of curriculum planning is the interlocking and optimal adaptation of learning goals, selected teaching content as well as teaching and examination methods in order to promote positive student learning outcomes. The learning goal you have chosen is always decisive for this (cf. Fig. 4.1).

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džĂŵŝŶĂƚŝŽŶ ŵĞƚŚŽĚ;ƐͿ

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Fig. 4.1   Interlinking of learning goals, learning content, teaching and examination methods, and student learning outcomes

4.1  Clarify Framework Conditions

47

Teachers: What do I want to teach in this course? Strongly motivated students: What can I learn in this course?

Learning goals

Teaching content

Teaching methods

Less motivated students: What do I need to study for the exam of this course?

Examination method(s)

Student learning outcomes Fig. 4.2   Meshing of the intended student learning priorities for teachers as well as motivated and less motivated students

According to Biggs and Tang (2011), this interlocking is significant because while motivated students (cf. Chap. 8) orient themselves on what they are supposed to learn (= the learning goal, in Fig. 4.2), less motivated students orient themselves on what is being tested (the examination method[s]). The interlocking of these aspects ensures that even less motivated students learn exactly what you want to convey (student learning outcomes). Because we place your learning goals (i.e., what you want to convey) at the center of the curriculum planning, methods of teaching and learning as well as exams must be oriented accordingly. If you not only define knowledge but also (professionally relevant) competencies, we will also do justice to the competence orientation in teaching held since the Bologna Process. Let’s now go through the individual phases.

4.1

Clarify Framework Conditions

In the vast majority of cases, you as a teacher are subject to framework conditions that you cannot control. Before you plan any further, find out what you may need to consider (cf. Table 4.1). The study and examination regulations to which you are bound

48

4  Lesson Planning

Table 4.1  Relevant framework conditions in curriculum planning Requirements by Framework conditions in detail What should I consider when planning further? Study and examination regulations

Organization of teaching at your university

Infrastructure at your university

Subject background and semes- Which prior knowledge can I assume? Ask ter of your students experienced teaching staff or your registrar’s office about this Performance-related examination formats (participation, grade)

You have to incorporate these examination methods into your teaching. However, additional methods can be added arbitrarily!

Theme restriction in the module handbook

In some cases, there are already thematic limitations or even learning goals given in the module descriptions

Organization of room search, teaching materials, time and day

At some universities you have to organize everything yourself, at others much is organized and also given externally. Depending on the day and time, you can vary the size and character of your lesson for elective courses. Ask experienced teaching staff or your registrar’s office what is common for your department

If necessary, tutors or student assistants

A few courses have student tutors. Coordinate your course with the tutorial: Ask experienced tutors about their previous procedures and decide whether this is still didactically useful. When in doubt, remember that the tutorial has to follow your course

E-learning platforms

It is often common—at least for slides and scripts—to use online platforms at universities. Ask experienced teaching staff or the university’s internal advisers about the platforms for this

Lecture size

Depending on the registration procedure and experience, you can estimate the number of students. Ask experienced teachers or your registrar’s office about this

Room equipment: media, seating

Take a look at the room and its equipment. Try to switch rooms if you find it too small rooms. Many universities have facilities that provide additional media (projector, flipchart, microphone, etc.)

Room size suitable for the number of students

(continued)

4.2  Set Learning Goals

49

Table 4.1   (continued) Requirements by Framework conditions in detail What should I consider when planning further? Characteristics of your subject

Professional culture

Depending on the professional culture, the appearance of the teachers, the expectations of the students etc. are subject to social norms. If you want to deviate from the usual way, you should communicate this clearly at the beginning of your lesson to avoid misunderstandings

Superiors

Department guidelines

Often there are additional guidelines in the individual departments (in rare cases, also cross-departmentally) on how to supervise teaching, homework, exams, etc. (in addition to study and examination regulations). Ask your superiors about this

are ­central. The other points can be handled flexibly. I recommend that beginners stick to them and change unsuitable aspects on the bas ed on their experience after the first semester.

4.2

Set Learning Goals

Goals and their setting focus our behavior (Locke and Latham, 1990). “Goals control the use of the skills and abilities of people in the course of action and align their ideas and knowledge with the desired results of action” (Kleinbeck, 2010, p. 285). Differentiated and precise goals are more likely to be achieved. Important goal dimensions area) the hierarchy, b) the specificity and c) an appropriate level of difficulty of the goals (see also Chap. 8 or, for all goal dimensions, see Ulrich, 2013b, p. 76 ff.). This effect also applies to your goals in teaching, i.e., the learning goals of the students. At the same time, it forces you to set the main goals and content of your course well in advance of the start of the lesson and thus to focus your teaching preparation. This step is the most time demanding and thought intensive part of curriculum planning. Do not get frustrated if you need a lot of time for it, even experienced teachers do. Setting Learning Goals 1. Hierarchization of learning goals: The main idea behind setting goals lies in the subdivision of a global, abstract main goal into many smaller, more exact and measurable subgoals so that the achievement of all subgoals (almost) automatically results in the main goal. On the one hand, you get many concrete, easily achievable subgoals, on

50

4  Lesson Planning

the other hand, the subgoals structure the contents and planning of the lecture. In lesson planning, three, sometimes two levels are often useful: • Main goal: The overall goal(s) of the lecture, i.e., the topic of your lecture • “Middle” goals or intermediate goals: Subtopics of your lecture topic, which often span several sessions (this category is omitted for only two levels) • Subgoals: Specific individual goals of your subtopics, which are often completed within one session 2. & 3. Specificity and difficulty level of learning goals: The subgoals should be cleary specified, i.e., they should be verifiable. This verifiability is also central for your later examination methods, so your subgoals will be tested in the examination. You can check whether your subgoals are concrete using the SMART method (Doran, 1981): This will be specified in more detail in the practical examples later on in this chapter. • • • • •

Specific: It has a clear, limited topic. Measurable: It is concrete, experiential, verifiable. Achievable: The difficulty is appropriate for the person’s abilities. Relevant: It is a learning goal that makes sense and is useful for the study. Time-limited: There is a time limit for achieving and testing the goals.

Goals are best achieved through challenging but achievable goals (d = 0.67; Hattie, 2009, p. 165). However, if the prior knowledge and/or skills are too low, challenging goals may be counterproductive (Latham & Locke, 2006). Setting goals also has a positive effect on the self-efficacy of the students (d = 0.46; Hattie, 2009, p. 166): Learning and exams appear more manageable. Optional Extension: Differentiation by Competency A not entirely necessary but helpful additional possibility is the differentiation of learning goals according to competencies, i.e., knowledge, skills and abilities. In the field of education, the following subdivision has established itself (cf. Blickle, 2019, p. 238; Braun et al., 2008; Sonntag & Schäfer-Rauser, 1993): • Professional competence resp. professional expertise: includes all content-related aspects, e.g. subject-specific knowledge, analytical skills, practical application. • Methodological competence: includes the self-organizational ability of a person, e.g. the planning, implementation and evaluation of work as well as work techniques, e.g. information acquisition, scientific methods. • Social competence: refers to socially adequate behaviour and successful cooperation with others.

4.3  Selecting Content Based on Learning Goals

51

Table 4.2  Main goal, intermediate and fine goals differentiated according to competence areas Main goal

Intermediate goals

Fine goals

Professional competence Methodological competence Social competence Personnel competence

Due to the explosion of knowledge and shorter half-life of subject-specific skills, the focus of university teaching has shifted from professional to methodological competence in recent years. Organization-specific and deepened subject-specific skills are the top priority for the further education of academics. This is followed by general social competencies regarding communication, conflict, leadership behavior, etc. (Moraal et al., 2009; Statistisches Bundesamt, 2013), which may be due to their being insufficient taught at universities (Schrader & Helmke, 2000). Transfer your learning goals into a table (or the like) and move from the global to the specific goals (see Table 4.2). You then have a structured overview of all learning goals, which are ideally conveyed in your lesson. Since, in most cases, too many learning goals are formulated, the following section is about making a strategic selection.

4.3

Selecting Content Based on Learning Goals

It is not expedient to present as many contents as possible in a short time.1 Didactically, it is more meaningful to convey the central content of the lesson as well as possible and to avoid overloading the content. However, before you select your content, you need to estimate the time required for your learning goals and identify possible synergy effects. The time required for a learning goal is closely related to its learning level2. Marton and Säljö (1976) differentiate between

1 If

you don’t believe me, run a test. First, choose one chapter from this book, take your time, work through it thoroughly, think about how you can implement the learned content and implement the content in your teaching. Note the time required. Now take the same amount of time, but take four chapters of similar length. Read everything, think about it briefly, and implement everything in your teaching. Finally, consider which of the two approaches has led to better teaching. 2 The higher the learning level, the more likely the learner has learned and understood the content in principle and can remember it only superficially.

52 Table 4.3  Seven levels of learning (Biggs & Tang, 2011, p. 6)

4  Lesson Planning Level of learning goals Surface learning 1

Memorizing

2

Note taking

3

Describing

4

Explaining

5

Relating

6

Applying

7

Theorizing

Deep learning

• Surface learning: Here you can—e.g., to give an overview—convey a lot of knowledge in a short time, but • the students only understand it superficially. • Deep learning: Here the students deepen their learning by intensively working on the learning goal, but this is quite time-consuming. Biggs and Tang (2011) have extended this continuum of learning levels (see Table 4.3). Now write the respective learning level for your intermediate goals that you want to convey (the main goal is too global here, the subgoals are usually too differentiated). In addition to the learning level, potential synergies and goal conflicts are relevant to your learning goals (cf. Brandstätter & Hennecke, 2018, p. 344 f.). Most learning goals are hard to reconcile: You can either explain the theory or the practice in detail, or you can explain both together in less detail. Some learning goals are incompatible: You can either give an introduction for first-semester students or a special in-depth lesson for students shortly before their graduation. It would be didactically senseless to include both in one lesson. However, some goals have synergies: E.g., when writing a term paper, a student gains both subject-specific knowledge and methodological skills (literature research, academic writing, etc.). These synergistic goals are counted together in the following selection, as they are both achieved together. Finally, rank your learning goals according to the priority of the respective learning goal. Again, act on the intermediate goal level. Each learning goal is prioritized individually, except in the case of a synergy. Make sure not to confuse the goal hierarchy and the learning level. In an overview lecture, e.g., the goal “to overview the topic” is very important on learning level 1 (high hierarchy, low level). You will thus focus your teaching on the most important, highest-priority learning goals, i.e., you have strategically selected your central contents. Before we account for this in the course plan, we choose the appropriate teaching and examination methods.

4.5  Choose Examination Methods (Adapted to Learning Level)

53

In addition to setting goals, however, establishing concrete implementation plans (Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006, d = 0.65) is also important so that the goals can be achieved. Set a concrete implementation plan (i.e., the course plan) based on your learning goals. To implement this, you need the appropriate teaching and examination methods.

4.4

Choose Teaching Methods (Adapted to Learning Level)

First, you should define your teaching methods. The teaching method should be located at the same learning level as your learning goal, otherwise the students’ learning success will be suboptimal. If you are restricted in your teaching and/or examination methods but still want to pursue high learning levels, you should pay attention to some didactic subtleties (see Chap. 9). Let’s first go through the usual methods and their respective learning levels (see Table 4.4). In each case, the learning level, which is achieved under normal, favorable conditions (i.e., when the teacher strives to teach well), is specified. Of course, the methods can also achieve higher learning levels in special cases, and there is no lower learning level limit in the case of bad teaching. A detailed explanation of the methods can be found in Chap. 14. On learning level 7, there are, as a rule, no teaching methods, with the exception of complex simulations and research-based learning—each with extensive phases of reflection between teachers and students. This learning level is usually only achieved in qualification work and good term papers of upper-level students or in master’s studies. Term papers of other student groups usually only reach a learning level of 5.

4.5

Choose Examination Methods (Adapted to Learning Level)

Goals and feedback are only meaningful in combination (Locke & Latham, 1990). You need the goal to give your desire a direction, the feedback to control its achievement or, if necessary, to abandon or adjust the goal because it is not achievable. The feedback that is important to you is obtained through adequate examination methods that fit your learning goals and learning levels (cf. Table 4.4). The study and examination regulations prescribe one or more examination methods for grading, which you have to choose. In addition, however, you can use other examination methods: An examination method serves “only” to examine the students’ learning progress and does not necessarily have to lead to a grade. Here you are free to choose the best fitting examination methods. Regular testing leads to your students learning something continuously, which generally leads to better learning success (cf. Donovan & Radosevich, 1999) than a “bulimic” learning shortly before the performance test.

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Table 4.4  Teaching and examination methods, categorized according to the seven learning levels (Biggs & Tang, 2011, p. 6) Level of learning goals

Possible teaching methods (for details, Possible examination see Chap. 14) methods

Surface learning 1

Memorizing (See learning level 3)

(See learning level 3)

2

Note taking (See learning level 3)

(See learning level 3)

3

Describing

Input, guest lectures (without question and answer session), brainstorming, clustering, “lucky dip”, learning slogan, asking (simple) questions, quiz, one-minute paper, flash, target, multipoint query, pyramid method or atomsmolecules, impulse presentations (with little prior student knowledge)

Multiple-choice exam, (descriptive) knowledge query, summary of text (text reading as homework for the lesson), asking simple questions, collecting the compiled documents

4

Explaining

Individual work, learning stop, group work, partner work, jigsaw/group puzzle or market of possibilities, partner or group relay, experiment (passive observation), mind-mapping, active structuring, guest lectures (with question and answer session), archaeological congress, concept mapping, asking (difficult) questions, teaching evaluation, teacher mailbox, packing the suitcase, inquiry into expectations, interests and prior knowledge, card query, action plan, open space (simple topics), world café (simple topics), expert Q&A (without extensive follow-up), presentations, impulse presentations (with good prior student knowledge), (pure) poster presentation, counseling guides (with simple topics)

Review of the last lesson through query, review, mutual query in the group puzzle, asking difficult question, presentations, collecting the compiled documents

(continued)

4.5  Choose Examination Methods (Adapted to Learning Level)

55

Table 4.4   (continued) Level of learning goals

Possible teaching methods (for details, Possible examination see Chap. 14) methods

5

Relating

Project work and research-based learning (simple projects), experiment (participation), concept mapping, case studies, text work: Reading and discussing texts, SQ3R and PQ4R methods, scenario method, future interview, asking (difficult and complex) questions, problem-based learning (simple problems), open space (complex topics), world café (complex topics), discussion or debate and procontra-argumentation, English debate, advocatus diaboli, expert Q&A (with extensive follow-up), poster presentation (with extensive discourse), counseling guides (for complex topics)

6

Applying

Practical test, perforProject work and research-based mance in teaching learning (complex projects), simulation, experiment (independent perfor- methods mance), business game, simulation of teaching-learning situations, problembased learning (complex problems), role-playing, fishbowl, supervision protocols, supervision contracts

7

Theorizing

Qualification work, (essay in higher semesters), research-based learning and simulation with subsequent extensive reflection with teachers

Exam (with open answers), discussion (quality of the individual contributions), source interpretation (oral and written), essay, asking complex and difficult question, collect the compiled documents

Qualification work, (essay in higher semesters), simulation with subsequent extensive reflection with teachers

Deep learning

As with the teaching methods, there are usually no methods on learning level 7, with the exception of complex simulations with extensive reflection, qualification work and good term papers of upper-level students or in master’s studies. Term papers of other student groups usually only reach learning level 5. You now have a list of all your learning goals, the corresponding learning level and priority, and the appropriate teaching and examination methods.

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4  Lesson Planning

Table 4.5  Course schedule Session

Learning goal(s)

Teaching method(s)

Examination method(s)

1 2 3 …

4.6

Create Course Schedule

Now create a course schedule, reserving at least one line for each individual session (see Table 4.5). First take your most important learning goal—most often the level of intermediate goals is most practical for this—and schedule it in such a way that you definitely achieve it. If there are still time slots in the schedule, now take the second most important, then the third most important learning goal (etc.) until your schedule is full. You now have a schedule in which you can guarantee your most important learning goals! The learning goals that are not in the plan are too unimportant and can be abandoned. However, keep in reserve the 2–3 learning goals that just barely did not make it into the plan. If your students are doing very well in this course, and you therefore have time left at the end of your course, you can incorporate these learning goals spontaneously. If your students are having a very hard time in this course, only strike out the least important learning goals each time. After your learning goals have been established, enter your already selected teaching and examination methods.

4.7

Plan Individual Sessions

The contents of your individual sessions are already largely fixed in the course plan. However, it makes sense to plan individual sessions in order to a) generally use the important introductory and final phases as well as b) if necessary, to have a more exact, secure schedule for difficult sessions. Introductory and final phases are only used suboptimally by many instructors, even though they are important for good university teaching. They form the framework for the main working phase in between. In the introductory and final phases, you secure the learning success, motivation of the students (etc.). Just presenting the learning goals of each individual session at the beginning of the course has a large effect on the knowledge (d = 0.97) and competence (d = 1.37) of the students (see Marzano, 1998). One reason for the lack of attention may be that the course content is much more cognitively present for the instructors than for their students: Instructors have the contents well prepared, a finished concept of the lesson in their heads and usually no or few other

4.8  Practical Examples of Lesson Planning

57

courses in the semester. It is often forgotten that the students have many other courses in parallel in the semester and usually do not know what will happen in your lesson and what was important at the end. Use the introductory and final phases to “pick up” the students at the beginning and give them structure, and at the end to establish the central content of your lesson (“primacy & recency effect”, see e.g., Pastötter et al., 2018, pp. 129 ff.). Table 4.6 shows the usual goals and procedure for each phase. During the introductory face, it is sensible and helpful to ask students about their prior knowledge, so that you incorporate it and adapt the course content to it. This promotes student learning outcomes (d = 0.75, Marzano, 1998), as you are not explaining aspects that your students already know, or assuming knowledge of topics that is essential but lacking. If you find it pedagogically suitable, let your students choose parts of your learning content, learning activities, deadlines and assessment types (= examination method and content). This has a positive effect on learning outcomes (d = 0.47, Willett et al., 1983). But do not lower your level of difficulty—instead offer a choice between equally demanding aspects.

4.8

Practical Examples of Lesson Planning

The following examples are based on my own fictionalized scenarios, which I explained at the end of Chap. 3. The practical examples for lesson planning in the humanities is a further development of a practical example of the same name from my dissertation (Ulrich, 2013b, pp. 113 ff.). The other practical examples for lesson planning were created for the first time in the context of my designed virtual learning module (Ulrich, 2013a)—all three of which have been partly adopted and partly further developed for this book.

4.8.1 A Practical Example from the Humanities 4.8.1.1 Conditions In the middle of the lecture-free period. Dr. Thomas M. will probably teach an introductory seminar to 30 first-semester students (bachelor’s in history) in his course next semester. According to the study and examination regulations, all students must provide proof of performance in the form of a term paper and the course must cover the nineteenth century (imperialism). Based on previous experience, he fears that the students will read the texts for the seminar insufficiently and submit suboptimal term papers. 4.8.1.2 Learning Goals Taking into account the conditions, he chooses the following learning goals (cf. Table 4.7): As a professional competence main goal, he hooses “Bismarck’s alliance policy” because he is personally interested in it and it is also part of his doctorate. As a

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4  Lesson Planning

Table 4.6  Goals per teaching unit phase of 90-minutes Phase and duration

Goal

Procedure

Introductory phase (5–10 minutes)

Increase learning success

• Give an overview of the topics (e.g., the overall plan of the lesson: Where are we now?) • Communicate the learning goals of today’s session • Activate prior knowledge (e.g., in relation to previous session: What did we do that is relevant today?) • Connect the topic to the students’ experience (e.g., through anecdotes from student life that are thematically appropriate or current affairs from the media)

Relationship management (cf. Chap. 6)

• Greet the students cordially, show interest and respect • Explain expectations (during the first session) • Explain organizational, performance and grading criteria (during the first session and shortly before the exam) • Present the roles including availability (during the first session)

Motivation (see Chap. 8)

• Elicit interest in the task/topic (e.g., developments at other universities, current affairs in the media, provocative questions)

Main phase: Elaboration, exchange, etc. (70–80 minutes)

Enable learning

Among other things: • Conveying, elaborating upon and exchanging new content and knowledge • Solving problems • Concrete exercise of work steps • Transfer to other phenomena

Final phase (5–10 minutes)

Increase learning success

• Securing learning outcomes: Repeating today’s learning goals (possibly also writing them down) • Securing individual learning outcomes: Students summarizing the most important points

Relationship management (see Chap. 6)

• Friendly farewell • Thank you for your cooperation • Refer to office hours if necessary

Motivation (see Chap. 8)

• Interest in the task/topic: Next sessions, what will come (e.g., “snippets” to whet the appetite and curiosity) • Observe everyday situations that are thematically appropriate (e.g., Physics: Centrifugal force in traffic, Psychology: Conflicts at the platform)

4.8  Practical Examples of Lesson Planning

59

Table 4.7  Learning goals: A practical example form the humanities Main goal Professional competence/ expertise

Expertise: Overview Knowledge of the … of Bismarck’s Alliance 1. Great Powers of the System time, 2. important actors (Bismarck, Andrássy the Elder, etc.), 3. special events for the alliance system, 4. social and economic developments of the time

Methodological Methodological comcompetence petence (independent organization) as well as specific methods of historical science (text analysis within specific interpretation approaches): Both goals should lead to the students’ to independetly write a scientific term paper in history

Social competence

Intermediate goals

Source analysis: Types, interpretation approaches (e.g., great man theory) Text analysis (reading, excerpting, etc.), specialist journals, recension Literature research: Databases, search strategies, correct bibliographic referencing, etc. Conveying critical awareness, e.g., history is defined by the ideology and interpretation approach of its researchers Term paper: Structure, style of writing (much of which is already contained in the other methodological goals)

Leading discussions in – the seminar

Subgoals Subgoal of the intermediate goal “3. special events”: Crisis of 1878: Reasons for the Ottoman-Russian War, course of the war, Peace of San Stefano, Berlin Congress: Actors, interests, consequences …

Subgoal of the intermediate goal “source analysis”: Types of sources, e.g., text sources such as books, newspapers, files. Sub-goal of the intermediate goal “text analysis”: Know the detailed procedure for excerpting, Subgoal of the intermediate goal “literature research”: Knowing the individual databases for literature research, Subgoal of the intermediate goal “conveying critical awareness”: juxtaposing two divergent research approaches (e.g., great man theory vs. …), Subgoal of the intermediate goal “term paper”: writing a (short) review and a (longer) term paper … Know and follow the basic rules of discourse Shy students should dare to make contributions to the discussion

Personnel com- Internalize the value of Passion for the subject Passion for the subject petence historical science (intrinsic motivation) (intrinsic motivation) Scientific values Sci. values: Homework plagiarism, citation research etc.

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4  Lesson Planning

methodological main goal, he wants to promote the self-organizational ability of the students with regard to term papers. The social main goal is the establishment of a scientific “discourse culture” in the seminar, and the main goal regarding the personnel competence of the students focuses on their internalization of the value of historical science. From these main goals, he derives the intermediate goals and then the subgoals from them. When deriving the social main goal, he feels that a third level is unnecessary and omits the level of intermediate goals. Part of the intermediate goals for personnel competence can be further differentiated; the non-differentiable area (“passion …”) is also included among the subgoals for completeness. In the case of professional competence, a temporal sequence is necessary, so he numbers them accordingly. The subgoals are only given exemplarily for reasons of space. Finally, he has created an overview of which learning goals should be achieved in an optimal seminar.

4.8.1.3 Selection of Content, Teaching and Examination Methods Thomas M. finds that his main goals regarding methodological and professional competence have synergy effects. Therefore, he brings them together. Since they are generally the most important to him, he does not differentiate them further but gives them top priority. He therefore enters them in the top row of the next table (cf. Table 4.8). The following less important goals follow in descending order in the further rows. Afterwards, he determines the learning level that can be achieved under optimal conditions. Based on the learning goals (including learning level), he chooses the suitable teaching and examination methods (see Chaps. 12 or 14), which he prefers. A minority of his chosen methods may be “only” suitable for lower learning levels. The designation of individual teaching methods to their respective examination methods is too redundant here and only necessary for the course plan. 4.8.1.4 Course Schedule Based on his learning goals and selected teaching and examination methods, he now creates his teaching schedule (cf. Table 4.9). He has 16 individual sessions and initially plans what he considers to be the most important learning goals, usually entering learning goals at the level of intermediate goals (their fine goals are then relevant again in the individual sessions). When it comes to professional competence goals, he takes into account the chosen course structure (cf. Table 4.7). He also makes sure to include the relevant basics as early as possible: E.g., reviews are planned as an examination method only after an input of reviews (sessions 7 and 8). Because of the midterm paper/midterm assignment, the relevant basics (e.g. reading texts correct, becoming acquainted with academic journals and how to structure a paper) are planned in advance. Some learning goals are (more or less) planned throughout the duration of the course. He lists them separately at the end of the table so that the plan does not become too redundant. For better clarity, the professional competence goals are entered in normal font, the methodological goals in italics and the social and personnel goals in bold.

4.8  Practical Examples of Lesson Planning

61

Table 4.8  Hierarchy and learning level of learning goals as well as selected teaching and examination methods based on a practical example from the humanities Level of learning goals. Ranking by hierarchy (most important first)

Teaching methods

Examination methods

5

Goals of methodologi- (Brief) input cal and professional Text work competence Discussion Debate Impulse lectures Consultation on exercise and final papers (office hours), use of conversation guides

Knowledge quiz / test of prior knowledge (beginning of seminar) Test Review of the last lesson by questioning Discussion (quality of individual contributions) Oral source interpretation Reension and source interpretation Exercise term paper (during the semester including feedback) Teaching evaluation (in the middle of the semester and at the end) (Graded) term paper (during the semester break)

6

Know and follow the basic rules of discourse

Observable discourse culture (including intervention by the teacher in case of violation of these)

6

Passion for the subject General enthusiasm on Teaching evaluation (content of the open (intrinsic motivation) the part of the teacher comments and generally high values) in the seminar

3

Scientific values term paper (plagiarism), etc.

(Brief) input

1

Shy students should dare to contribute to the discussion

Specific request for further reports if Introduction round (beginning of seminar) only the same students show up several times via getting-to-knowyou bulletin board Partner interview

Group work (rules of cooperation: Discussion culture, feedback rules, etc.) (beginning of seminar)

Quality of term paper

Thus, Thomas M. has a course schedule that was created based on his learning goals and prioritizes the most important content for him. His teaching and examination methods were chosen so that they optimally support his learning goals and the students’ learning level.

4.8.1.5 Plan Individual Sessions The individual sessions are already quite fixed in his lecture schedule. As an example, Thomas M. plans his 6th individual session in detail (cf. Table 4.10) because he wants to cover many points in one lecture: On the one hand, a first interim conclusion of his

Special events: Beginning of German colonial policy in 1884, What is a recension

7

Discussion round (see left), input afterwards on Special events: Berlin Congress missing content-related aspects. Input on term 1878, How do I write a term paper (structure),academic values of a term paper paper

5

Special events: Foundation of the Dual Alliance in 1879 as a constant in German foreign policy until 1914 , Excerpt

Debate: Actors of the Berlin Congress reenacted. Distribution of midterm papers. Quality of term papers

Selected actors, Article from academic Discussion, impulse presentations on actors, group work on the text, input on academic journal journals

4

6

Repeat of the last session through questioning, further questioning: Which academic journals exist

Starting point of Bismarck’s alliance Input, discussion policy with the foundation of the Reich in 1871, Reading texts correctly

Discussion: Interpretation of the event based on different theoretical approaches (Great Man Theory, …)

(continued)

Discussion of reensions of the German colonial policy

Review of the last lesson by quiz, midGroup work, individual work (teaching evaluterm teaching evaluation, text on the ation) Consultation regarding exercise midterm papers Dual Alliance excerpt during office hours (continuous until the end of the semester)

Repeat of the last lesson through questioning, discussion (on “Reading texts correctly”)

Discussion (on “What is a source?”)

3

Input, discussion

Great powers of the time, Methods: What is a source

2

Amount and quality of student contributions Knowledge test Recording rules of cooperation (especially for discourse)

Round of introductions, partner interview Short input, group work, discussion Discussion about rules of cooperation (especially for discourse)

Learning goals, framework conditions and time schedule of the course, basics and academic culture of history, work methods in general,including shy students, how to discourses

1

Examination method(s)

Teaching method(s)

Learning goal(s)

Session

Table 4.9  Course plan example from the humanities

62 4  Lesson Planning

Special events: Conflict Wilhelm II Lecture on recension, discussion and Bismarck (1888–1890), Overview of literature databases

Special events: The end of Bismarck’s Quiz, group work on the text, discussion theory Review of the last lesson on quiz, oral source interpretation (Great Man alliance policy from 1890, Text analy- approach Theory) sis of a source for actors representing the Great Man Theory

Economic change (industrialization of Germany), Source with historicaleconomic approach

Social change (e.g., the rise of the labor movement), Source with historical-sociological approach

Political change (e.g., the formation of See above, just another theory the Balkan nation states), Source with historical-political approach

11

12

13

14

See above, just another theory

See above, just another theory

See above, just another theory

See above, just another theory

See above, just another theory

(continued)

Review of the previous sessions (since 10th lecture is the first after the Christmas holidays) Discussion of randomly selected, previously written student recensions

Debate of the thesis “The survival of Frederick III. would have had positive effects on history”

10

Debate of the thesis “The survival of Frederick III. would have had positive effects on history”

Special events: Death of the “liberal hope-bearer”, Emperor Frederick III. in 1888, Reference works

9

Discussion of randomly selected, previously written student recensions

Lecture on recensions, discussion

Special events: Involvement of Great Britain while retaining Russia in the German alliance sysrem in 1887, Criteria for good recensions

8

Examination method(s)

Teaching method(s)

Learning goal(s)

Session

Table 4.9   (continued)

4.8  Practical Examples of Lesson Planning 63

Enthusiasm for the subject (intrinsic motivation)

Continuously

Continuously Know and follow the rules of disfrom session 2 course

Review topics term paper Outlook term paper (dates), seminar completion: Learning goals

16

Discussion

Examination method(s)

Note on elaborated rules

General enthusiasm on the part of the teacher in the seminar

Observation of discussions and debates (interference on the part of the teacher if necessary)

Teaching evaluation (content of the open comments as well as generally high values)

Input from the lecturer and students, discussion, Presentation of term paper topics, individual work (teaching evaluation) discussion of their practical feasibility, teaching evaluation

Bismarck’s alliance policy: ConcluDiscussion: Interpretation of the event based sion and assessment. Citation methods on different theoretical approaches (Great Man term paper Theory, …)

15

Teaching method(s)

Learning goal(s)

Session

Table 4.9   (continued)

64 4  Lesson Planning

4.8  Practical Examples of Lesson Planning

65

Table 4.10  The curriculum of individual lectures: Practical examples from the humanities Phase

Goals

Entry

Status of the curric- Input: Provide an ulum for the entire overview of the topics course (learning goals, etc.)

Working and exchange phase

Closing phase

Examination method(s)

Time in Minutes

–

4

Motivation

Input: Locating the – topics (relevance, importance, theory)

3

Communicate the learning goals of today’s session

Input

3

Repeat last lesson

Group work: Ques- Quiz (group work tions given by the first, then quiz) teacher

Special events: Closing of the Dual Alliance in 1879 as a constant of German alliance policy until 1914 , Excerpt

Excerpt from the text on the Dual Alliance (group work)

–

15

Class discussion (excerpt results)

Class discussion (excerpt results)

25

Enthusiasm for the subject (intrinsic motivation)

Mid-Term Teaching Evaluation

Mid-Term Teaching Evaluation

10

Feedback with learning goals (today’s learning goals as well as the global goals of the entire course)

Questions for the students

Summary of the most important points by students

5

Summary of the most important points by teachers

–

2

Input

–

3

Outlook: Transfer of the “Excerpt” method to other, following texts (also for practice homework)

Teaching method(s)

–

20

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4  Lesson Planning

lesson is drawn. On the other hand, he repeats the crucial point about the quality of the term papers from the previous session. Since the “consultation regarding exercise midterm papers during office hours” does not take place during the 6th individual session, it is not listed here.

4.8.2 A Practical Example from the Social Sciences In the middle of the lecture-free period. Next semester, Dr. Markus T. will likely have 30 first-semester (MA Psychology) students in his seminar on research methods and evaluation. According to study and examination regulations, all students must provide proof of performance in the form of a graded research report. The content of the course must include advanced (quantitative) research methods, the planning of evaluation studies as well as advanced statistics. The research report should include an empirical evaluation and be evaluated in the same way as a term paper. Because of his previous experiences, he fears that the students have heterogeneous prior knowledge of research methods and statistics and, therefore, will produce suboptimal research reports. Reasons for this include methodologically heterogeneous bachelor’s degrees (e.g., from other disciplines and universities).

4.8.2.1 Learning Goals He chooses the following learning goals taking into account the given framework conditions (cf. Table 4.11): He wants the students to conduct their own research study independently (methodological competence); in order to compensate for the students’ heterogeneous knowledge, they should do this productively in teams (social competence). These learning goals help prepare the students for the later master’s thesis (methodological competence) as well as the potential everyday working life in science and economics during evaluation studies (methodological and social competence). Less important but a necessary basis, is the professional competence regarding evaluation studies. Lastly, he wants to arouse some enthusiasm for one’s own research (personnel competence). From these main goals, he derives the intermediate goals and then the subgoals from them. When deriving the personnel main goal, he feels that a third level is unnecessary, so the level of intermediate goals is omitted here. In the case of methodological and social competence, a temporal sequence is always necessary, so he numbers these intermediate goals accordingly. The fine goals are only listed exemplarily for reasons of space. In the end, he has an overview of which learning goals should be achieved in an optimal seminar.

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67

Table 4.11  Learning goals: A practical example from the social sciences Main goal

Intermediate goals

Subgoals

Professional competence

Expertise in evaluation studies

Knowledge of the … a) advanced (quantitative) research methods b) higher statistics c) phases of evaluation studies

Fine goal to intermediate goal b: Knowledge of: Variance analysis (Multiple) regression Factor analysis Multilevel analysis …

Methodological competence

Organizing an 1. Planning the study evaluation study 2. Conducting the study 3. Analyzing the results 4. Reporting on the study

Selecting subgoals for intermediate goals 1–4: 1. Generating a research question for one’s own study 1. Creating a realistic plan for the evaluation study 2. Surveying at least 50 people per student 3. Selecting appropriate statistical methods 3. Evaluating using statistical software (SPSS, STATA or R) 3. Correctly interpreting the results 4. Writing a scientific final report

Social competence

Successful teamwork

Subgoals for intermediate goal 1: Using phases of team development productively Strength and weakness analysis including development during the seminar (mutual feedback) Subgoals for intermediate goal 2: Involving and promoting weaker students Reciprocation by weaker students (e.g., they do more work on the final report in compensation for funding)

Personnel competence

Intrinsic motiva- – tion to be a researcher

1. Forming a productive team 2. Utilizing synergy effects

Enthusiasm for statistical analysis Enthusiasm for methodology (eg., planning and conducting studies)

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4.8.2.2 Selection of Content, Teaching and Examination Methods Markus T. realizes that his learning goals for methodological and social competence are necessary for a successful lecture, so he continues to focus on hismain goals. He estimates methodological competence to be the most important, since students will also conduct an evaluation study for their master’s theses and, therefore, enters it in the top line of the next table (cf. Table 4.12). This is followed by social competence. He then enters the learning goals for professional competence, which involves the students improvement according to their prior knowledge, but, in the end, only subject-specific knowledge about the optimal method is absolutely necessary. The student groups are heterogeneously mixed by him according to their level of knowledge. Since Markus T. offers a master’s seminar, the learning levels are all very high. Based on the learning goals including the learning level, he chooses the appropriate teaching and assessment methods (see Chaps. 12 or 14), that he prefers. A minority of his chosen methods may be “only” suitable for lower learning levels. The designation of individual teaching methods to their respective assessment methods is redundant here and only necessary for the course plan. 4.8.2.3 Course Schedule Based on his learning goals and selected teaching and assessment methods, he now creates his course plan (see Table 4.13). He has 16 individual sessions and initially plans the learning goals that are most important to him, usually entering learning goals at the level of intermediate goals (their subgoals are then relevant again in the individual sessions). When it comes to methodological and social goals, he takes into account the chosen structure (see Table 4.11). In order for the rather “dry” lecture topic to be successfully conveyed, he divides the students into three-person groups with heterogeneous knowledge based on their level of previous knowledge in the first lesson. The students with stronger methodological skills are supposed to support and train the weaker students—the latter are supposed to work on the research report to a greater extent in return. At the same time, students with stronger methodological skills may miss sessions 6–8. Sessions 10 and 11 are optional for students according to (consultation) needs. The groups can choose their own research question in order to increase motivation for the topic (see Chap. 8). During the semester, the groups must present their chosen question, developed methodology, statistical analysis and results several times in order to receive critical feedback. This mixture of free questioning and monitoring of performance will additionally motivate the groups. Some learning goals are planned throughout the entire semester and are listed separately at the end of the table so that the plan does not become redundant. For your better understanding, the professional competence goals are entered in italics, the methodological goals in normal font, the social objectives in bold and italics and the personal goals in bold.

4.8  Practical Examples of Lesson Planning

69

Table 4.12  Hierarchy and learning levels of learning goals as well as selected teaching and assessment methods based on a practical example form the social sciences Level of the learning goals. Ranking by hierarchy (most important first)

Teaching methods

Examination methods

6

Organization of an evaluation study

Input, individual work (in class), group work, discussion, project work or research-based learning (evaluation)

Questions, presentation (to the group about the study: Topic selection, operationalization, implementation, etc.) including feedback from the class and instructor, binding email inquiry of the intermediate stage, quality of the study and the final reports

6

Successful teamwork

Input on group formation phases and conditions for successful group work

Anonymous online survey on the quality of group work, fixed individual performances in the homework (same level?)

5

Expertise in evaluation Input, self-study (out- Test prior knowledge, inquiry, knowlstudies side of seminar), group edge test work, class discussion

6

Intrinsic motivation to be a researcher

General enthusiasm on the part of the instructor in the seminar Encouraging students’ research motivations by allowing them to choose their own subjects of investigation and offering supervision

Quality of the study and the final reports, use of methods compared to the students’ prior knowledge, teaching evaluation (content of the open comments and generally high values)

Thus, Markus T. has a lecture plan that was created on the basis of his learning goals and prioritizes the content that is most important to him. His teaching and examination methods actually do not support his learning levels: He strives for 5–6, the methods are indeed at 3–6, but mostly at 4. However, since he strives for the overall task “Conducting one’s own evaluation study” at the end and controls this, it is didactically in order here to work with “lower”, but appropriate methods. By working freely and simulating an evaluation study in science or business, his entire course actually corresponds to a huge simulation game (learning level 6). So his didactic concept works.

4.8.2.4 Plan Individual Sessions In his lecture plan, the individual sessions are already rather fixed. As an example, Markus T. plans his 3rd and 4th individual sessions in detail (both have the same structure, only the group numbers are different at session 4). Both sessions are central to the

Formulate first research question; organization of evaluation study (esp. planning); phases of team development

Finalize research question: Only groups 1–5

Finalize research question: Only groups 6–10

Acquisition strategy

Statistics—Basics (for weaker students)

Statistics—Advanced Methods (for weaker See above to average students)

Statistics—Advanced Methods (for weaker See above to average students)

Evaluation software: SPSS, Stata, R

Open consultation

Open consultation

Presentation of results (groups 1–4)

Presentation of results (groups 5–7)

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

Examination method(s)

See above

Presentation (lecture or poster), discussion

Consultation

Consultation

Input, self-study (on students’ own laptops)

Input, discussion (about the interpretation of values)

Input, discussion

Presentation (lecture or poster) and discussion

Presentation (lecture or poster) and discussion

Input, group work (choose research question)

See above (continued)

Quality of presentation and results; audience’s interest

Success in problem solving through consultation

Success in problem solving through consultation

Implementation of evaluation tasks

See above

See above

Discussion contributions; knowledge test at the end (and comparison with pre-knowledge test from session 1)

Discussion contributions; size of samples

Quality of presentation and discussion contributions

Quality of presentation and discussion contributions

Homework: Send first version of research question and evaluation plan

Prior knowledge test (for group assignment) Input, getting-to-know-you bulletin board including indication of research interests (so that interests match and there is good group “chemistry”)

Learning goals, framework conditions and course schedule; Group formation: 10 groups of 3 people; Phases of evaluation studies

1

Teaching method(s)

Learning goal(s)

Session

Table 4.13   Course plan example from the social sciences

70 4  Lesson Planning

Intrinsic motivation to be a researcher

Successful teamwork: Use of synergy effects

Continuously

Continuously from session 2

Quality of the study and research reports Methodological approach in comparison to the students’ prior knowledge Teaching evaluation (content of the open comments as well as generally high values)

Teaching evaluation results; test of statistical knowledge(and comparison with other tests)

Quality of questions and research reports

See above

Examination method(s)

See above (group must be successful Quality of the interim results in the lesson, the together or will fail) study and the research reports

General enthusiasm on the part of the instructor in the seminar Encouraging students’ research motivations by allowing them to choose their own subjects of investigation and offering supervision

Reflection, discussion, evaluation

Seminar conclusion: Learning goals

16

See above

Presentation of results (groups 8–10)

Structure and criteria of the research report Input, question and answer session

14

Teaching method(s)

15

Learning goal(s)

Session

Table 4.13   (continued)

4.8  Practical Examples of Lesson Planning 71

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4  Lesson Planning

success of his lecture: Here the groups present their question and receive constructive feedback from the class. Good time management and moderation on his part are important here (see Table 4.14).

Table 4.14  The curriculum of individual lectures: Practical examples from the social sciences Phase

Goals

Entry

Status of the curric- Input: Overview of – ulum for the entire topics course (learning goals etc.)

4

Working and exchange phase

Final phase

Teaching method(s)

Examination method(s)

Time in Minutes

Communicate learning goals of today’s session: Finalization of research question through class feedback Motivation

Input: Finalization of research question through class feedback Emphasize the importance of students’ own work

–

6

Feedback rules

Input

–

5

Presentation quality

5

Discussion contributions

5

… (Group 2–5 like 1)

… (Group 2–5 like 1)

40

Buffer for breaks and delays

–

–

15

Feedback with the learning goals (today’s learning goals as well as the main goals of the entire course).

Questions for the students

Summary of the students’ most important points

5

Summary of the lecturer’s most important points

–

2

–

3

Finalizing the ques- Presentation Group tion through class 1 feedback Moderation feedback from the lass on 1, Self assessment on 1

Outlook: Transfer Input of the questions to the practical implementation

4.8  Practical Examples of Lesson Planning

73

4.8.3 A Practical Example form the Natural Sciences 4.8.3.1 Conditions In the middle of the lecture-free period. Dr. Sandra F. will probably teach 30 students (compulsory module bachelor’s in physics, mostly 3rd or 5th semester) in her astrophysics course next semester, which runs parallel to the lecture of the same name by her professor. According to the study and examination regulations, all students must provide proof of performance in the form of a graded examination, and the courses must give a comprehensive introduction to astrophysics. Based on previous experience, she fears that the students’ heterogeneous knowledge of mathematics and the natural science will lead to suboptimal exercise results and examination performance. Possible causes of this include the heterogeneity of the physics lessons in secondary schools and the different subject semesters of the students due to it being an elective course. 4.8.3.2 Learning Goals Taking into account the conditions, she chooses the following learning goals (cf. Table 4.15): First, the knowledge of the basics of astrophysics from the lecture should be deepened or repeated if necessary. The focus of her course is on methodological competence, i.e., the calculation of astrophysical models. In addition to the course, the students should practice this independently in learning groups (social competence goal). Finally, the students should acquire personnel competence with regard to their enthusiasm for the subject and self-discipline in mathematical tasks. Analogous to personnel competence, she derives the intermediate goals and then the subgoals from the other main goals. When deriving the personnel main goal, she found that a third level was unnecessary, so the level of intermediate goals was omitted here. In the case of professional and social competence, a temporal sequence is always necessary, so she numbers these intermediate goals accordingly. The intermediate goals for methodological competence as well as all subgoals are only briefly described for the sake of space. Finally, she provides an overview of which learning goals should be achieved in an optimal course. 4.8.3.3 Selection of Content, Teaching and Examination Methods Sandra F. considers methodological competence (i.e., the calculation of models), to be the most important for her course and, therefore, enters it in the top row of the next table (cf. Table 4.16). Since the intermediate goals for method competence (calculation of model A, model B, etc.) always entail identical teaching and examination methods, Sandra F. continues to focus on the main goal level here. Next, she considers self-discipline in mathematical calculations to be central (subgoal personnel competence), followed by the formation of effective student learning groups (social competence), as she knows about their importance for success in the exam. Less important are the repetition or deepening of the students’ basic knowledge of astrophysics (professional competence) and enthusiasm for the discipline (fine goal personnel competence), as the students already

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Table 4.15  Learning goals: A practical example from the natural sciences Professional competence / expertise

Main goal

Intermediate goals

Basics of astrophysics (repeat or deepen)

Subgoals for the big bang: 1. (No n-observable) past: Evolution of the Planck era, inflationary phase (problem of information loss universe (big bang due to the event horizon), until formation of (…) primordial nucleosyngalaxies) 2. Current: Big unified thesis, radiation era, matter theory; components of era. the universe (dark mat- Subgoal for the near future: Merger of Andromeda galaxy ter and dark energy); and Milky Way; end of Earth stellar evolution; and Sun; … extraterrestrial life. … 3. Future: Development models of the universe (near future; distant future: big crunch, big freeze, big rip, etc.)

Subgoals

Methodological Calculation of the competence models

Subgoal for A): Duration of A) Stellar evolution B) Development mod- the life phases of a star with 0.8 solar masses els of the universe Subgoal for B): Necessary (…) amount of matter of the universe for a “big crunch”

Social competence

Formation of effective student learning groups

1. Stable groups 2. Effective group work

Subgoals for 1.: Speedy group formation; constant groups over the semester Subgoal for 2.: Regular meetings, mutual compensation for weaknesses

Personnel competence

Motivation for studying astronomy

–

Enthusiasm for the subject (intrinsic motivation) Self-discipline in mathematical calculations (intrinsic or extrinsic motivation)

bring a certain enthusiasm with them. Otherwise, they would not have chosen this elective area. Based on the learning goals (including learning level), she chooses the suitable teaching and examination methods (see Chaps. 12 or 14) that she prefers. A minority of her chosen methods may “only” be suitable for lower learning levels. The designation of individual teaching methods to their respective examination methods is redundant here and only necessary for the course plan.

4.8  Practical Examples of Lesson Planning

75

Table 4.16  Hierarchy and learning levels of the learning goals as well as selected teaching and assessment methods based on a practical example form the natural sciences Level of learning goals. Ranking by hierarchy (most important first)

Teaching methods

6

Calculation of models

Exam (calculation), tasks Input (solution paths), group for the tutorial work (in and outside of the course), scenario method (for future models), practical examples of missions In addition to the course: Tutorial, e-learning tasks (supervised by tutor): Let students create their own exam questions and solutions

6

Self-discipline in mathematical calculations (intrinsic or extrinsic motivation)

Up to 20% of the studentExam (calculation), tasks created exam questions are part for the tutorial of the exam

4

Formation of effective student learning groups

Let students create and submit exam questions and solutions that are better solved in a team

Submission in the e-learning portal, discussion of the homework in the e-learning forum

5

Basics of astrophysics (repeat or deepen)

Give input, asking questions, discussion (tutorial and learning group), concept mapping, one-minute paper, provide literature and script

Exam (knowledge questions), questions, votes (e.g., on the probability of cosmological scenarios), repetition of the last lesson via quiz

6

Enthusiasm for the sub- Interest survey ject (intrinsic motivation) General enthusiasm on the part of the instructors in the course

Examination methods

Quality of the exam, quality of the task solution in the learning groups and tutorial, teaching evaluation (content of the open comments as well as generally high values)

In addition to her course, she has a tutor with whom she and her professor coordinate closely. This tutor gives a tutorial in which he repeats and explains the solutions from Sandras’s course, he also supervises the e-learning portal. In the e-learning portal, all learning groups have to generate a (fictitious) exam and explain how the solve another exam task in detail. One fifth of the actual exam tasks will consist exam tasks written by students, provided they are appropriately difficult. This will also motivate the students remain diligent outside of the classroom. This, in turn, will increase their learning success. She records this in her Table 4.16 as well.

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4.8.3.4 Course Schedule Based on her learning goals and selected teaching and examination methods, Sandra F. now creates her course schedule (see Table 4.17). She has 16 individual sessions and initially plans what she finds to be the most important learning goals, mostly entering learning goals at the level of intermediate goals (whose subgoals are then relevant again in the individual sessions). When it comes to professional and social goals, she takes into account the chosen process structure (see Table 4.15) as well as the structure of the lecture. In order to give the calculations a realistic basis, she uses, if possible, missions from ESA, NASA (etc.) as practical examples. The social goals are to be achieved by Session 1 (the formation of learning groups) and are generally relevant. The division of the learning groups is only controlled by her (every student is accounted for, with at least 3 people per group, she eaves the assignment to the students, since they know each other and mostly already have had fixed learning groups for several semesters. For the repetition and deepening of students’ knowledge of astrophysics, she generally plans a maximum of 15 min per session, which, if not relevant, are to be used to deepen the students’ understanding of calculation methods. The goals for personnel competence should also general prevail and are listed at the end of Table 4.17 in bold. Some learning goals are planned throughout, she enters these separately at the end of the table so that the plan does not become too redundant. For your better overview, the professional goals are bold and italics, the methodological goals in normal font, the social goals in italics font and personal goals in bold font. Thus, Sandra F. has a teaching plan that was created on the basis of her learning goals, and she prioritizes the most important content for her. It is easily recognizable that a variation of the teaching and examination sessions is not planned for sessions 2–15. However, this is not problematic from a didactic point of view, since the methods change within the session and different learning goals or teaching content are given for each session. 4.8.3.5 Plan Individual Sessions In her teaching plan, the individual sessions are already rather firmly defined contentwise. As an example, Sandra F. plans her 2nd session in detail (cf. Table 4.18), which is transferable to sessions 3–15 in terms of teaching and learning methods as well as some learning goals. Due to the amount of material, good time management is important here. What is Effective for Good Teaching: Lesson Planning with Limited Time

• Saving time is difficult when planning lessons, without jeopardizing the quality of your teaching. If you can’t get around saving time: Set only your learning goals and don’t worry about the selection of teaching and examination methods, but do what you already know. ◄

Big Bang to structure formation: Overview Part 1 of 2 (NASA mission GALEX)

Big Bang to structure formation: Overview Part 2 (Cosmic Microwave Background, ESA mission Planck)

Grand Unified Theory: Overview

Grand Unified Theory: latest developments

Dark matter and dark energy (ESA mission Euclid)

Galaxy formation (infrared astronomy with the Spitzer Space Telescope)

Development of supermassive black holes during galaxy mergers

Development of sun-like stars including planet formation

Development of massive stars—models and observations (NASA mission Swift: Searching for gamma-ray bursts)

Black holes and the NASA mission NuSTAR

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

See above

See above, supplemented by concept mapping

See above, supplemented by concept mapping

See above

See above

See above

See above

See above, supplemented by concept mapping

See above

Input, partner work, quiz, ask questions, problem-based learning, carry out a oneminute paper, tasks for learning groups, provide literature and script

See above (continued)

See above, supplemented by performance concept mapping

See above, supplemented by performance concept mapping

See above

See above

See above

See above

See above, supplemented by performance concept mapping

See above

Answers to questions and quiz, performance problem-based learning, performance tutorial, performance e-learning portal

Input, questions and voting to assess prior Quality of answers Learning goals, requirements, tutorial dates and e-learning portal, group formation, 20% exam task knowledge Inquiry into interest regulation (encourage self-discipline)

Examination method(s)

1

Teaching method(s)

Learning goal(s)

Session

Table 4.17  Course plan example from the natural sciences

4.8  Practical Examples of Lesson Planning 77

Creat exam questions and solution paths in the team

The near future of our universe (resp. the local group)

The distant future of our universe: Models in comparison (e.g. the big freeze)

Summary and repetition, exam questions

Enthusiasm for the subject (intrinsic motivation) Self-discipline in mathematical calculations

Basics of astrophysics (repeat or deepen), max. 15 minutes per session

Stable and effective learning groups (calculation of models in addition to the lecture)

14

15

16

Continuously

Continuously

Continuously from end of session 1

In the tuto- Calculation of models (in addition to the calcularial tions in the exercise)

Quiz, questions, input

Extraterrestrial life and habitable worlds outside the solar system: Exoplanets (ESA mission COROT)

13

See above, additional result scenario method

See above, additional result scenario method

See above

See above

Examination method(s)

Submit in the e-learning portal, discussion of homework in the e-learning forum

Quiz, questions, solution paths e-learning portal

Teaching evaluation (content of the open comments as well as generally high values) Exam, exercise questions, exam questions e-learning portal

Go over possible solutions in the tutorial, Quality of the discussion contribuquestions, e-learning tasks (supervised by tions and e-learning tasks tutor): Let students create their own exam questions and solutions

General enthusiasm on the part of the teachers in the lecture 20% exam question regulation

Repetition of the central points of the ses- Quality of the questions, quality of sions 2–15, questions for the exam the exam, teaching evaluation

See above, additional scenario method

See above, additional scenario method

See above

Extraterrestrial life and habitable worlds in the solar See above system (Mars Rover Curiosity)

12

Teaching method(s)

Learning goal(s)

Session

Table 4.17   (continued)

78 4  Lesson Planning

4.8  Practical Examples of Lesson Planning

79

Table 4.18  The curriculum of individual lectures: Practical examples from the natural sciences Phase

Goals

Introduction

Status of the lecture Input: Give an overview – plan for the entire of the topics course (learning goals, etc.)

4

Communicate the learning goals of today’s session Motivation

Input: Learning goals, – positioning of the topics (relevance, actuality, theory)

6

Big Bang to Structure Formation: Overview Part 1 of 2

Quiz and questions about the lecture content

Quality of answers

Max. 15

Problem-based learning (in pairs): To what extent can the natural constants vary in order for a universe like this to arise? Calculate!

Performance regarding problem-based learning: Quality calculation

30

Input: Explain solution s (literature and script available online)

–

20

Working and Exchange Phase

Teaching Method(s)

Examination Method(s)

One-Minute-Paper One-Minute-Paper: (collect and read) What were your findings today, what do you not yet understand

Final phase

Feedback with learning goals (today’s learning goals as well as the global objectives of the entire course)

Time in Minutes

1

Input: (Further) tasks for the learning groups

Tutorial Performance, 4 Performance regarding e-learning portal: Implementation in e-learning portal, monitored by tutor

Questions for the students

Summary of the most 5 important points by students

Summary of the most important points by teachers

–

2

–

3

Outlook: Transfer Input of subject-related points to their methodological implementation in the learning groups and in the tutorial

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References Biggs, J. B., & Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university (4th ed.). Open University Press/Mc Graw-Hill Education. Blickle, G. (2019). Anforderungsanalyse. In F. W. Nerdinger, G. Blickle, & N. Schaper (Eds.), Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie (4th ed., pp. 235–249). Springer. Braun, E., Gusy, B., Leidner, B., & Hannover, B. (2008). Das Berliner Evaluationsinstrument für selbsteingeschätzte, studentischeKompetenzen (BEvaKomp). Diagnostica, 54(1), 30–42. Brandstätter, V., & Hennecke, M. (2018). Ziele. In J. Heckhausen & H. Heckhausen (Eds.), Motivation & Handeln (5th revised and enlarged ed., pp. 331–353). Springer. [zur Zielsetzungstheorie]. Donovan, J. J., & Radosevich, D. J. (1999). A meta-analytic review of the distribution of practice effect: Now you see it, now you don’t. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(5), 795–805. Doran, G. T. (1981). There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management Review, 70(11), 35–36. Feldman, K. A. (1989). The association between student ratings of specific instructional dimensions and student achievement: Refining and extending the synthesis of data from multisection validity studies. Research in Higher Education, 30(6), 583–645. Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A metaanalysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38(6), 69–119. Hattie, J. A. (2009). Visible learning. A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge. Hattie, J. A. (2015). The applicability of visible learning to higher education. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 1(1), 79–91. Kleinbeck, U. (2010). Handlungsziele. In J. Heckhausen & H. Heckhausen (Eds.), Motivation und Handeln (4th revised and enlarged ed., pp. 285–307). Springer. Latham, G. P., & Locke, E. A. (2006). Enhancing the benefits and overcoming the pitfalls of goal setting. Organizational Dynamics, 35(4), 332–340. Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory of goal setting and task performance. Prentice Hall. Marton, F., & Säljö, R. (1976). On qualitative differences in learning. I – Outcome and process. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 46, 4–11. Marzano, R. J. (1998). A theory-based meta-analysis of research on instruction. Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning. Pastötter, B., Oberauer, K., & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2018). Gedächtnis und Wissen. In A. Kiesel & H. Spada (Eds.), LehrbuchAllgemeine Psychologie (4trh ed., pp. 121–196). Huber. Schrader, F.-W., & Helmke, A. (2000). Wirksamkeit des Hochschulunterrichts aus der Sicht der Studierenden. Eine empirische Studie. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 41, 261–276. Statistisches Bundesamt. (2013). Erhebung zu Weiterbildungseinrichtungen in Deutschland. https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bildung-Forschung-Kultur/Weiterbildung/Publikationen/Downloads-Weiterbildung/weiterbildungseinrichtungen-5215401109004.pdf. Sonntag, K.-H., & Schäfer-Rauser, U. (1993). Selbsteinschätzung beruflicher Kompetenzen bei der Evaluation von Bildungsmaßnahmen. Zeitschrift für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie, 37(4), 163–171. Ulrich, I. (2013a). Strategische Planung von Lehrveranstaltungen. Interdisziplinäres Kolleg Hochschuldidaktik, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. http://lehrplanung.psyllie.de/. Accessed 3 May 2020.

References

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Ulrich, I. (2013b). Strategisches Qualitätsmanagement in der Hochschullehre. Theoriegeleitete Workshops für Lehrende zur Förderung kompetenzorientierter Lehre. Springer. Willett, J. B., Yamashita, J. M., & Anderson, R. D. (1983). A meta-analysis of instructional systems applied in science teaching. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 20(5), 405–417.

Further Reading on Curriculum Planning

My Comments are in [Brackets] at the End of Each Reference Bachmann, H. (2018). Formulieren von Lernergebnissen – learning outcomes. In H. Bachmann (Ed.) Kompetenzorientierte Hochschullehre. Die Notwendigkeit von Kohärenz zwischen Lernzielen, Prüfungsformen & Lehr-Lern-Methoden (Forum Hochschuldidaktik & Erwachsenenbildung, Vol. 1, 3rd revised ed., pp. 34–49). hep. [on the design of learning goals]. Berendt, B. (2002). „Gut geplant ist halb gewonnen …“: Teilnehmerzentrierte Struktur- & Verlaufsplanung von Lehrveranstaltungen. In B. Berendt, H.-P. Voss, & J. Wildt (Eds.), Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre (Rn. B 1.1). Raabe. Ulrich, I. (2013). Strategisches Qualitätsmanagement in der Hochschullehre: Theoriegeleitete Workshops für Lehrende zur Förderung kompetenzorientierter Lehre. Springer-VS. [Chap. 2.4 on goal-setting theory; Chap. 2.6, pp. 97–102 & Kap. 2.7, pp. 113–118 on lesson planning]. Winteler, A. (2011). Professionell lehren & lernen: Ein Praxisbuch für Universität & Schule (4th ed.). Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. [Chap. 3].

5

Teaching: Presentation Skills

Contents 5.1 Basics of Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 5.2 Nonverbal and Paraverbal Communication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 5.3 Rhetoric and Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 5.3.1 Argumentative Figures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 5.3.2 Specifics of Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 5.4 Initial and Final Phases in Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 5.5 Practical Examples for Presentation Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Abstract

In this chapter on (teachers') presentation skills , we first deal with some basics of communication: Forms of communication, levels of a message, etc. Following this, we will go through aspects of nonerbal and paraverbal communication. After that, we turn to the main section on rhetoric and presentation and discuss the steps for creating a presentation. Then we deal with the specifics of beginning and ending your lectures. At the end of the chapter, you will find some consistent scenarios of teachers in the practical examples. Small localization in advance: Teacher's presentation skills can be found in almost all higher education didactic programs, usually even as part of a fixed basic module (e.g., Hochschulevaluierungsverbund 2019). In general, their importance for good teaching is thus slightly overestimated: A teacher with a well-thought-out didactic concept and little presentation skills will teach better and cause better learning outcomes for his students © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 I. Ulrich, Good Teaching in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39137-9_5

83

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5  Carrying Out Teaching: Presentation Skills durchführen …

Fig. 5.1   Four sides of a message (Schulz von Thun, 2007a, p. 30)

than a teacher with good presentation skills and a less well-thought-out didactic concept (Deslauriers et al., 2011; Marsh & Ware, 1982). Presentation skills are generally helpful for good teaching—in particular, at the beginning of the teaching sessions and for dealing with difficult students (latter see Chap. 6).

5.1 Basics of Communication Presentation skills require communication as a foundation. Communication includes, in addition to your words (verbal communication), other visual (nonverbal) signals as well as other auditory (paraverbal) signals from you: • Verbal signals: Words or specific content—in particular, your rhetoric • Paraverbal signals: Tonality of voice (pitch, emphasis, speech melody), speaking behavior (loudness, tempo) • Nonverbal signals: Body posture and movement, gestures and hand signals, facial expressions In this context, regarding inconsistencies between the individual types of signals, nonverbal signals are usually superior to verbal ones and the tone of voice is superior to concrete content (Mehrabian & Wiener, 1967; Mehrabian & Ferris, 1967).1 Therefore, students doubt the words “I’m looking forward to teaching you” when the teacher sounds annoyed and makes a contemptuous face. Communication always takes place on several levels. Schulz von Thun (2007a), therefore, differentiates between four levels or sides of a message, which can lead to different interpretations of, e.g., the sentence “I love teaching!” (cf. Fig. 5.1):

1 In

popular literature, especially in the field of continuing education, it is often claimed that body language accounts for 55% of communication, tone of voice for 38% and the factual content in general for only 7%. This is wrong (cf. e.g. Oestreich, 1999). These results refer to Mehrabian’s study, which took place under special experimental conditions (inconsistent messages between the three types of signals).

5.2  Nonverbal and Paraverbal Communication

85

Sent Transmitter

Received message

Receiver

Feedback

Fig. 5.2   Model of interpersonal communication (Schulz von Thun, 2007a, p. 81)

• Factual content: What information does the sender want to convey (“I evaluate teaching positively.”) • Self-revelation: What does the sender say about himself (“Teaching is fun for me.”) • Relationship: How does the sender feel about the receiver (“I apparently have to point out the obvious to you.”) • Appeal: What does the sender want from the receiver (“You should also find teaching great.”) The message is not only sent on multiple levels, but each receiving person understands it on multiple levels. The receiver will weigh the prioritization of the levels differently (e.g., more on the self-revelation level than on the appeal level) and understand the messages on each level differently (e.g., instead of the self-revelation, “Teaching is fun for me” he may understand the self-revelation, “I can teach so well”). A main reason for this are the different communication styles of the participants (cf. Schulz von Thun, 2007b, pp. 57–243). In the end, only by means of metacommunication, i.e., by means of questions from the participants can the original intention be clarified (cf. Fig. 5.2). It helps to know these communication levels and, if necessary, to explain your own, preferred communication style to your students. In the case of conflicts, a misunderstanding regarding the intended levels may prevail.

5.2 Nonverbal and Paraverbal Communication Nonerbal and paraverbal communication or presentation includes a variety of levels (cf. Table 5.1). Just like verbal communication, nonverbal and paraverbal communication differs between cultures. E.g., a nod does not mean “yes” worldwide (cf. e.g. Aronson et al., 2014, pp. 109 ff.).

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Table 5.1  Aspects of nonverbal and paraverbal communication. (From Günther, 2003, pp. 25 ff.; partly self-completed) Aspects

Details (which most teachers feel comfortable as well as look relaxed and confident are marked in italics)

Body posture

There are many possible body postures Ultimately, all are occasionally okay: Muscle tone: Slack vs. relaxed vs. tense Position: • Frontal vs. sideways vs. backwards to the students • Bent vs. upright vs. “chest out” (“winner’s pose”) • Legs closed, slightly open analogous to shoulder width, legs apart; next to vs. in front of vs. crossed • Arms: Open vs. crossed; in front of vs. next to vs. behind the body • Sitting vs. standing vs. leaning standing

Body movement

Body movement varies by tempo (slow vs. medium vs. extremely fast) and type (skillful, stiff, lax, etc.)

Proxemics, i.e., Everyone has different spatial zones in which they accept proximity to others spatial distance to (Hall, 1963, 1966, pp. 133 ff.). The following distance values are guidelines others and are based on the torso and head (shaking hands is not included): 1. Intimate zone (0–45 cm): Reserved for partners, closest relatives and friends, as well as for treatment by a doctor, masseur and hairdresser 2. Personal zone (45 cm to 1.2 m): Acceptable for friends, sympathetic acquaintances and colleagues 3. Social zone (1.2 m to 3.6 m): Usual in front of superiors, strangers, when teaching in small seminar rooms 4. Public zone (from 3.6 m): Usual in public lectures, in the auditorium The extent of the spatial zones varies depending on the culture and individual. With sympathy, they decrease. If you enter the distance zone of a student, you will attract attention (e.g., with difficult students, see Chap. 6), but also cause tension and appear to pose a certain threat Gestures

Gestures vary interculturally—in particular, specific signs (e.g., a “thumbs up”) vary considerably. Gestures can support your parallel content particularly well (Krauss et al., 2000). These “illustrators” (Ekman, 1999) can be used—supplemented by, e.g., a change in space—to distinguish between different theories (Theory A on the left, B on the right) or just to metaphorically support certain expressions (e.g., the strength of effects in a study, resonance of certain authors)

Facial expression (mimicry)

The 7 basic emotions of disgust, joy/happiness, fear/anxiety, sadness, surprise/curiosity, contempt and anger (see, e.g., Ekman & Friesen, 1971) are recognized across cultures. However, whether a laugh means cheerfulness or also insecurity varies individually and interculturally, as does the intensity of the mimicry (e.g., quiet laughter vs. loud laughter)

Eye contact

Eye contact shows interest, can be understood as an attack (provocation, dominance behavior) if held for too long. A lack of eye contact can be interpreted as insecurity or submission (continued)

5.2  Nonverbal and Paraverbal Communication

87

Table 5.1   (continued) Aspects

Details (which most teachers feel comfortable as well as look relaxed and confident are marked in italics)

Style (clothing, hairstyle, shoes, glasses, jewelry, smartphone, etc.)

With your style, you signal your belonging to a certain group and nonverbally communicate certain interests, attitudes, values, social backgrounds and personality traits (regardless of whether these non-verbal signals actually match your interests, etc.). With similarity, you create sympathy (see Aronson et al., 2014, pp. 354 ff.), with professional clothing - authority

Tone of voice

Paraverbal communication includes tone of voice (pitch, stress, intonation), speaking pattern (loudness, tempo). For longer periods of speaking, it makes sense to keep your voice at the indifference level. You will find this if you hum “mmmm” relaxed. The range of tones that you can hum relaxed and effortlessly is your indifference level. Simultaneously, you should train your resonance body (see Eberhart & Hinderer, 2016, pp. 53–80)

In the field of nonverbal communication, there is a lot of well-known popular literature (e.g. Molcho & Klinger, 2001), whose theses are not tenable in many cases. Often, the authors interpret meanings into nonverbal communication based on their respective cultural background and make global generalizations, which should be critically evaluated (Kammhuber, 2003). So far, no general effect on good teaching could be proven in nonverbal communication2— only agreement with verbal communication is important. 

Therefore, act nonverbally in teaching in a way you feel comfortable with and that is consistent with your verbal communication. It is helpful if your nonverbal communication supports your verbal communication didactically.

Take a look at your lecture recordings (if available). Alternatively, you can watch yourself in the mirror. Paraverbal communication has an influence on good teaching in this respect: Use your emphasis as well as volume and tempo so that your explanations as a teacher are clear and understandable. This has a positive effect on your teaching evaluation (d = 0.52) and, above all, the students’ learning success (d = 1.35; Feldman, 1989). Here, however, your emphasis as well as volume and tempo are not the cause but the means to an end to ensure your student’s learning success.

2 This

does not mean, of course, that the other elements of good teaching (e.g., friendliness of the teacher, see Chap. 6) do not apply to nonverbal communication  (e.g., if you talk friendly but look evil). Only for non-verbal communication are there no special effects such as (e.g.) “Always teach with open arms.”

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5.3 Rhetoric and Presentation Rhetoric comprises, inter alia, the content and its preparation within the framework of a presentation. Your rhetorical skills as a teacher have a positive effect, inter alia, on your teaching evaluation (d = 1.12) and the students’ learning success (d = 0.75; Feldman, 1989; Murray & Lawrence, 1980). Rhetoric is a classic research area of the sciences (e.g., Göttert, 2009; Knape, 2000; Ueding & Steinbrink, 2011) and there is a lot of practical literature on rhetoric and presentation (e.g., Braun, 2018; Hartmann et al., 2018; Will, 2013). The following points are taken from the research literature on rhetoric (free speech) and can be applied to presentations (free speech with visual support) without any problems. The optimal creation of a speech or presentation takes place, according to Ueding and Steinbrink (2011, pp. 209–237), in certain “production stages”: 1. Clarification of the subject of the speech (intellectio):3 Define the (learning) goal of your talk. Define the character of your speech: Do you want to convince (“court speech”), entertain (“praise speech”) or inform (“advisory speech”)? There are no guidelines here, but you make the choice that is optimal for you. 2. Finding and inventing the material (heuresis/inventio): First collect your content, sub-points and arguments. Assess these (are your arguments appropriate, do they benefit your overall argument, what are your key messages). This requires your scientific expertise, diligence and your ability to draw conclusions. 3. Order of the substance (taxis/dispositio): Now structure your content and arguments. In the former case, your differentiations into intermediate and subgoals will help you (cf. Chap. 4). You can structure the arguments depending on the goal or "aha effect" (cf. Fig. 5.3). In addition to teaching, the classic tasks of the speaker are to move (arouse passion) and entertain the students— use your opportunities. 4. Language expression (lexis, hermeneia/elocutio): Your language should be 1) appropriate in affect and character, 2) grammatically and lexically (etc.) correct, 3) clear and 4) have a style appropriate to the character of your speech—if you want to arouse passion, employ pathos and adorn your speech with anecdotes, metaphors (etc.). If you want to teach, speak evenly without major deviations in content. Entertaining speeches are between the two positions. The best rhetoric, or its linguistic expression, brings nothing if the receiver does not understand the sender. We university teachers often use unnecessarily complicated expressions

3 Some

textbooks on rhetoric use partly only foreign-language titles in Latin and Ancient Greek, so I also give the foreign terms from Ueding and Steinbrink (2011) here for better comparability.

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Linear five-sentence-method 1 Situation, background, starting point 2 Special problem, challenge 3 Approach, strategy 4 Leads to result, data, solution 5 The consequence of this, interpretation

Parallel five-sentence-method 1 Division 1 makes the following request 2 On these grounds 3 Division 3 makes this requirement 4 On these grounds 5 Our synthesis, justification, solution

Discrepancy five-sentence-method 1 Opinion A states the following ... 2 Opinion B states the following ... 3 Which results in the following discrepancy... 4 We have found out; are of the opinion ... 5 That means; indicates the following ...

Diverging five-sentence-method 1 Problem, opening situation ... 2 Opinion A or Data A states ... 3 Opinion B or Data B states ... 4 Results in a new perspective, interpretation ... 5 The consequence of this ... © HPS

Fig. 5.3   Examples of argumentative figures of the "five-sentence-method". (From Dall, 2014, p. 86; Dall, Martin: Sicher präsentieren—wirksamer vortragen. © 2014 Redline Verlag, an imprint of Münchner Verlagsgruppe GmbH, Munich. http://www.redline-verlag.de All rights reserved. With kind permission of the publisher)

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and formulations, even though there are simpler ways of doing things. According to the Hamburg comprehensibility concept (Langer et al., 2015), speeches by experts (like us) are then comprehensible to (semi-) laymen like the students if the speeches and sentences are 1) simple, 2) clearly structured and ordered, 3) short and concise and 4) included stimulating supplementary material such as pictures and graphics. Avoid irrelevant deviations, anecdotes and additions when communicating your central content  (Rey, 2012). Clarity and comprehensibility have a positive effect on your teaching evaluation (d = 0.52) and, above all, the learning success of the students (d = 1.35; Feldman, 1989). Similar results for clarity can also be found in Murray (1997), in which the teaching evaluation is more significant (d = 1.54; but single study). 5. Committing the speech to memory (mneme/memoria): Try to memorize the basic content of your speech but do not repeat it verbatim.] Keep your speech free. Use mnemonic techniques and/or notes if necessary. However, your slides are usually enough for presentations. 6. Lecture and physical eloquence (hypokrisis/pronuntiatio, actio): Deliver your speech and use nonverbal and paraverbal communication: Walk and gesture to create interaction. Use “poetic pauses” before important content in the narrative flow.

5.3.1 Argumentative Figures Rhetoric comprises every conceivable argumentative figure. I recommend that less rhetorically skilled teachers begin with various “five-sentence” figures and practice rhetoric with them (cf. Fig. 5.3).

5.3.2 Specifics of Presentations In addition to speech, presentations also use visual and other auditory elements, for which the same “production stages” apply as for speeches. For your presentations, you can use (see Horz & Ulrich, 2015). • Primary media (without duplication technology): E.g., blackboard notes and pictures, pinboards, whiteboards • Secondary media (technically produced): E.g., books, magazines, photographs, semester apparatus • Tertiary media (technological means necessary for producers and recipients): E.g., film, television, radio, CD player, overhead projector and/or • Quaternary resp. digital media (computer and network technology): PowerPoint presentations, websites and blogs.

5.4  Initial and Final Phases in Teaching

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Supplementing your (mostly) auditory speech with visual media such as texts, pictures, etc. increases the learning success of the recipients (d = 0.26; Adesope & Nesbit, 2012). It is important that you as a teacher not only present the visual media (texts and pictures) and let the students engage with the media themselves but also explain the texts and pictures in your own words (d = 0.38; Reinwein, 2012). Often, PowerPoint presentations are used as visual media. The slides of your presentation should contain a moderate amount of information, as this supports your speech: The students do not have to—as with almost empty slides—write all the time but can listen to your lecture and think at the same time. At the same time, they are not—as with very full, almost script-like slides—busy reading the whole time. Make sure to use an appropriate font size for your slides - one which is legible from the first and last rows of seats (see Winteler 2011, pp. 40–63). Since approximately 5% of people (8% of men, 0.5% of women) are color blind, two thirds of which have red-green color blindness (Kalloniatis & Luu, 1995), it is advisable to do without green as a signal color for central content.

5.4 Initial and Final Phases in Teaching A good beginning and end are important for good presentations, as they are best remembered (the “primacy-recency effect”, see Pastötter et al., 2018, pp. 129 ff.). Furthermore, the first impression (=primacy effect) your listeners have of you is important because they form an opinion about you, your values, etc. (see Kammhuber, 2003). You should take these phases into account in your lesson planning (see Chap. 4) in order to repeat your central learning content at the inital and final phases for optimal learning success. The relationship design (see Chap. 6) is also important for your students at the beginning and end This section is also important in Chap. 4 or 6. However, since it is mainly about you as a teacher and your presentation in these phases, we will go through the stages here. Initial and, partly, final situations pose many challenges for teachers (nervousness, “What should I say?” etc.) Therefore, there is even specific advice literature (e.g. Geißler, 2005, 2016). In general, the following applies: You do not have to be original, and you do not need a grand entrance. You should only meet the specific requirements of the initial and final phases so that the main phase (i.e., the working and learning phase) of your presentation works optimally (see Alberternst, 2007, pp. 87 ff.): In the initial phase you should, above all, orientate your students: • Increase learning success (see Chap. 4): Give an overview of the entire event, communicate today’s learning goals, activate prior knowledge and link the topic to the students’ experience. • Create a relationship with the students (see Chap. 4 or 6): Greet them warmly, show interest and respect.

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• Create a relationship with the students (only in the first lesson): Introduce yourself and the students, explain your expectations, performance and grading criteria to the students, explain your role including availability (e.g., whether you prefer office hours or email or …), possibly conclude a learning contract (What do you do, what should the students do?). • Motivate your students (see Chap. 8): Arouse interest in the upcoming content, e.g., through anecdotes. In the final phase, you should primarily rientate your students and formulate the farewell: • Increase learning success: Repeat today’s learning goals, let students explain their individual learning successes (what were their central insights). • Create a relationship with the students: Say goodbye politely, thank them for theircooperation. • Create a relationship with the students (last lesson): Consciously say goodbye, use separation rituals for smaller, more intimate, classes (e.g., according to Geißler, 2005, pp. 49 ff.: celebrate and/or go out to eat together on the last evening; exchange contact data, networking on social networking platforms; clean the classroom together; provide them with information about your office hours and/or your email (etc.) in case they have questions. • Motivate your students: Give an overview of what further interesting topics will follow (except for the last appointment, when there may be an overview on further courses in the following semesters) and emphasize what the students can use their freshly acquired skills for (knowledge and practice transfer). • Quality assurance (cf. Chap. 12): Get feedback from the students (e.g., flash, oneminute paper, teaching evaluation on the last appointment).

5.5 Practical Examples for Presentation Skills The following practice examples use the same teachers, Thomas M., Markus T. and Sandra F., as in the previous chapters. The following specifications partly result from their course plans (cf. Chap. 4), which I do not repeat here. A Practical Example from the Humanities

Thomas M. has first-semester students who have not yet received his self-revelation messages (“I recommend that you …”), which are typically heard at university. Therefore, he wants to make clear statements (“You should definitely …”). He also wants to pay very close attention to using as simple terms as possible and explaining foreign words the first time he mentions them. The “foreign words” are usually just common terms in his science, but the first-semester students usually do not know them yet. Since he himself tends to get into the topic and thus into the main phase quite quickly, he has created a note for the beginning phase of each session, on which he has noted the important points for himself (“Overview of the entire event, today’s learning objectives, …”, see above).

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In order to inspire a passion in the students for the science, he has planned to incorporate brief emotionally moving inputs in addition to his teaching inputs (e.g., how new historical theories have revolutionized the understanding of the past). He wants to moderate student discourse in his teaching and simultaneously the "chatting" of first-semester students while saving his voice: Therefore, he elicits discussion contributions through gesture and eye contact. He simply looks at "chatterboxes", and when there is mutual eye contact, he puts his index finger (“Pssst!-Sign”) to his lips. In severe cases, he moves to the chatting students without interrupting the discussion. ◄

A Practical Example from the Social Sciences

Markus T. receives student messages mostly on the "Appeal level" and, therefore, wants to help too quickly. Since his master’s students are supposed to work independently, he wants to withstand all perceived appeals and only help to a limited extent when students ask for help. He often has stage fright when teaching, which causes him to look at the students too little and speak too quickly. In order to counteract this, he would like to prepare his inputs two days before the start of the lecture and plans (at least smaller) student activities into his inputs, so that he can relax a bit. He deliberately wants to adopt a relaxed posture, as this reduces his stage fright. If he begins to speaks quickly again, he deliberately sets longer pauses between the individual sentences and slides. If this does not help, he wants to formulate his sentences in his head in his best known foreign language beforehand to slow himself down. In addition, he tries to keep his gaze on the students by selecting and looking at 3–4 students per slide. Since it depends on the motivation of the students, he wants to provide moving material for them at the beginning of his lecture to arouse their interest (e.g., what could be researched and what the students themselves always wanted to find out). ◄

A Practical Example from the Natural Sciences

Sandra F. has many students who come too late. She receives student messages mostly on the "Relationship level". She takes things too personally. Sandra F., therefore, focuses on the 95% of students who are punctual and does not try to understand why the other students are tardy. Since she has a relatively quiet voice, she pays attention to the level of indifference in her voice to optimally use her sound box. At the beginning of the event, she stands relaxed in front of the students and looks at them in a friendly manner until it gets quieter. Then she starts to speak. The students in the back rows then take care internally that it is completely quiet because they would not understand Sandra F. otherwise. In her inputs she also switches between teaching and entertaining by interspersing anecdotes from the every day life of researching astronomical missions —especially stories of what did not work due to wrong calculations. ◄

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What is Effective for Good Teaching: Good Presentation Skills with Limited Time

• Never send contradictory signals regarding the levels of content, voice and nonverbal signals. In doubt, students  trust the nonverbal signals more than the content. • Therefore, act nonverbally in teaching in the way you feel comfortable. Let your verbal communication be supported by your nonverbal signals. • Use emphasis, loudness and tempo so that your explanations as a teacher are clear and understandable. • Prepare your lectures according to the usual “production stages” of a speech: 1) Clarification of the subject of the speech, 2) Finding and inventing the material, 3) Order of the stubstance, 4) Language expression, 5) Committing the speech to memory, 6) Lecture and physical eloquence • Plan the initial and final phases and present your learning goals there in particular. ◄

References Adesope, O. O., & Nesbit, J. C. (2012). Verbal redundancy in multimedia learning environments: A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(1), 250–263. https://doi.org/10.1037/ a0026147. Alberternst, C. (2007). Rhetorik für die Hochschullehre. In B. Hawelka, M. Hammerl, & H. Gruber (Eds.), Förderung von Kompetenzen in der Hochschullehre. Theoretische Konzepte und ihre Implementation in der Praxis (pp. 85–106). Asanger. Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., & Akert, R. M. (2014). Sozialpsychologie (8th updated ed.). Pearson Studium. Dall, M. (2014). Sicher präsentieren – wirksamer vortragen (3rd revised ed.). Redline. Deslauriers, L., Schelew, E., & Wieman, C. (2011). Improved learning in a large-enrollment physics class. Science, 332(6031), 862–864. Eberhart, S., & Hinderer, M. (2016). Stimm- und Sprechtraining für den Unterricht (2nd revised ed.). UTB; Schöningh. Ekman, P. (1999). Emotional and conversational nonverbal signals. In L. S. Messing & R. Campbell (Eds.), Gesture, speech, and sign (pp. 45–55). Oxford University Press. Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1971). Constants across cultures in the face and emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 17(2), 124–129. https://www.paulekman.com/wp-content/ uploads/2013/07/Constants-Across-Cultures-In-The-Face-And-Emotion.pdf. Accessed 3 May 2020. Feldman, K. A. (1989). The association between student ratings of specific instructional dimensions and student achievement: Refining and extending the synthesis of data from multisection validity studies. Research in Higher Education, 30(6), 583–645. Geißler, K. A. (2005). Schlusssituationen. Die Suche nach dem guten Ende (4th new ed.). Beltz. Geißler, K. A. (2016). Anfangssituationen. Was man tun und besser lassen sollte (11th revised and enlarged ed.). Beltz. Göttert, K.-H. (2009). Einführung in die Rhetorik. Grundbegriffe, Geschichte, Rezeption (4th revised ed.). Fink, UTB.

References

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Günther, U. (2003). Basics der Kommunikation. In A. E. Auhagen & H.-W. Bierhoff (Eds.), Angewandte Sozialpsychologie. Das Praxishandbuch (pp. 17–42). Beltz, PVU. Hall, E. T. (1963). A system for the notation of proxemic behavior. American Anthropologist, 65(5), 1003–1026. Hall, E. T. (1966). The hidden dimension. Anchor Books. Horz, H., & Ulrich, I. (2015). Lernen mit Medien. In H. Reinders, H. Ditton, C. Gräsel, & B. Gniewosz (Eds.), Empirische Bildungsforschung. Gegenstandsbereiche (2nd revised ed., pp. 25–39). Springer. Kalloniatis, M., & Luu, C. (1995). The perception of color. In H. Kolb, E. Fernandez, & N. Ralph (Eds.), The organization of the retina and visual system (pp. 1–31). University of Utah Health Sciences Center. Kammhuber, S. (2003). Rhetorik und Präsentation. In A. E. Auhagen & H.-W. Bierhoff (Eds.), Angewandte Sozialpsychologie. Das Praxishandbuch (pp. 43–60). Beltz, PVU. Knape, J. (2000). Was ist Rhetorik? Reclam. Krauss, R. M., Chen, Y., & Gottesmann, R. F. (2000). Lexical gestures and lexical access: A process model. In D. McNeill (Ed.), Language and gesture (pp. 261–283). Cambridge University Press. Langer, I., Schulz von Thun, F., & Tausch, R. (2015). Sich verständlich ausdrücken (10th ed.). Reinhardt. Marsh, H. W., & Ware, J. E. (1982). Effects of expressiveness, content coverage, and incentive on multidimensional student rating scales: New interpretations of the Dr. Fox effect. Journal of Educational Psychology, 74(1), 126–134. Mehrabian, A., & Ferris, S. (1967). Inference of attitudes from nonverbal communication in two channels. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 31(3), 248–252. Mehrabian, A., & Wiener, M. (1967). Decoding of inconsistent communications. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 6(1), 109–114. Molcho, S., & Klinger, T. (2001). Alles über Körpersprache. Sich selbst und andere besser verstehen (5th ed.). Goldmann. Murray, H. G. (1997). Effective teaching behaviors in the college classroom. In R. P. Perry & J. C. Smart (Eds.), Effective teaching in higher education. Research and practice (pp. 171–204). Agathon. Murray, H. G., & Lawrence, C. (1980). Speech and drama training for lecturers as a means of improving university teaching. Research in Higher Education, 13(1), 73–90. Oestreich, H. (1999). Let’s dump the 55%, 38%, 7% rule. Transitions, 7(2), 11–14. http://www. bdrp.nl/documenten/mehrabian_oestreich.pdf. Accessed 3 May 2020. Reinwein, J. (2012). Does the modality effect exist? And if so, which modality effect? Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 41(1), 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-011-9180-4. Rey, G. D. (2012). A review of research and a meta-analysis of the seductive detail effect. Educational Research Review, 7(3), 216–237. Schulz von Thun, F. (2007a). Miteinander reden. Störungen und Klärungen (45th ed., Vol. 1). Rowohlt Taschenbuch. Schulz von Thun, F. (2007b). Miteinander reden. Stile, Werte und Persönlichkeitsentwicklung (28th ed., Vol. 2). Rowohlt Taschenbuch. Ueding, G., & Steinbrink, B. (2011). Grundriß der Rhetorik. Geschichte – Technik – Methode (5th updated ed.). Metzler.

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Further Reading Alberternst, C. (2007). Rhetorik für die Hochschullehre. In B. Hawelka, M. Hammerl, & H. Gruber (Eds.), Förderung von Kompetenzen in der Hochschullehre. Theoretische Konzepte und ihre Implementation in der Praxis (pp. 85–106). Asanger. [Dealing with stage fright, p. 99 ff.]. Braun, R. (2018). Die Macht der Rhetorik. Besser reden – mehr erreichen (4th ed.). Redline Wirtschaft. [many good practical suggestions, section "Hypno-Rhetoric" scientifically rather questionable]. Bruno, T., & Adamczyk, G. (2018). Körpersprache (4th ed.). Rudolf Haufe. [many photos for practical stimulation of own nonverbal communication as well as practical exercises]. Eberhart, S., & Hinderer, M. (2016). Stimm- und Sprechtraining für den Unterricht (2nd revised ed.). UTB; Schöningh. [for voice training with lots of exercises]. Günther, U. (2003). Basics der Kommunikation. In A. E. Auhagen & H.-W. Bierhoff (Eds.), Angewandte Sozialpsychologie. Das Praxishandbuch (pp. 17–42). Beltz, PVU. [good overview and introduction to communication]. Schulz von Thun, F. (2007a). Miteinander reden. Störungen und Klärungen (45th ed., Vol. 1). Rowohlt Taschenbuch. [Classic and standard work in the field of communication and communication psychology]. Schulz von Thun, F. (2007b). Miteinander reden. Stile, Werte und Persönlichkeitsentwicklung (28th ed., Vol. 2). Rowohlt Taschenbuch. [Communication styles per preference of communication levels, pp. 57–243]. Ueding, G., & Steinbrink, B. (2011). Grundriß der Rhetorik. Geschichte – Technik – Methode (5th updated ed.). Metzler. [Basics, history of rhetoric]. Will, H. (2013). Mini-Handbuch Vortrag und Präsentation. Für Ihren nächsten Auftritt vor Publikum (8th fully revised ed. New ed.). Beltz. [many good practical suggestions].

6

Teaching: Managing Professional Relationships

Contents 6.1 Friendliness, Respect and Authenticity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 6.2 Helpfulness and  Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 6.3 Fairness, Commitment and Consistency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 6.4 Your Role as a Teacher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 6.5 Dealing with Difficult Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 6.6 Practical Examples for Professional Relationship Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Abstract

This chapter is about the “soft” factors of good university teaching: Building relationships with your students. First we address important factors for any good teacher to consider when forming professional relationships with his students: 1) friendliness, respect and authenticity, 2) helpfulness, commitment and availability and 3) fairness and consistency. Then we reflect and establish your role as a teacher: Consistent appearance per course in a role in which you feel comfortable. After that, we go through important special cases of forming professional relationships: Dealing with difficult students. The chapter closes with the usual practical examples. A professional relationship always means that teachers, like students, follow specific rules of behavior, which the teacher is ultimately responsible for enforcing (due to the power asymmetry between teachers and students). As a result, we are more confident when teaching and in difficult situations. In addition, we ensure the fundamental humanistic philosophy of our universities, education system and state. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 I. Ulrich, Good Teaching in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39137-9_6

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At the same time, a good relationship facilitates teaching to a great extent, e.g., it leads to more active students (cf. Chap. 7), increases their motivation (cf. Chap. 8) and reduces the number of disruptions (cf. Chap. 9; Cornelius-White, 2007). A professional relationship generally has a positive effect on the grades of students, but especially on their teaching evaluation results (Murray, 1997). A professional approach to relationship management is the most often desired by students (Reichmann, 2008). Overall, you should shape your role and relationship with the students. The power asymmetry between teachers and students is often underestimated by young teachers. Your authority is relatively large due to your status as a teacher: On the personal level, you have more experience, more specialized knowledge, a higher status at the university, etc. On the structural level, you assess the students in the context of the course. Demonstrate a standard of behavior and make sure that the students act likewise. Your academic integration of your students has a positive effect on their performance (d = 0.26; Richardson et al., 2012). Before we turn to your variation options (Sect. 6.4), we go through the relationship shaping factors that generally have a good effect on teaching (Sects. 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3):

6.1 Friendliness, Respect and Authenticity Your friendliness as well as your interest in and respect for your students is crucial for improving student performance (d = 0.47)1 and, in particular, the teaching evaluation results (d = 1.71) (Feldman, 1989). Furthermore, these factors reduce the social distance between you and your students, which has a positive effect on their motivation (Christophel & Gorham, 1995, see Chap. 8). Friendliness and respect do not mean that you always play a role or always stay friendly with unfriendly students, but they go hand in hand with an authentic behavior on your part. This level of friendliness and respect includes includes (see Cornelius-White, 2007): • • • • •

Empathy (d = 0.68) Warmth (d = 0.68) Encouragement and support of learning (d = 0.47) or deep learning (d = 0.61) Equal treatment of all individual and social differences (d = 0.41) Authenticity (d = 0.28)

1 The

largest effects of friendliness, respect and authenticity of the teacher on the performance of students (see Cornelius-White, 2007, pp. 127 ff.) were found in critical and creative thinking (d = 1.01), in mathematics (d = 0.77) and verbal skills (d = 0.72). Other subjects also had positive, but smaller effects. Apparently, a good professional relationship management is particularly effective for performance in mathematics.

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But also expect and demand this level of behavior from your students. You are not their friend, but a friendly and consistent teacher. 

Be yourself, but show yourself at your best!

6.2 Helpfulness and Availability Even more useful for improving student performance (d = 0.77) and, in particular, the teaching evaluation results (d = 2.20) are your helpfulness and availability outside of your actual teaching (Feldman, 1989). Helpfulness and availability do not mean “carrying the students around” and always having time for them, but (see Feldman, 1989) • • • •

helping students with difficulties (with tips, literature, etc.), being available for consultation, helping individual students with individual questions (about teaching), being reachable outside of the lectures (regular office hours, responding to student emails).

6.3 Fairness, Commitment and Consistency The positive effects of friendliness, respect and authenticity as well as helpfulness and availability dissipate to a large extent if you do not pay attention to commitment and consistency as well as fairness. You lose a lot of respect from the other students if you let individual students get away with special treatment. In particular, fair and objective grading improves the learning performance of students (d = 0.54) and leads to better teaching evaluation results (d = 2.08; Feldman, 1989). In general, you should pay attention to the following points: • Communicate your performance and grading criteria (aspect of fairness): What do you expect, what can the students expect from you? • Treat everyone the same (all aspects). • Set binding rules such as deadlines. • Be consistent with rule violations. Exceptions to the rule of equal treatment may occur when there are reasons beyond the student's control:

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• Illness (according to an official medical certificate, special treatment is legally required). • Language problems of foreign students who are not native speakers and spend their semester abroad in your country. • Death of a close family member. In many cases, when students request deadline extensions, they mention points that can occur in individual cases, but because of their frequency of occurrence at the end of the deadline, their validity is doubtful (e.g., when several students' laptops break down and there is no backup of the term paper). I myself recommend that you give the student the benefit of the doubt (maybe this student’s laptop really is broken) but always connect the deadline extension with additional tasks. Therefore, generally speaking, meeting the deadline is more favorable for students. You will have more work in the short term, but, in the long run, it pays off because the proportion of deadlines met increases (the students know about this policy because of your reputation). However, the additional task should always be of practical use (for suggestions, see the practical examples).

6.4 Your Role as a Teacher In addition to the general factors just discussed, professional relationship management also focuses on becoming aware of one’s own role as a teacher and shaping it according to one’s own preferences. It is important that you first break away from previous experiences, teaching cultures, etc. and find your own ideal of professional relationship management. How do you want to be? There is no “right” or “wrong” here at first, as long as your decisions do not contradict points in chap. 6.1–6.3 in the summary. Good university teaching involves many factors (see Chap. 3), but we are not so restricted that we have to force ourselves as teachers into a “straightjacket.” We should also enjoy our teaching. Finding one’s optimal role as a teacher takes a few semesters. Please note that one’s own role is not static, but variable from lecture to lecture. Within one lecture in one semester, however, you should not vary your role greatly (except if something goes incredibly wrong because of the role you have chosen). You can vary a lot (see Table 6.1). For each class and student, define the role that suits you. You are the teacher, and, concerning the content in this chapter (6.4), you can proceed completely according to your preferences without endangering the success of your teaching! In addition to the risk posed by incorrect teaching behavior, the quality teaching is occasionally endangered by the incorrect behavior of individual students. You cannot avoid having these “difficult” students. But you can stop their suboptimal behavior.

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Table 6.1  Dimensions of the teacher's role Dimension

Design options

Expression and manner of speaking

Do you pay very close attention to precise, scientific formulations? Or do you like to use (in addition) a relaxed manner of speaking? (This dimension has nothing to do with the leadership style in teaching—you can lead very authoritatively, but in addition to authoritative target control, you can also maintain a relaxed manner of speaking.)

(In)formal register

• An informal register reduces the power distance (see Chap. 9) between you and your students: The relationship appears to be more relaxed and informal, but your authority over and distance to the students may suffer (e.g., with “difficult” students this can be problematic). • A formal register has the opposite effect. You will find it harder to build a “warm” relationship with the students • A mixture of both registers (e.g., you use the formal register with each other but are on a first-name basis)is rather rare and, therefore, can often lead to confusion In general, the rule should be the same for both sides. However, the effects of using either the informal or formal register should not be overestimated, your further behaviour between you and your students is more significant (e.g., informal manner but using the formal register)

Leadership style in teaching

You have to lead in teaching, but your style is variable. Leadership styles (see Rosenstil & Kaschube, 2014; Wunderer, 2003) vary depending on the situation but also depending on the people. There are currently no general recommendations as to what is successful in which situation. However, leadership styles are helpful for self-positioning. E.g., there are the following distinctions between leadership styles: Blake and Mouton (1986): • Extent of performance orientation: Clear tasks and goals including control of achievement • Extent of relationship orientation: Cohesion of students, everyone works with and feels comfortable. Favorable for satisfaction and motivation Lewin et al. (1939): • Authoritarian: Regular control, clear hierarchy, little flexibility for students. Negative for motivation and independence of students • Cooperative: Involvement of students, moderate control, some hierarchy. Favorable for motivation and independence but increased time expenditure for teachers • Laissez-faire: Many freedoms, little control, some hierarchy (never completely eliminable due to the nature of the teacher's position). Minimum time expenditure for teachers; very favorable for some students but very negative for the motivation and independence of other students (neglect)

Humor

Do you generally want to use humor in your teaching? If so, what style do you follow? Are they rather “harmless” jokes or do you prefer background irony, biting sarcasm, etc.?

Clothing

Do you want to dress like you usually do in the office? Or do you want to appear in a more formal style of clothing when teaching, e.g.? (continued)

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Table 6.1   (continued) Dimension

Design options

Communication form (especially outside of class)

How do you prefer to communicate with your students outside of class? Do you want to discuss relevant points in your office hours, on the phone, by email, or in the e-learning forum, etc.?

Other aspects

• What aspects of your personality do you (still) incorporate into your teaching methods? • Is there another university office, whose roles also effect your teaching? (E.g., selection of master’s positions, allocation of exams, membership on examination boards, etc.?) • Where would you like to set limits? • Would you also like to act as a mentor for particularly good students?

6.5 Dealing with Difficult Students Overall, teaching that is as free of disruptions as possible, which is sometimes referred to as teaching management, is helpful for students' learning success (d = 0.52; Marzano et al., 2003, p. 10; Hattie, 2015). If teaching is disturbed, it is usually because of the disruptions of one individual. In advance: The great majority of students—in my experience an average of 95%— give us little cause for concern. The biggest problems are requests for extension, etc. The 5% of remaining students are often classified by teachers as “difficult students” (i.e., on average 1–2 students out of the 30 in our course give us teachers a lot of headaches). This can affect the entire teaching process and you as a teacher to such an extent that there is already special literature adressing this (e.g. Schumacher, 2011). In most cases, these students do not speak for the other students, but are “lone wolves”. In this case, you should identify their motivations and react with behavior that stops the difficult behavior. Since their fellow students are usually “annoyed” by the behavior, you can use the group against them. Table 6.2 does not show any validated “types” of students, as no studies on this could be found. The table includes information based on experiences reported by teachers in my workshops on higher education didactics and is intended to serve as a suggestion. The possible behaviors were developed by me in the workshops with the teachers. In general, you should always begin with a friendly demeanor and let this escalate slowly: First use nonverbal signals (looks, hand gestures), then address the students, use humor, etc. If that doesn’t help, confront the student with a clear short statement of your own and present it confidently or in a self-contained manner (see Chap. 5). In severe cases, you should ask the student to meet with you privately after class or present the person with the choice to either leave the room or stop the behavior. In the worst case scenario, you can ask the person to leave the room—as a teacher, you have to ensure the success of all students, and this right takes precedence over the disruptive individual's right to learn in the most severe cases of disruption. If you ask a

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Table 6.2  Motives and “types” of difficult students and your possible behavior as a teacher Motivation

“Type” (specific submotives)

Your possible behavior

Avoiding effort

Bargainer

• Communicate fixed tasks in advance and consistently insist on fulfillment • Reflect the behavior: Bargain that he takes on extra tasks

Grade forger

• Communicate a fixed grading scheme including detailed performance criteria in advance • Give detailed feedback in the consultation hour regarding where mistakes were made

Plagiarist (see also Sect. 9.3 Plagiarism)

• In general: Find out which rules apply at your university • Ask students to meet after class without making a plagiarism accusation in advance. Ask teaching colleagues to do so. In the conversation, show examples of plagiarism and elicit spontaneous comments from the student • Determine an appropriate consequence with regard to the type and extent of the plagiarism

Co-teacher (assumes superiority of student's competence over teaching staff)

Honor (the student's) knowledge while demonstrating (the superiority of) your own competence: “In point X you are right, but what was wrong was …, you should still add …, so that it would be completely correct.”

The wise (passes on life experience)

• Clarify that individual cases can not alone be scientifically generalized • Thank the student and continue on with the material

Overachiever (student's own competence is recognized by teaching staff)

• Honor the student's contribution (nod), but refer to the group: “Thank you, but I would also like to hear contributions from the others …” • Ask this student especially difficult questions (announce this before)

Attention

People who speak for too Interrupt politely and refer to your own schedule. Ask long with little connecthe group if it’s okay to postpone his topic until the tion to the topic break Carelessness

Background talkers with unrelated content (disinterest)

• Pause in your speech and look at him until they notice your gaze • If necessary, go • Ask them a content-related question • Ask them to listen or continue the conversation outside the classroom

Notorious “latecomers”

• Greet them personally • Talk to them after the lesson (continued)

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Table 6.2   (continued) Motivation

“Type” (specific submotives)

Your possible behavior

Psychological problems

Psychological problems

• Separate the person from the performance, feedback on individual aspects of the student's performance, I-statements • Refer to experts, e.g., recommend university’s internal psychological counseling (self-protection as a teacher) • Follow formal rules (e.g., sick note) • Make exceptions in special cases (e.g., death of immediate family)

Reactance or authority problems

Saboteur (active reactance)

• Establish boundaries • Nail down a concrete content-relevant alternative • Clarify your own position and insist on it

Conscientious objector (passive reactance)

• Deliberately ask • Explain limits, deliberately urge • Nail down a concrete content-relevant content • Alternative: Ignore them completely (consistently carry this out in the lecture)

Shyness

“Quiet mouse”

• Communicate expectation that everyone will participate • Deliberately ask • Put all "quiet mice" in one group so that at least one of them has to present

Overload

Sensitives (want to avoid • Separate person from performance, feedback on indifeedback about themvidual/specific aspects of the student's performance, selves) I-statements • Catch students and don't give in: Be warm in tone, tough in substance

Lack of knowledge

“Lost soul”, i.e., quiet but always has difficulty answering questions

Not in class, better during office hours: • Provide honest feedback on the student's skills • Explain what needs to be worked on • Suggest the student sees the student counselor • If necessary , suggest that the student changes subjects

Exchange students (see also Sect. 9.2 Intercultural teaching)

• Communicate expectations and explain specifics of your higher education system • Weight language errors less or not at all in performance tests (depending on the importance of correct language in the degree program) • Provide sample work from fellow students

Lack of scientific or academic knowledge

• Communicate expectations and explain the specifics of the German higher education system • Provide sample work from fellow students • Provide scientific style templates and formulation aids (continued)

6.6  Practical Examples for Professional Relationship Management

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Table 6.2   (continued) Motivation

“Type” (specific submotives)

Desperation

Latecomers, self-inflicted • Catch students and don't give in: Be warm in tone, tough in substance • Explain possible solutions (repeat examination, repeat seminar in one year, etc.) • Be helpful in advance: Expectations and requirements should be communicated in the 1st hour, refer to and insist on them

Your possible behavior

person to leave the room, follow through with it—i.e., wait until the person has left the room. Stay calm, reaffirm your position, maintain eye contact, and wait it out. Time and (usually the large) majority of students are on your side. In individual cases, however, “difficult students” (e.g., overachievers: “We already know this!”) speak for the other students in your course. This only happens very rarely, in which case you should make the conflict a topic for class discussion. This may disrupt the individual lecture, but it will save the rest of the sessions because otherwise the conflict would be present in the minds of all students at all subsequent sessions.

6.6 Practical Examples for Professional Relationship Management The following practical examples use the same teachers, Thomas M., Markus T. and Sandra F., from the previous chapters. The following stipulations result partly from their course plans (see Chap. 4), which I do not repeat here. A Practical Example form the Humanities

Thomas M. knows from his course plan (see Chap. 4) that he will be teaching firstsemester students (bachelor’s degree). He, therefore, wants to pay attention to the following aspects of relationship management (see Table 6.3). ◄ A Practical Example from the Social Sciences

Markus T. has first-year students in his master's course. A large part of the students have also completed their bachelor's degree at the same university, so he knows many already. He, therefore, wants to pay attention to the following aspects of relationship management in particular (cf. Table 6.4). ◄

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Table 6.3  Main points of relationship management by Thomas M. Cause

Teacher's response

Uncertainty of “first • Empathy years” in new context • Cordiality of university • Encouragement and support of learning •C  onsultation generally only during on-site office hours (Thomas M. wants to see his first years students - they should also get used to it) Novelty of the scientific system

• Scientific expression as a teacher (as distinct from that of primary and secondary school teachers). Also pay attention to this in student contributions • Communicate rules and performance criteria several times • Immediately address “background talkers” • Students must come to the office at least 1 x to discuss the progress of the term paper

Freshman students' unfamiliarity with work methods in the university context

Try to be more authoritarian: • Structure curriculum clearly • Consistently handle time limits, discussion rules, etc. • Use a formal register • Despite your more authoritarian appearance, also use humor

Heterogeneous students

• I f (again) “overachievers” appear, challenge and promote them particularly. E.g., in a debate (see curriculum Chap. 4) the "overachievers" would have to argue against the rest of the class •B  e fair to all individual and social differences: Weaker students should not be disregarded

Fear of presenting, dropout shortly before, necessary additional work

• If the student presentation could not take place, the student should send the teacher and his fellow students a comprehensive but concise summary of the lecture contents a few hours later. So that the student also practices presenting, the student should present the material in a 10-minute short presentation • Check summary for quality beforehand

A Practical Example from the Natural Sciences

Sandra F. has undergraduate students in their third and fifth semesters. Unfortunately, the event is on Monday morning. She, therefore, wants to pay attention to the following aspects of relationship design (cf. Table 6.5). ◄ What is Effective for Good Teaching: Professional Relationship Building with Limited Time

• Friendliness, respect and authenticity: Be yourself, but show your best side! • Be available for 15 minutes after each lecture for consultations. • Generally, building professional relationships has a positive effect on students' learning outcomes and a particularly positive effect on your teaching evaluation results. • State what you expect from the students and from yourself and be consistent. ◄

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107

Table 6.4  Main points of relationship management by Markus T. Cause

Teacher's response

First, the students should independently conduct research

Cooperative to laissez-faire style in the course •P  rovide students with a large degree of freedom—keep teacher interference to a minimum (as preparation for master's thesis research) • Students should choose their own topic • Use informal language (Markus T. knows many of the students already and prefers to use the informal register) • Contact outside the course only by email (should be enough)

With a large degree of independence, clear guidelines are crucial

• Clear expectations, performance criteria, deadlines • Provide equal treatment • Those who miss deadlines must learn that there are no extensions. Either the results are adequate at the end, or the grade will be lower (so that it does not happen with the more important master’s thesis)

Exchange student from the USA according to registration list

• Communicate special features of the German higher education system (great independence) • Communicate your own expectations to this student in a particularly clear way • During the semester, ask about the student's difficulties and offer a special consultation

Teaching should be fun

• Cordiality • Humor

Table 6.5  Main points of relationship management by Sandra F. Cause

Teacher's response

Early time Monday mornings

• Empathy because waking up early is also not fun for teachers • Personally greet and address latecomers after each class • Target those who refuse to participate (rather tiredness than passive reactance)

•M  eet individual and social differences of all (consultation with tutor Shy students (usually here as well) third-semester students shy towards fifth-semes- • Communicate expectations •S  ometimes separate the students by semester for group work, someter students) times mix them • Encouragement and support of learning Learning format (e.g., e-learning portal”) • Explain the didactic background partly unknown • Consultations during office hours for difficult cases Refusal to do exam •C  ommunicate rules, performance criteria and consequences in detail work and resulting addi- at the beginning tional tasks •E  ach student who does not post the exam questions and solutions on the e-learning portal on time must post an additional exam question or solution, or he will not be allowed to take the exam Teaching style that suits • Cooperative teaching style the teacher • Use the formal register • Loose tone

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References Blake, R. R., & Mouton, J. S. (1986). Verhaltenspsychologie im Betrieb. Der Schlüssel zur Spitzenleistung (completely revised and expanded new ed.). Econ. Christophel, D. M., & Gorham, J. (1995). A test-retest analysis of student motivation, teacher immediacy, and perceived sources of motivation and demotivation in college classes. Communication Education, 44(4), 292–306. Cornelius-White, J. (2007). Learner-centered teacher-student relationships are effective: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 113–143. https://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298563. Feldman, K. A. (1989). The association between student ratings of specific instructional dimensions and student achievement: Refining and extending the synthesis of data from multisection validity studies. Research in Higher Education, 30(6), 583–645. Hattie, J. A. (2015). The applicability of visible learning to higher education. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 1(1), 79–91. Lewin, K., Lippit, R., & White, R. K. (1939). Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally created social climates. Journal of Social Psychology, 10, 271–299. Marzano, R. J., Marzano, J. S., & Pickering, D. J. (2003). Classroom management that works. Research-based strategies for every teacher. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Murray, H. G. (1997). Effective teaching behaviors in the college classroom. In R. P. Perry & J. C. Smart (Eds.), Effective teaching in higher education. Research and practice (pp. 171–204). Agathon. Reichmann, G. (2008). Welche Kompetenzen sollten gute Universitätslehrer aus Sicht von Studierenden aufweisen? Ergebnisse einer Cojointanalyse. Das Hochschulwesen, 56(2), 52–57. Richardson, M., Abraham, C., & Bond, R. (2012). Psychological correlates of university students’ academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 138(2), 353–387. Rosenstil, L. von, & Kaschube, J. (2014). Führung. In H. Schuler (Ed.), Lehrbuch der Personalpsychologie (3rd revised and enlarged ed., pp. 677–724). Hogrefe. Schumacher, E.-M. (2011). Schwierige Situationen in der Lehre. Methoden der Kommunikation und Didaktik für die Lehrpraxis. Budrich. Wunderer, R. (2003). Führung. In A. E. Auhagen & H.-W. Bierhoff (Eds.), Angewandte Sozialpsychologie. Das Praxishandbuch (pp. 279–301). Beltz, PVU.

Further Reading Macke, G., Hanke, U., Viehmann-Schweizer, P., & Raether, W. (2016). Kompetenzorientierte Hochschuldidaktik. Lehren, vortragen, prüfen, beraten. (3rd revised and enlarged ed.). Beltz. [part II, chap. 2.1, 2.2, und 2.3]. Pfäffli, B. K. (2015). Lehren an Hochschulen. Eine Hochschuldidaktik für den Aufbau von Wissen und Kompetenzen (2nd ed.). Haupt, UTB. [chap. 13]. Sommer, A. (2008). Beiträge der Hamburger Kommunikationspsychologie zur Seminargestaltung. Praxisbeispiele und Empfehlungen. In B. Berendt, H.-P. Voss, & J. Wildt (Eds.), Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre (A 2.3). Raabe. [Shaping relationships, from p. 17]. Schumacher, E.-M. (2011). Schwierige Situationen in der Lehre. Methoden der Kommunikation und Didaktik für die Lehrpraxis. Budrich. [about "difficult" students].

7

Teaching: Activating Students

Contents 7.1 Theoretical Learning Basics of Activation in University Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 7.2 Activation Does Not Automatically Lead to Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 7.3 Input Methods—What Promotes Learning, What Endangers Learning Success?. . . . . . . . 111 7.4 Activating Methods—What Promotes Learning, What Endangers Learning Outcomes?. . 113 7.5 Asking Questions and Using Them Skillfully. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 7.6 Leading Conversations and Discussions with Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 7.7 A Good Didactic Concept is More Important then Activating Teaching Methods. . . . . . . 117 7.8 Teaching Learning Strategies and Self-Management Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 7.9 Practical Examples for Activating Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Abstract

First we discuss the learning-theoretical background that activating students does not necessarily lead to student learning but promotes it. We then go through the factors of input and activating methods that promote learning the most. After that we address the correct use of questions for student activation and leading of conversations and discussions. We subsequently explain how a good didactic concept can compensate for adverse conditions for student learning much better than activating teaching methods. Then we discuss the transfer of learning strategies and self-management skills. The usual practice examples an be found at the end. Student activation has only come into focus as a method of good teaching in the last few decades due to new theoretical paradigms. The term “student activation” always refers to the cognitive and not the physical activation of students, unless we exclude specific © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 I. Ulrich, Good Teaching in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39137-9_7

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7  What is Good University Teaching and What Can I Do as a Teacher?

teaching formats (geological field research, archaeological excavation, practical exercise in sport science, etc.). The goal of cognitive activation is in the didactic purpose of ”maximizing student learning success”. Student attention and engagement (Hattie, 2015, d = 0.45) as well as a student focus on teaching and learning task s during the lecture (Hattie, 2015, d = 0.62) all positively effect student learning. This regular learning is also better than concentrated periods of study by passive students shortly before the exam (Hattie, 2015, d = 0.60). In addition to questions from the teacher, students can also ask you content-related whether in or outside the lecture. It is advisable to react as directly as possible to these questions—this makes you appear engaged as a teacher. You do not have to anticipate everything in your answer, but you should give answers that promote student self-organization (and thus their methodological skills).

7.1 Theoretical Learning Basics of Activation in University Teaching According to the current state of research, there is not the one theory of learning, but many different theories, which sometimes fit more or less depending on the learning context (Stelzer-Rothe, 2005). To briefly and yet comprehensively present these partly contradictory theories would exceed the scope of this book For more on these theories, refer to the standard psychological literature on the subject of “learning” (e.g., Klauer & Leutner, 2012; Seidel & Krapp, 2014; Wild & Möller, 2015). With regard to university teaching, i.e., on institutionalized teaching contexts with conscious and intended learning processes, there have been three great paradigms on the topic of “learning” in the last decades (cf. Table 7.1). Effective learning in the paradigms of cognitivism and constructivism requires an active learner. We teachers can promote this in our teaching by means of suitable didactic teaching concepts and teaching methods. The claim that students are actively involved in learning and learning the entire time during the several lectures they may have in a day is somewhat daring—most people are not that capable. Thoughts wander and a person may become tired If you are, e.g., listening to student presentations or attending scientific conferences, you may also feel like this from time to time. Our claim should, therefore, be to increase learning time in general and not to insist on the students’ absolute attention at all times.

7.2 Activation Does Not Automatically Lead to Learning Many higher education didactic works represent the position that longer input from the teacher resulting in the passive listening of students is generally unfavorable for student learning (e.g., Brauer, 2014; Winteler, 2011). Student activation—e.g., a discussion in

7.3  Input Methods—What Promotes Learning, What Endangers Learning Success?

111

Table 7.1  Paradigms of learning. (From Baumgartner & Payr, 1999, pp. 110 and 174) Category

Behaviorism

Cognitivism

Constructivism

The brain is a …

Passive container

Computer ( “information processing device”)

Informally closed system

Knowledge is …

Stored

Processed

Constructed

Knowledge is …

A correct input/output relation

An adequate internal processing process

For beeing able to operate in a situation

Learning objectives

Right answers

Right methods for finding answers

Manage complex situations

Paradigm

Stimulus-Response

Problem solving

Construction

Strategy

Teach

Observe and help

Cooperate

The teacher is a(n)…

Authority figure

Tutor

Coach, (player) trainer

Feedback is …

Externally given

Externally modeled

Internally modeled

Interaction is …

Strictly predetermined

Dynamically dependent on the external learning model

Self-referential, circular, structurally determined (autonomous)

Program features (of learning software, but also, e.g., features of teaching)

Fixed sequence, quantitative time and answer statistics

Dynamically controlled sequence, given problem, answer analysis

Dynamically complex interconnected systems, no given problem

the course—is generally favorable because it promotes student learning. But the mistake must not be made here to equate observable behavior (active vs. passive) with internal processes (learning vs. not learning). There is only a certain connection—active people are more likely to learn. E.g., the proportion of thoughts unrelated to the topic is higher among students during a lecture than during a discussion (Bloom, 1953, p. 166: 30% vs. 14.5% of all thoughts). Nevertheless, students learn more from interesting, longer inputs rather than, e.g., from boring discussions. Furthermore, exclusive activity leads to only small student learning outcomes: Teachers who mainly activate and moderate students have lower student learning outcomes than teachers who combine input with student activation (cf. Hattie, 2009, p. 243).

7.3 Input Methods—What Promotes Learning, What Endangers Learning Success? The following input methods by teachers and students are treated in this book (cf. Chap. 14):

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Input (usually by the teacher) Report (usually by students) Impulse report (usually by students) Poster presentation (usually by students) Guest lecture (usually by external persons)

It is important for the success of the receiving students that the following aspects are taken into account for the input methods (for sources and effect strengths see Chap. 3): • Criteria of the lecture: – Interesting contents (cf. Chap. 8) – Present learning objectives at the beginning (cf. Chap. 4) – Good structure (cf. Chap. 4) – Draw a conclusion at the end (cf. Chap. 5) – Clear emphasis on similarities and differences (of the presented theories, concepts, etc., cf. Chap. 9) • Criteria of the speaker: – Rhetorical skills (see Chap. 5) – Clarity and comprehensibility of speech (see Chap. 5) – Good lecture management (smooth presentation, attentive audience, see Chap. 6) • Complementary methods and contents: – Anecdotes (in moderation; also as an introduction, see Chap. 5) – Activating teaching methods within the lecture (see Chap. 14) – Other input methods, media change, speaker change (see Chaps. 5 and 14) – Querying and involving student prior knowledge before new content (see Chap. 14), align and build on input • Further criteria: – Emotional involvement (esp. on the part of the audience, see Chap. 5) In general, (well-designed) input methods have a positive effect on students’ learning outcomes (Hattie, 2015, d = 0.60). It is important to link the presented content to the students’ existing knowledge and skills (d = 0.69; Symons & Johnson, 1997) by, e.g., relating the new content to the content learned last week and/or the students’ everyday lives (e.g., why is motivation helpful for better exam results—experiences of students in their secondary school and university lives). Longer, continuous inputs without content and/or methodological changes endager learning outcomes.

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7.4 Activating Methods—What Promotes Learning, What Endangers Learning Outcomes? Activating methods are methods in which there is not just one speaker (as in input, lecture, impulse lecture, poster presentation) but several active participants—this applies to all other methods from Chap. 14. Unfortunately, there is not just one (activating) teaching method that optimally promotes student learning in general (cf. Chap. 2). However, even activating teaching methods do not promote learning in all students. E.g., during questions and discussions, often only a portion of the students participate mostly the same ones who have actively participated in the previous lessons. These students are active and have more learning success, but the silent, passive students generally do not achieve a higher learning success rate than they would otherwise. Another problem with joint tasks including several students is the “social loafing” (cf. Aronson et al., 2014, pp. 321–322). In this case, only part of the group works, the rest does far less, which has a negative effect on the satisfaction of the working students (Aggarwal & O’Brien, 2008) and on the learning success of the “lazy” students. For optimal student learning outcomes, it is important to pay attention to certain aspects when using active methods in order to minimize inactivity and “social loafing” (for sources and effect strengths see Chap. 3): • Keep a group focus during student activation phases: E.g., keep an eye on which student work groups are finishing early or need your support, lead a misguided discussion back to the topic through good questions or moderation, etc. • All students must be active, e.g. through personnel assigned subtasks, such as in group puzzles (see Chap. 14). • All students can have their turn, i.e., they have to perform (if necessary): Define who will present the results only after the completition of group task; Regarding, e.g., questions and discussions, also call on students who do not raise a hand. • Students learn cooperatively with each other, not against each other or alone. Cooperative learning takes advantage of synergies among students. • You define challenging special tasks for very (or over-)ambitious students (if available). In addition, the criteria mentioned for input methods (see above) are important - only anecdotes and media changes are less relevant in activating methods.

7.5 Asking Questions and Using Them Skillfully The good questioner is already half answered (Friedrich Nietzsche, 2012, p. 345).

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The simplest activating method is to ask a question. Encouraging the student - e.g., with critical questions and discussion tasks - has a positive effect on learning success (d = 0.77) and your teaching evaluation results (d = 1.50; Feldman, 1989). Even just asking questions has an effect of d = 0.48 (Hattie, 2015). There are several types of questions, a selection of common question types in teaching is given in Table 7.2. In general, your questions should be precise: • Who is supposed to answer the question? • What do you want to know? • When should the answer be given? (immediately, a minute later, etc.) Table 7.2  Types of questions. (Adapted from Seifert, 2011, p. 108 ff.) Type

Details

Example(s)

Assessment

Open question

Often begins with the classical “W-questions”: Who, what, why, where, when, which, how, how many?

“Which arguments support thesis A?”

Helpful for complex answers and learning processes, time consuming

Closed question: Decision question

Classic yes/no question

“Should I explain the formula again?”

Helpful to secure a decision, as feedback to the teacher

Closed question: Alternative question

Use for selection, can also be used for queries (quiz)

“Which topic should I review again before the exam?” “Which answer is correct? A, B, C or D?”

Fulfills its purpose well. Make it clear that you have to make a decision, otherwise many will refrain from answering the question

Counterquestion (with To clarify the student’s “Am I understanding Helpful with unclear paraphrasing) initial question you correctly that …?” questions Rhetorical question

Only one answer makes sense

“Should you study for the exam?”

Suggestive question

The desired answer is “You also find that anticipated in the ques- author A is right over tion (indirectly) B, don’t you?”

Unnecessary, as socially desired answers are given

Returned question

Question is returned to the entire student group

Good for avoiding having to answer everything yourself and to identifying what the students' level of knowledge is

“I'll pose the question to the class: What do you think?”

Unnecessary, as answer does not require cognitive challenge

7.6  Leading Conversations and Discussions with Questions

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With closed questions (e.g., yes or no; A, B or C), you should only ask about one topic: “Do you rate this thesis positively or negatively” is fine. “Do you consider this thesis as well written and insightful or poorly written and simple” is bad with closed questions, because, e.g., a thesis can be poorly written and insightful. In this case, an open question or two closed questions would be appropriate. An important criterion for asking questions is an appropriate waiting time—the question must be understood and thought through by the students Furthermore, they must dare to olunteer an answer. The waiting time is regularly underestimated by us teachers, especially regarding more complex questions because we already know the answer and, as presenters, have a different sense of time: The student’s silence seems long to teachers, makes them insecure, and, in the end, teachers often partly answer the question themselves (cf. Winteler, 2011, p. 89). On average, teachers wait one (!) second to answer their question (Cotton, 1989), which is much too quick. With enough waiting time, you will avoid this problem Furthermore, your students will be more cognitively active, e.g., they will have a higher level of knowledge (d = 0.53) and competence (d = 1.27) than without beeing asked questions by the teachers (Marzano, 1998; Walberg & Lai, 1999). For (more) complex questions, wait up to 30 seconds (Winteler & Forster, 2007). Use a clock for this, not your subjective sense of time—it deceives you. Questions should be particularly suitable for the content that represents your central learning objectives. Open questions on complex issues are best (d = 0.73; Redfield & Rousseau, 1981) because they promote deep learning (see Chap. 2) (Craig et al., 2006). The number of your questions per lecture is irrelevant to the learning success Instead, students' learning success depends on the quality and didactic sense of the questions (Cotton, 1989). Table 7.3 shows different types of questions including practical examples from astronomy. Depending on the type, the students may have to think more actively to answer the question and thus learn more (Hamaker, 1986). The problem scenario is, therefore, suitable for the central learning goal of the lesson, as here a lot is learned and a relatively large amount of time has to be spent on it.

7.6 Leading Conversations and Discussions with Questions In addition to using questions to increase student learning success, open questions are particularly suitable for control according to the principle: “Who asks, leads” (the conversation, discussion, etc.). Possible uses include: • Conversation control: “Going back to Thesis 3, what conclusions do you draw?” • Motivation: “What question have you always wanted to scientifically explore?” • Achieving goals: “What could you do to be able to write a term paper on your favorite scientific topic in this course?”

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Table 7.3  Question forms to activate students according to Winteler (2011, pp. 90 ff.), elaborations from Ulrich (2013b, pp. 121–122) Question form

Example

Elaborated Question

Answer to the question

Application Give an exam- Name an exam- Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Makemake or Haumea question ple for this ple of a dwarf definition planeta Comparisons

How do the What forces models differ? stop the gravitational collapse of the white dwarf compared to that of the neutron star?

White dwarf: The atomic shells; Neutron star: The atomic nuclei, the atomic shells have collapsed under the gravitational pressure

Conclusion What happens What would if …? have happened if the sun had had 25% less mass from the beginning?

Prolonged years due to the lower speed of the planets on their orbits (with constant orbital energy and planetary mass), lower radiation power of the sun (=> with an unfavorable greenhouse effect, a strongly frozen earth without higher life, Venus would be habitable, possibly also for higher life), longer life of the sun by a few billion years, other radiation behavior of the sun (higher proportion of long-wavelength light)

Problem scenario

Selection of the main consequences in causal order: 1) Massive disturbance of the comets, asteroids and dwarf planets in the outer, trans-Neptunian solar system upon approach of planet X to the solar system: The comets etc. are led out of or into the solar system (the latter resulting in a massive bombardment of the other planets by comets etc., stronger in the outer solar system, since Jupiter and Saturn perform a “vacuum cleaner function” for the inner solar system due to their much greater mass), 2a) Destruction of Uranus and formation of a new planet, 2b) Destruction or expulsion of most or all of the Uranus moons in the course of the collision, 3) Potential collision of the Uranus moons with further bodies in the solar system, 4) Change of the orbital resonances of the planets, since the new planet rotates around the sun faster due to its higher mass (here rather adaptation of the new planet and Neptune to the rather constant orbits of Jupiter and Saturn due to their much greater mass)

Elaboration of a complex scenario

Assume an object of planetary mass X from interstellar space (17 times as heavy as Earth) enters the solar system and collides with Uranus. Fortunately, the new planetary body (“Uranus + X”) initially remains on the orbit of Uranus. Create a scenario: What consequences for the solar system nevertheless arise from the event?

aDefinition of dwarf planet (International Astronomical Union, 2006): “Celestial body that a) is in orbit around the Sun, b) has (...) a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit and d) is not a satellite.”

7.7  A Good Didactic Concept is More Important then Activating …

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7.7 A Good Didactic Concept is More Important then Activating Teaching Methods So far, we have focused on activating students with teaching methods. However, a good didactic concept is far more important for the learning success of your students than specific activating teaching methods. Furthermore, a good didactic concept can compensate for adverse conditions. The following is a didactic concept by Prof. Dr. Holger Horz, who the author thanks for providing permission for its use. Starting Point In teaching profession, in the area of educational sciences for all teaching degree courses, the pedagogical-psychological lecture “Introduction to Teaching and Assessing” is to be held with 300 students. At the end of the course, students take an exam, only after which may they complete further modules in the educational sciences. Due to the number of students and the characteristics of the room (fixed rows of chairs), many activating teaching methods are not possible or their effect on learning success is limited (e.g., the chance of being called on for questions is 1:300, and, as a result, the less interested students have less incentive to think, see above). The number of students also restricts the possibilities for differentiated exam questions. However, the necessary multiple-choice format leads to more superficial learning, which is designed for reproduction and not for understanding (cf. Chap. 4). So far, 20% have failed the exam because (as identified in the consultation hour) the students lacked an in-depth understanding of the material. Didactic Solution To promote deep learning without traditional activating teaching methods, the teacher announces at the beginning of the first session of the course in the next semester that the following conditions apply in addition exam registration: 1. Each student must create a multiple-choice question suitable for an lecture date and post it on the online learning platform. For this he finds a handout on the creation of multiple-choice questions as well as example questions and answers online. 2. In addition, each student must answer at least two multiple-choice questions of his fellow students. For this, he has to justify his answer (this teaches the student how to reflect on errors and recognize them in the question and/or answer). For this, he finds a document with rules for critical appreciation online. 3. Each student must respond to the two answers to his question. The tutor will provide the student with 1-3 points depending on his fulfillment of the task rather than the quality of his responses. 4. 25% of the exam questions are selected by the lecturer from the 300 questions of the students (in total, 1/4 to 1/3 of the questions and answers have a content-related discourse and are usable for the exam, the rest is rather small-scale).

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This has the following didactic effect: Since the students can now check 25% of the exam questions in this way (necessary pass rate: 66%), correct questions and answers with detailed explanations in the online learning platform are very helpful for improving their grade. Since in teacher profession in Germany, the grade determines the student's academic prospects, there is a great deal of extrinsic motivation here (cf. Chap. 8). However, since the lecturer does not address the quality of the questions and answers at all, the students discuss the quality and correctness of the questions and answers in detail online. This process leads to extensive deep learning. The pass rate rose to more than 90% with the an exam of the same level of difficulty and remained constant in the following semesters.

7.8 Teaching Learning Strategies and Self-Management Skills Students have to drive or activate themselves to a much greater extent during their studies than at school in order to successfully pass their exams. This ability for self-regulation or self-regulated learning is significant for the students’ learning success (cf. Landmann et al., 2015). In this context, it makes sense to point out to students how learning strategies differ in efficiency (cf. Table 7.4). Therefore, revising the material is relatively ineffective for a good grade on the performance test. However, elaboration strategies, metacognitive learning strategies and resource-related learning strategies are particularly effective. The latter are often known as “self-management skills”. In addition to the mentioned learning strategies, other significant factors include the promotion of students' critical thinking (d = 0.32; Richardson et al., 2012), communication and leadership skills as well as the use of problem solving and coping strategies (d = 0.26; Robbins et al., 2004). Finally, it should be noted that a strategic assessment of the respective learning content should also be made by the students. Therefore, the following questions should be considered: Is the respective learning content, e.g., a central basis of the upcoming performance test or rather a marginal issue that only needs to be mentioned briefly in the performance test? In the former case, deep learning would be more sensible, in the latter case, surface learning, since the possible learning time before the test is limited. Students who choose such a strategic learning approach for each didactic requirement have higher learning outcomes (d = 0.65) than their fellow students who only use surface learning (d = −0.39) or only deep learning (d = 0.06; Richardson et al., 2012). In some cases, training courses for students are also offered by universities, which successfully convey learning strategies as well as other relevant skills such as self-regulation (d = 0.48 or d = 0.44; Robbins et al., 2009).

7.9  Practical Examples for Activating Students

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Table 7.4  Learning strategies according to Landmann et al. (2015, S. 53) and their effect on grades according to Richardson et al. (2012) Taxonomy

Learning strategy

Description

Effect on grades

Cognitive learning strategies

Repetition strategies

Repetition until learned material can be reproduced orally

d =0.10

Elaboration strategies

d = 0.41 Integration of new knowledge into existing knowledge structure, e.g., through everyday examples, mnemonics, etc.

Organization strategies Condense and structure learning content, e.g., through mind mapping Metacognitive learning Planning strategies Monitoring/surveillance Regulation

Resource-related learn- Provision of internal ing strategies resources

Provision of external resources

Create a learning plan

d = 0.28

d = 0.28

Continuous monitoring of one’s own learning success Adaptation of one’s own learning technique in case of difficulties Self-discipline, time management

d = 0.41

Concentration (on the learning task)

d = 0.37

d = 0.41 (in learning Design of favorable (e.g., disturbance-free) groups) learning environment, use of additional literature, use of learning groups

Notes: All effects are significant and positive, but, according to Cohen (1988), should only be considered as important from d = 0.20

7.9 Practical Examples for Activating Students The following practice examples use the same teachers Thomas M., Markus T. and Sandra F. from the previous chapters. The following provisions result almost exclusively from their teaching plans (cf. Chap. 4), which I do not repeat here.

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A Practical Example from the Humanities

Thomas M. mainly promotes student learning through activating teaching methods. Of his learning objectives, the overarching goal “activation through discourse” requires the teaching and learning methods “discussion” and “debate”, which will promote the student learning. With his questions, he steers the discourse. In addition, he always thoroughly checks the students’ work (e.g., quizzes, tests, reviews, midterm papers, endterm papers). Therefore, his students are forced to learn actively in the course and at home because he requires complex work results (answers to questions, reviews, etc.). ◄ A Practical Example from the Social Sciences

Markus T. uses a didactic concept to motivate his students to encourage self-study. Since his students independently develop, investigate and answer a complex research question, they have to think through all aspects of the question in order to achieve a good grade. The regular interim reports to be discussed in the course and feedback from the audience encourage continuous learning over time. The joint student work groups should further promote this, since in a subject with a high numerus clausus, students are more likely to motivate each other to perform well. ◄ A Practical Example from the Natural Sciences

Sandra F. uses a didactic concept - the same approach as Prof. Dr. Holger Horz. The students have to generate exam questions and simultaneously time find solutions to the questions of their fellow students. 20% of the exam will consist of student exam questions. Since she only has 30 students, she manages the online platform herself without help from her tutor. In addition, the student learning groups should also encourage active exchange outside the lecture. In addition, she adds activating elements to her teaching (e.g., questions, concept mapping, group work and scenario based learning) and has scheduled a short input on learning strategies for exam preparation. ◄ What is Effective for Good Teaching: Activating Students with Limited Time

• Ask complex questions related to your central learning goals. • Give the students enough time to answer your questions—at least 30 seconds for complex questions. • Pay attention to the quality criteria of your input and activating teaching methods. ◄

References

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References Aggarwal, P., & O’Brien, C. L. (2008). Social loafing on group projects: Structural antecedents and effect on student satisfaction. Journal of Marketing Education, 30(3), 255–264. https://doi. org/10.1177/0273475308322283. Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., & Akert, R. M. (2014). Sozialpsychologie (8th updated ed.). Pearson Studium. Baumgartner, P., & Payr, S. (1999). Lernen mit Software (2nd ed.). Studien. Bloom, B. S. (1953). Thought-processes in lectures and discussions. The Journal of General Education, 7(3), 160–169. Brauer, M. (2014). An der Hochschule lehren. Springer. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). L. Erlbaum Associates. Cotton, K. (1989). Close-up #5: Classroom questioning. School improvement research series: Research you can use. http://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/ClassroomQuestioning. pdf. Accessed 3 May 2020. Craig, S. D., Sullins, J., Witherspoon, A., & Gholson, B. (2006). The deep-level-reasoning-question effect: The role of dialogue and deep-level-reasoning questions during vicarious learning. Cognition and Instruction, 24(4), 565–591. Feldman, K. A. (1989). The association between student ratings of specific instructional dimensions and student achievement: Refining and extending the synthesis of data from multisection validity studies. Research in Higher Education, 30(6), 583–645. Hamaker, C. (1986). The effects of adjunct questions on prose learning. Review of Educational Research, 56(2), 212–242. Hattie, J. A. (2009). Visible learning. A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge. Hattie, J. A. (2015). The applicability of visible learning to higher education. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 1(1), 79–91. International Astronomical Union. (2006). IAU 2006 general assembly: Result of the IAU resolution votes. http://www.iau.org/public_press/news/detail/iau0603/. Accessed 3 May 2020. Klauer, K. J., & Leutner, D. (2012). Lehren und Lernen. Einführung in die Instruktionspsychologie (Studientexte, 2nd ed.). Beltz. Landmann, M., Perels, F., Otto, B., Schnick-Vollmer, K., & Schmitz, B. (2015). Selbstregulation und selbstreguliertes Lernen. In E. Wild & J. Möller (Eds.), Pädagogische Psychologie (2nd fully revised and updated ed., pp. 45–65). Springer. Marzano, R. J. (1998). A theory-based meta-analysis of research on instruction. Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning. Nietzsche, F. W. (2012). Fragmente 1884–1885 (Vol. 5). Tredition. Redfield, D. L., & Rousseau, E. W. (1981). A meta-analysis of experimental research on teacher questioning behavior. Review of Educational Research, 51(2), 237–245. https://doi. org/10.3102/00346543051002237. Richardson, M., Abraham, C., & Bond, R. (2012). Psychological correlates of university students’ academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 138(2), 353–387. Robbins, S. B., Lauver, K., Le, H., Davis, D., Langley, R., & Carlstrom, A. (2004). Do psychosocial and study skill factors predict college outcomes? A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 130(2), 261–288.

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Robbins, S. B., Oh, I.-S., Le, H., & Button, C. (2009). Intervention effects on college performance and retention as mediated by motivational, emotional, and social control factors: Integrated meta-analytic path analyses. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(5), 1163–1184. https://doi. org/10.1037/a0015738. Seidel, T., & Krapp, A. (Eds.). (2014). Pädagogische Psychologie (6th completely revised ed.). Beltz. Seifert, J. W. (2011). Visualisieren Präsentieren Moderieren (35th ed.). Gabal. Stelzer-Rothe, T. (2005). Befunde der Lernforschung als Grundlage des Hochschullehrens und -lernens. In T. Stelzer-Rothe & T. Brinker (Eds.), Kompetenzen in der Hochschullehre. Rüstzeug für gutes Lehren und Lernen an Hochschulen (pp. 32–58). Merkur. Symons, C. S., & Johnson, B. T. (1997). The self-reference effect in memory: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 121(3), 371–394. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.121.3.371. Ulrich, I. (2013b). Strategisches Qualitätsmanagement in der Hochschullehre. Theoriegeleitete Workshops für Lehrende zur Förderung kompetenzorientierter Lehre. Springer. Walberg, H. J., & Lai, J.-S. (1999). Meta-analytic effects for policy. In G. J. Cizek (Ed.), Handbook of educational policy (pp. 419–453). Academic. Wild, E., & Möller, J. (Eds.). (2015). Pädagogische Psychologie (2nd fully revised and updated ed.). Springer. Winteler, A. (2011). Professionell lehren und lernen. Ein Praxisbuch (4th updated and revised ed.). WBG. Winteler, A., & Forster, P. (2007). Wer sagt, was gute Hochschullehre ist? Evidenzbasiertes Lehren und Lernen. Das Hochschulwesen, 55(4), 102–109.

Further Reading Brinker, T., & Schumacher, E.-M. (2014). Befähigen statt belehren. Neue Lehr- und Lernkultur an Hochschulen. hep. [chap. 7, especially for activation via self-study]. Landmann, M., Perels, F., Otto, B., Schnick-Vollmer, K., & Schmitz, B. (2015). Selbstregulation und selbstreguliertes Lernen. In E. Wild & J. Möller (Eds.), Pädagogische Psychologie (2nd, fully revised and updated ed., pp. 45–65). Springer. [to learning strategies] Winteler, A. (2011). Professionell lehren und lernen: Ein Praxisbuch für Universität und Schule (4th ed.). Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. [chap. 9 and 10].

8

Teaching: Motivating Students

Contents 8.1 The Teachers’s Enthusiasm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 8.2 Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation (Including Interest). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 8.3 Achievement, Power and Affiliation Motivation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 8.4 Goal Orientations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 8.5 Rubicon Model of Action Phases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 8.6 Practical Examples for Motivating Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Abstract

First, we focus on ourselves and our expressed enthusiasm to motivate students. Then we go through different forms of motivation: Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation (including interest) as well as achievement, power and affiliation motivation. Afterwards we go through the (learning) goals of students for self-motivation and how we can transfer these goals into concrete actions in a Rubicon model of action phases. Finally, these theories and models are transferred into concrete practical examples. If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. (Antoine de SaintExupéry, 2009, pp. 285)1

1 This

quote is often attributed to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in (motivational) books but does not appear in his work “The Wisdom of the Sands” in this form. It can be found there as a recurring theme with different wording but the content is the same as in the quote above (but Saint-Exupéry addressed “men” instead of “people”), on pages 285, 400, 491 and 668. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 I. Ulrich, Good Teaching in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39137-9_8

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Teachers usually consider student motivation a central criterion for student success (Spinath, 2015). Based on a decades-long tradition of empirical research on motivation and motivational psychology (see, e.g., Heckhausen & Heckhausen, 2018), we can confirm the importance of motivation for learning success, even though most teachers overestimate its effect a little—motivation has only a moderate effect on learning outcomes (d = 0.44; Hattie, 2015). Motivation is, nevertheless, crucial for educational processes—in today’s lifelong educational or learning processes, it is important that each person can motivate themselves to learn. Student motivation is a factor that can be influenced relatively easily by us teachers. Unfortunately, this works in both directions—demotivating is just as easy (Prenzel, 1997). Below you will read about motivational effects on student learning success. We will ignore all other motivational effects, such as hunger, thirst, sleep, power, money, friendship, relationships, self-realization, etc., unless they at least partly influence learning (e.g., learning in order to achieve a good job with a high income, learning as self-realization) Relevant for student success are, in particular, the following (learning) motivation effects, which I will explain to you below. All are relevant for increasing student motivation and have complementing effects: • • • • •

Enthusiasm of the teacher Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation (including interest) Achievement, power and affiliation motivation Goal orientation Rubicon model of action phases —support for student learning actions

8.1 The Teachers’s Enthusiasm Let’s start with ourselves. If we demand motivation from our students, we should also be motivated ourselves, otherwise we are not credible. As role models, we teachers influence our students through our presence—if we are motivated and show it, our students usually feel the same way. Our enthusiasm for the topic of our course and for teaching in general has a positive effect on our students’ learning outcomes (d = 0.56; Feldman, 1989; Murray, 1997) and our teaching evaluations (d = 1.04; Feldman, 1989; Lumsden & Scott, 1984; Murray, 1997). We can also credibly demand student engagement in our course. In addition, your professional relationship management (see Chap. 6) promotes the motivation of your students (Cornelius-White, 2007).

8.2  Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation (Including Interest)

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8.2 Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation (Including Interest) A classic is the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation within the framework of self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985). According to this, people have an innate need to be able to act self-determined and successfully in their environment, e.g., in the learning environment of the university. They set goals for themselves goals, e.g., by studying for exams, and are motivated to achieve them. These goals can • be intrinsically motivated, i.e., the activity required for achieving the goal is perceived as positive. An external incentive is unnecessary; people are involved in the activity an lose track of time (commonly referred to as the “flow state”; Csikszentmihalyi et al., 2005). Most people’s hobbies and topic preferences are intrinsically motivated—in short, everything for which people have a passion. • be extrinsically motivated, i.e., the activity required for achieving the goal is not perceived as positive, but the goal to be achieved is (e.g., good grade). The incentive to achieve the goal is currently or was in the past external (e.g., internalized social norms), i.e., the incentive is less the goal itself than the expected consequence of failure. In contrast to intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation can be further differentiated according to the type of behavioral regulation: Is my behavior externally regulated by others or internally by me? Do I identify with my goal or is it a foreign body? It also depends on the one’s level of self-determination. Goals with high self-determination are preferred over externally determined goals (Deci & Ryan, 1985, pp. 55 ff.). Externally determined goals do not only arise because of external pressure from others but also, e.g., because of internalized social norms that one believes they to have to comply with (Sheldon & Houser-Marko, 2001). Table 8.1 gives an overview. Intrinsic motivation has a positive effect on students’ learning success (d = 0.32; Richardson et al., 2012). This form of motivation is closely related to interest (Schiefele et al., 1993, p. 123), i.e., your students are intrinsically motivated to deal with the respective learning subject if the subject is interesting to them: “In pedagogical-psychological approaches, interest is used, inter alia, to describe and explain a self-determined (intrinsic) learning motivation … ” (Krapp, 2019).2 Interest characterizes a person’s cognitive involvement in a person, activity or object that is subjectively significant to him (cf. Wirtz & Strohmer, 2020).

2 The

conscientious psychological researcher may rightly object that intrinsic motivation and interest are still two separate research areas and constructs. This is correct, but a conscientious differentiation at this point would exceed the scope of this book.

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Table 8.1  Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation. (From Ryan & Deci, 2000, p. 72; Schiefele & Schaffner, 2015, p. 159; examples created by author) Type of motivation

Behavioral regulation

Causes of behavior

Example

Determination

Intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic regulation

Acting based on accompanying incentives: Interest, joy, satisfaction

A student couple wants to spend time together without learning

Self-determined

Extrinsic motivation

Integrated regula- Identification with tion an goal without conflicts with other goals, agreement with self

A student couple wants to spend time together in the evening from 6 pm without learning and both want to learn for an exam from 10 am to 6 pm

Identified regulation

A student couple wants to spend time together without learning, but both also have to learn for an exam

Identification with an goal, but existing conflicts with other goals, goal is personally important

Internalized regu- Internalization of an lation goal without identification (through internal pressure or self-control: Bad conscience, expectations of others)

Determined by A student appears for the oral exam in a others suit, even though he hates suits, but at the same time believes that his examiner expects this

External regulation

A student has to pass the exam to continue receiving a scholarship

Acting based on external pressure (reward, punishment) and obedience

Students’ interest in the topic of the lecture is considered the biggest source of interference for lecture evaluation results (Ulrich, 2013, p. 50), but this is only strictly true for the interest before the start of the lecture. The promotion of students’ interest in the topic of your lecture has a positive effect on your teaching evaluation (d = 0.42) and, above all, on the learning success of your students (d = 0.82; Feldman, 1989). You can promote students’ interest in the following ways:

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• Show your interest in the topic and act as a role model. • Make your students curious about your topic, e.g., by asking questions at the beginning, which you can answer or discuss later in your course. • Show surprising findings. • Link your topic to your students’ current interests. In addition to increasing intrinsic motivation and performance, certain student choices (Patall et al., 2008) are important, i.e., a certain degree of self-determination. Students with such freedoms are also more likely to attend lectures, which, in itself, has a positive effect on learning success (d = 0.98; Crede et al., 2010). In addition to intrinsic motivation, we can increase the extrinsic motivation of students through external incentives. Too much extrinsic motivation can undermine intrinsic motivation (Deci et al., 1999). It is therefore helpful to work towards more self-determined goals when extrinsically motivated, i.e., try to get students to identify with their learning goals: Explain the meaning behind them, the possible benefits and the relevance for later years. Overall, these motivational forms are not found individually in their pure form in reality. A student can be somewhat interested in or intrinsically motivated by the content of the course and, at the same time, have an extrinsic motivation to pass the exam.

8.3 Achievement, Power and Affiliation Motivation Other well-known motivations are achievement, power and affiliation motivation (McClelland, 1961, 1966, pp. 16 and 87). According to the • achievement motivation all people have the incentive to achieve something, i.e. to be successful in their environment (similar to intrinsic motivation) (cf. Brunstein & Heckhausen, 2018). • power motivation all people have the incentive to be independent, to inspire others, to convince and to dominate (to some degree) (cf. Busch, 2018). • affiliation motivation all people have the incentive to be integrated into groups and to maintain (intimate) relationships and friendships (cf. Hofer & Hagemeyer, 2018). The strength of individual motivation varies individually. However, when motivating our students to learn, we can all make use of these three aspects to increase the success of our students. From a achievement perspective (general effect: d = 0.64; Robbins et al., 2004) we can, inter alia,

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• set high but achievable expectations or (learning) goals (only applies to success-motivated students; d = 0.43; Hattie, 2015). • use specific, performance-related praise for success (d = 0.74; Marzano, 1998). • promote student self-efficacy (“You can do it”; d = 1.14; Robbins et al., 2004). To appeal to students motivated by power, we can, e.g., • explain how the lesson can benefit the student (e.g., regarding their competence and independence). • initiate student competitions (e.g., best discussion contribution). • clarify what career prospects the students can have if they do well in their studies. To appeal to students motivated by a sense of affiliation, we can, e.g., • plan student learning groups that, ideally, can deliver the best work results through good team work. • emphasize joint activities outside the teaching event (e.g. department summer party). • promote a professional relationship design (cf. Chap. 6), i.e., the affiliation of the students to us. A reduced social distance between teachers and students has a positive effect on the motivation of the students (Christophel & Gorham, 1995), which steadily improves per session. You can do this non-verbally through gestures, smiles, etc. (d = 0.98 on motivation) or verbally by encouraging student contributions, incorporating humor and referring to the students by name (d = 1.25 on motivation). Furthermore, this has a slightly positive effect on learning outcomes (d = 0.16) but, above all, on teaching evaluations (d = 1.19; Allen et al., 2006).

8.4 Goal Orientations Just as it is important for us as teachers to set (learning) goals (cf. Chap. 4), setting (learning) goals is important for a student’s self-motivation and learning success (d = 0.36; Robbins et al., 2004). Teachers can promote this goal-setting process. Goals are defined as “a mental representation of a desired event or behavior” (Sevincer & Oettingen, 2009, p. 37), which determine the actions of people: “Goals control the use of skills and abilities of people in the course of action and direct their ideas and knowledge to the desired results of action” (Kleinbeck, 2010, p. 285). Setting goals causes students to identify a discrepancy between the desired goal in the future and their current state (Miller et al., 1960, pp. 59 ff.). The students are motivated to reduce this sense of discrepancy, usually by achieving the goal. This self-control is helpful and leads to higher learning outcomes, especially if we support the students in this (Greiner & Karoly, 1976). As teachers, we can encourage students to set goals by asking them to set specific goals and providing advice. Table 8.2 shows an overview of the nature of goals.

8.4  Goal Orientations

129

Table 8.2  Overview of goal dimensions with possibilities for teachers. (Based on Sevincer & Oettingen, 2009, p. 42) Dimension

Continuum

Hierarchy

Main, intermedi- As in Chap. 4, students should begin with a global main goal ate and subgoals (e.g., hand in a good term paper) and derive specific intermediate and subgoals from it.

Specificity

Specific vs. vague

The subgoals should always be specific (SMART, see Chap. 4).

Difficulty

Easy vs. hard

Ideally, the goals should be high but achievable through levels of difficulty that tend to be difficult. Challenging students intellectually and encouraging independent thinking are conducive to success in learning (d = 0.52) and your teaching evaluation (d = 0.85; Feldman, 1989). Do not over-challenge your students.

Orientation

Approach vs. avoidance

Students should establish approaching learning goals (e.g. study from 10 am to 6 pm on Fridays), avoid unfavorable factors (e.g. by not going out late on Thursdays to be well rested on Fridays).

Focus

Promotion vs. prevention orientation

Students who are “promotion orientated” pursue intrinsically motivated ideals. Those who are “prevention orientated” are ofte extrinsically motivated. The former is more neneficial.

What should be the ideal nature of the goals?

Commitment High vs. low goal commitment

Try to achieve high goal commitment. In joint learning groups, e.g., goal commitment is usually higher than when learning alone at home, because failure to achieve goals not only damages oneself, but also the group (factor of the sense of affiliation motivation).

Value

Little vs. very valuable

Try to make goals valuable. Students are highly committed to performing well on exams (’I have to pass”) but see little value in the exam itself (“I will never need this knowledge again). Low-value goals damage long-term educational success. Therefore, clarify the relevance and usefulness of your content.

Complexity

Simple vs. complex

Greater goals (successfully completing one’s studies) are more complex than smaller goals (passing the exam in course X). The more complex a goal is, the more important is the hierarchy of intermediate and subgoals.

Consciousness

Conscious vs. unconscious

Explicitly point out your learning goals, hints are not enough.

Content

Idealistc vs. materialistic

Goals can be idealistic (e.g., social integration, individual autonomy and competence) or materialistic (e.g., popularity, social status and wealth). It is disputed whether the achievement of idealistic goals increases individual well-being to a greater extent than materialistic goals.

Self-determi- Self- vs. exterSelf-determined goals are generally better (see “Intrinsic vs. nation nally determined extrinsic motivation (including interest)”). (continued)

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Table 8.2   (continued) Dimension

Continuum

What should be the ideal nature of the goals?

Orientation

Learning vs. performance orientation

Learning-oriented (“mastery orientation”) students want to be competent and do not give up so quickly after negative feedback (Spinath, 2009). Achievement-oriented (“performance orientation”) students want to achieve a good grade. Learningoriented goals lead to more effective results in complex tasks (Locke & Latham, 2002, 2006). Therefore, promote a learningoriented approach, which has a positive effect on learning success (d = 0.53; Kulik et al., 1990; d = 58; Walberg & Lai, 1999).

A detailed explanation of the individual goal dimensions with with references to empirical studies can be found in Ulrich (2013, pp. 76–83).

8.5 Rubicon Model of Action Phases However, motivation and goal-setting are not enough for students, they also have to act self-regulatively in order to be successful (cf. Lewin, 1926, pp. 342 et seq.; Gollwitzer, 1999). The “Rubicon model of action phases” (see Fig. 8.1) comprises goal setting, goal realization and the evaluation of goal achievement. The model was named after Julius

DŽƟǀĂƟŽŶ ƉƌĞͲĚĞĐŝƐŝŽŶĂů

ĞƐŝƌĞƐ EĞĞĚƐ

ZƵďŝĐŽŶ

/ŶƚĞŶƟŽŶ ĨŽƌŵĂƟŽŶ

ŚŽŽƐŝŶŐ͗ tĞŝŐŚŝŶŐĚŝīĞƌĞŶƚ ĚĞƐŝƌĞƐĂŶĚƌĞůĂƚĞĚ ŐŽĂůƐ͕ĂĐĐŽƌĚŝŶŐƚŽ භhƐĞĨƵůŶĞƐƐ භĐĐĞƐƐŝďŝůŝƚLJ

/ŶƚĞŶƟŽŶ ŝŶŝƟĂƟŽŶ

sŽůŝƟŽŶĂů ƉƌĞͲĂĐƟŽŶĂů WůĂŶŶŝŶŐ͕ භǁŚĞŶ͕ භŚŽǁ͕ භƵŶĚŚŽǁůŽŶŐ ƚŽĂĐƚƚŽďĞƐƚ ĂĐŚŝĞǀĞƚŚĞ ŐŽĂů

/ŶƚĞŶƟŽŶ ƌĞĂůŝnjŝĂƟŽŶ sŽůŝƟŽŶĂů ĂĐƟŽŶĂů

ĐƟŽŶĂů͗ ĂƌƌLJŝŶŐŽƵƚ ŐŽĂůͲŽƌŝĞŶƚĞĚ ĂĐƟŽŶƐƚŽ ĂĐŚŝĞǀĞƚŚĞ ŐŽĂů

DŽƟǀĂƟŽŶ ƉŽƐƚͲĂĐƟŽŶĂů ǀĂůƵĂƟŽŶŽĨ ĂĐƟŽŶƌĞƐƵůƚƐ͗ භtĂƐͬǁĞƌĞƚŚĞ ŽďũĞĐƟǀĞƌĞƐƉ͘ ƚŚĞƐƵďŐŽĂůƐ ĂĐŚŝĞǀĞĚ͍ භŝĚĂĐŚŝĞǀŝŶŐ ƚŚĞŐŽĂůŚĂǀĞ ƚŚĞŚŽƉĞĚͲĨŽƌ ƌĞƐƵůƚ;ƐͿ͍ භtŚĂƚŶĞĞĚƐƚŽ ďĞĚŽŶĞƚŽ ĂĐŚŝĞǀĞƚŚĞ ŐŽĂů͍

Fig. 8.1   Rubicon model of action phases (Achtziger & Gollwitzer, 2009, p. 151)

ĞƐŝƌĞƐ EĞĞĚƐ

8.5  Rubicon Model of Action Phases

131

Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon in 49 BC, which clearly violated Roman law at that time and deliberately triggered the Roman Civil War (cf. Heuß, 1963, pp. 278 et seq. for a comprehensive account). Establishing a goal is referred to by Achtziger and Gollwitzer (2009, p. 151) as “crossing the Rubicon” because this this triggers a state that is hardly reversible. In order to bring about this state in our students (cf. Reitzer, 2014, pp. 63 et seq.), we as teachers can support the following phases: 1. In the predecisional phase, the individual wishes and realization possibilities are weighed against each other. In the end, a definite decision is made for one or more goals. As a teacher, you can accompany this goal decision-making process by a) showing alternatives and b) estimating the effort required for their implementation (e.g., how should you study for the exam—by regularly attending the course at fixed times per week). 2. In the postdecisional phase, concrete actions for achieving the goals are planned. It is important at this point to anticipate potential difficulties. We teachers can assess the effectiveness of the planned actions in achieving the goals as well as indicating expected difficulties and encouraging effective solution strategies. E.g., it is not effective to highlight everything in the book for exam preparation but rather to be able to reproduce the central content in one’s own words for the exam (e.g., in one’s own learning script based on the book. 3. In the actional phase, the concrete actions are carried out. Teachers can address the actions (i.e. the work progress) at regular intervals and compare them with the recommended plan. E.g., which aspects should the students have learned according to the plan? 4. In the postactional phase, the results of the actions taken to achiev the goal (intermediate steps) or the achieved goal (final step) are evaluated. As a teacher, you can check the intermediate results. E.g., which exam question should the students be able to answer this week and which points were missing in the student’s answer in order to get full points for this answer? In addition, you can also give feedback (cf. Chap. 12) on the final result, which affects the motivation of the students in subsequent projects. Our support of students using the Rubicon model of action phases is particularly helpful and necessary when students have to do larger, independent projects for the first time during their studies: The first term paper, the first presentation, the first oral/written examination, the first bachelor’s or master’s thesis.

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8.6 Practical Examples for Motivating Students The following practice examples use the same teachers, Thomas M., Markus T. and Sandra F., as in the previous chapters. The following provisions partly result from their teaching plans (cf. Chap. 4), which I do not repeat here. In principle, all motivational aspects are addressed in the practical examples—in particular, extrinsic motivation and achievement motivation through the grading of performance tests. I, therefore, only explain the motivational aspects that the individual teachers placed emphasis on. A Practical Example from the Humanities

On the one hand, Thomas M. wants to promote his students’ enthusiasm for history (his learning goal in the area of personal competence) by showing his own enthusiasm. His goal is to promote intrinsic motivation by arousing curiosity at the beginning of his lectures and during class discussion (e.g., what could Bismark have done better; how would the students have acted differently from Bismarck at that time?). In addition, he wants to present surprising findings (e.g. Bismarck’s assessment of circumstances at different times: During the time of the empire, Weimar Republic, Third Reich, FRG and GDR in the 1950s, the West German student movement 1968 or today. Thomas M. would like to link the topic of Bismarck’s alliance policy with the political interests of the students. How would Bismarck have reacted to today’s military conflicts? Would his reaction be helpful or even better? In addition, he wants to make use of the students’ achievement, power and affiliation motivation: In class discussion, he would like to hold a competition for the best theses and convey a sense of affiliation—that the students belong to a kind of scientific debate club (when in his lecture). He puts achievement motivation in the foreground: Who draws the best arguments and conclusions? He wants to show how these skills are also useful for the graded term paper. ◄

A Practical Example from the Social Sciences

Markus T. would like to promote the intrinsic motivation of his students—above all, through the self-determined development, planning, implementation and analysis of their own research projects. By placing the students in groups, he also addresses the affiliation motivation of his students. Since he wants to let the students work freely, he employs the Rubicon model of action phases.For each phase he has his students report the current state of their research projects. He then provides feedback based on his expertise and advises the students on further possibilities. In the pre-decisional phase he shows the students alternative, feasible research questions (session 2, see lecture plan Chap. 4). In the pre-actional phase, he evaluates the developed research questions and plans based on their effectiveness in achieving

References

133

the goal and provides his assessment of potential difficulties. He lets students devise possible solutions during class discussion (sessions 3 and 4). In the actional phase, he evaluates the students’ work progress (sessions 5, 10 and 11). In the post-actional phase, he evaluates the interim results, i.e., the students’ presentation of their results (sessions 12–14) and the final result, the research report (during the semester break, holds consultations for feedback during his office hours). During the consultations on the final results students receive advice on how to avoid errors in the master’s thesis. Finally, he also wants to inspire the students with his own enthusiasm. ◄ A Practical Example from the Natural Sciences

Sandra F. focuses on the power motivation of her students. Since her course is a compulsory subject that provides students with an essential basis for a future career as an astronomer, she emphasizes these aspects to the students. In addition, she works a lot with the students’ objectives. Since they have to work out the mathematical content for the exam themselves (their learning goal “self-discipline” in the area of “personnel competence”), they should set goals for themselves for the entire semester regarding when and what they should study (session 1). She evaluates the goals students set for themselves in the lesson with a spot check In addition, the students have to generate exam tasks and solutions during the semester via the e-learning portal, for which they also have to set specific goals (when, on which topic, etc.). ◄ Furthermore, she wants to motivate the students ti study astronomy by being an enthusiastic role model. What is Effective for Good Teaching: Motivating Students with Limited Time

• • • •

Show your enthusiasm for your content and your motivations for teaching. Present your performance criteria in detail (extrinsic motivation). Let the students set their own goals, which they check with a spot check. Try to win the interest of the students (arouse curiosity, connect your content with the students’ current interests). • Set high but achievable learning goals. ◄

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Further Reading Heckhausen, J., & Heckhausen, H. (Eds.). (2018). Motivation und Handeln (5th revised and enlarged ed.). Springer [Standard reference work on motivation in general]. Reitzer, C. (2014). Erfolgreich lehren. Ermutigen, motivieren, begeistern. Springer VS [many practical suggestions for motivating students, especially chap. 4]. Schiefele, U., & Schaffner, E. (2015). Motivation. In E. Wild und J. Möller (Eds.), Pädagogische Psychologie (2nd fully revised and updated ed., pp. 153–175). Springer [Motivation in education]. Spinath, B. (2015). Lernmotivation. In H. Reinders, H. Ditton, C. Gräsel, & B. Gniewosz (Eds.), Empirische Bildungsforschung. Gegenstandsbereiche (2nd revised ed., pp. 55–67). Springer VS [Good brief overview of learning motivation in an educational context]. Ulrich, I. (2013). Strategisches Qualitätsmanagement in der Hochschullehre: Theoriegeleitete Workshops für Lehrende zur Förderung kompetenzorientierter Lehre. Springer-VS [chap. 2.4 on goal setting theory].

9

Teaching: Didactic Subtleties

Contents 9.1 Adaptive Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 9.2 Intercultural Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 9.3 Plagiarism: Forms, Identification, Handling and Prevention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 9.4 Excursions as a Specific Teaching Format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 9.5 Details of Teaching Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 9.6 Practice Examples of Didactic Subtleties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Abstract

In this chapter, individual aspects of good university teaching are discussed, for which separate chapters would have been too extensive. In contrast to the other chapters, the contents of this chapter do not build on each other. First we define adaptive teaching, which proceeds differently depending on the didactic goal and the student target group. After that, we discuss intercultural teaching and how to identify and address cases of plagiarism. I then list further individual aspects of didactic subtleties. Due to the small-scale, unrelated aspects, no practical examples are provided here.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 I. Ulrich, Good Teaching in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39137-9_9

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9.1 Adaptive Teaching Adaptive teaching not only adapts the teaching method(s) and content to the didactic goal but also to the student target group. E.g., for insecure students, structured teaching methods (e.g., input from the teacher) are better while methods that give students a lot of freedom to develop their performance are recommended for high-performing and motivated students. It would also be possible to differentiate within the course (e.g., through special challenging tasks for “high performers”) (d = 0.80; Kulik, 2004). The “adaptive teaching” approach was developed in the USA and is known as “Aptitude-Treatment-Interaction” (Cronbach & Snow, 1977) and goes beyond the mere adaptation of teaching methods which is less effective (d = 0.34 on teaching evaluation, d = 0.46 on learning success, Seidel & Shavelson, 2007). The abilities (“aptitudes”) of students generally have a positive effect on learning success (d = 0.30–0.84; Li, 2016). If I take into account the level of my students' skills when teaching (i.e., if I adapt my teaching methods), my students will have higher learning success (Whitener, 1989): High-performing students benefit particularly from this (d = 0.87 vs. d = 0.56 for weaker students).1

9.2 Intercultural Teaching Intercultural communication or teaching is gaining importance at German universities (Bosse, 2011, p. 16). Essentially, intercultural teaching is “just” an adaptive teaching technique, which is based on the individual student’s cultural background. The individual dimension is extended by more generalizable, cultural dimensions. Hofstede (1986) differentiates four cultural dimensions, which he later supplemented with two more (cf. Hofstede et al., 2010), on whose continua the individual cultures can be ordered (cf. Table 9.1). Note that Hofstede’s data are only to be seen as rough guidelines because Hofstede's conclusions may be influenced by culturally conditioned response tendencies (e.g., "Germans like to see everything negatively") and there may be differences between individuals of the same culture. In addition to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, there are various other intercultural models and aspects (see, e.g., Bosse, 2011, pp. 37 ff.). For more detailed information and practical exercises on intercultural communication, see Losche and Püttker (2009). The individual cultures or states can now be classified according to the cultural dimensions presented in Table 9.1 (see Figs. 9.1, 9.2 and 9.3). They can be used as guidelines for a first contact if you have to deal with international students in your

1 Hattie's

(2015) results clearly show lower effects in the university context. However, because he does not name his sources and calculation basis, his value is less valid than Whitener’s (1989).

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Table 9.1  Cultural dimensions according to Hofstede (1986) and Hofstede et al. (2010)

a

Nr.

Dimension

Teaching effects

1

Power distance

High power distance: – Clear hierarchies that must be followed  – Large power differences in society  – Power differences need not be justified (Low power distance implies the exact opposite)

2

Individualism vs. Collectivism

Individualism:  – Self-centeredness  – Friendships (e.g., among classmates) are important  – Family—beyond the nuclear family—is less important Collectivism:  – “We”-centeredness  – Extended family is very important (e.g., distant relationship with the teacher)  – Friendships are less important than the extended family

3

Masculinity vs. Femininitya

Masculinity:  – Performance, assertiveness and success are important  – Society is competitive  – Reward for success Femininity:  – Cooperation and modesty are preferred  – Quality of life is important  – Society is consensus-oriented  – The weak must be cared for

4

Uncertainty avoidance

High uncertainty avoidance  – Clear rules for everything that everyone must follow  – Principles are important  – Control of the future and possible scenarios (Low uncertainty avoidance implies the exact opposite)

5

Enjoyment vs. control

Enjoyment:  – Enjoy life  – Have fun  – Treat yourself Control:  – Enjoyment is controlled based on strict social norms

6

Long-term pragmatic orientation vs. short-term normative orientation

Long-term pragmatic orientation:  – Focus on the future, social change is necessary  – Be thrifty today to prepare for the future Short-term normative orientation:  – Traditions and norms are important  – Social change is viewed suspiciously

This is not to be confused with gender roles. Hofstede uses these (slightly misleading) term to locate cultures

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Fig. 9.1   Cultural dimensions 1 and 2 from Hofstede et al. (2010, p. 103). (© McGraw-Hill Education. From: Hofstede et al. [2010]. Cultures and organizations. Software of the mind [3rd ed.]. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill)

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Fig. 9.2   Hofstede et al.’s cultural dimensions 3 and 4 (2010, p. 214). (© McGraw-Hill Education. From: Hofstede et.al. [2010]. Cultures and organizations. Software of the mind [3rd ed.]. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill)

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Fig. 9.3   Hofstede et al.’s cultural dimensions 5 and 6 (2010, p. 287). (© McGraw-Hill Education. From: Hofstede et al. [2010]. Cultures and organizations. Software of the mind [3rd ed.]. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill)

9.3  Plagiarism: Forms, Identification, Handling and Prevention

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teaching (e.g., power distance to you; how strongly rules for avoiding uncertainty are demanded).

9.3 Plagiarism: Forms, Identification, Handling and Prevention Plagiarism is a nuisance that approximately 80% of teachers experience at least once within three years of teaching (McCabe, 2005). Weber-Wulff and Wohnsdorf (2006, pp. 90 ff.) differentiate between different forms of plagiarism, which includes not only the plagiarism of others but also self-plagiarism: • Complete plagiarism: Copying entire works, often from Internet sources or ghostwriters. • Translation plagiarism: Translating a non-German source into German (possibly with translation software). • Partial plagiarism, version Shake & Paste: Copying text passages from different sources and recompiling them in one's own chosen order. • Partial plagiarism, version "Half-sentence Patchwork": Copying sentences and halfsentences from (possibly different) sources and modifying them by omitting and adding individual words, using synonyms, and changing the order of the words and sentences. • Structural copying: Copying the original source's argumentation and rewriting it in one's own words without naming the original source. It is partly controversial whether this can still be considered plagiarism. • Specificity: Programming exercise in computer science: Copying the program code by renaming the names of variables. Overall, according to McCabe’s (2005) study with 80,000 students and 12,000 teachers, plagiarism decreases with the increasing qualification level of the students, and severe forms such as complete plagiarism (4–7% of students do this at least once per year according to McCabe) are less common than lighter forms (partial plagiarism “Copying of individual sentences, which have been paraphrased”: 25–38% of students do this at least once per year according to McCabe). Before the the work is corrected, plagiarism detection software is often used to identify plagiarism. This software, however, still has various weaknesses (see Weber-Wulff, 2016 for an overview). False alarms are not unusual, e.g., when common espressions (e.g., "The result is significant") or university-specific standards (e.g., cover page format and declaration of originality) are marked as examples of plagiarism. Nevertheless, plagiarism detection software can provide a good first indication of plagiarism. Furthermore, complete plagiarism is (and, in the future, translation plagiarism will likely also be) discovered much more often by such software than was the case a few years ago. Nevertheless, many cases of plagiarism go unrecognized by these software.

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In addition to plagiarism detection software, we teachers must, therefore, remain active as critical correctors. Weber-Wulff and Wohnsdorf (2006) list the following indicators of plagiarism: • • • • •

Outstanding formulations (for a student of this semester) Change of style within the work: Content and layout Unusual foreign words for the subject Spelling mistakes (orthography and grammar) Misspellings in proper names

If plagiarism is discovered, you should first document this conclusively. Depending on the university, there may be standardized procedures (e.g., notifying the examination office, dean of studies). Subsequently, it is necessary to consider which consequences should be drawn. The consequences should be based on the severity of the plagiarism (e.g., one sentence in the whole work vs. complete plagiarism), and the case law almost always supports the consequences set by universities for plagiarism (Esposito & Schäfer, 2017). From a didactic point of view, the respective student hould be summoned to a discussion during office hours so that the teacher can listen to his perspective and reduce the chance of future plagiarism (Schiefner, 2010). Table 9.2 shows your tasks in the preparation and conduct of such a conversation. Ideally, plagiarism does not occur at all. Students usually only plagiarize if they (a) have the opportunity to do so, (b) perceive the benefits of it as great and (c) do not consider it morally questionable (Sattler et al., 2013). Plagiarism is easier to implement (factor a) through digitization but also easier to detect. This reduces the benefit (factor b) if the consequences are high. Therefore, a standardized procedure of the respective university or, at least, of the department is useful. In addition, you should convey certain norms

Table 9.2  Preparing and conducting an interview regarding plagiarism accusations. (From Schiefner, 2010, p. 19) Phase

Tasks

Preparing the interview

Collect evidence for plagiarism, compile professional documentation on the topic, plan the course of the interview, reserve a room, schedule an appointment

Initial phase

Welcome, introduction to the topic, information on the duration of the interview

Main phase

Confront the student about the plagiarism accusation (not an accusation but show interest in what happened), questions about the student's subjective perspective and explanations

Final phase

Planning further procedures, sketching solution paths, developing action options

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when teaching (Nissen, 2012) - e.g., why plagiarism morally questionable (factor c) for student's and in the sciences (see Weber-Wulff & Wohnsdorf, 2006, pp. 91 ff.).

9.4 Excursions as a Specific Teaching Format Field trips are common and have been developed in subjects in which central competencies can only be acquired on a field trip. This includes, e.g., geography (e.g., mapping, soil determination), biology (e.g., quantitative and qualitative assessments of animal and plant populations) and archaeology (e.g., excavations). Field trips last from a few hours of one day to several weeks, depending on the didactic goal. However, a limitation of field trips to individual subjects is not didactically necessary . Field trips can be carried out in all subjects in didactically meaningful ways. Table 9.3 shows the possible field trips of selected colleagues, for which I am very grateful. Stolz and Feiler (2018, Chap. 4) differentiate between four different forms of excursions, with the number of input phases decreasing and student work phases supervised by the teacher increasing as the number increases: 1. Trip “into the blue”: An excursion to a destination that is not necessarily specified in advance by the teacher target. While on-site, students only receive input from their teacher, who may also answer student questions. Students are usually not debriefed in advance about the excursion or the tasks they will have to complete (e.g., a spontaneous trip to the botanical garden to illustrate plant species in biology). 2. Problem-oriented excursion: An excursion with a clearly defined problem, which the students have to solve during the excursion and present in the debriefing, (e.g., a biology class's trip to a forest, where the students should identify forest damage and document them in the protocol. 3. Action-oriented excursion: After the teacher's brief overview at the beginning of the excursion, the teacher distributes smaller tasks for the students to work on independently and tries to keep an eye on all groups and only intervene in case of problems (e.g., a biology class's trip to a forest to collect as many different fruits and leaves as possible and subsequently identify the similarities and differences between them in student work groups. Finally, the respective work groups present their results to the class. 4. Constructivist work excursion: At the beginning of the excursion, rough task settings are fixed (by the teacher or by the students themselves). The students now act almost completely independently (e.g., a biology class's visit to a forest to examine forest damage, animal and plant populations, possible use concepts of the forest area, and the intentions of the people they encountered in the forest—recreation, work, etc.). Finally, the respective work groups present and reflect upon their work results in front of the class. This form is more suitable for students with excursion experience.

Classical archaeology: Visits to collections with comparative finds (e.g., plaster casts or exhibitions with relevant themes in museums (e.g., the special exhibition “Bunte Götter” [Colorful Gods]). Furthermore, visits to historically relevant places, such as excavation sites in Greece (e.g., Olympia) or Italy (e.g., Pompeii)) Prehistoric archaeology/prehistory/early history: Visits to permanent and special exhibitions with exemplary finds on display (e.g., Bavarian State Collection, the Museum für Vorgeschichte Halle [Museum of Prehistory Halle]); visits to relevant excavation sites (e.g., the reconstructed walled settlement of Heuneburg, the Viking settlement in Haithabu or the Celtic oppidum on Mont Beauvray [Bibracte]). Excursions can also be a good supplement to excavations conducted independently Provincial Roman archaeology: As described above, with examples primarily from places along the Limes (e.g., Saalburg) or in other former Roman provinces (e.g., places along the Limes Arabicus in Syria or permanently visitable excavation sites such as Italica in Spain) Near Eastern archaeology: As described above (e.g., the presentation of Luristan bronzes in the archaeological museum in Frankfurt am Main) Excursions to (a) the living world with a specific focus (e.g., fungus excursions, zoological, ornithological and botanical courses) or specific habitats (e.g., beach or forest excursions, aquariums and zoos) or (b) outside of nature (e.g., the natural history museum). These trips would allow students to experience, perceive and learn about nature (e.g., with sound maps as well as through plant and animal identification with magnifying glasses and binoculars). Visits to geographically special places (e.g., “Nationalpark Eifel”, “mongolian steppe”) or thematically chosen places (e.g., “creek field trip”): There sensory acquisition, description, observation (e.g. behaviour of animals), sketching and mapping (e.g., objects, shapes, landscape sections), measurement (e.g., water flow velocity), field work (e.g., soil profile), collection of objects (e.g., stones, plant parts), experimentation, questioning and/or orientation in the field (e.g., geocaching)

Archaeology Dr. Andy Reymann, Goethe University Frankfurt

Biology Dr. Dennis Barnekow, Europa University Flensburg, in Stolz and Feiler (2018)

Geography Dr. Michael Klein, University of Cologne, in Klein (2015) ; apl. Prof. Dr. Christian Stolz, Europa University Flensburg, Benjamin Feiler, Schule Gelnhausen, in Stolz and Feiler (2018)

(continued)

Possible field trips

Subject (colleague with university)

Table 9.3  Possible field trips of selected colleagues

146 9  Teaching: Didactic Subtleties

Computer Science Systems in Practice: Visits to trade fairs for different subareas of computer science, visits to the data centers of companies or public institutions, visits to company exhibitions (e.g., Siemens Healthineers Museum Erlangen), visits to intelligent production lines of industrial companies as part of factory tours (e.g., at automobile manufacturers or in the aerospace industry) Museums with exhibitions from the field of computer science: Exhibitions on the history of computing (e.g., Deutsches Museum München, Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin, Konrad-Zuse-Museum Hünfeld, technikum29 Computermuseum Kelkheim, Konrad-Zuse Computermuseum Hoyerswerda, Informatik-Sammlung Erlangen) as well as those on artificial intelligence and robotics (e.g., Ars Electronica Center Linz, Futurium Berlin, Heinz-Nixdorf Museumszentrum Paderborn, Deutsches Museum München, Technik-Museum Wien) Visits to to marketing departments of cooperation partners with the aim of researching specific results for the company according to predetermined questions Visits to exhibitions (e.g., “The Art of Advertising”) in order to learn about the history of advertising and to receive suggestions for study projects Excursion for conducting field research on consumer behavior (e.g., comparisons of similar stores), in order to experience oneself as a consumer, observe other consumers and discover their needs as well as to recognize sales strategies Excursion to Google: To get to know the company Google and to participate in their training procedures (e.g., Google Analytics) Guided tour through a renowned hotel such as the Fairmont Vier Jahreszeiten or the Hotel Tortue to get to know their concepts (cf. tourism management) Museums with exhibitions from the field of mathematics: Interactive experiments from the field of mathematics (e.g., Mathematikum Gießen, Haus der Mathematik Wien, MiMa Oberwolfach, Erlebnisland Mathematik Dresden), historical calculating instruments (e.g., Arithmeum Bonn, Deutsches Museum München, mathematisch-physikalischer Salon Dresden) Mathematics in practice: Visits to companies that mainly employ mathematicians (e.g., central offices of banks and insurance companies as well as management consultancies), trips to research centers with a focus on mathematics (e.g., the lecture series “Blick über den Tellerrand” at Fraunhofer ITMW Kaiserslautern)

Computer Science Prof. Dr. Barbara Wieczorek, University of Applied Sciences Jena

Marketing Prof. Dr. Gabriele Schuster, IU International University of Applied Sciences

Mathematics Prof. Dr. Barbara Wieczorek, University of Applied Sciences Jena

(continued)

Possible field trips

Subject (colleague with university)

Table 9.3   (continued)

9.4  Excursions as a Specific Teaching Format 147

Visits to state parliaments (regional, national and European level), courts, memorial sites, newspaper and television studios, virtual sites on the Internet (e.g., international crisis areas)

Political science Dr. Peer Egtved, Europa University Flensburg, in Stolz and Feiler (2018)

(continued)

Jurisprudence Constitutional law: Visits to institutions involved in the legislative process. At the federal level, these can Prof. Dr. Esther Hartwich, IU Interna- be, e.g., the German Bundestag, the Bundesrat or a federal ministry. At the state level, the respective state tional University of Applied Sciences parliament or a ministry of the state Administrative law: Visits involving authorities at federal, state or local level. E.g., the Federal Employment Agency, a state ministry or the specialist department of a city administration All areas of law: In all areas of law, the corresponding courts can also be visited in order to obtain information on site about the course and procedure of a court proceedings and, if necessary, to participate in a hearing

Psychology Work, organizational and economic psychology: Visits to the human ressources department of large compaProf. Dr. Immanuel Ulrich, IU Interna- nies, management consulting firms and market research institutes, conversations with employees, managetional University of Applied Sciences ment and (possibly) customers about possibilities within the scope of professional activity Clinical psychology: Visits to therapy and rehabilitation centers, interviews with psychological psychotherapists about possibilities within the scope of professional activity, conversations with patients, observations of therapy sessions (when possible) Educational psychology: Visit to counseling centers in schools, conversations with psychological counselors, teachers, parents and students about counseling occasions (e.g. prevention of bullying; media competence of adolescents, etc.) and the effect of these Legal psychology: Visits to court hearings, an assessment of the credibility of witness statements, followed by a round of talks with a legal psychological expert; visits to prisons, conversations with legal psychologists and possibly (former) inmates about re-socialization and the importance of therapy for this

Possible field trips

Subject (colleague with university)

Table 9.3   (continued)

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In general: Excursions can be made in social work in almost all fields of action and institutions. They are an essential part of professional training and a way to connect disciplines with professions. In this way, e.g., students can visit a daycare center that works integratively and ompare it with their impressions of the daycare center of a homeless shelter. In this way, common core features of social work as well as differences related to the target groupss can be identified. It is always worthwhile to deal with the specific field of action before excursions (e.g., within the framework of professional self-descriptions) (cf. Meyer & Siewert, 2020) Individual case work: Visits to institutions and accompanying conversations with practitioners (e.g., from the youth offices, institutions for child and youth services, drug or housing emergency services as well as counseling centers) Social group work: In order to understand the differences in professional action between the different social forms, a comparison is particularly useful. Within social group work, excursions can be made for exposing students to political youth work (process-oriented work form), outreach youth work (peer-oriented), sex education or theater work (appropriation-oriented), family counseling in social work (solution-oriented) and anti-aggression training (compulsory context) Community work: Excursions that are not tied to institutions are definitely worth experiencing (e.g., structured neighborhood walks, interviews with key people, subjective maps, clique grids, car photography, institutional surveys). In addition, introductory visits to relevant institutions (e.g., neighborhood management) as well as conversations with practitioners are also worthwhile Research projects: In addition to these more classical approaches, research projects provide a relevant illustration of social realities and their (social) consequences for becoming qualified in social work. Here, entire events can be ‘relocated’ to a nursing home or an institution of homeless assistance. It is important that there is enough room for reflection on the experiences made in this case The acquisition of knowledge, teaching methods and practical sports skills through visits to swimming pools, beach and water sports, mudflat hiking, bike tours, skiing, climbing parks and/or skate parks. Visits to rehabilitation centers, sports editorial offices, sports equipment manufacturers and sports associations with a vocational orientation

Social work Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Meyer, Fulda University of Applied Sciences

Sports science Prof. Dr. Jan Erhorn, University of Osnabrück, & Prof. Dr. Jürgen Schwier, Europa University Flensburg, in Stolz and Feiler (2018)

(continued)

Possible field trips

Subject (colleague with university)

Table 9.3   (continued)

9.4  Excursions as a Specific Teaching Format 149

Visits to cities of theological and historical importance (e.g., visits to Rome for a Catholic theology course and to Wartburg and Wittenberg for an Protestant theology course); visits to important sacred buildings (e.g., churches, synagogues, mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples, monasteries); visits to important church sites (e.g., cemeteries, monuments, museums and art galleries). On-site sensory experience, possibly with a tour and/or conversations with church representatives

Theology (Protestant & Catholic) Dr. Markus Pohlmeyer, Europa University Flensburg, in Stolz and Feiler (2018)

Tourism Management Destination Management: Visits to different tourist regions (e.g., Sauerland, Berchtesgadener Land), Prof. Dr. Felix Wölfle, IU International conversations with the Destination Management and different stakeholders about the strategic tourism University of Applied Sciences development in the region, case study discussions regarding developments, current challenges and product development Tourism Policy: Visits to state tourism organizations (e.g., Tourismus NRW e. V.) and interest representation associations (e.g., Deutscher Hotel- und Gaststättenverband e. V.), conversations about political steering instruments of the cross-sectoral tourism industry Service providers: Visits to individual tourist service providers (e.g., hotels, amusement parks, museums, airports), conversations about product development (e.g., digitalization) and the cooperative creation of the tourism service bundle together with other service providers, case study discussions and developments about product development Tourism service chain: Multi-day excursions during which all of the above-mentioned areas are addressed, exposing the students to the entire tourism service chain with all its different service providers and allowing them to better understand certain causal relationships

Possible field trips

Subject (colleague with university)

Table 9.3   (continued)

150 9  Teaching: Didactic Subtleties

9.4  Excursions as a Specific Teaching Format

151

Since excursions take place outside the campus, in contrast to classical teaching formats (lectures, seminars, practicals, etc.), there are some special aspects to consider from a didactic and organizational point of view (cf. Table 9.4). Virtual excursions (to the same place) during the course are beneficial for the preparation of excursions (Spicer & Stratford, 2011). There are no meta-analyses yet on the effect of excursions on students, but there are individual studies (geography students: Demirkaya & Atayeter, 2011; student teachers of physics: Gurvitch & Metzler, 2009; interdisciplinary 6-week trip to Greenland with Table 9.4  Aspects to be considered from a didactic and organizational point of view. (According to Lonergan & Andresen, 1988; Klein, 2015; Stolz & Feiler, 2018, pp. 57 ff.; partly self-completed) Phase

Aspects

Preparation

Determination of the main topic (including the global learning goal of the excursion) Selection of the excursion destination Development of the concept (including the specific learning goals of the excursion) Clarification of the necessary preparation time, budget, means of transport, equipment and the catering as well as (for foreign trips) the necessary travel documents and vaccinations Selection of participants, with regard to the group size possible for the excursion, the necessary physical fitness, problematic allergies, physical skills (e.g., climbing or swimming necessary?), problematic phobias (e.g., fear of heights on an excursion to the mountains) Timely booking (of transportation and accommodation) Preparation of materials (e.g., worksheets) Familiarization with the terrain (ideally)

Implementation

Introductions and briefing of the participants at the beginning of the excursion (or always at the beginning of the day for multi-day excursions) If necessary, icebreaker games at the beginning of the excursion Organization of the process: Daily planning including free time slots for the participants, time management with enough breaks (especially for the weaker participants), observation and consideration of possible unfavorable weather changes Interesting input without information overload Activities in the field, ideally in a mixed methods approach, for students: Individual and group tasks (if necessary, with tools and maps for observation), collection, measurement, identification, classification and/or mapping, etc. Supervision of student work groups. Draw interim conclusions Debriefing of the participants at the end of the work phase If necessary, joint leisure activities in the evening

Post-processing

Securing and presenting the work results depending on the study regulations for the corresponding examination Evaluation of the excursion by teachers and students Reflection on the experiences

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geological, geographical and biological tasks: Stott & Hall, 2003). With regard to student competence development through excursions, the current research suggests the following: • Professional competences: The transfer of practical experience through the application of theoretical subject knowledge, the acquisition of new perspectives (Demirkaya & Atayeter, 2011) and development of more effective problem-solving skills (Stott & Hall, 2003). • Methodological competences: Improved time management, travel on glaciers (use of ropes and crampons), rescue of travel companions from glacier crevasses, preparation of dehydrated food (Stott & Hall, 2003). • Social competences: Improved handling of emotions and living in large groups in close quarters, better leadership, organisation and group motivation (Stott & Hall, 2003), reduced social distance between teachers and students; interaction with the local population (Demirkaya & Atayeter, 2011) • Personnel competences: Improvements in goal setting and achievement, self-confidence, coping with cold and loneliness (Stott & Hall, 2003), self-efficacy beliefs (“I can do it” - but to the same degree as in the laboratory, see Gurvitch & Metzler, 2009), perceived relevance of the subject, positive emotions (Demirkaya & Atayeter, 2011) and enthusiasm (Stott & Hall, 2003) during the excursion.

9.5 Details of Teaching Design Here I will list further individual aspects of teaching design which you can take into account in addition to those mentioned in the other chapters. The effects are always given for the students’ learning success, effects on learning evaluation results are listed separately: • Relevance and usefulness of the course content: Taking this into account has a positive effect on student learning success (d = 0.35) and your teaching evaluation results (d = 1.96; Feldman, 1989). Always make it clear to the students what the learning content is for (in further studies, in the profession, etc.). If, occasionally, you cannot think of how the students could benefit from specific content, consider deleting it. • Clear emphasis on similarities and differences: It is very helpful for student learning success (d = 1.32; Marzano, 1998) if you present different theories, concepts, etc. clearly through comparisons. For this purpose, a simplified overview is allowed at the beginning. E.g., when defining fruit and vegetables, you can first describe the general characteristics (fruit arises from the fertilized flower, comes from perennial plants, has a higher sugar content, etc.). Only when this concept is internalized, do you start with the exceptions (and thus, the fuzzy similarities and differences) - e.g., that tomatoes arise from fertilized flowers and thus … • (Additional) hints and tips on the topic, solution strategies, etc.: This is always useful for better learning when the students don’t have any further knowledge (d = 1.13; Marzano, 1998).

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• Elaborated solution paths or examples: Particularly helpful for complex cases and/or students with little prior knowledge (d = 0.37; Hattie, 2015). • Structuring the topic area itself: This works best with graphics (d = 1.24) and notes (d = 0.99) as well with artistic designs with real or symbolic objects (d = 0.89) or “Advanced Organizers” (d = 0.48; Marzano, 1998). • Promote accuracy in students: Insist on precise statements or show where the student's answer was imprecise (d = 0.27; Marzano, 1998). • Deductive reasoning: Students should make predictions for a specific case based on general laws (d = 0.38; Marzano, 1998). • Inductive reasoning: Students should derive general laws from specific cases (d = 0.11; Marzano, 1998). The effect is too small to be relevant, but should be given as a comparison to deductive reasoning. • Students' questioning of their own knowledge (independently, experimentally or through hypothesis testing): This is very effective, but students need to be trained to proceed systematically and correctly (d = 1.14; Marzano, 1998). • Learning hierarchies: Proceed analogously to the learning levels of your learning goals (cf. Chap. 4) and start with lower learning levels (e.g., remembering rules) before moving on to higher learning levels (e.g., applying problem-solving strategies) (d = 0.21; Horon & Lynn, 1980). This significantly reduces the time required in the course. • Meta-cognitive strategies: Students should first think about the task and its solution, then find the optimal strategy, implement it, and monitor the effectiveness of this process during implementation (d = 0.53; Hattie, 2015). • Reciprocal teaching: Conduct a dialogue with students when analyzing texts. Go through the following points: 1. Predict (what the author will probably notice), 2. Ask questions (about the text), 3. Clarify (certain words and sentences), Clarify, 4. Summarize the content (d = 0.74; Hattie, 2015). • Microteaching: Students teach other students content, which is then analyzed for the quality . Record a video of the exercise/interaction (optional) (d = 0.88; Hattie, 2015). • Peer tutoring: Students are actively supportive as co-teachers next to you (d = 0.55; Hattie, 2015). • Co-teacher: Teach with other teachers, with both of you present at the same time (d = 0.19; Hattie, 2015). • Processing of real problem cases in teaching: Proceed analogously to Mahan (1967): 1. Problem identification, 2. Problem analysis and information collection, 3. Hypothesis generation, 4. Hypothesis testing, 5. Problem solving (conclusion) (d = 0.63; Hattie, 2015). • Teacher's sensitivity to, and concern with, class level and progress: If you assess and take into account learning progress during the course, this promotes learning success (d = 0.63) and improves your teaching evaluation results (d = 0.87; Feldman, 1989).

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9.6 Practice Examples of Didactic Subtleties Due to the small-scale, thematically unrelated aspects, we will forego a practical example here. Their explanations would have been overly extensive (because of the heterogeneity of the topics) and provided few helpful, practical suggestions. You will find practice examples again in the following chapters. What is Effective for Good Teaching: Didactic Subtleties with Limited Time?

• Since the topic sections are brief, only read those that interest you most. ◄

References Bosse, E. (2011). Qualifizierung für interkulturelle Kommunikation. Trainingskonzeption und -evaluation (Reihe interkulturelle Kommunikation, Vol. 10). Iudicium. Cronbach, L. J., & Snow, R. E. (1977). Aptitudes and instructional methods. A handbook for research on interactions. Irvington. Daniel, H.-D., Thoma, M., & Bandilla, W. (1994). Das Modellprojekt „Evaluation der Lehre“ an der Universität Mannheim: Teil 1: Planung und Durchführung von Befragungen in Lehrveranstaltungen. In P. P. Mohler (Ed.), Universität und Lehre. Ihre Evaluation als Herausforderung an die empirische Sozialforschung (pp. 81–91). Waxmann. Demirkaya, H., & Atayeter, Y. (2011). A study on the experiences of university lecturers and students in the geography field trip. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 19, 453–461. Esposito, A. C., & Schäfer, A. (2017). Überblick über die Rechtsprechung zu Plagiaten in Hochschule und Wissenschaft. KOPS. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-0-393641. Accessed 3. May 2020. Feldman, K. A. (1989). The association between student ratings of specific instructional dimensions and student achievement: Refining and extending the synthesis of data from multisection validity studies. Research in Higher Education, 30(6), 583–645. Gurvitch, R., & Metzler, M. W. (2009). The effects of laboratory-based and field-based practicum experience on pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(3), 437– 443. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2008.08.006. Hattie, J. A. (2015). The applicability of visible learning to higher education. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 1(1), 79–91. Hofstede, G. (1986). Cultural differences in teaching and learning. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 10(3), 301–320. Horon, P. F., & Lynn, D. D. (1980). Learning hierarchies research. Evaluation in Education, 4, 82–83. Howland, J., & Wedman, J. (2004). A process model for faculty development: Individualizing technology learning. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 12(2), 239–262. Klein, M. (2015). Exkursionsdidaktik. Eine Arbeitshilfe für Lehrer, Studenten und Dozenten (3., korr. u. erw. Aufl.). Schneider Verlag Hohengehren. Kulik, J. A. (2004). Meta-analytic studies of acceleration. In N. Colangelo, S. G. Assouline, & M. U. M. Gross (Eds.), A nation deceived: How schools hold back America’s brightest students (Vol. 2, pp. 13–22). The Connie Belin & Jacqueline N. Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development.

References

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Li, S. (2016). The construct validity of language aptitude: A Meta-Analysis. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 38, 801–842. https://doi.org/10.1017/S027226311500042X. Losche, H., & Püttker, S. (2009). Interkulturelle Kommunikation. Theoretische Einführung und Sammlung praktischer Interaktionsübungen (Praktische Erlebnispädagogik, 5. überarb. und erw. Aufl). ZIEL. Lonergan, N., & Andresen, L. W. (1988). Field-based education: Some theoretical considerations. Higher Education Research and Development, 7(1), 63–77. https://doi. org/10.1080/0729436880070106. Mahan, L. A. (1967). What is the problem solving method of teaching? Science Education, 51(4), 332–343. Mann, K., Gordon, J., & MacLeod, A. (2009). Reflection and reflective practice in health professions education: A systematic review. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 14(4), 595–621. Marzano, R. J. (1998). A theory-based meta-analysis of research on instruction. Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning. McCabe, D. L. (2005). Cheating among college and university students: A North American perspective. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 1(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.21913/ IJEI.v1i1.14. Meyer, N., & Siewert, A. (2020). Praxisfelder der Sozialen Arbeit. Berufliche Selbstbeschreibungen zwischen Homogenität und Differenz. UTB/Barbara Budrich. Nissen, M. (2012). Plagiaterkennung und Plagiatvermeidung an Universitäten und Bibliotheken. Bibliothek. Forschung und Praxis, 36, 200–206. https://doi.org/10.1515/bfp-2012-0024. Sattler, S., Graeff, P., & Willen, S. (2013). Explaining the decision to plagiarize: An empirical test of the interplay between rationality, norms, and opportunity. Deviant Behavior, 34(6), 444–463. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2012.735909. Schiefner, M. (2010). Wissenschaftliche Redlichkeit im Zeichen der Zeit – Hochschuldidaktische Perspektiven im Umgang mit Plagiaten. In B. Behrend, H.-P. Voss, & J. Wildt (Eds.), Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre (Rn. G 4.7). Raabe. Seidel, T., & Shavelson, R. J. (2007). Teaching effectiveness research in the past decade: The role of theory and research design in disentangling meta-analysis results. Review of Educational Research, 77(4), 454–499. Spicer, J. I., & Stratford, J. (2011). Student perceptions of a virtual field trip to replace a real field trip. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 17, 345–354. Stolz, C., & Feiler, B. (2018). Exkursionsdidaktik. Ein fächerübergreifender Praxisratgeber. UTB, Eugen Ulmer. Stott, T., & Hall, N. (2003). Changes in aspects of students’ self-reported personal, social and technical skills during a six-week wilderness expedition in Arctic Greenland. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 3(2), 159–169. Weber-Wulff, D. (2016). Plagiarism detection software: Promises, pitfalls, and practices. In T. Bretag (Ed.), Handbook of academic integrity (pp. 625–638). Springer. Weber-Wulff, D., & Wohnsdorf, G. (2006). Strategien der Plagiatsbekämpfung. Information: Wissenschaft & Praxis, 57(2), 90–98. Whitener, E. M. (1989). A meta-analytic review of the effect on learning of the interaction between prior achievement and instructional support. Review of Educational Research, 59(1), 65–86.

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Further Reading Hofstede, G. H., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations. Software of the mind (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill. [regarding intercultural differences]. Klein, M. (2015). Exkursionsdidaktik. Eine Arbeitshilfe für Lehrer, Studenten und Dozenten (3., korr. u. erw. Aufl.). Schneider Verlag Hohengehren. [many practical tips for excursions]. Nissen, M. (2012). Plagiaterkennung und Plagiatvermeidung an Universitäten und Bibliotheken. Bibliothek. Forschung und Praxis, 36, 200–206. https://doi.org/10.1515/bfp-2012-0024 [a brief, good overview about plagiarism]. Stolz, C., & Feiler, B. (2018). Exkursionsdidaktik. Ein fächerübergreifender Praxisratgeber. UTB, Eugen Ulmer. [many practical tips for excursions]. Weber-Wulff, D., & Wohnsdorf, G. (2006). Strategien der Plagiatsbekämpfung. Information: Wissenschaft & Praxis, 57(2), 90–98. [a brief, good overview about plagiarism].

Teaching Outside the Classroom: Blended Learning and E-Learning

10

Contents 10.1 Blended Learning instead of E-Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 10.2 Possible E-Learning Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 10.3 Optimal Blended-Learning Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 10.4 The Concept of the Flipped or Inverted-Classroom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 10.5 Practice Examples for Blended Learning and E-Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Abstract

Blended Learning and E-Learning are useful supplements to on-site teaching. After locating the use of media at the university, we discuss the advantage of blended learning (= “mixed learning”, i.e., face-to-face teaching and E-Learning combined) over E-Learning. We then go through typical E-Learning offers at the university. This is followed by criteria for optimal blended learning formats and an explanation of the flipped or inverted classroom concept. At the end, there are the usual practice examples. The use of media to supplement university teaching is a traditional method of increasing student learning success. In addition to the rhetorical skills of the teacher, this also involves his or her presentation skills (see Chap. 5) as well as the quality of the media and media content. Possible media can be differentiated according to Horz and Ulrich (2015) into:

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 I. Ulrich, Good Teaching in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39137-9_10

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• Primary media (without duplication technology): E.g., blackboard notes and pictures, pinboards, whiteboards. Largely used since antiquity. • Secondary media (technically produced): E.g., books, magazines, photographs, lecture notes, semester apparatus. Largely used since the early modern period (libraries). • Tertiary media (technological means necessary for producers and recipients): E.g., film, television, radio, CD / DVD / BD player, overhead projector. Largely used since the beginning of the twentieth century (cinema, records). • Quaternary media (computer and network technology): E.g., PowerPoint presentations, websites and blogs. The first studies on computer use in university teaching date back to the 1960s (Kulik et al., 1980b) - and its popularity has boomed since the 1990s. Quaternary and digital media are synonymous terms. Blended learning and e-learning formats use quaternary or digital media, which are time and place independent of the teacher. E-learning includes digital learning media without face-to-face teaching and usually involves self-study; blended learning combines digital learning media and face-to-face teaching. The use of media is not a method in itself - rather teaching methods and media use are independent of each other (Kerres, 2018, p. 230 f.). All (teaching) methods in this book can be implemented using an number of media forms.

10.1 Blended Learning instead of E-Learning E-learning offers specific advantages and disadvantages according to Horz (2015, p. 140): • The advantages of e-learning lie in the high degree of self-determination in learning with regard to learning speed and learning path. In addition, teaching and learning can take place independently of time and place, i.e., teachers and learners have a great deal of autonomy here. • The disadvantages of e-learning are due to the fact that it is (almost always) associated with anonymity and the social isolation of teachers and learners. This requires a high level of self-regulation on the part of learners to plan and use time for e-learning. Furthermore, there is a greater risk of the cognitive overload of learners due to complex instructional designs. Direct feedback to the teacher is not possible, in contrast to face-to-face teaching, and is usually only shown (too late) in the examination performance. Blended learning can compensate for the disadvantages of e-learning if the e-learning is integrated in a didactically meaningful way (Reinmann-Rothmeier, 2003, pp. 29 ff.). Pure e-learning is neither inferior to nor superior to pure face-to-face teaching (d = 0.05;

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Means et al., 2013). Blended learning should, therefore, be preferred over pure face-toface and pure e-learning teaching. Blended learning is helpful for student learning success (d = 0.33; Bernard et al., 2014), which results primarily from the complementary possibilities of IT for “traditional” face-to-face teaching. For learning success in blended learning, it is especially helpful if the e-learning primarily serves as a supplement and not a replacement for the input in the face-to-face phase (d = 0.42 vs. d = 0.31; Tamim et al., 2011; 45% of the studies used for this meta-analysis were done in primary and secondary schools, where the effects were somewhat higher). Analogous to teaching methods, no specific e-learning tool is optimal, but there are many sensible possibilities.

10.2 Possible E-Learning Tools Due to constantly increasing technical possibilities, the number of potential e-learning tools is also increasing. In terms of provision, e-learning tools can be roughly divided as follows : 1. Digital media used by the teacher when teaching face-to-face • PowerPoint slides • Video files • Audio files 2. Digitized media used by the teacher when teaching face-to-face • Primary media (before digitization): On a blackboard, whiteboard, pinboard or flipchart • Secondary media (before digitization): Books, scripts, magazine articles, maps 3. Recordings of face-to-face teaching • Live streaming, e.g., transmission to a second lecture hall due to a high number of students • Retrievable video file or stream, often in “Massive Online Open Courses” (MOOCs) 4. (Adaptive) computer programs with direct feedback • Simulations (e.g., of complex decision situations) • Learning games • Learning tasks and exercises 5. Digital files of text, images and audio (on the internet or the university’s learning platform) • Hypertexts (wikis) • Webblogs • Social networks • Discussion forums • Websites

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6. Digitally supported communication (with the lecturer of other students) outside of on-site teaching • E-mail • Chat/messenger services • Video conferences Most of the above-mentioned aspects are distributed via learning platforms (“learning management systems”), which your university will also have. The effective use of learning platforms has a positive effect on the results of teaching evaluations (Lumsden & Scott, 1984). In most cases, there are no copyright problems with learning platforms, as they are only accessible to a specific group of people. The administrators of your learning platform can make safe statements about this. If necessary, make your students aware of how to the handle the downloaded files. -learning, it is—analogous to face-to-face teaching—not about offering as comprehensive a range of methods as possible but about providing a didactically appropriate option (cf. Chap. 9, Section Adaptive Teaching). The criteria for using e-learning effectively correspond to employment of face-to-face teaching - e.g., the perceived support by the teaching staff is also important for motivating students using e-learning (Fryer & Bovee, 2016). However, users' media competence with regard to digital media is more important in e-learning than face-to-face teaching (Kerres, 2018, pp. 64 ff.). In principle, you cannot go wrong with your specific selection of e-learning methods - everything has a positive effect on the students’ learning success if it is embedded in a didactically meaningful way: • Interactive video methods (d = 0.54; Hattie, 2015) • Computer-aided simulations (d = 0.41; Merchant et al., 2014) • Animations instead of “just” visual images (d = 0.37; Höffler & Leutner, 2007) • “Programmed Instruction”: Pre-structured workbooks or software for self-study or use in teaching (d = 0.28 in Kulik et al., 1980a and Walberg & Lai, 1999) • Visual media: Film, television, PowerPoint etc. (d = 0.22; Hattie, 2015) • Audio tutorials (building criteria according to Constructive Alignment) (d = 0.20; Walberg & Lai, 1999) • Internet-based learning (d = 0.18; Hattie, 2015; Olson & Wisher, 2002) • Visually supported teaching (d = 0.15; Walberg & Lai, 1999) Your students will be, on average, almost as satisfied with distance learning or e-learning as with face-to-face teaching (Allen et al., 2002), and your students' learning success will likedly be almost as high (Machtmes & Asher, 2000). Interaction has a positive effect on both (Zhao et al., 2005). This includes, in particular, students' interaction with us teachers as well with each other. The positive influence of e-learning as a supplement to face-to-face teaching is evident both in terms of culture-specificity (e.g., Taiwan, d = 0.82; Liao, 2007) and sub-

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ject-specificity (e.g., “Science Education” at universities, d = 0.27; Bayraktar, 2001; Statistics, d = 0.33; Sosa et al., 2011). The mere use of e-learning with good didactic concepts is superior to “traditional face-to-face teaching” (Lou et al., 2006). A general switch from face-to-face teaching to e-learning is not pedagogically advisable (Zumbach & Astleitner, 2016, p. 145). Overall, e-learning offers a variety of possibilities (cf. e.g., Handke & Schäfer, 2012) to enrich one’s own face-to-face teaching.

10.3 Optimal Blended-Learning Formats The same criteria for good teaching apply to face-to-face teaching and e-learning. For the latter, the media competence of the users regarding digital media is also important (Kerres, 2018, pp. 64–66). However, in order to generate an optimal blended-learning format from the combination of both, a few more criteria are necessary: The didactic integration of the media as well as the intricaciesof e-learning. Blended-learning should, therefore, always be used to pursue a didactic goal, i.e., face-to-face teaching and e-learning should be didactically integrated in a meaningful way (Zellweger Moser & Jenert, 2018). To what extent do the individual aspects build on each other or interact with each other? A few special details need to be considered when using e-learning tools (Hew et al., 2010). The following problems are usually the reason: • The behavior of the fellow students is inappropriate: Derogatory and/or very emotional contributions, no reaction from fellow students, no reaction from the teacher to the question asked. => Set or agree on rules of behavior in online communication (e.g., criteria for good feedback, see Chap. 12) and control and, if necessary, sanction these. • The discussion is difficult to follow: The discussion threads are heterogeneous, unstructured and numerous. => Close finished threads, move thematically inappropriate posts, point out search functions. • Students' contribution is unclear: Task has already been solved by others. => Let the students practice generating new, productive posts and critically commenting on the posts of their fellow students (factual error control). • Suboptimal quality of contribution: Instead of scientific argumentation, general arguments are given or one’s own opinion is repeated. => Define criteria for good posts, write down a few best-practice examples. • Personality differences: E.g., very conscientious students meet very “laid-back” fellow students and have to work together. => Try to either only let similar students work together in work groups or mix the work groups as heterogeneously as possible so that no subgroup dominates.

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• Technical aspects: The e-learning software is faulty. => Contact the operator and possibly change the operator (if possible). The software is possibly not very user-friendly Therefore, the error may not be in the software but in your choice of settings. Use the free help available (user manual, training). • The benefits and need for e-learning tools are not apparent: What is the advantage of using the discussion forum, enganging the media? Often, media are offered in face-toface teaching (“I’ll put 10 additional sources online for you”) and in e-learning (“Discuss in the forum”) The didactic goal and benefit of doing this, however, is not entirely apparent (Abrami et al., 2006; Reinmann, 2012). A central criterion of good teaching is the nature and usefulness of supplementary materials and teaching aids, especially for your teaching evaluation (d = 2.08) and the success of your students (d = 22; Feldman, 1989). => Table 10.1 shows incentives for use. Since we have always discussed scenarios of on-site teaching so far, we assume that we are supplementing an existing face-to-face event with e-learning tools to create a blended learning format. We should always consider to what extent the respective e-learning tool benefits the students and thus motivates them to use it (cf. Chap. 8). I refer to the categorization from the previous section (cf. Table 10.1). Overall, you should encourage the use of extrinsic motivational incentives (especially performance tests and the condition of active participation) (more on this in Chap. 8). Otherwise, you run the risk of students only minimal using the e-learning tools. In this case, the time and financial investment in new media would be wasted (Cuban, 2001, p. 179). It is helpful to align computer-based tasks with small student learning groups (d = 0.31 vs. individually 0.16; Lou et al., 2001, p. 465) and to use software where students can determine their own learning speed (d = 0.41; Lou et al., 2001, p. 474). Especially with virtual learning groups, the social involvement of each student is central (Köhler et al., 2008, pp. 488 ff.). Small student learning groups need a little more time at the computer but use more learning strategies (Lou, 2004). In addition, your face-to-face teaching benefits through the use of digital media. In addition to categories 1 and 2 in Table 10.1 you can, for example, use digital voting systems via freeware on laptops, tablets or smartphones when teaching central content (e.g., Dusold, 2013).

10.4 The Concept of the Flipped or Inverted-Classroom A specific blended learning format is the flipped-classroom (or inverted-classroom) format, in which the traditional division between face-to-face and e-learning is inverted. In traditional teaching, there is usually first a face-to-face phase in which the basics are imparted. This is followed by a self-study phase (usually with e-learning elements) in which the students' knowledge of the learned basics should be deepened. In flippedclassroom teaching, both phases are swapped: The students should work out the basics

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Table 10.1  Blended Learning Formats—Potential Benefits for Students Category

Benefits (especially extrinsic)

Assessment

1. Digital media used by the teacher when teaching faceto-face – PowerPoint slides – Video files – Audio files

Simplified transcriptions, especially to better prepare for the performance test or upcoming session

The simplest and most common form of blended learning. Almost always downloaded, usually only worked through in time if necessary for the upcoming session (to be checked via questions)

2. Digitized teaching materials used by the teacher when teaching face-to-face – Images and notes on blackboard or whiteboard, pinboard, flipchart – Books, scripts, magazine articles, maps

Simplified transcripts of images and notes (especially for better exam preparation) Books, scripts, magazine articles, maps available online (independent of libraries) Worked through early if necessary for upcoming session (e.g. check for questions)

Books, magazine articles and maps are already mostly digitized by external providers, bundle them specifically. Almost always downloaded, rarely worked through in time

3. Recordings of face-to-face teaching – Live – Available video file or stream

For reworking in case of illness, for repetition in case of complex and difficult content

Seldom used for repetition because a lot of time is needed and, therefore, it should be planned in time before the performance test

4. (Adaptive) computer programs with direct feedback – Simulations – Learning games – Learning tasks and exercises

The relevance of successful completion for the performance test must be recognizable ⇒D  efine this as a criterion of active participation if appropriate

Largely popular because a) it promotes the human play instinct and b) constantly adapts to one’s own competence level (if adaptive)

5. Digital files of text, images and audio (Internet or university learning platform) – Hypertexts (wikis) – Webblogs – Social networks – Discussion forums – Websites

The relevance of successful creation for the performance test must be recognizable ⇒D  efine this as a criterion for active participation if appropriate (cf. Chap. 7)

Used if offered externally. Student's own creation of wikis etc. only if task is set by lecturer including control

6. Digitally supported commu- Quick use if lecturer responds or is available nication (with the lecturer or other students) outside of on-site teaching – E-mail – Chat/messenger services – Videoconferences

Useful and often used if students and/or lecturers are far away (semester abroad, conferences, etc.). Danger of redundant questions

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in the self-study phase with e-learning elements (scripts, videos, digitized articles and books, etc.). In the following face-to-face phase, the students' knowledge of the selftaught content is deepened with application tasks (exercises) in order to enable deep learning processes. It is important that all students have successfully completed the selfstudy phase and that the face-to-face phase is not used for a comprehensive repetition of the content or for comprehensive new input (Handke & Schäfer, 2012). Chen et al. (2014) identify seven factors of successful flipped-classroom formats in their study: • Flexible learning environments (temporally, spatially, media selection) • Learner- or student-centered learning environments (especially in the face-to-face phase) • Intentional or strategically selected learning content (by the teacher) for optimal fit • Professional teachers who act didactically well, especially in the face-to-face phase • Progressive learning activities, i.e., students who are primarily active in the face-toface phase • Effective learning through structure (of the concept and the learning materials), dialogue (between teachers and students) and autonomy (of the learners) • Diversified learning platforms to meet all personal preferences of the learners (e.g., functionality on all devices, learning materials such as text, audio and video files) A general recommendation for or against flipped-classroom formats is empirically more in favor. The motivation and satisfaction of students is just as high in flipped classrooms as in traditional face-to-face teaching (Butzler, 2014; Låg & Sæle, 2019). For the motivation of the students, the perceived support in the e-learning phase by the teachers is important. For this, it is crucial that teachers be accessible (Fryer & Bovee, 2016). According to Låg and Sæle (2019), however, flipped-classroom formats lead to higher learning outcomes than traditional face-to-face teaching (d = 0.341 in general; d = 0.32 only natural sciences, d = 0.34 only medicine; d = 0.42 only social sciences; d = 54 only humanities). The use of flipped-classroom formats should therefore be carried out for an appropriate didactic goal, e.g., if the implementing learned material is more difficult than the imparting of that knowledge (cf. Table 10.2). E.g., with regard to the successful negotiation tactics of employees towards their superiors: The tactics are easy to understand but, in the dynamics of the conversation, (more) difficult to implement Therefore, above all, the latter should be practiced. Thus, from a didactic point of view, a flipped-classroom format would make sense here. However, the effort required to switch from traditional teaching to flipped-classroom formats is not to be underestimated, especially with regard to the creation of self-learning materials—scripts, texts, quizzes and videos (O’Flaherty & Phillips, 2015).

1 Effect

size is actually Hedges’ g there. This is relatively similar to Cohen’s d.

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Table 10.2  Advantages and disadvantages of traditional and flipped-classroom formats Phase

Traditional

Flipped Classroom

1

Face-to-face: (+) Social pressure to engage in learning activities during the face-to-face phase (+) Good for difficult topics (−) In the case of easy topics, there is a risk of wasting time

Self-study (with e-learning elements): (+) Transmission of basics in advance (−) High self-regulation of students necessary and a concept supporting this (±) The didactic quality of the teaching material is much more central than in traditional formats

2

Self-study (mostly with e-learning elements): (−) Infrequent inclusion of in-depth exercises unless there is a control or upcoming performance test

Face-to-face: (+) More in-depth online phase, thus deep learning (via application) possible (−) Ineffective if content was not learned or understood beforehand.

10.5 Practice Examples for Blended Learning and E-Learning The following practical examples use the same teachers, Thomas M., Markus T. and Sandra F., as in the previous chapters. The following provisions partly result from their teaching plans (cf. Chap. 4), which I do not repeat here. A Practical Example from the Humanities

Thomas M. makes all his media available online before the start of the event. If he wants to present something unexpected (new findings, etc.), he asks the students not to read the slides in advance. Since he has first-semester students, he makes some, difficult to research, digital sources available to them via the e-learning platform. In addition, the students—as a condition of active participation—are to research articles from the daily press on the topics of his lecture ( with around 30 students, approx. 2 students per lecture), post them online on the learning platform and evaluate them in terms of their quality and fit to the historical research. The conclusion must be evaluated by a different student. Thomas M. controls the implementation and picks out exemplary good and bad examples in his face-to-face lesson. This serves his learning objectives “text analysis” and “mediation of critical awareness”. ◄ A Practical Example from the Social Sciences

Markus T. also makes all his media available online before the start of the event. In addition, the individual student groups have to record their feedback in a blog on the learning platform. For their positive points, they have to explain in bullet points how they implemented this. For their negative points, they have to define necessary tasks and solutions. In this way, all students can receive suggestions for solutions by

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r­ eading the blogs of others. This serves, inter alia, his methodological (organization of an evaluation study) and social learning goal (successful teamwork). ◄ A Practical Example from the Natural Sciences

Sandra F. also puts all her media online before the lecture begins. In addition, she records her lectures—like her professor and her tutor—the tools which the e-learning institution of her university offers as a service. In addition, she has a special didactic concept (see Chap. 7) for using the platform's discussion forum: Her students have to generate exam tasks and, afterwards, find solutions to the tasks of their fellow students afterwards. 20% of the exam will include student exam tasks. Through the intensive discussions on the learning platform, students are encouraged to learn the materials more in-depth. This serves her methodological learning goal “Calculation of (mathematical and astrophysical) models”. Since she only has 30 students, she manages and controls the learning platform herself. ◄ What is Effective for Good Teaching: Blended Learning Formats with Limited Time

• Make all media available online - if possible, before the lecture. • Many universities offer free services (e.g., event recording). Use them. ◄

References Abrami, P. C., Bernard, R. M., Wade, A., Schmid, R. F., Borokhovski, E., Tamim, R., et al. (2006). A review of e-learning in Canada: A rough sketch of the evidence, gaps and promising directions. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 32, 3. https://doi.org/10.21432/T2QS3K. Allen, M., Bourhis, J., Burrell, N., & Mabry, E. (2002). Comparing student satisfaction with distance education to traditional classrooms in higher education: A meta-analysis. The American Journal of Distance Education, 16(2), 83–97. Bayraktar, S. (2001). A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction in science education. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 34(2), 173–188. Bernard, R. M., Borokhovski, E., Schmid, R. F., Tamim, R. M., & Abrami, P. C. (2014). A metaanalysis of blended learning and technology use in higher education: From the general to the applied. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 26(1), 87–122. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s12528-013-9077-3. Butzler, K. B. (2014). The effects of motivation on achievement and satisfaction in a flipped classroom learning environment (Dissertation, Northcentral University). https://www.une.edu/sites/ default/files/Effects%20of%20Motivation.pdf. Accessed 3. May 2020. Chen, Y., Wang, Y., Kinshuk, & Chen, N.-S. (2014). Is FLIP enough? Or should we use the FLIPPED model instead? Computers & Education, 79, 16–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.07.004. Cuban, L. (2001). Oversold and underused. Computers in the classroom. Harvard University Press. Dusold, D. (2013). Entwicklung eines Umfrage- und Evaluationssystems für die Hochschullehre. (Bachelorarbeit, Universität Passau). http://www.eislab.fim.uni-passau.de/files/publications/students/Dusold-Bachelorarbeit.pdf. Accessed 3. May 2020.

References

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Feldman, K. A. (1989). The association between student ratings of specific instructional dimensions and student achievement: Refining and extending the synthesis of data from multisection validity studies. Research in Higher Education, 30(6), 583–645. Fryer, L. K., & Bovee, H. N. (2016). Supporting students’ motivation for e-learning: Teachers matter on and off line. The Internet and Higher Education, 30, 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. iheduc.2016.03.003. Handke, J., & Schäfer, A. M. (2012). E-Learning, E-Teaching und E-Assessment in der Hochschullehre. Eine Anleitung. Oldenbourg. Hattie, J. A. (2015). The applicability of visible learning to higher education. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 1(1), 79–91. Hew, K. F., Cheung, W. S., & Ng, C. S. L. (2010). Student contribution in asynchronous online discussion: A review of the research and empirical exploration. Instructional Science, 38(6), 571–606. Höffler, T. N., & Leutner, D. (2007). Instructional animation versus static pictures: A meta-analysis. Learning and Instruction, 17(6), 722–738. Horz, H. (2015). Medien. In E. Wild & J. Möller (Eds.), Pädagogische Psychologie (2. vollst. überarb. und aktualisierte Aufl., pp. 121–149). Springer. Horz, H., & Ulrich, I. (2015). Lernen mit Medien. In H. Reinders, H. Ditton, C. Gräsel, & B. Gniewosz (Eds.), Empirische Bildungsforschung. Gegenstandsbereiche (2., überarb. Aufl., pp. 25–39). Springer. Kerres, M. (2018). Mediendidaktik. Konzeption und Entwicklung digitaler Lernangebote (5., überarb. und aktualisierte Aufl.). De Gruyter Oldenbourg. Köhler, T., Kahnwald, N., & Reitmaier, M. (2008). Lehren und Lernen mit Multimedia und Internet. In B. Batinic & M. Appel (Eds.), Medienpsychologie (pp. 477–501). Springer. Kulik, J. A., Cohen, P. A., & Ebeling, B. J. (1980a). Effectiveness of programmed instruction in higher education: A meta-analysis of findings. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 2(6), 51–64. Kulik, J. A., Kulik, C.-L. C., & Cohen, P. A. (1980b). Effectiveness of computer-based college teaching: A meta-analysis of findings. Review of Educational Research, 50(4), 525–544. Låg, T., & Sæle, R. G. (2019). Does the Flipped Classroom Improve Student Learning and Satisfaction? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. AERA Open, 5(3), 1–17. https://doi. org/10.1177/2332858419870489. Liao, Y.-K. C. (2007). Effects of computer-assisted instruction on students’ achievement in Taiwan: A meta-analysis. Computers & Education, 48(2), 216–233. Lou, Y. (2004). Understanding process and affective factors in small group versus individual learning with technology. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 31(4), 337–369. Lou, Y., Abrami, P. C., & d’Apollonia, S. (2001). Small group and individual learning with technology: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 71(3), 449–521. Lou, Y., Bernard, R. M., & Abrami, P. C. (2006). Media and pedagogy in undergraduate distance education: A theory-based meta-analysis of empirical literature. Educational Technology Research and Development, 54(2), 141–176. Lumsden, K., & Scott, A. (1984). How to maximize golden opinions. Applied Economics, 16(5), 647–654. Machtmes, K., & Asher, J. W. (2000). A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of telecourses in distance education. American Journal of Distance Education, 14(1), 27–46. Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., & Baki, M. (2013). The effectiveness of online and blended learning: A meta-analysis of the empirical literature. Teachers College Record, 115(3), 1–47. Merchant, Z., Goetz, E. T., Cifuentes, L., Keeney-Kennicutt, W., & Davis, T. J. (2014). Effectiveness of virtual reality-based instruction on students’ learning outcomes in K-12 and higher

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education: A meta-analysis. Computers & Education, 70, 29–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.07.033. O’Flaherty, J., & Phillips, C. (2015). The use of flipped classrooms in higher education: A scoping review. The Internet and Higher Education, 25, 85–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2015.02.002 Olson, T. M., & Wisher, R. A. (2002). The effectiveness of web-based instruction: An initial inquiry. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 3(2). http:// www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/103/182. Accessed 3. May 2020. Reinmann, G. (2012). Der Hendl-Tipp: Finger weg von digitalen Medien in der Hochschullehre? HDS Journal, 1, 63–67. Reinmann-Rothmeier, G. (2003). Didaktische Innovation durch Blended Learning. Leitlinien anhand eines Beispiels aus der Hochschule. Huber. Sosa, G. W., Berger, D. E., Saw, A. T., & Mary, J. C. (2011). Effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction in statistics: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 81(1), 97–128. Tamim, R. M., Bernard, R. M., Borokhovski, E., Abrami, P. C., & Schmid, R. F. (2011). What forty years of research says about the impact of technology on learning: A second-order metaanalysis and validation study. Review of Educational Research, 81(1), 4–28. Walberg, H. J., & Lai, J.-S. (1999). Meta-analytic effects for policy. In G. J. Cizek (Ed.), Handbook of educational policy (pp. 419–453). Academic. Zellweger Moser, F., & Jenert, T. (2018). Konsistente Gestaltung von Selbstlernumgebungen. In H. Bachmann (Ed.), Kompetenzorientierte Hochschullehre. Die Notwendigkeit von Kohärenz zwischen Lernzielen, Prüfungsformen und Lehr-Lernmethoden (Forum Hochschuldidaktik und Erwachsenenbildung, Vol. 1, 3., überarb. Aufl., pp. 86–121). hep. Zhao, Y., Lei, J., Yan, B., Lai, C., & Tan, H. S. (2005). What makes the difference? A practical analysis of research on the effectiveness of distance education. Teachers College Record, 107(8), 1836–1884. Zumbach, J., & Astleitner, H. (2016). Effektives Lehren an der Hochschule. Ein Handbuch zur Hochschuldidaktik. Kohlhammer.

Further Reading Brinker, T., & Schumacher, E.-M. (2014). Befähigen statt belehren. Neue Lehr- und Lernkultur an Hochschulen. hep. [chap. 6 to media, chap. 7 to self-study. Learning types, however, not scientifically confirmed]. Handke, J., & Schäfer, A. M. (2012). E-Learning, E-Teaching und E-Assessment in der Hochschullehre. Eine Anleitung. Oldenbourg. [Many detailed practical suggestions on blended learning and e-learning]. Horz, H. (2015). Medien. In E. Wild & J. Möller (Eds.), Pädagogische Psychologie (2. vollst. überarb. und aktualisierte Aufl., pp. 121–149). Springer. [to media and e-learning]. Kerres, M. (2018). Mediendidaktik. Konzeption und Entwicklung digitaler Lernangebote (5., überarbeitete und aktualisierte Auflage). De Gruyter Oldenbourg. [Comprehensive standard reference work on blended learning and e-learning]. Reinmann-Rothmeier, G. (2003). Didaktische Innovation durch Blended Learning. Leitlinien anhand eines Beispiels aus der Hochschule. Huber. [Many detailed practical suggestions on blended learning and e-learning]. Zumbach, J., & Astleitner, H. (2016). Effektives Lehren an der Hochschule. Ein Handbuch zur Hochschuldidaktik. Kohlhammer. [founded brief overview from pp. 142].

Teaching Outside the Classroom: Consultation and Supervision

11

Contents 11.1 Consultation by  Teachers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 11.1.1 Consultation Process and Conversation Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 11.1.2 Teaching Consultant Competencies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 11.2 Supervision by Instructors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 11.3 Mentoring by  Teachers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 11.4 Examples of Counseling and Support for Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Abstract

This chapter first deals with the advice given by us teachers, including typical procedures and important counseling skills. This is followed by supervision and mentoring by teachers. The chapter concludes with the usual practice examples. The term “consultation” subsumes many different approaches and techniques (see, for example, Hertel & Schmitz, 2010; McLeod, 2013; McLeod & McLeod, 2011; Warschburger, 2009), which originate, among other things, from organizational, family, therapeutic and educational contexts. The success of the individual approaches is, in part, strongly dependent on the field, so always check other sources of consultation for practicability in the educational context. In the following chapter, we go through the university-relevant consultation approaches or techniques, whereby I only consider the consultation tasks of the “normal” university teacher towards the students. We omit institutional consultations of students by the registrar’s office, psychosocial counseling centers, international offices, etc. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 I. Ulrich, Good Teaching in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39137-9_11

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Consultation and supervision are always self-help, i.e., we give advice and orientation, but the student has to actively solve his problem himself.

11.1 Consultation by Teachers “Consultation is a usually short-term social interaction between those seeking advice [students] and those advising [teachers], in which the person seeking advice is offered support in coping with his problem” (Gerich et al., 2014, p. 518). Supportive consultations have a positive effect on the students’ learning success (d = 0.30; Reese et al., 2010) and usually take place during office hours. The consultation deals with the following topics (which are similar to the competence areas from Chap. 4): • Professional aspects: Expert consultation e.g., for knowledge gaps, • Methodological content: Process consultation e.g., for proper research, correct analysis, • Social problems: Conflicts within the working group, and/or • Personal aspects: Self-motivation for learning, proper learning, etc. The professional and methodological consultation is a core task for us teachers. Social and personal consultations are useful for minor, teaching-related problems (e.g., a student refusing to participate in the group work), but should be referred to professional institutions for more serious problems. This is particularly the case when we as teachers cannot offer any help to solve the problem (Strasser, 2007, p. 205).

11.1.1 Consultation Process and Conversation Guide A consultation usually takes place in certain phases (cf. Table 11.1). In the consultation conversation, phases 1–7 are dealt with, phase 8 includes the following implementation, phases 9 and 10 the later quality management of the consultation success. Especially for upcoming, difficult consultation occasions, it is helpful to create a conversation guide (details see Chap. 14) beforehand, in which you note your central consultation content and procedures (Horstmeyer et al., 2014, p. 14). Your conversation guide can be oriented towards the phases from Table 11.1, but this is not required.

11.1.2 Teaching Consultant Competencies McLeod (2013, p. 612 ff.) defines the necessary consultant competencies for successful consulting. Adapted to us teachers, they include the following:

11.1  Consultation by Teachers

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Table 11.1  Course of the consultation process. (From Gerich et al., 2014, p. 519, phase 7 and examples added by author) Phase

Details

Examples (based on a practical example from the humanities)

Orientation phase

1. Opening the conversation, contact and entry: Design of the first encounter, establishment of a trusting working relationship

A first-semester student comes to office hours a little anxiously. The teacher tries to be friendly and calming (cf. Chap. 6)

2. Determination of the problem or the initial situation

The student feels overwhelmed with the term paper

3. Determination of counseling Identification and solution goals of the individual problem areas (“What, exactly, is the problem?”) Clarification and change phase

Evaluation and final phase

4. Diagnostic analysis: Information collection about good (precise) questions (cf. also Chap. 7), focus on specific questions or problems

The student is overwhelmed with the amount of literature available, is difficult for him to evaluate the quality of the literature

5. Development and evaluation of alternative solutions; Information transfer

Mentioning good standard works, explaining the quality criteria of the literature (e.g., extensive literature references)

6. Decision for one/several action alternative(s) and planning their implementation

The student may, if he has extensively evaluated the literature source on half of an A4 page, have his evaluation checked by the teacher in a second office hour

7. End of conversation: Fixing the agreement from 6. and possibly further consultation appointments, farewell to the student

The student leaves the office hour content and actionoriented

8. Implementation of the chosen solution strategy

The student tries to independently realize the suggestions of the teacher

9. Evaluation of the effect of the chosen solution strategy

Report of the student, e.g., in the office hour; quality of the term paper

10. If necessary, modification of the counseling goals and solution strategies

(only in case of suboptimal results)

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1. Managing professional relationships (see Chap. 6): Friendliness, respect, authenticity, helpfulness, etc. (encompasses points 1 and 2 from McLeod, 2013). 2. Expertise in (typical student) problems and their solutions. 3. Personal integrity: Does not pursue own goals (if so, this is openly communicated to the student). 4. Mastery of appropriate consultation techniques (see Table 11.1): Diagnosis through good questions (see also Chap. 7), establishing objectives for problem solving, etc. 5. Knowledge of the university system, study and examination regulations as well as specific norms and values. 6. Openness to learning and research, i.e., to one’s own further development as a consultant, to new scientific findings by consulting research as well as to the problem of the student seeking advice.

11.2 Supervision by Instructors Supervision refers to a continuous consultation over several appointments, which is carried out within the framework of qualification work, (partially) homework or even extensive mentoring. Good supervision is particularly important for the socially disadvantaged (d = 0.27; Kulik et al., 1983) and underperforming students. Define the number and time intervals of the supervision appointments including the student work to be done by then, as needed. In my experience, 1–2 appointments are usually sufficient for students with average homework performance, and 1 appointment for each final step (elaborating outline or research question, completing the literature research, etc.) for qualification work. The amount of supervision used should be taken into account in the assessment if you use the criterion “ability to work independently” as an assessment criterion and if the amount of supervision is unreasonably high. Good supervision (see Kordts-Freudinger & Geithner, 2012) takes into account the agreements made in previous appointments. You should negotiate and record the conditions that are important to you with the student at the beginning of the supervision. In order to remind us as instructors of our agreements from the previous appointments, despite many other commitments, I recommend the use of supervision protocols (details see Chap. 14). In these, you record all relevant aspects of the previous appointments. For qualification work, I recommend the use of supervision contracts (details, see Chap. 14), in order to determine the conditions that are important to you in advance. For homework, a guide that includes your expectations, supervision and evaluation criteria is sufficient.

11.4  Examples of Counseling and Support for Students

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11.3 Mentoring by Teachers Mentoring (i.e., the accompanying advice of students over several semesters) has a positive effect on satisfaction (d = 0.22), motivation (d = 0.28) and student learning success (d = 0.39; Eby et al., 2008). Mentoring is not a core task for teachers but is suitable for students with high potential if you want to support them. Mentoring practices are relatively heterogeneously and, in the educational context, usually include the following aspects on the part of the mentor (sorted in descending order according to frequency in studies) (cf. Jacobi, 1991, p. 509): • Consultation • Sponsorship/advocacy • Further education and instruction • Supervision/support • Being a role model • Providing clear information • Socialization into the scientific discipline/community • Introduction of the mentee • Coaching • Protection and security • Access to resources/circumvention of bureaucracy • Providing additional challenges/opportunities • Social status through acceptance as a mentee • Specifying values and goals • Promoting knowledge building

11.4 Examples of Counseling and Support for Students The following practice examples are the same ones used by teachers Thomas M., Markus T. and Sandra F. in the previous chapters. The following provisions partly result from their teaching plans (cf. Chap. 4), which I do not repeat here. A Practical Example from the Humanities

Thomas M. would like to improve the supervision of the term papers in particular. He defines two mandatory sessions for consultation for the regular term paper, one of which is during the last lecture (no. 16), the other in the semester break during his office hours. He bases the latter on the typical consultation process (cf. Table 11.1). The midterm paper in combination with consultationas (lecture no. 6) should help to further prevent errors in the final term paper. ◄

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A Practical Example from the Social Sciences

Markus T. has already held many “supervision units” during his sessions, i.e,. regular feedback from him and his fellow students to the presenting students (teaching units No. 3, 4 and 12–14). In addition, he offers two teaching units (No. 10, 11) as open consultation. He, therefore, considers his supervision performance, especially for his master’s students, already covered by his teaching. He offers—if necessary—additional consultation, i.e., he can be contacted by e-mail for questions. Students who work independently receive a self-sufficiency bonus of 0.3 grade points. He explained this criterion to his students at the beginning of the course. In addition, he mentors students, i.e., he offers students with exceptional academic performance the opportunity to write a demanding master’s thesis with him (or colleagues of his working group) and to use this as preparation for a subsequent doctoral thesis—currently a few third-party funding applications are pending, which are probably partially approved. ◄

A Practical Example from the Natural Sciences

Sandra F. ensures online tutoring for her students regarding exam content (e.g., through the e-learning portal). Furthermore, she always remains in the classroom 15 minutes after her lecture to meet any acute counseling needs. In addition, she offers two special consultation hours before the exam. Here, students with counseling needs must all appear at the beginning, she collects all questions and answers them in detail in front of all present students according to how frequently they were mentioned. She uses a meeting room with a whiteboard in the vicinity of her office to explain the mathematical steps if necessary. Since she also has a few “difficult cases” (cf. Chap. 6) of notorious “latecomers” this semester, she schedules individual consultations with them, since the previous methods did not work. For this, she has created a detailed conversation guide (points: What I perceive, What I want—that it stops immediately, What I expect in the future—either that students are punctual or drop the class). ◄

What is Effective for Good Teaching: Counseling and Supervision with Limited Time

• If you have limited time, it is better to provide less advise, but of higher quality. Keep brief of agreements made in writing. • Always be on site up to 15 minutes after your lecture to address all counseling questions. Announce this to your students so that they know the advantage of the opportunity. In this way, you can forgo fixed, regular office hours in your office and only offer an office hour if necessary. ◄

References

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References Eby, L. T., Allen, T. D., Evans, S. C., Ng, T., & DuBois, D. (2008). Does mentoring matter? A multidisciplinary meta-analysis comparing mentored and non-mentored individuals. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 72(2), 254–267. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC2352144/. Accessed 3. May 2020. Gerich, M., Bruder, S., Hertel, S., Hascher, T., & Schmitz, B. (2014). Beratung, Intervention, Supervision. In T. Seidel & A. Krapp (Eds.), Pädagogische Psychologie (6., vollständig überarb. Aufl., pp. 517–542). Beltz. Hertel, S., & Schmitz, B. (2010). Lehrer als Berater in Schule und Unterricht. Kohlhammer. Horstmeyer, J., Appel, J., Ulrich, I., & Hansen, M. (2014). Beratung von Lehramtsstudierenden in der Studieneingangsphase – ein Konzept zur Förderung der Eignungsreflexion im Schulpraktikum. In B. Berendt, A. Fleischmann, N. Schaper, B. Szczyrba, & J. Wildt (Eds.), Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre. Raabe. Jacobi, M. (1991). Mentoring and undergraduate academic success: A literature review. Review of Educational Research, 61(4), 505–532. Kordts-Freudinger, R., & Geithner, E. (2012). Projektmanagement bei der Betreuung von Abschlussarbeiten. In B. Berendt, A. Fleischmann, N. Schaper, B. Szczyrba, & J. Wildt (Eds.), Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre (F 3.3). Raabe. Kulik, C.-L. C., Kulik, J. A., & Shwalb, B. J. (1983). College programs for high-risk and disadvantaged students: A meta-analysis of findings. Review of Educational Research, 53(3), 397–414. McLeod, J. (2013). An introduction to counselling (5th ed.). Open University Press. McLeod, J., & McLeod, J. (2011). Counselling skills. A practical guide for counsellors and helping professionals (2nd ed.). Open University Press. Reese, R. J., Prout, H. T., Zirkelback, E. H., & Anderson, C. R. (2010). Effectiveness of schoolbased psychotherapy: A meta-analysis of dissertation research. Psychology in the Schools, 47(10), 1035–1045. Strasser, J. (2007). Beratungskompetenz. In B. Hawelka, M. Hammerl, & H. Gruber (Eds.), Förderung von Kompetenzen in der Hochschullehre. Theoretische Konzepte und ihre Implementation in der Praxis (pp. 195–207). Kröning. Warschburger, P. (Ed.). (2009). Beratungspsychologie. Springer.

Further Reading Gerich, M., Bruder, S., Hertel, S., Hascher, T., & Schmitz, B. (2014). Beratung, Intervention, Supervision. In T. Seidel & A. Krapp (Eds.), Pädagogische Psychologie (6., vollständig überarbeitete Aufl., pp. 517–542). Beltz. [only chap. 20.1 to consulting]. Hertel, S., & Schmitz, B. (2010). Lehrer als Berater in Schule und Unterricht. Kohlhammer. [Many suggestions, helpful especially the conversation techniques. Although related to school, but easily transferable to university context]. Kordts-Freudinger, R., & Geithner, E. (2012). Projektmanagement bei der Betreuung von Abschlussarbeiten. In B. Berendt, A. Fleischmann, N. Schaper, B. Szczyrba, & J. Wildt (Eds.), Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre (F 3.3). Raabe. [many practical suggestions about supervision]. Macke, G., Hanke, U., & Viehmann-Schweizer, P., & Raether, W. (2016). Kompetenzorientierte Hochschuldidaktik. Lehren, vortragen, prüfen, beraten. (3., überarb. & erw. Aufl.). Beltz. [part II, chap. 4].

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McLeod, J. (2013). An introduction to counselling (5th ed.). Open University Press. [very comprehensive overview on consulting (vgl. McLeod 2013, pp. 11 ff.)]. McLeod, J., & McLeod, J. (2011). Counselling skills. A practical guide for counsellors and helping professionals (2nd ed.). Open University Press. [shorter overview of individual problems in consultations]. Mendzheritskaya, J., Ulrich, I., Hansen, M., & Heckmann, C. (2018). Gut beraten an der Hochschule: Wege zum besseren Lehren und Lernen (Psychologische Beratung in der Praxis, Vol. 1). Kohlhammer. [chap. 1 and 3]. Warschburger, P. (Ed.). (2009). Beratungspsychologie. Springer. [comprehensive overview of consulting].

Testing Students and Evaluating Teaching Quality

12

Contents 12.1 Feedback—Basic Constant of Good Teaching for Testing and Evaluating. . . . . . . . . . . . 178 12.1.1 Criteria for Good Feedback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 12.2 Examinations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 12.2.1 Purpose and Forms: Why and How Do I Test? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 12.2.2 Quality criteria and reference standards: How do I assess exams correctly? . . . 183 12.2.3 Grading Errors: How Do I Grade Correctly?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 12.2.4 Quality of Individual Examination Forms: What Am I Testing?. . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 12.3 Evaluation - in Particular, Teaching Evaluations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 12.3.1 Teaching Evaluation: What Can I Measure?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 12.3.2 Distortion of Results in Teaching Evaluations: Does It Measure Correctly? . . . 194 12.4 Carrying Out and Interpreting Teaching Evaluations Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 12.4.1 Preparing the Teaching Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 12.4.2 Carrying Out and Evaluating the Teaching Evaluation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 12.4.3 Interpretation and Consequences of the Teaching Evaluation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 12.5 Alternative Evaluation Methods for Teaching Evaluations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 12.6 Practical Examples for Teaching, Testing and Evaluating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Abstract

We examine and evaluate in order to give and receive feedback. Therefore, we first discuss feedback and its criteria for good feedback. Then we turn to exams and go through their purpose, common forms at the university as well as general and examination-specific quality criteria for good exams - including grading errors. In the section on evaluation, we first discuss the possible levels of (teaching) evaluation. This is followed by a discussion of potential “disturbing factors” that can systematically © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 I. Ulrich, Good Teaching in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39137-9_12

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distort teaching evaluation results. Then I explain a guide to the conduct and interpretation of one’s own teaching evaluations. Finally, we go through alternative evaluation methods. This chapter ends with the usual practical examples and a teaching evaluation form (as a copy template).

12.1 Feedback—Basic Constant of Good Teaching for Testing and Evaluating Feedback can be given in two directions: • Feedback from us to students: Teaching test, i.e., checking the learning success or status of students and giving them feedback. This can, but does not have to, take place as part of a graded performance test. • Feedback to us teachers (mostly from our students): Teaching evaluation (i.e., evaluating our teaching on the basis of feedback from others). Feedback is one of the basic constants of good teaching. Without feedback, students cannot assess their learning level and prepare for the following performance tests in the most optimal way. The way, quality and frequency of our feedback to students has a positive effect on the students’ learning success (d = 0.47) and to a significant extent (by far the strongest factor, see Chap. 3) on our teaching evaluation results (d = 3.53; Feldman, 1989). At the same time, we teachers need feedback to critically review our teaching performance. Feedback to teachers about student teaching evaluations also increases the students’ later learning success (d = 0.38; Walberg & Lai, 1999) if the teachers use their teaching evaluation results to successfully improve their teaching. Feedback is usually associated with criticism, but this is not the case. Feedback can include both negative and positive aspects. Especially in terms of motivation (see Chap. 8), the feedback recipients, feedback providers should also report positive aspects.

12.1.1 Criteria for Good Feedback Feedback requires specific criteria in order to successfully motivate and change people. The feedback alone is not enough, its content must also be accepted and productively implemented. Therefore, feedback providers should pay attention to certain criteria so that feedback does not have a counterproductive effect (see Brinko, 1993; Kluger & DeNisi, 1996): • Give specific feedback that is focused on specific aspects: What exactly did you find to be good or bad? Where and when did you find it? Orient yourself to the SMART standards for subgoals (see Chap. 4). To the appropriateness of your feedback: What can you expect from a student in semester X?

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• If possible, start with positive feedback. This increases the chance of students accepting later negative feedback. If possible, you should also end with positive points. Despite the “inclusion” of negative feedback, this is more important for the behavioral change of individuals than positive feedback. • Make I-statements and do not generalize: “I have noticed that …, I was confused when …” We are experts, but even expert statements are only individual opinions in and of themselves. • Focus your negative feedback on changeable behavior, not on stable aspects (intelligence, personality, physique, etc.). Positive feedback may also relate to stable aspects but is more effective in terms of behavior (a student will make an effort again next time if the success was due to his diligence. If it was due to his intelligence, he won’t have to do as much next time—his intelligence is always there anyway.). • When giving negative feedback, show specific solutions: “I didn’t like X. In my opinion, it would have been better if you had done Y.” Without this, you will most likely demotivate your students. • Do not only give feedback on individual points but end your feedback with an overall assessment (“Overall, I think you on a good/average/bad path to receiving a very good grade. You are still missing …”). If your assessment allows, finish with a generally positive overall assessment. • Give feedback relatively promptly after the behavior is shown—immediately or up to one lecture period later at the latest. • Furthermore, let fellow students give feedback—feedback from persons of lower or equal status is more likely to be accepted. • Give serious (i.e., more negative feedback) preferably in private. • If you have extensive feedback, the feedback recipient should first assess himself before you give your feedback. This increases the chance of acceptance. • Give very extensive feedback preferably in writing, otherwise the feedback recipient will not remember all the details (e.g., feedback on the master’s thesis). • Give feedback mainly to previously set learning goals (e.g., “Learn X until you can do.”) rather than to general learning (“Learn a lot about X”). This way, the feedback recipient cannot neutralize the feedback by changing this standard (e.g., the meaning of “a lot” in the phrase “I’ve learned a lot”). • Make sure that your feedback is clear and understandable (i.e., use simple language and give direct feedback). This has a positive effect on learning outcomes (d = 0.73; Hattie, 2015) and especially on the competence of students (d = 1.13; Marzano, 1998). The feedback rules also apply to students if they give you feedback. Explain them if necessary. Feedback providers should ideally appear credible (i.e., knowledgeable about the content of the feedback and well-meaning towards the feedback recipient).

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Not every piece of feedback needs to be accepted, the feedback receiver decides this (quietly) for himself. In addition, the feedback receiver does not have to justify himself (exception: Serious misconduct), he listens to the feedback and only asks for clarification or if there are other aspects of the feedback that are still missing. In general, you should give feedback according to the above criteria as often as possible, it takes little time and leads to great effects on students (Brinko, 1993). Interestingly, despite its importance—with the exception of the examination formats prescribed by the study and examination regulations—it is used relatively rarely in higher education (Sippel, 2009).

12.2 Examinations 12.2.1 Purpose and Forms: Why and How Do I Test? Feedback is used to test the students or the quality of one’s own teaching, but, in addition to its didactic function, examinations have various other intentions (Flechsig, 1974, pp. 2 ff.; Zimmermann, 2018, pp. 51 f.): 1. Dominance and socialization function (system reproduction) • Initiation—Introduction of the graduate to the professional community • Status distribution—Power and responsibility for the graduate • Legitimation—e.g., only medical graduates may work as doctors 2. Recruitment function (selection, assignment, linearization) • Placement by year—where does each graduate stand in relation to his classmates? • Selection from cohort—unqualified are excluded • Proof of qualification and competence 3. Didactic function (system operations) • Temporal and content-related structure of the degree program • Orientation of teachers and learners to the study goals • (Extrinsic) motivation to learn • Diagnostic instrument • Feedback of teaching-learning success to teachers and learners 4. Prediction of the future (professional) performance of students The points under 1 and 2 only include summative exams (i.e., exams at the end of a teaching unit), which is often equivalent to the end of the course. The points under 3 can include both summative and formative exams. Formative exams are carried out during the teaching units. Point 4 does not include any exams at the university, but is demonstrated through studies: Students with good grades also have better work performance when they start their careers (average correlation of r = 0.35; see Roth et al., 1996, p. 550). Secondary school grades predict university grades just as well (Trapmann et al., 2007).

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For us lecturers, only the aspects under point 3 are in the foreground from the perspective of “good university teaching”, with the “proof of qualification and competence” under point 2 being additionally relevant, as this also depends on our teaching performance. Exams can take place in many forms with specific conditions and formats (see Table 12.1). They can (Metzger & Nüesch, 2004, p. 22): Table 12.1  Overview of examination methods at universities. (From Schaper et al., 2013, p. 33, partly adapted) What

Explanations of the format

Preparatory work for teachers

Written examination

Point-in-time examination of individuals: Possible during the teaching phase (e.g., protocol, certificate, exercise course) or at the end of the semester as a graded examination (e.g., multiple choice, open-ended examination questions, case analysis)

Define examination content and assessment criteria and communicate to students by Week 1, construction of tasks (e.g., questions, cases), preliminary evaluation of the examination (e.g., have colleagues check if adequate)

Oral examination

Point-in-time examination of individuals or groups: Flexible conversation with complex (follow-up) questions possible. Highest power asymmetry between teacher and student (Macke et al., 2016, p. 138)

Define examination content and assessment criteria and communicate to students at appointment 1, prepare examination questions in advance, organize assistants if not done by the university

Oral presentation (lecture, poster presentation, etc.)

Oral presentation with media support at a fixed time. Partly given, partly self-selected topic. Elaboration is in the hands of the student

Define assessment criteria and communicate to students at appointment 1, possibly specify topic, optional consultation appointment in the office hours in advance

Written work (home or qualifi- Written work over a certain cation work) period of time, partly in groups for home assignments. Proof of scientific skills in the context of complex written tasks. Also includes worked-out reviews, journalistic articles, laboratory and excursion reports. The topic is sometimes given, sometimes chosen by the student

Define assessment criteria and communicate them to students by Session 1. If necessary, specify the topic, limit the topic to a suitable extent, schedule fixed consultation appointments in the consultation hour before and during (the larger the project, the more, see Chap. 11) (continued)

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Table 12.1   (continued) What

Explanations of the format

Preparatory work for teachers

Practical (research) activity

Practical examination, partly at a point of time, partly over a certain period of time: E.g., laboratory experiments, small empirical studies (with interviews, questionnaire, etc.), sport tests. Can be done in groups, is possible within the framework of qualification work, but can also be carried out independently of it

Define assessment criteria and communicate them to students early, prepare the topic and research setting

Project work and case analysis Proof of scientific skills by working on practice-related questions through self-study or in small groups, presentation of the solution in the plenum

Define goals, approach and assessment criteria and communicate them to students early, create the questions

Study or learning diaries or learning journals

Written work over a period of time, also possible in groups. In the diary, the student’s own learning process should be reflected subjectively (usually, the evaluation criterion is less the originality of the content than the degree of reflection— scope, logical consistency)

Define goals, approach and evaluation criteria and communicate them to students early. Generate lead questions as instructional support for students (Hübner et al., 2007)

Portfolio

Define goals, approach and Written work over a period evaluation criteria and commuof time. Students compile a nicate them to students early collection of their own work, which documents their own performance or their own learning progress - as well as their reflections on both. It is recommended that the portfolio cover several courses so that the students have to work with overarching contexts

• be oral, written or practical, • include selection tasks with closed questions (multiple choice) and/or processing tasks with (limited to very comprehensive) open-ended questions or case studies, • cover different time spans: Time (e.g., exam) or periods of time (e.g., term paper), • have different organizational forms: Individual or group exams.

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In addition to these examination forms, the performance of the students in many teaching methods may be examined (e.g., method discussion, examination of the quality of the individual contribution). Examinations check student learning (Müller, 2012). It is important that you give detailed feedback for all examination forms. In some cases, you have to do this anyway because of the necessary expert opinions or the possibility of reviewing the exam, but nevertheless too little is still being done at universities. E.g., almost no detailed feedback is given for student reports although it is a very common teaching or examination method (Gold & Souvignier, 2000; Preiser, 2000). Regular feedback helps the selfassessment of one’s own learning progress. The higher the students assess their own learning success, the better they will be in the later performance test (d = 1.04), and it also has a positive effect on the teaching evaluation results (d = 0.58; Feldman, 1989). All of these mentioned examination forms have various advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is best to work with several examination forms in your teaching. E.g., a disputation combines an oral presentation with a subsequent oral examination. It would also be possible to intertwine different courses (e.g., knowledge from the lecture, application of skills from the exercise) in a common module examination (Reis & Ruschin, 2007). In the following subchapter, we will go through the advantages and disadvantages of each examination form.

12.2.2 Quality criteria and reference standards: How do I assess exams correctly? Examinations in higher education must meet certain criteria in order to be fair (Roloff, 2008; Werth & Sedlbauer, 2011). A fair and objective grading method is the basis of every performance test and is important for the students’ learning success (d = 0.54) and especially for your teaching evaluation results (d = 2.08; Feldman, 1989). In total, three factors are central to good exams in order to really measure the learning performance of a student: 1. The exams correspond to the learning goals, content and methods of teaching that you communicated before the start of the course (see Chap. 4). 2. Your examination forms have the most optimal, mutually reinforcing main quality criteria: a) Objectivity (necessary for b and c) b) Reliability (= reliability of performance measurement, necessary for c.) c) Validity (= validity of performance measurement) 3. Your examination forms should have the most acceptable secondary quality criteria: • Current standards (in the case of a criterion reference standard, see below) • Acceptance (of the examination format) • Fairness (equality of opportunity)

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• Economy • Difficulty1 • Transparency (of the performance criteria) The main quality criteria include various subforms. Table 12.2 shows these as well as the secondary quality criteria in detail: Table 12.2  Quality criteria in detail Quality criterion

Description

Possibilities for optimization

Objectivity 1 of 3: Objectivity of measurement implementation

The grade is independent of which teacher carries out the performance measurement

Explanations for implementation (e.g., behavioral rules) so that all teachers act the same (i.e., give no or only the same tips during the exam

Objectivity 2 of 3: Objectivity of assessment

The grade is independent of which teacher corrects the performance measurement

Guidelines for assessment (e.g., answer templates or examples for the individual grade levels)

Objectivity 3 of 3: Objectivity of interpretation (also known as “Inter-rater reliability”)

The grade is independent of which teacher assesses the performance as a whole

Guidelines for assessment (e.g., how many correct answers are required for which grade, clear criterion-related reference standards (see below)

Reliability 1 of 3: Test-retest reliability

The same (but later) performance measurement leads to the same grade (only temporally close, since we humans do learn)

Didactically, focus on a learning goal orientation, not on Bulimia-Learning, otherwise the students will quickly forget everything again. Furthermore, do not constantly change your evaluation basis

Reliability 2 of 3: Parallel test reliability

The same, time-parallel perfor- Equal difficulty of both measmance measurement leads to urements (e.g., if exam A and the same grades B are distributed alternately to make cheating more difficult)

Reliability 3 of 3: Split-half reliability

A halving of the performance On average, the same difficulmeasurement leads to the same ties with the tasks (e.g., with grades tasks 1–10 vs. 11–20 in the exam) (continued)

1 The

conscientious researcher may object that there are also homogeneity and separation. Since these are less important for the performance test in teaching than the 15 criteria presented in Table 12.2, I have left them out. You can find more information in Fisseni (2004, pp. 25-46).

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Table 12.2   (continued) Quality criterion

Description

Validity 1 of 3: Content validity

The performance measurement Check all topics of your learnincludes all relevant aspects ing goals,at least potentially, if the exam time is too short

Possibilities for optimization

Validity 2 of 3: Criterion valid- Students with good grades ity (agreement and prediction) should also be good employees (prediction). Their knowledge is also shown in good exams, professional conversations, presentations, etc. (agreement)

Check relevant competencies for your discipline (a Latinum is relevant in Roman archaeology, not in medicine—it is enough to learn the Latin terms used in medicine by heart)

Validity 3 of 3: Construct validity

Students receive the same grade for the same content regardless of the assessment method (e.g., written vs. oral). With the same method, but different test content, it should vary

Pay attention to the other relevant main quality criteria of validity, reliability and objectivity

Current standards

Do you have benchmarks for your performance criteria?

Ask teaching colleagues what is usual

Acceptance

The test procedures should be accepted by the students (e.g., psychological tests are often not accepted)

Explain the purpose and procedure of the examination format in detail

Fairness

Does every student have the same chances within their means?

Pay attention to necessary adjustments (e.g., a blind student needs support for a written performance test)

Economy

The effort required from and benefit for teachers and students must be in proportion

Plan expensive but necessary methods only in small parts

Difficulty

Can the respective examination task only be answered by very good or also average or even weak students?

Vary the difficulty of your examination tasks in order to be able to carry out a differentiated performance assessment

Transparency (of performance criteria)

Do all students know compre- Introduce your performance hensively in advance what they criteria at the first meeting of have to achieve? your course and write them down

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In addition to the quality criteria for examinations, your yardstick (i.e., your so-called reference norm) is important. The reference norm (cf. Rheinberg & Fries, 2018) is the standard by which you assess assess the performance of each individual student; this can be an external criterion, a group of fellow students or the individual’s learning progress (cf. Table 12.3). The standard of the group is, therefore, no acceptable reference norm according to Table 12.3, the standard of the individual also isn’t (for the most part). To a small extent, the latter can be incorporated if one knows the students for a longer or more accurate period of time. Therefore, take the criterion scale, which also leads to better student learning outcomes: Performance-oriented students (who strive for “good grades”, see Chap. 8) compare themselves more on the basis of social reference norms, learning-oriented students (who strive for “competence”) prefer individual reference norms (Rheinberg, 2004, pp. 74 ff.). At the same time, cooperative learning among students is helpful with the criterion scale (d = 0.40; Hattie, 2015). More precisely, cooperative learning is superior to individual learning (d = 0.55) and competitive learning (d = 0.53). Competitive learning is superior to individual learning (d = 0.24) but not to cooperative learning (Hattie, 2015).

Table 12.3  Reference norms for examinations Scale

Description

Assessment

Criterion

The teacher defines criteria to be achieved for the individual grades in advance

The criterion must be set carefully. Individuals strive to cooperate with all group members because this improves their learning success and thus their own grades

Group

The average performance of the current group is the reference value (always grade C). The remaining grades are oriented exclusively to this. In part, it is additionally specified that the best work is always a A+, the worst work is always aF

Distorts grades massively in the middle range: Average students (by global standards) receive good grades for the same performance in weak groups and only adequate grades in strong groups. Individuals strive to harm the group members, as this improves their own grades

Individual

The performance improvement of the individual is the relevant criterion

Possible only with multiple measurements. Persons who have already achieved the optimum at the first measurement (e.g., measurement 1: A top athlete with a world record) can only achieve bad grades at the second measurement (e.g., measurement 2: 0.01 s worse, thus a maximum of grade D, as performance has deteriorated). Therefore, individuals strive to achieve the worst performance possible at the first measurement

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12.2.3 Grading Errors: How Do I Grade Correctly? People make mistakes in their judgments, and we teachers also make grading errors. We cannot exclude them completely, but we can minimize them. Weiss (1989, pp. 136 ff.) distinguishes between the following categories of judgment errors (Table 12.4): Table 12.4  Rating errors and measures to avoid them. (After Weiss, 1989 and Käser, 2001) Error

Description

Measures to avoid error

Mathematical error (R)

Unequal grade intervals, e.g., grade A for 100% correct, grade B for 99% to 75% correct. This way of calculating an average grade on a report card is mathematically incorrect

Fixed, equal grade intervals. With only even grades, e.g.: Very good = 100–87.5% correct Good = 87.4–75% correct Satisfactory = 74.9–62.5% correct Adequate = 62.4–50% correct Failed = less than 50% correct

Lenient or rigorous errors (R)

Use the whole grading scale Assessment is generally too and next time, adjust your own lenient or rigorous, grading reference norm criterion scale does not differentiate between levels of performance anymore because all students have the same grades, even though their performance differs

Errors of central tendency/ extreme judgments (R)

Teacher evaluates almost all students equally (central tendency) or extremely (i.e. some students very good and all others failed)

Use a grading scale, put the solution scheme and evaluation criteria next to you

Sequencing effects (R)

In longer test or grading periods, there is a tendency to make generalizations (usually lenient mistakes)

Take a break between grading, do other activities in between, have the solutions template and evaluation criteria next to you

Rhythmic fluctuation (R)

There is a tendency to avoid (multiple) identical grades in a row, despite the same performance

Assess first and grade later by addition points, take a break between grading, do other activities in between, try to ignore the last grade, have the solutions template and evaluation criteria next to you (continued)

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Table 12.4   (continued) Error

Description

Reference group error (R)

People tend to use the entire Try to ignore the other grades, grade spectrum in every course what matters is the current achievement of the reference norm criterion. Adjust your criterion if necessary for next time

Halo effect (C)

Other evaluations of the individual’s performance “outshine” the current performance evaluation

Logical errors (C)

Implicit personality theory (C)

Measures to avoid error

Valid for all: – Rate written exams without knowing the name of the person being rated Individual non-relevant aspects – Put the solution scheme and evaluation criteria next to influence the current performance evaluation (e.g., student you and use this as the only criterion plays the guitar well, so his – Try to filter out everything music theory exam is better about the examinee that is not evaluated) performance-related Individual non-relevant – Become aware of your own aspects influence the complete preferences and views, try to (performance) evaluation of filter them out the person (e.g., student has a name that is more common in educationally deprived classes and, therefore one always expects mistakes and assesses them more rigorus/lenient)

Localization error (C)

Individual performance is assigned to the wrong person, occurs in group tests

Pay attention to who the performance came from, take notes or simply do without group tests

First and last impression (I)

The first and last performance of the examinee is best remembered (especially in oral examinations)

Make notes for each individual performance (= question), go through the examination protocol

Consistency effect (I)

The student always gets the same grade because nothing else is expected

Evaluate written examinations without knowing the name of the person being evaluated, evaluate first and grade later by adding points, try to ignore the other grades, what is relevant is the current achievement of the reference standard criterion (continued)

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Table 12.4   (continued) Error

Description

Measures to avoid error

Moods (I)

The bad or good mood of the examiner due to external reasons (e.g., physical needs such as fatigue, weather, family stress or work stress, but also work success …)

Try to ignore it. Get enough sleep, try to maintain a worklife balance. Find suitable times in your biorhythm

Attitude errors (I)

Projection of own wishes and attitudes onto the examinees (e.g., which research theories they should prefer)

Try to ignore your wishes and attitudes, separate wish from objective performance. E.g., not “did they support my theory” but “did they argue well?”

Social perception (I)

Errors are expected in bad Valid for all: students, in good ones they are – Try to ignore the previous rather overlooked grades, the current achievement of the reference norm Assignments of the examcriterion is relevant iner (“You will never make it

Self-fulfilling prophecy (I)

anyway”) determine the future performance of the examinee Anm.: R = reference error, C = correlation error, I = interaction error

• Reference error (R in Table 12.4): We evaluate incorrectly due to reference groups. • Correlation error (C): We evaluate incorrectly due to incorrect associations. • Interaction error (I): We evaluate incorrectly due to incorrect assignments. These categories include the following individual error types:

12.2.4 Quality of Individual Examination Forms: What Am I Testing? All individual examination formats have various strengths and weaknesses. These lie in three areas: • Quality criteria (i.e., objectivity, reliability and validity), are insufficient, • There is a susceptibility to assessment errors, • Only low levels of competence or learning level are achievable. If we want to do justice to these three areas, we must forego the vast majority of all examination formats. Only very time-consuming and, therefore, uneconomical examination formats would remain:

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• Objective subject-specific knowledge tests at the beginning of one’s studies (tested several times on a nationwide sample including current standards) and only afterwards • practical performance tests with at least 30 representative expert witnesses,2 from which an overall grade is formed. For each subject and competence, this would look like the following: – Research: Multiple qualification theses on different topics and of different scope for professional and methodological research competence. – Medicine: Simulation of a complex clinical routine (including fatigue, etc.), various patient conversations in which actors simulate diseases to test diagnosis competence. – Engineering: Simulation of a complex order including planning and constructing the object to be produced and testing the object in practice. – Social competence in general: Spontaneous, simulated conflict situation, observation and evaluation of the social behavior of the test person via hidden cameras. This would not be practicable, however. On the one hand, all teaching staff at universities would only be occupied with exams and the associated nationwide teaching trips. On the other hand, the implementation of examination forms at universities is not about perfection but rather about optimal measurements under the given circumstances. Therefore, read Table 12.5 carefully and do not rule out any form of examination because of critical remarks. The table shows the individual examination forms with their strengths and weaknesses as well as the achievable competence and learning levels. The goal should be a mixture of all examination forms, taking into account their respective weaknesses and trying to minimize them.

12.3 Evaluation - in Particular, Teaching Evaluations 12.3.1 Teaching Evaluation: What Can I Measure? After focusing on the examination of students, we can now examine ourselves, (i.e., our teaching performance). While the same examination formats as those used for testing students are theoretically possible, since they are not common, we concentrate here on common evaluations.

2 Why

30? In principle, more experts are always better than fewer. With 30, the average judgment (i.e., the mean of our sample), approaches a normal distribution (cf. Bortz & Schuster, 2010, pp. 85 ff. on “Central Limit Theorem”).

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Table 12.5  Overview of the examination forms including their assessment and achievable learning levels What

Criteria/evaluation

Assessable skills and achievable learning levels (see Chap. 4)a

Written examination

Closed questions (multiple choice): Very objective and reliable in the case of detailed guidelines, so that implementation and assessment can be delegated in principle. The conception of the questions is challenging, these must be clear

Learning level 3: Descriptive knowledge (possibly higher learning level achievable with very well thought-out questions, cf. Bücker et al., 2015, pp. 126 f.)

Open questions: With evaluation guides, including solution examples, one can still achieve acceptable quality criteria The open question should be clear and the desired length and the points to be awarded for each question should be specified

Learning level 3–5 (per question): Professional expertise, also knowledge about methodological, social and personnel competence

Oral examination

Through the interaction between examinee and examiner (+) specific questions possible, a variety of knowledge and competence levels testable, but (−) susceptible to grading errors (rhetoric, charisma, etc. of the examinee) Standardized examination guide important to balance this out: What am I testing, which questions do I ask (especially in terms of complexity), how do I weigh the answers (Stary, 2002)

Learning level 3–5 (per question): Professional expertise, Methodological competence (theoretically only), also knowledge about social and personnel competence

Oral presentation (lecture, poster presentation, etc.)

Prone to grading errors due to the presenter’s effect on the recipients. The performance criteria and their weighting should be determined in advance, ideally via standardized evaluation forms (e.g. Müller & Schmidt, 2009, p. 45).

Learning level 4–5: Professional expertise, Methodological competence (esp. presentation skills), conditional social competence (in group presentations)

Written work In addition to project work, it enables the (home or qualifi- best possible examination of methodologication work) cal competence (at least the qualification work). Profesional expertise can be assessed via argumentation skills and presentation of complex interrelationships achievable. The performance criteria and their weighting should be known in advance, ideally via standardized guidelines that reach the students in advance. Thus, good quality criteria can be achieved

Learning level 5–7 (depending on the scope and depth of the work or question): Professional expertise, Methodological competence, Personnel competence

(continued)

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Table 12.5   (continued) What

Criteria/evaluation

Assessable skills and achievable learning levels (see Chap. 4)a

Practical (research) activity

Practice-oriented examination. It should not be too detailed, otherwise it will be of little use. Furthermore, the success should be as little influenced by external factors as possible (e.g., how much help is given, necessary cooperation partners in the laboratory experiment). Helpful here are guidelines for its implementation including a list of performance criteria and their weighting for all

Learning level 6: Professional expertise, Methodological competence, conditional Social competence (in groups), Personnel competence (in longer-term activities)

Project work and In addition to qualification work, it allows case analysis one to design the best possible examination of methodological competence. The goals of the work, its performance criteria and weighting should be clear in advance, ideally via standardized guidelines Study or learning journals

Clear goals, performance criteria and weighting of learning journal entries should be established in advance. If not, grading is not allowed because this method is too errorprone—too subjective for the examiner and examinee

Learning level 3–7 (depending on the depth of the reflection task): Ability to reflect on professional expertise, methodological, social and personnel competence

Portfolio

Clear goals, admission and performance criteria as well as the weighting of portfolio work should be established in advance, as this method is otherwise prone to errors in grading

Learning level 3–7 (depending on the depth of the reflection task): Ability to reflect on professional expertise, methodological, social and personnel competence In addition, all competences are covered depending on the form of the work in the portfolio

a

The achievable learning level is provided for good to very good examination results. Average to poor examination performance as well as Nobel Prize-worthy century achievements are not included. Strictly speaking, the individual examination forms have a learning level or competence level range (cf. Iller & Wick, 2009, p. 200)

Evaluations are usually done by questionnaire. The best known is the student teaching evaluation (i.e., an anonymous evaluation of the course by the participating students in the middle or at the end of the lecture period). I will go through alternatives to student teaching evaluations with you later.

12.3  Evaluation - in Particular, Teaching Evaluations

dĞĂĐŚŝŶŐ

dĞĂĐŚĞƌ

ŚĂƌĂĐƚĞƌŝƐƚŝĐƐ WƌŽĨĞƐƐŝŽŶĂů ĞdžƉĞƌƚŝƐĞ ŝĚĂĐƚŝĐĐŽŵƉĞƚĞŶĐĞ ͻWƌŽĨĞƐƐŝŽŶĂůƉƌĞƉĂƌĂƚŝŽŶ ĂŶĚĨŽůůŽǁͲƵƉ ͻĚĂƉƚŝǀĞƚĞĂĐŚŝŶŐ ͻWƌĞƐĞŶƚĂƚŝŽŶƐŬŝůůƐ

ŶƚŚƵƐŝĂƐŵΘ ĐŽŵŵŝƚŵĞŶƚ >ĞĂĚŝŶŐ ďLJĞdžĂŵƉůĞ KǁŶĨƵƌƚŚĞƌ ĚĞǀĞůŽƉĞŵĞŶƚ

193

^ƚƵĚĞŶƚƐ͗ĂƐŝĐƐŬŝůůƐ

YƵĂůŝƚLJ >ĞƐƐŽŶŐƉůĂŶŶŝŶŐ͗

ͻŽŶƐƚƌƵĐƚŝǀĞĂůŝŐŶŵĞŶƚ͗ >ĞĂƌŶŝŶŐ ŐŽĂůƐ͕ƐƚƌƵĐƚƵƌĞ͕ ƚƌĂŶƐƉĂƌĞŶĐLJ

dĞĂĐŚŝŶŐ͗

ͻWƌŽĨĞƐƐŝŽŶĂůƌĞůĂƚŝŽŶƐŚŝƉ ŵĂŶĂŐĞŵĞŶƚ ͻ^ƚƵĚĞŶƚĂĐƚŝǀĂƚŝŽŶ ͻ^ƚƵĚĞŶƚŵŽƚŝǀĂƚŝŽŶ ͻDĞƚŚŽĚǀĂƌŝĂŶĐĞ͕ĐůĂƐƐŝĨŝͲ ĐĂƚŝŽŶŝŶŚŝŐŚĞƌĐŽŶƚĞdžƚƐ ͻůĞŶĚĞĚ>ĞĂƌŶŝŶŐ ͻDĞŶƚŽƌŝŶŐ

^ƚƵĚĞŶƚĨĞĞĚďĂĐŬ /ŶŶŽǀĂƚŝŶŐƚĞĂĐŚŝŶŐ

^ƚƵĚĞŶƚƉƌŽĐĞƐƐĞƐͬ ĂĐƚŝǀŝƚŝĞƐ

ĨĨĞĐƚƐͬZĞƐƵůƚƐ

/ŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ĐƚŝǀĞƉĂƌƚŝĐŝƉĂƚŝŽŶ ŽŵŵŝƚŵĞŶƚ ^ĞůĨͲŽƌŐĂŶŝƐĂƚŝŽŶ

ĞĂĚŝŶŐ ďLJĞdžĂŵƉůĞ KǁŶĨƵƌƚŚĞƌ ĚĞǀĞůŽƉĞŵĞŶƚ

^ƚƵĚĞŶƚƐ͗ĂƐŝĐƐŬŝůůƐ

YƵĂůŝƚLJ >ĞƐƐŽŶŐƉůĂŶŶŝŶŐ͗

ͻŽŶƐƚƌƵĐƚŝǀĞĂůŝŐŶŵĞŶƚ͗ >ĞĂƌŶŝŶŐ ŐŽĂůƐ͕ƐƚƌƵĐƚƵƌĞ͕ ƚƌĂŶƐƉĂƌĞŶĐLJ

dĞĂĐŚŝŶŐ͗

ͻWƌŽĨĞƐƐŝŽŶĂůƌĞůĂƚŝŽŶƐŚŝƉ ŵĂŶĂŐĞŵĞŶƚ ͻ^ƚƵĚĞŶƚĂĐƚŝǀĂƚŝŽŶ ͻ^ƚƵĚĞŶƚŵŽƚŝǀĂƚŝŽŶ ͻDĞƚŚŽĚǀĂƌŝĂŶĐĞ͕ĐůĂƐƐŝĨŝͲ ĐĂƚŝŽŶŝŶŚŝŐŚĞƌĐŽŶƚĞdžƚƐ ͻůĞŶĚĞĚ>ĞĂƌŶŝŶŐ ͻDĞŶƚŽƌŝŶŐ

^ƚƵĚĞŶƚĨĞĞĚďĂĐŬ /ŶŶŽǀĂƚŝŶŐƚĞĂĐŚŝŶŐ

^ƚƵĚĞŶƚƉƌŽĐĞƐƐĞƐͬ ĂĐƚŝǀŝƚŝĞƐ

ĨĨĞĐƚƐͬZĞƐƵůƚƐ

/ŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ĐƚŝǀĞƉĂƌƚŝĐŝƉĂƚŝŽŶ ŽŵŵŝƚŵĞŶƚ ^ĞůĨͲŽƌŐĂŶŝƐĂƚŝŽŶ

30), the duration increases exponentially. 14.2.5.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) Paint a target on the whiteboard, the blackboard, flipchart or pin board. Divide it into up to eight sections and label each section with the dimension for which you would like feedback (more than eight dimensions are difficult for spatial reasons). Then ask the students to evaluate your lecture and to place one point for each dimension at the desired location, where a point near the center (“bull’s-eye”) is most positive (see Fig. 14.5). Leave the room before the students place their points so that the feedback will be anonymous. Discuss the results with the students. 14.2.5.3 Duration and Materials Depending on group size, 10–20 minutes for explanation and implementation and another 10 minutes for discussion. 14.2.5.4 Variations of the Method • In addition, leave fields for open comments next to the target. • Other suitable graphical forms are also possible (e.g., coordinate systems - y-axis = rating, x-axis with the individual dimensions).

How satisfied I am with the...

Fig. 14.5   Example target with 4 dimensions Topic

Structure

5

Comprehensibility

4

3

2

1

Stimulation

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• Ask the students to write down their position on a separate sheet first, so that the individual answers are not influenced by the points already placed. • You can also use the target to select alternatives by specifying an option for each dimension. The dimension with the most bull’s-eyes wins (see also “multi-point query”).

14.2.6 Inquiry into Expectation, Interest and Prior Knowledge 14.2.6.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) The expectation query is used to determine the expectations and possibly the (prior) knowledge of the students for the first session of the course. Ideally, these are identical to your plans. In all other cases, you can react to them. 14.2.6.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) • Expectations can be queried in small groups using the “card query” method (for the exact procedure, see below). Ask the students to write their expectations for the course on cards and also communicate your expectations. • Interests are the most important factor for student success. Try to identify them and, if possible, integrate them into your course. Proceed as with the inqury into expectation. You can combine both inqueries by distributing different colored pens or cards (e.g., yellow for expectations, blue for interests). • Prior knowledge should be better ascertained through real knowledge questions than through students’ self-assessment, as the latter is error-prone. Work with open questions, ask the students to write the answers on a sheet of paper that you then collect. Communicate in advance that you are not testing anything here but that you want to get a feel for the group’s knowledge. Ask questions of different difficulty levels that would reflect the distribution of prior knowledge.

14.2.6.3 Duration and Material Depending on the procedure, between 10–30 minutes. Hand signals or oral contributions go faster- card queries takes longer. For the latter, you need thick pens and moderation cards. 14.2.6.4 Variations of the Method • If it has to go faster, work with oral contributions. However, these may be selective and not representative in the event of a prior knowledge query (only those students who know for sure report). • In large groups, you can also work with hand signals. To do this, set up knowledge questions with predetermined answer categories (preferably at least 4 so that the

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chance of success is only 25%). For the interest and expectation query, you should offer some answer options, some of which may be rather meaningless (for loosening or to test whether the students are thinking).

14.3 Simulation Methods These teaching methods simulate complex situations, e.g., the planning, implementation and defence of a scientific qualification work. The (learning) goal is to be able to successfully cope with the situation.

14.3.1 Business Game 14.3.1.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) A business game simulates in the teaching context a complex, practice-related situation in which the students act autonomously in a limited area of influence in groups and are otherwise at the mercy of the simulated reality (with unforeseen events) simulated by the teacher. All future areas of activity of the students are conceivable (e.g., founding a company in economics). A business game requires a lot of effort but is ideally very realistic and, therefore, very beneficial for the development of the students’ competences, as they experience consequences for their own decisions. The success of the student group should depend on a) their professional and methodological competence, b) teamwork, c) individual responsibility and d) the mastery of unforeseen problems. Define learning goals for this (see Chap. 4). 14.3.1.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) Preparation: Define a scenario (e.g., students conduct a scientific study over a certain period of time). You set various roles (e.g., supervising professor, student assistants, cooperation partners from other universities). In addition, they define real, potential positive and negative events (problems such as literature not being accessible, a PC is stolen, student employees going abroad for a semester, special funding being approved, etc.). Finally, you may specify the necessary work materials (e.g., reference material). Implementation: 1. Explain the purpose of the simulation game and the course of action. Explain the simulation game method if necessary. Assign the roles (here you may have to wait a long time until a student raises a hand. Alternatively, specify who should play which role). The students who are not role-playing observe. If necessary, define observation cat-

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249

egories that ideally cover your learning goals for optimal procedure (strategy, operational performance, etc.). 2. Give the role-playing students the necessary information (about roles and work equipment) and some time to prepare. You can address potential problems, but you don’t have to. 3. Start the simulation game: Let the role-playing students act; sprinkle in events (problems like positives). Important: In the course of the simulation game, you can make it a little harder for the stronger groups and a little easier for the weaker groups (adapt events) so that your students don’t become demotivated. But it shouldn’t be unrealistic - a simulation game can also fail! 4. Presentation of the results to the class: The students playing the game present their results to the group. Evaluation First, release the players from their roles, thanking them for their performance. If necessary, clarify the feedback rules. First, ask the players and then the observers about the learning goals and which solutions were practicable. Give feedback at the end if necessary. The evaluation is the most important phase of the method!

14.3.1.3 Duration and Material 80 minutes and more, if desired and possible (e.g., in compact courses). But reserve at least 10 minutes for the initial and final phases of the teaching session. Cards with information about the events and roles are helpful for the students. 14.3.1.4 Variations of the Method • Let several groups work in parallel, whose actions also relate to the other side (e.g., in the case of divergent interest groups, e.g., Company A vs. Company B). • Repeat the failed simulation game until it succeeds for the first time. • Carry out several runs with varying levels of difficulty - the students may choose a level. • Simulation of teaching-learning situations: Simulation games that have the teaching context as a scenario are sometimes listed under this name. • If you have (student) assistants, you can also successfully carry out a simulation game in much larger classes (cf. Hölscher, 2000). • The use of simulation games on the computer has also proven to be successful (cf. Merchant et al., 2014; d = 0.51).

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14.3.2 Problem-based Learning 14.3.2.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) Problem-based learning (PBL) uses real problems from the context of the subject, which the students have to solve autonomously. Classically, the use of problem-based learning is in medicine (e.g., diseases - diagnosis and therapy based on symptom descriptions) or in law (e.g., legal cases). The students are seen in the simulation (ideally) as experts who have to solve a problem professionally for external laymen (society, clients, patients, etc.)—this is only possible with students with some prior knowledge. “Pure” problembased learning is a cognitive method, mostly text-based, which gets a simulated character based on a) how realistic the problems are and b) the expert status. PBL is not helpful for knowledge transfer, but conducive to competence development (d = 0.46; Dochy et al., 2003; Gijbels et al., 2005). 14.3.2.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) In phase 1, you are active as a teacher, in phases 2–4, you moderate the process and keep back as a teacher but are always available for consultation. If the group makes little progress, it may be useful for the teacher to provide assistance after a certain waiting period. In phase 4d, you should finally give your opinion on the student’s solution. 1. Problem identification a) Definition of the problem b) If necessary, clarification of unclear terms 2. Problem analysis a) Problem solving: Activation of prior knowledge, differentiation from already existing solutions, subdivision of the problem into separately or successively solvable “sub-problems”, hypothesis generation for the cause of the problem b) Analysis of one’s own knowledge gaps for problem solving 3. Learning phase a) Definition of one’s own learning goals (if necessary, sort by importance) b) Self-directed learning (alone or in small groups with common learning goals) to solve the problem (this can also be outside the lecture) 4. Problem solving a) Presentation and discussion of the developed problem solutions b) Application of the newly acquired competencies to the problem c) Evaluation of one’s own problem solution by fellow students d) Evaluation of one’s own problem solution by the teacher

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251

14.3.2.3 Duration and Material Depending on the complexity, you will need between 20 minutes and several hours (the latter spread over at least two sessions during weekly lectures). For the work phase, moderation cards and pens, notice boards and flipcharts are helpful. 14.3.2.4 Variations of the Method • You can supplement problem-based learning with elements of role-playing. E.g., the diagnosis and treatment to be carried out could be carried out by the medical students on a “patient” played by you. Other elements such as time pressure in the hospital etc. would have to be simulated.

14.3.3 Simulation 14.3.3.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) Simulations are created to represent the future professional activities as realistically as possible. They come the closest to professional reality than all other teaching methods and have so far been used in courses of study in which errors in the context of professional activity have serious consequences and can only be corrected to a limited extent or not at all (e.g., aviation, medicine). In the simulation, the management of complex machines such as flight simulators (de Smale et al., 2016) or complex situations such as in medicine, e.g., after an accident, can be carried out (St. Pierre & Breuer, 2013). 14.3.3.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) There is no standard procedure due to the heterogeneity of the professions. The following points must be observed: • Briefing in advance: Inform the students in detail about all conditions of the simulation: The learning goals and evaluation criteria as well as the simulation location and if it will be filmed, etc. to take away fears. • Legal security (if not already given in the study and examination regulations, etc.): What happens to the filmed material? Let the students sign something and also give out a letter from yourself to create trust. • Curricular integration: Simulations require time, which may require adjusting the curriculum. • Appropriateness: Is the difficulty level of the simulation suited to the students’ competence levels so that they are not frustrated and overwhelmed (if too difficult) or bored (if too simple)? • Relevance to reality: Is the simulation as plausible and realistic as possible, especially in rapidly changing professions (e.g., technology and software in IT)? Ask people who work in the relevant field and try to make the environment as authentic as possible (e.g., by using original materials from the respective profession).

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• Synergy effects: Can the students who are not acting in the simulation observe the simulation and evaluate it in the reflection? [Learning by observing others] • Are the acting persons in the simulation both capable of acting and mostly unknown to the students (as in professional life) so that they cannot be assessed in advance? • Cost: Are there enough financial and personal resources as well as time for the simulation? • Reflection before performance: In the first student simulations, it is not about them acting as successfully as possible but about them becoming reflective practitioners (cf. Schön, 1987). They should get a (first) feeling for the future professional life with all its unforeseeability. Address this in advance. (In the last simulations before the end of studies, performance is, of course, just as important as reflection.) • Debriefing: Are the students also mentally taken out of the situation after the simulation? E.g., change rooms, create an end-ritual. • Reflection phase: Central to a successful simulation are the reflection processes. Teachers need to plan a reflection phase and discuss the simulation intensively with the students during this phase.

14.3.3.3 Duration and Material Very different, depending on the simulation. It is important to plan enough time for the reflection phase. 14.3.3.4 Variations of the Method If—usually due to a limited budget—no actors can be engaged, one can “fall back” on upper semester students who receive a performance certificate for their acting performance. It is helpful if the acting students are not known to the simulating students so that they cannot anticipate the reactions of the acting students. In some cases, simulations on the computer can be used, which also have a positive effect on learning success (d = 0.41; Merchant et al., 2014).

14.4 Behavioral Modeling Behavioral modeling includes the teaching methods that focus on the acquisition of specific student behaviors. This includes, e.g., the ability to argue when defending a scientific qualification thesis.

14.4.1 Role-playing 14.4.1.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) Role-playing allows students to practice a behavior that they know in advance how to professionally implement: Role-playing should convert theoretical knowledge into competent behavior. The passive students also learn by observing the role-players. The cen-

14.4  Behavioral Modeling

253

tral aspect of the role-playing is its reflective evaluation with feedback after the game situation has ended.

14.4.1.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) Preparation Generate a scenario with different roles: Establish the situation, the place, the problem and relevant aspects of the individual roles (e.g., their goals, motivation, relationships, prior knowledge). Pay attention to a) relevance and b) realism. Define learning goals (cf. Chap. 4) for the role-play: What does the optimal behavior look like? Procedure Explain the purpose of the role-play and the course of events. Explain the method of role-play if necessary. Assign the roles: First let the individual role-players show (here you may have to wait a long time until someone raises a hand. Alternatively, specify who should play): 1. The protagonist should practice his behaviors (e.g., as an aspiring doctor, informing a patient of a cancer diagnosis), which he would like to improve. 2. The antagonist should represent the real counterpart of the protagonist as realistically as possible (e.g., agitated patients, desperate relatives), he plays a role. 3. The remaining students should act as observers and give feedback later. If necessary, define observation categories (e.g., body language, expression, consistent behavior, friendliness), which ideally cover your learning goals for optimal behavior. 4. The consultants (optional) help the protagonist in his preparation, they are normal observers during the exercise. 5. You as the leader moderate the process and monitor the time. You do not play a role but remain neutral. Do not intervene unless the role-playing exercise as a whole is endangered (e.g., participants are behaving foolishly). Once the roles are established, give the role-players time to prepare (give specific information if necessary). Carry out the role-playing exercise. Evaluation First, release the players from their roles, thank them for their performance. If necessary, clarify the feedback rules. First, ask the players and then the observers for a) general impressions, b) positive aspects, c) improvement possibilities and d) insights for themselves. Give feedback at the end. The evaluation is the most important phase of the method! Important Role-playing exercises are sometimes experienced by students as strenuous and stressful during their performance. In retrospect, role-playing exercises are considered to be very

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beneficial, especially for the players, if they are well prepared. Furthermore, make sure the feedback is professional (i.e. mainly concrete) (Chap. 12).

14.4.1.3 Duration and Material For each scenario, at least 30 minutes, a maximum 90 minutes for performance and evaluation (but reserve at least 10 minutes for the initial and final phases of the lecture). The evaluation makes up at least 50% of the total time. Important original materials from the real context are helpful in simulating reality. 14.4.1.4 Variations of the Method • • • •

Give the individual role-players information that the other role-players do not have. Divide the students into smaller groups (for sensitive topics). In difficult cases, give the protagonist an advisory group during his preparation. Let the roles vary: E.g., in a three-person group, each student is, in turn, 1) protagonist, 2) antagonist and 3) feedback-giving observer once. • Record the role-playing exercise on video. Video feedback allows for much more concrete and workable feedback (but the evaluation also takes longer).

14.4.2 Fishbowl 14.4.2.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) The fishbowl method is used to practice communication behavior in discussions. For this purpose, a small group of students lead a discussion in a circle of chairs (the “fishbowl”) while the large group of remaining students observe. The discussion contents is secondary. The method helps students who are unfamiliar with discussions to practice a culture of discussion. 14.4.2.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) • Form a circle of chairs with 4–7 chairs. Ask 3–6 students to take a seat on the chairs: One chair must always remain unoccupied. • Optionally, you can form an outer circle of chairs for the remaining students, but these can also be close to the inner circle of chairs (to minimize the amount of time need to move tables and chairs). • The students in the fishbowl should now discuss a controversial topic, usually from the lecture. If necessary, provide supplementary visual aids during the discussion. • The remaining students observe the communication behavior (comprehensibility, let others finish, taking into account opposing arguments, etc.). During the discussion, one of the remaining students can take a seat on the empty chair, contribute something

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255

and then leave the round again. The students in the fishbowl stay seated and continue to discuss. • Finally, evaluate the discussion behavior: First, ask the discussants, then ask for contributions from the audience. If necessary, clarify the feedback rules beforehand. • Optional: Derive discussion rules for future sessions from the fishbowl, which you decide on in the course and record in writing.

14.4.2.3 Duration and Material A total of 30–45 minutes: 5 minutes for the group assignment, 10–20 minutes for the discussion, 15–20 minutes for the evaluation. No special material is necessary. 14.4.2.4 Variations of the Method • If one of the other students enters the fishbowl, it is not he who must leave the fishbowl but one of the other students. • Set up more than one free chair in the fishbowl. • For large classes with more than 40 students, the free chair can be omitted, but does not have to be. • If you focus on the course content, you can also use the fishbowl as a feedback method.

14.5 Moderation Techniques All moderation techniques serve to assess student (learning) group activities: The goal of these teaching methods is the successful work process (problem solving, idea finding, work planning, opinion formation) of the group you moderate. Central to all moderation techniques is your neutral basic attitude as moderator. Helpful are additional visual aids during the moderation. You can use individual methods (e.g., if you only want to conduct a discussion). You can also combine several moderation techniques into one moderation cycle (see Seifert, 2011): 1. Entry: Topic selection (e.g., by you, asking questions, inquiry into expectations, brainstorming). 2. Topic collection (e.g., via a card query). 3. Topic selection (e.g., via a variation of the target method, multi-point query). 4. Topic processing (e.g., via an action plan, open space, world café). 5. Planning of measures (e.g., via an action plan). 6. Conclusion (e.g., via the flash and target methods).

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14.5.1 Card Query 14.5.1.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) The card query allows you to collect anonymous contributions from all students and make their opinions, solutions, ideas, etc. visible to everyone. This method activates everyone - including the “quieter” students. Since everyone should be able to read the cards, this method is suitable for smaller rooms or courses (max. 40 students). 14.5.1.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) 1. Explain the procedure for this method including the adequate text format (legible block letters, max. 3 lines and 7 words per card). 2. Define a research question. 3. Distribute cards and pens. 4. The students label the cards and hand them in collectively. 5. Read the card out loud (in the case of illegibility, ask the student to clarify) and pin the card to the bulletin board. Cards with similar themes are grouped together (if there is time, by the students or the card author, otherwise by you). 6. Finally, the theme groups are named with a headline (the group decides, but you can make suggestions).

14.5.1.3 Duration and Material With 2–3 cards per student and 30 students per similarity, the card query takes 30–60 minutes. You need thick black pens (wide tip, 0.5 cm), moderation cards (alternatively colored paper/cardboard) and a bulletin board. Instead of a bulletin board, you can also stick the cards to the wall with adhesive tape (be careful when removing). 14.5.1.4 Variations of the Method • “Call-out question”: Do not distribute the cards, but have the group call out contributions that you write on the cards. This is faster than the card query but the contributions of extroverted students will dominate here. • Distribute cards in different colors, to which you assign meanings (e.g., green card: Positive aspects; red card: Negative aspects). • Card query as well as call-out questions can also be used as feedback methods.

14.5.2 Multi-point Query 14.5.2.1 Aim (Including Application Field) After topics have been collected (e.g., by card query), the multi-point query helps to prioritize the students’ topics (= opinions, solutions, ideas, etc.). Most of the time, you choose which area you want to work on in the future.

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14.5.2.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) Depending on the number of topics to be selected, give 1–3 points for free distribution. Let the students place these points freely ( in the case of card queries, on the headings of the topic groups). 14.5.2.3 Duration and Material Depending on the group size, you need 5–10 minutes. You need adhesive dots or pens to mark the points. 14.5.2.4 Variations of the Method If it has to go faster, let them vote by show of hands (for sensitive or controversial issues, check the number of hands raised to prevent fraud).

14.5.3 Action Plan 14.5.3.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) An action plan serves to distribute the tasks that have arisen or been specified, including the time frame. As the instructor, you moderate the process (i.e., you make sure that the tasks are distributed evenly and that all students participate). The decision of who exactly does “what by when” lies with the students. 14.5.3.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) 1. Visually present an action plan (e.g., with a beamer presentation, on a whiteboard, flipchart, pinboard), presenting a table with the following categories: a) “Name” or “Who?” b) “Task” or “What?” c) “Goal” or “For what?” d) “Time frame” or “From-to when?” e) (Optional) “In control of?” 2. Moderate the process: Successively name all tasks or all persons and ask for feedback on who wants to do what for what by when. Make sure that a) all students and tasks are distributed, b) the individual workloads are similar and c) the tasks are clearly formulated.

14.5.3.3 Duration and Material Depending on the number of tasks, you need 10–40 minutes and materials for the medium you have chosen (laptop and beamer, whiteboard markers, moderation cards and markers, etc.).

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14.5.3.4 Variations of the Method • In principle, an action plan can also be made for an individual - for instance, if you have supervised students who have difficulty planning their tasks (e.g., the very first term paper of their studies).

14.5.4 Open Space 14.5.4.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) Open Space (and World Café, see “Variations of the Method”) method allows groups of students to independently work on different topics, with students always having the possibility of changing groups. Both methods are “classically” used in large groups but are also suitable for groups of 8 or more students in two groups. As the instructor, you are passive during the working phase. It is especially important with these methods to secure the results of the group work and to monitor the implementation of the measures decided in the Open Space. Open Space and World Café work particularly well if the topics interest the students or if the students feel personally involved. 14.5.4.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) Preparation • Define a main topic and derive subtopics for the groups from it (one topic per group). Alternatively, you can let the group choose the main topic and its subtopics (e.g., via a card query and a multi-point query). • Arrange the tables according to the number of groups. • Prepare work materials at each table: Pens, (flipchart) paper, moderation cards, etc. Procedure • Explain the method - in particular, its principle of “openness for flexible procedures (by teachers and students)”: – “Law of two feet”: Each person remains in the group only as long as he or she wants to contribute something. – No time limits (except for the start and end of the overall method by the teacher): Each individual or group decides for themselves how they want to use their time. When, how long and for what purpose the individual groups use their time is up to them. – No personal requirements: The number of people per group is unimportant. – Dissolution of groups, change of topic and introduction of new topics is allowed (but it is still important to secure results).

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• Assign a topic to each table group. • Working phase: Let the students start Open Space exercise. Remain completely passive and only make sure that—after some time—a result is produced. • End the working phase of Open Space exercise and moderate the result presentation (e.g., through poster presentations of the individual groups). Post-processing • Derive measures from the results (e.g., via an action plan). 

Some people in the Open Space method are classified as “bumblebees” and “butterflies”, etc. This is not important for the method but possibly for the illustration of possible behaviors when explaining the method to the students: “Bumblebees” actively move from flower (= group or topic) to flower; “butterflies” are calmer, more passive and more attached to one (or no) topic. Use it if it seems important to you and adapt the explanations and terms to your experiences if necessary.

14.5.4.3 Duration and Material An Open Space exercise takes at least 45 minutes to several days in total. 45 minutes are planned for the introduction, 30 minutes for the working phase and 10 minutes for the presentation of results. With inexperienced groups, the introduction can take up to 15 minutes. 14.5.4.4 Variations of the Method • For longer Open Space exercises (from approx. 3 h), you should have intermediate results presented so that the students are informed about the intermediate status of all groups and, if necessary, can reset their priorities. • World Café method: In a World Café, the students, in contrast to the Open Space, change groups at fixed, defined and announced time intervals (e.g., by music). The students should mix into new groups. A student “host” is defined for each group or topic, who may not change and is responsible for ensuring the group comes to a result. The new groups should build on the work of the previous group, which the host introduces. The host also presents the final results of the World Café exercise to the class. The World Café method requires less time than the Open Space method (from 45 minutes with two table groups to three hours). The time intervals last 15–30 minutes. A World Café exercise, which only deals with topics with learning content, is sometimes called a “Knowledge Café”.

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14.5.5 Discussion 14.5.5.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) Discussions and their moderation by the instructor are used to encourage and moderate level-appropriate student contributions and to use them overall in a way that promotes student-reflective knowledge gain. In contrast to a debate (see “Variations of the Method”), a discussion is not an argument. All of these methods promote argumentation skills and introduce students to a culture of discussion. (Targeted) discussions are very good for student learning success (d = 0.82; Hattie, 2015). 14.5.5.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) Preparation • Set a time frame in advance (with a certain buffer, e.g., 25–35 minutes) that you stick to. If necessary, moderate the discussion in case of time exceeded. • Work out or set discussion rules. • Define a scribe who records the central findings of the discussion and makes them available to all students (possibly after your assessment). This can be recognized, e.g., as “Active Participation” in the seminar. • Optional: Write down the points (A, B, C, …) of the discussion that are important to you and incorporate them into the discussion. Procedure • Lead the discussion with an “interaction-triggering question” / “impulse question” that is left open and is supposed to provoke the students (in order to encourage word contributions). • Moderate the discussion: Maintain a neutral stance but prevent disruptions (interruptions, comments unrelated to the topic). Optionally, you can delegate the moderation to a assertive student. • Try to keep the discussion alive and on topic. Manage the discussion with questions: He who asks, leads! (e.g., “Thank you for your comments on point A. I would now like to go into point B more in-depth. Can we assume at B that …?”). • Try to include the quieter students (e.g., while acknowledging the students who are continuously raising their hands: “Thank you, I would like to hear the opinion of those who have been more silent.” Wait until someone raises their hand—at the beginning, this takes a while. Alternatively, address people specifically). • At the end of the discussion, you should also express your opinion without harshly criticizing divergent opinions (exception: Factually wrong contributions and logical errors).

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14.5.5.3 Duration and Material Even with the simplest topics, plan for at least 5–15 minutes. For complex and interesting topics, there are no real limits upwards. If the exercise lasts more than 80 minutes, provide the students with breaks. It is also recommended that you vary your methods. Reserve at least 10 minutes for the initial and final phases of the lecture. 14.5.5.4 Variations of the Method • External expert: If, e.g., an assertive student moderates the discussion, you can act as an external expert (in addition to the discussion round, not as a classic Q&A with an expert). Alternatively, you can invite colleagues. • Debate or pro-contra-argumentation: For controversial topics with at least two groups, you can conduct a debate instead of a discussion (e.g., foreign deployments of the German armed forces, ethical limits of genetic research, how many dimensions does the cosmos have). For this purpose, the students may group themselves according to the topic. Proceed analogously to the method of conducting a discussion, but take the groups in turn. If necessary, give the groups 5–10 minutes to collect their arguments before starting the debate. The written collection of the individual group arguments is particularly important here. • English debate:2 Here you always form two groups (A and B) with 2–3 members each. The sequence of arguments and replies is fixed here: Member 1 of Group A is followed by the reply of Member 1 of Group B, then 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B and from then on, in free order (students 1–3) but in alternating groups (A vs. B). After the end of the English debate, the remaining, passively observing students may describe their impressions. • Advocatus Diaboli: If you do not have enough divergent opinions, ask a few students to act as “the devil’s advocate”, who deliberately argue for the positions that oppose their own. This is a more difficult task for students, as they have to react spontaneously against their convictions and arguments: Therefore, choose creative and eloquent students top play the “devil’s advocate”. • Perspective change: Conduct two debates, in which the students have to take over the position of the opposite side from round 1 in round 2. • Combine the mentioned aspects (with or without passively observing students, experts, two or more groups, a fixed sequence, preparation, perspective changes etc.), as it suits you.

2 Of

course, the “English debate” is usually in the mother tongue of the participants; the name is derived from the debating culture of the English or British House of Commons.

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14.5.6 Expert Q & A 14.5.6.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) (External) experts from research and practice are invited to the lecture to provide students with new and different perspectives based on their first-hand experiences. 14.5.6.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) Preparation Let your students prepare questions for the expert and send them to you a few days in advance (so that you can give feedback if necessary). If possible, structure the questions in a content and logic coordinated manner. Implementation Welcome the expert and introduce him to the students. Moderate the process (students’ questions, expert’s answer - if necessary, follow-up questions, next question). If necessary, let a student take notes of the central content (as “active participation” in the lecture). Post-processing Discuss the expert Q&A session with your students in the next session, possible aspects could be, e.g., new findings, what was surprising, what was confirmed?

14.5.6.3 Duration and Material Depending on the expert’s need to talk and the questions between 30–80 minutes (reserve at least 10 minutes for the initial and final phases of the lecture). 14.5.6.4 Variations of the Method • Let the expert give an input first before the Q&A session begins.

14.5.7 Pyramid Method or Atoms-molecules 14.5.7.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) The pyramid method is used to find consensus in a group when a consensual vote of the group is to be achieved without dissenting opinions—e.g., to establish rules for cooperation. The method is sometimes also called “atoms-molecules”. 14.5.7.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) 1. Ask the students to record their position individually in writing (as single “atoms”). 2. The students should now form 2-person groups (“molecules”), exchange their positions and come to a consensus (if it does not work, have them form 3-person groups).

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3. Following this, the group sizes will be doubled (if it does not work, one of the groups will be slightly larger), until, at the end, a total group is formed which agrees on a consensus. 4. Record the consensus in writing.

14.5.7.3 Duration and Material Depending on the topic, you will need 15–45 minutes. As material, moderation cards, thick pens and flipchart paper for the final consensus are helpful. Alternatively, you can enter the final consensus directly into the laptop and show it via a beamer. 14.5.7.4 Variations of the Method • Allow the consensus-finding to stop if the groups cannot agree further. This works well if you want to show controversial positions in the group (e.g., “Develop the perfect … model” → at the end, divergent models that are not compatible but logically consistent in themselves may arise). • Reversal of the method: In order to deconstruct general consensus (e.g., “Protection of human life”), you can force the groups to make more detailed specifications, splitting them up as soon as there is is no longer consensus (e.g., “Protection of human life also for murderers?” “Protection of human life a) from existence, conception, X. week, birth or b) after brain death, etc.?”). At the end, you get different, homogeneous groups with which you can work further (e.g., English debate).

14.6 Presentation Techniques The teaching methods under the presentation techniques are intended to promote the presentation skills of the students. However, presentation skills do not only include the pure (self-promoting) performance, but also, e.g., the structure of the content, the consistency of the argumentation, etc. of the students.

14.6.1 Presentations 14.6.1.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) Presentations promote the presentation skills of the students because they have to prepare, present and discuss a topic area for their fellow students. Ideally, the students giving the presentation also practice their moderation skills in the discussion In addition, they receive feedback on their performance from their fellow students and the lecturer at the end of the presentation discussion (cf. Gold & Souvignier, 2000; Preiser, 2000).

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14.6.1.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) In general: In the seminars of many subjects at German universities, (bad) presentations are given almost exclusively, since their unaccompanied implementation results in maximum time yield for the teaching staff with minimal effort (minimax principle: Literature assigned, students prepared, time served and students presented, session ended without feedback). Due to their inflationary bad use, presentations have come under criticism and are partly rejected outright. Neither of these views does justice to the presentation method: Well-made presentations are one of the best ways to promote students’ presentation skills - topic preparation (selection and prioritization of content), presentation (rhetoric, argumentation, media selection), discussion (rhetoric, argumentation, moderation) and feedback (criticism). Preparation • Select the relevant literature (if the students are inexperienced, you may need to provide the literature, otherwise a reference list is sufficient). • In the first meeting, present your presentation conditions (= the following points). • Set a preliminary meeting date (e.g., immediately at the end of the course one week before the respective presentation. This is helpful for quality assurance). Procedure • Moderate the presenters, make sure that their fellow students take notes on a) questions for the later discussion and b) feedback for the presenters. • If necessary, distribute different feedback tasks to the observing students (e.g., on rhetoric, argumentation, media selection). • Let the presenters present, but interrupt the presenters if they provide false statements. Pay attention to the time and moderate the presentation when the time is up, even if the presenters are not finished yet. Ideally, use time cards (“still 5 minutes”, “still 1 minute”, “stop”). • Let the presenters moderate the subsequent discussion. Only intervene if the discussion gets out of hand thematically or disciplinarily. Furthermore, ask questions (this can help you steer the discussion in the right direction: “Who asks, leads!”, see the “Asking Questions” method). • Thank the presenters for their presentation and discussion. • Summarize the most important content points of the topic for you (regardless of whether they were mentioned in the presentation: The students need your expertise as a point of reference). • Let the students give feedback to the presenters. Then give feedback (repeat the feedback rules if necessary).

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Post-processing • Make the presenters’ media (e.g., presentation slides, photo of the bulletin board, etc.) available to the students. • If necessary, offer the presenters a consultation (e.g., in case of controversial feedback; if the presentation “went down the drain”).

14.6.1.3 Duration and Material Depending on the amount, the procedure can take between 30–80 minutes (reserve at least 10 minutes for the initial and final phases of the teaching unit). At least one presentation medium should be used: Computer and projector, flipchart, pinboard, blackboard or whiteboard. 14.6.1.4 Variations of the Method • As a teacher, only give feedback after the lesson if only the presenters are still there. • Let the feedback be given by the fellow students in writing (for this purpose, give a few categories in advance and repeat the feedback rules beforehand, as the feedback is more honest here and can also be somewhat harsh).

14.6.2 Impulse Presentations 14.6.2.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) An impulse or short presentation serves to give the students an impetus for a following activity (discussion, group work, text work, etc.) through a short input. Due to the brevity of the impulse presentation, only one student should present. Detailed feedback to the presenter is not given here due to the time expenditure. 14.6.2.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) Preparation • Select the relevant literature (if necessary, provide the literature for inexperienced students, otherwise a reference list is sufficient). • Schedule a preliminary meeting (e.g., immediately at the end of the lecture one week before the respective impulse presentation. This is helpful for the quality of the work). Ask the student what the main take-aways of their impulse presentation are. Implementation • Moderate the presenter. • Let the presenter present but interrupt if the presenter makes false statements. Pay attention to the time and moderate the impulse presentation when the time is

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over - even if the presenter is not finished yet. Ideally, use time cards (“still 5 minutes”, “still 1 minutes”, “stop”). • Thank the presenter for the presentation and impulse. • Summarize the most important content points of the topic for you (regardless of whether they were mentioned in the presentation: The students need your expertise as a point of reference). • Proceed to the next phase (discussion, group work, text work, etc.). Post-processing • Make the presenter’s media (e.g., presentation slides, photo of the pinboard) available to the students. • Give the presenter feedback on his impulse lecture after the lecture.

14.6.2.3 Duration and Material A short presentation lasts 5–15 minutes. At least one presentation medium should be used: Computer and projector, flipchart, pin board, blackboard or whiteboard. 14.6.2.4 Variations of the Method • You give the short presentation yourself. • Let several short presentations be given in the teaching unit (e.g., one per phase - discussion, group work, text work).

14.6.3 Poster Presentation 14.6.3.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) For poster presentations, students prepare a poster on a topic by themselves or in (small) groups together, which they present and defend in a poster presentation. The poster presentations are carried out analogously to those at specialist conferences. 14.6.3.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) Preparation • Select the relevant literature (if the students are inexperienced, you may need to provide the literature, otherwise a reference list is sufficient). • Make a few posters (e.g., from previous semesters) available to students as “best practice” examples. • Give the students the relevant templates (e.g., the official DinA0 poster template from your computing center) to create the poster. • Offer help with poster creation if necessary (e.g., as part of your office hours).

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• Set a deadline for submission about a week before the poster presentation in order to be able to intervene and print the posters. • Issue a short guide on how the poster presentation is carried out (for details, see implementation). Procedure Hang the posters up before the session begins. 1. Moderate the poster presentation: All students stand around a poster. 2. Let the respective student present his poster (or a student from the poster group) for a maximum of 5 minutes. The fellow students listen. Pay attention to the time and intervene in the poster presentation when the time is up, even if the presenter is not finished yet. Ideally, use time cards (“1 more minute”, “stop”). 3. The fellow students can ask questions about the poster for 5 minutes. This is often a bit tedious. Here you can animate the process with leading questions. 4. Thank the student for the presentation and discussion. 5. Proceed to the next poster until you have dealt with all posters. 6. Optional: Discuss the overall impressions of the poster presentations with the students (e.g., new findings, open questions, comments on the method). 7. Summarize the key points of the posters (= final phase of the course). Post-processing • Make the poster files available to all students.

14.6.3.3 Duration and Material Ideally plan for 10 minutes per poster, 5 for the presentation and 5 for questions. Overall, a poster presentation should not exceed 75 minutes (reserve at least 10 minutes for the initial and final phases of the course as well as another 5 minutes for hanging the posters). In addition to the posters, you will also need corkboards and pins or walls and crepe paper to hang the posters. 14.6.3.4 Variations of the Method • Let the students walk around freely by dividing the students into two groups (e.g., Group 1 walks around while the students in Group 2 remain a their posters and present). • Award the best 1–3 posters at the end of the poster presentations (after phase 5 or 6).

14.7 Methods for Counseling and Supervision The methods for counseling and supervision are used less in their own course but more in their own office hours, especially for qualification work.

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14.7.1 Counseling Guides 14.7.1.1 Aim (Including Field of Application) Counseling guides serve to structure difficult and/or complex conversations that can take place, e.g., during office hours. 14.7.1.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) Preparation • Consider which aspects might be relevant in the counseling. Possible aspects are, e.g., feedback, clarification of students’ interests, self-perception, action plans (see “Implementation” for details). Choose the aspects that are useful to you. Only the informal phases “beginning of the counseling” and “ending of the counseling” are set. • For each aspect, note the relevant points that you want to address. Procedure Example of a (first) counseling guide for writing a qualification work with you: 1. Beginning of the counseling (guideline: 5 minutes): Informal conversational phase for clarifying the procedure and “breaking the ice”. 2. Clarification of student interests (5 minutes): Are there any personal preferences for the qualification work (in terms of topic, method)? 3. Topic options (10 minutes): Explanation of the topics that you can or want to supervise as a lecturer. 4. Methodological implementation (10 minutes): Presentation of the methodological requirements and possibilities (possibly for each topic). 5. Formalities (10 minutes): Clarification of your supervision methods, your expectations and performance criteria for the candidate. 6. End of the counseling (5 minutes): Informal conversation phase: Agreement on further procedures (decision by when), possibly making agreements (see action plan) if immediate acceptance, farewell. Example of a feedback consultation for career choice with students who have very great difficulties in their studies, adapted from Horstmeyer et al. (2014): 1. Beginning of consultation (guideline: 5 minutes): Informal conversational phase for clarification of procedure and “breaking the ice”. 2. Students’s self-introduction (10 minutes): Personal and professional background, current situation in studies, expectations for future career. 3. Career orientation and organizational choice (optional, 5 minutes): Clarification of motivation for career choice; optional, to be used with critical candidates in order to explore alternatives in advance.

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4. Realistic information about activities (optional, 5–10 minutes): Information about studies and future profession, optional, to be used for clarification if the student has an unrealistic conception of a profession and (if necessary) to elicit reflection about possible alternatives regarding the student’s studies and career prospects. 5. Feedback from the teacher (10 minutes): Explanation of your assessment from the outside, naming of concrete examples to illustrate your position. 6. Free conversational part (5 minutes): Clarification of open questions about the feedback. 7. Action plan (10 minutes): Development of possible steps based on feedback (further education, reorientation, etc.). 8. End of consultation (5 minutes): Informal conversation phase: Clarification of further procedures, the making of agreements if necessary (see action plan), farewell. Post-processing: • Keep the agreements made in a protocol (see care protocols). If necessary and possible, this can also take place during the consultation.

14.7.1.3 Duration and Material Depending on the number of chosen aspects 5–50 minutes. If necessary, write down your points on a piece of paper. 14.7.1.4 Variations of the Method • Any variation in terms of type and number of chosen aspects/points is conceivable.

14.7.2 Supervision Protocols 14.7.2.1 Aim (Including Area of Application) Supervision protocols should document the central agreements with the candidate (bachelor, master, dissertation). They are used for orientation and as a reference work for the enforcement of the agreed level of performance from the candidate and supervising teaching staff. 14.7.2.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) • Explain the purpose of the procedure to your candidate. • Create a file in which you document all important agreements, arrangements, etc. from meetings, emails, etc. with the candidate. Keep your notes as brief as possible but as long as necessary. • Send your candidate the file via email. Send a new version as soon as any supplement or change occurs. Alternatively, you can also save the file online in a shared cloud (cloud computing). • Sort your notes either by date or topic (e.g., schedule, table of contents, theory, method).

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• In annual goal setting meetings (thus this only applies to doctoral candidates), the dissertation-relevant results of these meetings should be incorporated into the supervision protocols.

14.7.2.3 Duration and Material Depending on your writing speed, you will need 5–15 minutes per meeting for the supervision protocol. As material, a computer or tablet with writing software and an email program is sufficient. 14.7.2.4 Variations of the Method • If you have a good memory, have the candidate write the protocol and send it to you, so you can see what the candidate has correctly understood. • Write the protocol on the computer during the meetings and agree on the correct formulation.

14.7.3 Supervision Contracts 14.7.3.1 Aim (Including Area of Application) Supervision contracts are used to secure supervision relationships. This should be done especially in sensitive cases (e.g., if your master’s candidate is working on a part of your dissertation, you should agree that your master’s candidate will not publish anything on this topic alone). 14.7.3.2 Procedure (Including Important Aspects to be Considered) • Formulate the contract in a way that is understandable, brief and short for laymen (Exception: If you and your candidate are lawyers, of course you can meet your scientific standards). • Include relevant aspects of your usual supervision services and expectations in the contract.

14.7.3.3 Duration and Material For the creation of the contract, you should invest a maximum of 60 minutes on the templates. 14.7.3.4 Variations of the Method • If this is too formal for you, sign a supervision agreement and waive the signature if necessary. In sensitive cases, you should insist on signatures. Here is a contract that I use. For other qualification work (e.g., master’s degree), I only replace the word “undergraduate” and the time limit for the bachelor’s/master’s thesis. The other information remains unchanged. Adapt the contract to your ideas.

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Bachelor's Thesis Agreement Between the undergraduate student Mr./Mrs.________________________________, and the supervising teacher at the Instute for XXXX, University YYYY, Mr./Mrs. YOU, the following bachelor’s thesis agreement is made. This agreement serves to ensure the best possible supervision and support of the undergraduate students at the Instute for XXXX to guarantee a high quality of the bachelor’s thesis as well as fix the mutual rights and dues in this respect. Details of the undergraduate student Start oƒ the bachelor’s thesis period (contract):

_________________________________

Mr./Mrs.:

___________________

Date of birth

________________________

Phone:

___________________

Email:

________________________

Address:

___________________________________________________________________

As a rule, the duraon of the bachelor’s thesis should not exceed XY weeks. The bachelor's thesis is wriŒen according to the applicable examinaon regulaons. The bachelor’s thesis takes place at the Instute for XXXX, University of YYYY. Mr./Mrs.

_______________________________________

has received approval from the faculty to begin his/her bachelor thesis on ______________. has requested approval from the faculty to begin his/her bachelor's thesis on ___________. The (provisional) working tle of the bachelor’s thesis is: ___________________________________________________________________________ The work has to be completed unl _____________. In addition to the supervisor named above, the following persons are involved in supervising the work (e.g., co-supervising): Name:

_______________________

Funcon:

________________________

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The undergraduate student commits him/herself to • submit an exposé of the research queson with a work plan and me schedule before starng the bachelor’s thesis. This clearly shows what the bachelor thesis comprises. This document is a binding reference (aer consultaon with the supervisor); at the same me, the official registraon of the Bachelor's thesis takes place with its compleon. • ay out and design the bachelor thesis in such a way that it can be completed within a period of 9 weeks.. • report any deviaons in the schedule to the supervisor at an early stage. • treat the empirical data of the supervisor confidenally and to use it only in the context of the bachelor thesis. • furthermore: _____________________________________________________________________ The supervisor commits him/herself to • provide the necessary support to achieve the qualificaon goal in the agreed period of me: Proposal for the structure of the work (table of contents), openly presenng evaluaon criteria at the beginning, literature suggesons, assistance with methodology. • provide feedback on a maximum of 10% of the wrien bachelor thesis before submission within a time frame that has been bindingly agreed upon in each case. • monitor the scheduled progress of the bachelor’s thesis in regular meengs (at least one in advance, two during and one aer submission) and to comment on the me and work schedules and reports as well as the exposé. • furthermore: _____________________________________________________________________ The undergraduate student and the supervisor commit him/herself to • provide both pares with mely informaon on professional reorientaons. • maintain the supervision of the bachelor thesis regardless of possible changes of the supervisor. • exchange informaon on the progress of the work, especially in the case of direconal decisions (contents of the theory, choice of method, etc.) regarding the work. • jointly publish possible resulng publicaons (congress presentaons, arcles, etc.) based on the bachelor thesis (both are authors). • furthermore: _____________________________________________________________________

Signatures ____________________________ Student

_______________________ Supervisor

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14.8 Icebreaker and Relaxation Methods Introduction and icebreaker methods are particularly suitable for longer teaching sessions (e.g., compact courses). As the only teaching methods, they have fewer (subjectrelated and methodological) learning goals but rather focus on group cohesion (which can be regarded as a social learning goals in a broad sense). Introduction methods are supposed to “break the ice”. They are particularly suitable if you work intensively with the students and the students get to know each other over a long period of time (first-semester students or mixed classrooms). Icebreaker methods are supposed to relax and stimulate and are therefore partly “unserious” on purpose. They are particularly suitable for longer sessions and, in general, after longer inputs if other cognitive activation becomes difficult. Some of the following methods are suitable for both purposes and can therefore be used in the first event for breaking the ice and getting to know one another.

14.8.1 Introduction Board 14.8.1.1 Aim (Including Application Field) An introduction board is used for the start of the teaching session and is suitable for small groups (