760. The High Risks of Improving Teaching
November 17, 2006
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"But the ugly truth this man experienced so sharply continues to haunt efforts to improve teaching: student resistance presents one of the biggest obstacles to improving teaching, followed closely by poor and certainly uneven support from administration for pedagogical reform."
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Posted by markep on November 17, 2006
760. The High Risks of Improving Teaching
November 17, 2006
Folks:
The posting below examines the very important but little discussed issue of student resistance to faculty attempts to try new teaching approaches. It is by James Rhem, executive editor of the National Teaching and Learning forum. It is number 35 in a series of selected excerpts from the NT&LF newsletter reproduced here as part of our "Shared Mission Partnership." NT&LF has a wealth of information on all aspects of teaching and learning. If you are not already a subscriber, you can check it out at [http://www.ntlf.com/] The on-line edition of the Forum--like the printed version - offers subscribers insight from colleagues eager to share new ways of helping students reach the highest levels of learning. National Teaching and Learning Forum Newsletter, Volume 15, Number 6, © Copyright 1996-2006. Published by James Rhem & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Reprinted with permission.
Regards,
Rick Reis
reis@stanford.edu
James Rhem, Executive Editor
Very early in the life of this publication, I learned of a pharmacy professor in an east coast school who'd wanted to improve his teaching and had revamped one of his courses taking an active learning approach. Students hated it. Some went to the dean and complained; the rest savaged the professor in their student evaluations. Administration counseled him to "rethink" what he was trying to do. The man gave up, demoralized. He sent me a paper he'd written on the experience (which no one wanted to publish), and when I interviewed him on the telephone, the scar tissue in his dry voice wore down my own spirit and left me not knowing what to do. And so I did nothing. I didn't write his story, preferring just not to think about it or to ascribe it to his particular situation. But the ugly truth this man experienced so sharply continues to haunt efforts to improve teaching: student resistance presents one of the biggest obstacles to improving teaching, followed closely by poor and certainly uneven support from administration for pedagogical reform.
It's understandable that those committed to improving teaching (and I include myself) feel reluctant to write about the problem, and yet confronting the reality of it yields a few insights that may reduce the risk to careers of faculty who undertake reforms, as well as increase the likelihood of success with these efforts.
Along Comes Some Data
Part of the problem in talking about the problem of student resistance lies in the fact that for the most part discussions have remained largely anecdotal, but solid data has begun to emerge. Patti Marie Thorn's Ph.D. research at the University of Texas at Austin sheds important light on the ferocity and variety of student resistance. For her dissertation, Bridging the Gap Between What Is Praised and What Is Practiced: Supporting the Work of Change as Anatomy &Physiology Instructors Introduce Active Learning into Their Undergraduate Classroom (2003), Thorn closely followed the work of seven faculty members who, as her thesis title indicates, sought to move from traditional teaching approaches to active learning classrooms.
"They were using [Chuck] Bonwell and [James] Eison stuff," says Thorn, "tested, proven approaches that have been around for years." Sadly, five of the seven faculty who embraced active learning approaches met with student resistance and even administrative hostility to their reform efforts "big time," Thorn reports.
Five Ugly Flavors
There were, she says, "five flavors" of student resistance:
* "In the first flavor I found, students don't know what's up. They are grumbly and withdrawn and this discontent spreads: they catch it from each other.
* "Flavor two moves right away into threats: 'Stop teaching this way or else . . .' Students play into faculty fear." Faculty do have fear, Thorn says. Some of it comes from trying something new, but some of it comes as well from knowing how vulnerable student ratings and student complaints make them.
* "The third flavor derives from the fact that faculty begin to feel they are revealing too much of themselves in teaching this way. Students can smell this fear and they jump on it. They make faculty feel dumb and uninformed." And it's not just the aggressive, highly grade-oriented students who join this "Lord of the Flies" type pack, Thorn says. Any variety of student joins in once the class senses any uncertainty in faculty. In them, that whiff of uncertainty bonds like a molecular compound with their own uncertainty about the new approach to precipitate a storm of aggressive rejection.
* "In the fourth flavor," Thorn continues, "students go to administration and complain. Sometimes they do this as individuals; at other times they go as a group.
* "And, of course, the final and fifth flavor of resistance comes in the end-of- semester evaluations. Resisting students just cut the faculty to nothing."
So is student resistance an important consideration in undertaking pedagogical reform? "Yes, I would say resistance is a huge factor," Thorn concludes.
Who's Got Your Back?
Students' response to the unfamiliar and fears about their grades are one thing, but the lack of administrative understanding and support for pedagogical reform can't be ignored either. In the case of one of Thorn's research subjects involving the Dean of Science, the Vice President, and the Dean of Nursing at a "research one" institution, a lecturer was called in by her department chairperson. He told her he was acting on complaints from students who said they "were not getting the information they were supposed to from the professor." She was told to return immediately to a standard lecture format. Moreover, a colleague counseled her directly to quickly make the course as easy as possible so that student evaluations would suddenly glow if she wanted to be rehired the next semester. That would put her career back on track, he said. The student as customer, is, it seems, always right. If students want an inferior product (less effective teaching) at the same (tuition) price, the business logic of enrollment management and retention seems to say, "give it to them."
Setting aside for the moment the options of complaining and denying, what can be done about this little-discussed but all too common situation?
A Scaffold Of Empathy
Happily, Thorn had done a good bit of research on "student perspective" before undertaking her research project and equally fortunately, her dissertation director was Marilla Svinicki, a distinguished figure in faculty development, having headed the Center for Teaching Effectiveness at UT-Austin for many years, and a member of the Forum's editorial board. Though Thorn wasn't doing "action research," she couldn't stay passive in the face of these developments. Together with Svinicki, she worked out some counseling strategies to offer faculty some help.
"One thing faculty do not do well," says Thorn. "They don't know who their students are. Not really. So I tried to have them see the students' point of view, have them understand the power of the expectations students had carried over from their experience of traditional pedagogies and also the other pressures students face these days. I wanted them to ask themselves: 'What must it be like for them?' At bottom, student resistance is tied to student expectations."
Efforts to have faculty develop new levels of empathy in place of a kaleidoscope of legitimate fears helped faculty step back and embrace the need for more "scaffolding" in their teaching, scaffolding not just in presenting the content in their courses, but also in educating the students about the new pedagogy being used and its benefits.
Getting to know students rates very high in Thorn's list of practical steps faculty can take to reduce student resistance. "I used and advocated what I call the 'Marilla System,'" she says. "I take photos of the students [which she can get from administration] and place them on index cards. Then I meet privately with students and ask them one-to-one about their goals, what motivates them, what they love, where do you see yourself being in twenty years, who are your heroes? And, like Marilla, I carry these cards around with me and review them while I'm waiting in the checkout line and so on. Then I call on students by name in class. All of this builds community and makes change and a new way of learning more possible."
Some feel that students simply prefer passive learning, but Thorn doesn't agree. High level learning requires time-consuming work and reflection, she believes, and "[students] don't have the time! They have to be selective about where they choose to focus meaningful learning. Students learn to be very strategic in their actions." We all do, if we're successful, says Thorn: "We minimize the work we don't like, and focus on the stuff we do like."
Is Thorn hopeful in the face of such grim findings? Yes and no. "Reform can happen if faculty go into it with realistic expectations, by that I mean the likelihood that their evaluations will, at first, decline." "They will have to be good risk managers," she says, and administration will have to embrace a risk management system that encourages and supports reform. "Students must be made aware of what they're really there for, which is to become good thinkers," she declares. "And there needs to be a change in what business admits it really wants, and, also, administrations need to learn the difference between student satisfaction and student learning outcomes."
Contact:
Patti M. Thorn, Ph.D.
Choice Insights, LLC
Phoenix, AZ 85226
Telephone: (480) 821-1123
E-mail: pthorn@cox.net
UP NEXT: Integrating Work and Life: A Vision for a Changing Academy
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Comments about this article: [11]
Posting 760 is an excellent article. I have heard this and always kind of agreed with it. Since I have tried to improve my teaching methods, my teachings ratings have gone down. However, I think part of the reason (aside from the hope that it is according to this article!), is poor implementation of teaching pedagogy. I believe I have the right idea, but sometimes do not do that great of a job of implementing it. I am still trying things and improving or casting them aside.
Still, the points about knowing your class and explaining the reasons for teaching in a different method (active learning, etc.) are well taken and I plan to implement them. I think this goes as well for educating our colleagues as to the benefits of these methods to improve "deep learning" rather than the surface learning most students and faculty seem to care about.
Posted by: Larry Whitman/Wichita State University on November 20, 2006 06:24 PM
Why is it always OUR fault that students do not learn? The article points out a long standing problem of the "the consumer model" of education since student evaluations became p.c. and the defacto method of evaluating faculty.
We all know who really runs the classrooms in America today from K through grad school. Hint to the naive and new reader: it's not the teacher.
The article shows beautifully the fears that we all have. True we are not always on our "A" game in class and sometimes we fail for an entire semester but the truth is most of what we do teach, poorly or wonderfully, will be lost within six months.
Now if only we had a fearless and articulate researcher to prove that students are rarely on thier "A" game either and, even worse, may never have had an "A" game in the first place, having been so poorly prepared by NCLB "highly qualified" teachers and raised by "helicopter" parents.
Tell me again why we do this??????
Vincent Marchionni, Jr. MBA, MSCS
Posted by: Vincent Marchionni/semi-retired on November 21, 2006 07:41 AM
When I first started teaching in a more active fashion, there were several issues that led to student complaints. First, I was teaching one section of Freshman Chemistry with another being taught "traditionally" by a highly popular teacher. I also had poor space for this type of pedagogy. Finally I had way too many students in the room at once. The results from my first year at this were mixed, but I learned quite a bit. Several students switched to the other section (and did poorly). I moved the class to a less "pretty" room, but one that had tables and chairs and was more conducive to group work. I did as the article suggested and have made it my primary job in the first two weeks to learn all the names and faces of my students. I now use a student assistant (usually one who would like to go into education) to help out in the classroom, reducing the time it takes for a group to get help. And finally, I now explain to them why I do it this way. I think that experience has honed my ability to meet student complaints head-on and see them before they get to the rest of the class.
Up until the first exam, the students did complain that I was "not teaching" them and they were worried that they were not learning anything. After the first exam, these complaints quieted. My evaluations were mixed, but I got several comments that went something like this:
"I really like the group work and it is very helpful" followed by the "He needs to lecture more". Entertaining!!!
My department and Dean were both supportive, so that was an advantage I had, and now all of the sections of this class are taught with active learning pedagogies in our department, and for the most part, no complaints are heard. It is always a case of adjustment and recalibration every year with a new class though.
Posted by: Chris Dunlap/ Saint Mary's College on November 21, 2006 08:31 AM
I have used active learning approaches to teaching physics successfully. The nature of the material makes it possible to have students do guided experiments with very little lecture. However trying this in college chemistry or organic chemistry is a more challenging task. I have elected to do mostly lecturing with some exercises and in class activities. I do require all students to be in active study groups outside of class, and I give credit for on line homework which allows students to get at the correct answer after they have attempted a problem. Underpinning everything i do are the following simple principles. (1) grade everything a student is assigned to do. (2) Spend significant time talking about how to learn material. (3) Set the expectation that this is the student's education, and they should not allow anyone to cheat them out of it, especially not themselves. (4) Test frequently. (5) Be very clear about what a student is expected to learn. (6) spend time in class having students actually do what was just taught. I can see from what I have written here that this does not adequately describe what I do, so if anyone is interested in more informatin contact me at taylorpancoast@mail.sunyjcc.edu .
Posted by: Taylor Pancoast/Jamestown Community College on November 21, 2006 09:37 AM
This article is right on target. Over the years we found when we were introducing an approach to teaching that some ,if not all , of the students were unfamiliar with, that a simple three-step process would not only improve attitudes torward the change but would both improve student learning and of our teaching.
1. Let students know, from the beginning, what you were doing and why.
2. Provide students with an ongoing process for providing you with both comments and suggestions.
3 Let students know what you were learning and of the changes you were making as a resulkt of the feedback.
Posted by: Bob Diamond, National Academy for Academic Leadership on November 21, 2006 02:31 PM
Improvement is good as long as facts are still being taught.
Posted by: Brett on November 26, 2006 10:23 PM
Posting 760 also points to something that is rarely put forward as an issue and that's administrative support. Faculty feel that they do not have any influence on administration, so how do you get support from your Dean or Chair if they are less than enthusiastic to down-right hostile?
Faculty also live in fear of poor student evaluations when we all know that they are highly subjective and faulty as a measure of teaching effectiveness in the classroom. What can we do about it?
Lastly, how can the students know what is best for them? They might have a favored learning preference, but is it the best way to learn a particular subject matter? Isn't learning supposed to challenge the student? Push them out of their comfort zone? And who finally gives the grade, the almight grade by which students can pass through the gate of credentially to move on in their lives?
Is there a middle ground that can be reached when implementing new teaching methods? Perhaps a gradual conversion? Food for thought, especially for us who teach and who work with faculty to help them improve their teaching.
Eli
Posted by: Eli Collins-Brown, Methodist College of Nursing on November 29, 2006 09:55 AM
I clearly recall a professor who tried to change her course. It was in my freshman year, and I'd just completed her first-semester course and was entering her second. She decided we wouldn't use the normal proven textbook, but instead would use a different experimental one. The experiment failed, something she would only admit to two-thirds through the class. I got an A, but I still don't fully grasp the subject material. Now, unless I take another semester-long class (or self-study for the equivalent) in this topic that I was supposed to have learned twelve years ago, this subject will forever be a weak point for me.
To add insult to injury, I'd found out that this instructor had sued for (and won) tenure and thus (a) perhaps didn't belong there and (b) put the students in the middle of a controversy surrounding her tenure. I do seem to recall another professor's ears perking up upon hearing her teaching troubles.
Of course change is always a factor, but sometimes experiments fail to the detriment of not only teachers but students; it is for such very legitimate reasons that students "resist" such changes. (That said, the article should go into more detail with examples. It may be too abstract to be as helpful as it should be.)
Posted by: calbaer on December 6, 2006 10:40 PM
This article is right on target.
i agree with author opinion!
Posted by: Student on December 9, 2006 06:19 PM
That was really interesting..
Posted by: Lauren on December 21, 2006 09:33 PM
Very interesting, thanks!
Posted by: Lauren on December 21, 2006 09:34 PM