"Strategic Teaching is The KEY to True Meaningful Learning!!!"

What is Strategic Teaching?

Strategic teaching is a way of making decisions about a course, an individual class, or even an entire curriculum, beginning with an analysis of key variables in the teaching situation. These variables include the characteristics of the learners, the learning objectives, and the instructional preferences of the teacher. Once these variables have been analyzed, informed decisions can be made about course content, structure, methods of assessment, and other key components.

The process of planning a course is not an easy one. (Although 'the course' is the unit of analysis being discussed, the process of creating an instructional strategy works equally well for an individual class or an entire curriculum.)

• As an instructor, you need to make decisions about what topics to include and which to leave out; the order in which those topics will be presented; which pedagogical methods to use (e.g., lecture, discussion, hands-on experiments); appropriate means of assessing the students; materials and technology to employ; how to get feedback; etc.

More often than not those decisions are made based upon what other faculty have done when they taught the class, or perhaps on what your instructor did when you took the same or a similar course. But those models may or may not accomplish the overarching goal of teaching: to help students master a set of key ideas and skills related to your discipline.

Preparation and planning are a critical component of effective teaching. Lack thereof will lead to failure. If anything, every teacher should be over prepared. Good teachers are almost in a continuous state of preparation and planning. They are always thinking about the next lesson. The impact of preparation and planning is tremendous on student learning. A common misnomer is that teachers only work from 8:00 – 3:00, but when the time for preparing and planning is accounted for, the time increases significantly.

Teachers get a planning period at school, but that time is rarely used for “planning”. Instead, it is often utilized to contact parents, conduct a conference, catch up on emails, or grade papers. True planning and preparation occur outside of school hours. Many teachers arrive early, stay late, and spend part of their weekends working to ensure that they are adequately prepared. They explore options, tinker with changes, and research fresh ideas in hopes that they can create the optimal learning environment.

Teaching is not something you can do effectively on the fly. It requires a healthy blend of content knowledge, instructional strategies, and classroom management tactics. Preparation and planning play a critical role in the development of these things. It also takes some experimentation and even a little luck. It is important to note that even well-planned lessons can quickly fall apart.

Some of the best-conceived ideas will end up being massive failures when put into practice. When this happens, teachers have to go back to the drawing board and reorganize their approach and plan of attack.

The bottom line is that preparation and planning do matter. It can never be viewed as a waste of time. Instead, it should be viewed as an investment. This is an investment that will pay off in the long run.

Six Ways Proper Preparation and Planning Will Pay Off

• Preparation and planning will make you a better teacher. A significant part of planning and preparation is conducting research. Studying educational theory and examining best practices helps define and shape your own teaching philosophy. Studying the content that you teach in depth will also help you grow and improve.
• Preparation and planning boost student performance and achievement. As a teacher, you should have the content that you teach mastered. You should understand what you are teaching, why you are teaching it, and you should create a plan for how to present it to your students every single day. This ultimately benefits your students. It is your job as a teacher to not only present the information but to present in a way that resonates with the students and makes it important enough for them to want to learn it. This comes through planning, preparation, and experience.
• Preparation and planning make the day go by faster. Downtime is a teacher’s worst enemy. Many teachers use the term “free time”. This is simple code for I did not take the time to plan enough. Teachers should prepare and plan enough material to last the entire class period or school day. Every second of every day should matter. When you plan enough students remain engaged, the day goes by quicker, and ultimately student learning is maximized.
• Preparation and planning help minimize classroom discipline issues. Boredom is the number one cause of acting out. Teachers who develop and present engaging lessons on a daily basis rarely have classroom discipline issues. Students enjoy going to these classes because learning is fun. These types of lessons do not just happen. Instead, they are created through careful planning and preparation.
• Preparation and planning make you confident in what you do. Confidence is an important characteristic for a teacher to possess. If for nothing else, portraying confidence will help your students buy what you are selling. As a teacher, you never want to ask yourself if you could have done more to reach a student or group of students. You might not like how a particular lesson goes, but you should take pride in knowing that it was not because you lacked in preparation and planning.
• Preparation and planning help earn the respect of your peers and administrators. Teachers know which teachers are putting in the necessary time to be an effective teacher and which teachers are not. Investing extra time in your classroom will not go unnoticed by those around you. They may not always agree with how you run your classroom, but they will have a natural respect for you when they see how hard you work at your craft.

Seven Strategies for Making Preparation and Planning More Efficient

• The first three years of teaching are the most difficult. Spend lots of extra time planning and preparing during those first few years as you are learning the nuances of teaching and sequential years will become easier.
• Keep all lesson plans, activities, tests, quizzes, worksheets, etc. in a binder. Make notes throughout the binder according to what worked, what did not, and how you might want to change things.
• Every idea does not have to be original. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. The Internet is the greatest teaching resource ever made. There are lots of excellent ideas from other teachers floating around that you can steal and utilize in your classroom.
• Work in a distraction-free environment. You will get a lot more accomplished when there are no other teachers, students, or family members around to distract you.
• Read the chapters, complete homework/practice problems, take tests/quizzes before assigning them to students. It will take some time to do this upfront, but reviewing and experiencing the material before your students do will ultimately protect your credibility.
• When conducting an activity, have all the materials laid out before students arrive. Practice the activity to ensure that each works correctly. Establish specific procedures and guidelines for students to follow.
• Plan days to weeks in advance if possible. Do not wait until the last minute to try to throw something together. Doing so limits your effectiveness.

Why Do a Strategic Teaching Analysis?

Undertaking a strategic teaching analysis — by which we mean analyzing several key variables related to the course and making decisions based upon that analysis — increases the likelihood that the course objectives will be met. (Notice we didn't say "guarantees course objectives will be met" — even the best strategic analysis can't assure that the course will be successful, it only increases the chances that may occur.)

Beginning the process of planning a course by doing a strategic analysis is advantageous for another reason: It makes the work that much easier. By consciously identifying the unique characteristics of the course, you create criteria by which you can make informed decisions about how the class should be organized and taught. 

The Elements of a Strategic Teaching Analysis

The first is to analyze three key elements in the learning environment: the characteristics of the students, the objectives of the course, and your qualities as an instructor. These three elements are interrelated, and, therefore, are likely to have an influence on one another. 

For example, you may want your students to gain the ability to work with others to solve a complex problem [ course objective]. But if your students don't have basic teamwork skills [ characteristic of the students], they may need training in that area before they can accomplish the objective you have set out. Or, you may not be comfortable teaching teamwork skills because it requires an active learning approach you’re not familiar with, or because it’s not your area of expertise [ your qualities as an instructor]. These three factors may lead you to decide to devote some number of classes to teamwork skills that will be taught by an expert in that area.

As you are analyzing the basic components of the course, you need to keep in mind that any one — or all three — of the elements may be affected by any number of constraints. For example, if you can’t find someone who can teach your students teamwork skills, you may have to abandon that as a course objective. Or, as another example, you may know that the optimal way to evaluate students is to give them an oral exam, but the amount of time that would require makes it an impossible choice.

The answers to questions about students, instructor, and objectives, tempered by realities imposed by the constraints, will lead you to a series of key decisions about the organization and content of the course, the mix of pedagogical methods to be used, the kind of assignments you will make, and the technologies and materials you will employ. Because these decisions come from the informed analysis you have already done, you will be able to make them more easily.

The fourth step in a strategic analysis is to identify the assessment processes you will use to get feedback on how the course is going. How will you get feedback on your instruction?, on course content and organization?, on the performance of teaching assistants? Most importantly, how will you determine if your students are attaining the knowledge and skills you hope they will gain?

Finally, how will you use the various types of feedback you've gathered to refine and improve the course?

Strategic Teaching in Context

It is important to recognize that every course sits within a constellation of social systems — the department, the university, the discipline, the academic community, industries, the community at large — that also influence what is taught, when it is taught, and how it is taught. To go back to the example of teaching teamwork skills, you might have decided to have students work in teams because industry representatives were saying your graduates didn’t have adequate teamwork skills.

Naturally, no course is going to be perfect. Instead, it is going to be a series of good compromises based upon a number of factors. Good decision-making will be the result of setting priorities and looking for the best possible outcomes.

Strategic Teaching, Strategic Learning and Thinking Skills

Teachers, whether brand new to the classroom, or veterans of many years of service, are always looking for ways to make what they do more effective and more efficient. That even goes for students in teacher preparation programs, as well it should. Efficiency is a measure of what is obtained (results) in relation to what was expended (resources). Effectiveness is a bit more elusive. To be sure, effectiveness in anything, including teaching, can be difficult to describe and to measure. The following is a discussion about some fundamental principles that may lead to actual improvement of instruction. Please read on.

In order to use any instructional technique effectively, anyone who teaches must, of necessity, understand the fundamental principles and assumptions upon which the specific technique is based. There is certainly no shortage of descriptions or labels for activities that may be classified as pertaining to instruction. From the ever-popular lecture method to complex student-teacher, student-student interactions, instruction encompasses a broad range of teacher behaviors. At one end (the lecture method) the teacher is an imparter of information, and the students are the intended recipients of the information the teacher imparts. At the other end of the range of teacher behaviors are methods in which teachers interact with students in vastly more complex ways. Most researchers and experts in the field are in agreement that the most permanent and meaningful learning takes place at this end of the range. Strategic teaching, and, concomitantly, strategic learning are techniques in which significant student-teacher interaction and resultant learning and thinking are at the high end of the scale.

To learn strategic teaching techniques, and to foster the ability of students to engage in strategic learning, it is important to define some terms. In fact, one of the principles of strategic teaching is to define terms. Below are terms that are relevant to this process.

Strategic teaching describes instructional processes that focus directly on fostering student thinking, but goes well beyond that. Strategic teaching and strategic learning are inexorably linked. A strategic teacher has an understanding of the variables of instruction and is aware of the cognitive requirements of learning. In such an awareness, comes a sense of timing and a style of management. The strategic teacher is one who:

1. is a thinker and decision maker;

2. possesses a rich knowledge base;

3. is a modeler and a mediator of instruction.

Variables of instruction refer to those factors that strategic teachers consider in order to develop instruction. These variables, as the name implies, change, and therefore the teacher must be aware of the nature of change as well as the actual variables themselves. These variables are:

1. characteristics of the learner;

2. material to be learned (curriculum content);

3. the criterial task (the goals and outcomes the teacher and learner designate);

4. learning strategies (goal directed activities in which learners engage).

In teaching content at the elementary, middle, or secondary level, the strategic teacher helps guide instruction by focusing on learning strategies that foster thinking skills in relation to the content. In connecting new information to what a student already knows, learning becomes more meaningful, and not simply retained for test-taking purposes. There are numerous strategies that teachers can develop that accomplish this purpose. To give one information is not difficult, but to help one be able to develop the tools to both know what information is relevant and the means to acquire it, is perhaps the most important function of any social studies teacher. There are numerous techniques for engaging students in thinking about content.

Besides thinking skills, there are such practical matters as how best to present a lesson on weather, teaching map and globe skills, helping students work together in groups, how to question effectively, and how to answer student questions. The first and foremost criterion is that the teacher thoroughly know the content, the second criterion is that the teacher have a set of rules for classroom management that are understood and implemented, and the third criterion is that the teacher have the resourcefulness and knowledge to rehearse unfamiliar techniques, and more importantly, have the capacity to adjust any lesson plan to maintain academic focus. Many of these tasks are learned on-the-job. Nothing you can learn in any course is more valuable than learning what to do when you don't know what to do. When you can do that, you are well on your way to becoming a great teacher.

Strategic Learning

Strategic learning is, in effect, a highly probable outcome of effective strategic teaching. Reduced to its essentials, strategic learning is learning in which students construct their own meanings, and in the process, become aware of their own thinking. The link between teaching, thinking, and learning is critical. As a teacher, if you are not causing your students to think about what you are presenting, discussing, demonstrating, mediating, guiding, or directing, then you are not doing an effective job. You must be more than a dispenser of information. You must create conditions and an environment that encourages thinking, deepens and broadens it, and which causes students to become aware of how they think. The process of thinking about how we think is referred to as metacognition. In helping students create knowledge, it is useful to think of knowledge as occupying space that can be thought of as a pyramid. At the bottom of the pyramid is declarative knowledge, or knowledge of "what is." Declarative knowledge is akin to awareness. One step up on the pyramid is procedural knowledge, or knowledge of "how something works, or functions." At the top of the pyramid is conditional knowledge, or knowledge of "when or why" a particular procedure will work. Conditional knowledge is closely related to the predictive function of knowledge. When students develop a broad and deep system of conditional knowledge, they are able to predict more accurately, solve problems more efficiently, and in a sense, are more free because they can identify and articulate more options from which to choose. Strategic learning is a valuable system to help your students develop conditional knowledge.

The creation of knowledge is, in the most practical and profound sense, a primary and direct result of learning. As teachers, we must strive to assist our students to develop intellectual tools by which they can create knowledge. Any knowledge, once created, becomes a part of a larger system that enhances learning and is capable of integrating and accommodating new information with greater efficiency and reliability. Each person creates knowledge in similar, yet uniquely distinct ways. Connecting information provided or described by others in novel and personal ways is a key to learning and developing knowledge. The more one "knows," the more one can know. The idea of content links or connections is not exactly new, but offers some unique opportunities to chart your own course, learn, and add to your knowledge system. Enter the idea of Constructivism. Constructivism is a philosophy as well as a psychology of education. Constructivism is about how knowledge is created.

Thematic curriculum is about relating content for specific intended learning purposes. Relevant instructional variations and different concepts of thematic curriculum abound in education literature. A classroom that incorporates thematic principles in engaged in content links. Thematic units provide an organizing structure. Caine and Caine provide an excellent description of the power of a thematic unit:

Teachers can begin by designing a thematic unit. Thematic units engage emotions, social relationships, and complex cognitive processing through intellectual challenge. [Italics mine]. Look at the curriculum guide and organize what is to be taught by finding an object, picture, or work of art that represents the subject matter on a broad level. If the subject is history and you are studying the Industrial Revolution, for example, begin by finding a provocative painting about this time in history. Imagine what it was like to live then and intrigue students with the reality of these times. Perhaps you begin by reading a brief story, or telling one. How would their (the students') lives be different if they were living at that time? How did democracy help people in the Industrial Revolution? Find a story about a union boss, and have students rewrite it as a brief play. Find a poignant part of a poem or story and read it to music. Engage students' imaginations and understanding and allow them to reconstruct this time period through group and individual projects., demonstrations, drama, and collections of art and music, which say more than a textbook can ever say. What you will find is that students will be thinking and talking about the Industrial Revolution not only in class but at lunch and at home. You will also find that your students will be teaching you (Cain & Cain, 1994, p. 192).

The saying "Give a man a fish, and he is fed for a day. Teach a man how to fish, and he is fed for a lifetime," is at the heart of the thinking about strategic teaching and learning. As a teacher, you must first learn "how to fish," and only then will you be able to teach your students to do the same.

What makes a successful teacher? If you were to ask any observer you may hear things like, the teacher kept the students engaged via unique teaching strategies, and the classroom basically ran by itself. But, if you were to ask a student, you’d probably hear a different response along the lines of “they make learning fun” or “they never give up on me.”

To be honest, there are countless teaching strategies you can use to achieve success in the classroom, but no matter the teaching style, the most effective teachers have one thing in common—they know how to reach their students in a long-lasting, positive manner.

Here are 10 qualities that contribute to a successful and happy teaching career:

1. Successful teachers hold high expectations of their students.

The most effective teachers expect their students to succeed, they believe in them, and motivate them to keep trying until they reach their goal. As a result, they set the bar high and create an environment where students can push themselves beyond their comfort zone to reach their goals, but also have a safety net to catch them if they fail.

2. Successful teachers have a sense of humor.

If you ask a student who their favorite teacher is, they are more than likely to tell you about the teacher that makes them laugh. They aren’t afraid to be silly and can laugh at their own mistakes. Humor helps create that lasting impression.

3. Successful teachers are knowledgeable in their field.

The best teachers are masters in their subject area. They know their craft and never stop learning. They are curious, confident, and do not need a textbook to teach their students. They stay abreast of their subject and transfer their love of knowledge to their students.

4. Successful teachers use teaching strategies that cause them to think outside of the box.

Productive teachers think creatively and try and make classroom experiences exciting for students. They identify ways to leap outside of the educational norms and create experiences that are unexpected, unique, and ultimately more memorable.

5. Successful teachers take risks.

A popular saying is, “If there is no risk, there is no reward.” Successful teachers know that risk-taking is a part of being successful. Children learn by observing, and when they see you try new things (and watch how you handle success and failure) they too will know how to handle similar situations.

6. Successful teachers are consistent.

Successful teachers are consistent in ALL that they do. Do what you say you’re going to do and stick with it. This applies to enforcing class rules, a consistent grading system, and the expectations for all your students. Do not play favorites or make special exceptions.

7. Successful teachers communicate with parents and students.

Effective teachers know that communication is the key to student success. They create an open path of communication between parents and students, and recognize that a united front between both groups lowers the chance that children will get left behind.

8. Successful teachers are up-to-date with the latest in technology.

Great teachers take the time to explore new tools and stay up-to-date with latest technology. They are not afraid of what technology holds for education in the future, and are willing to learn and incorporate the new trends into their classroom. 

9. Successful teachers make learning fun.

This goes hand in hand with having a sense of humor, but making learning fun doesn’t mean you have to put on a comedy show. Find ways to mix up your lesson plans based upon your students’ interests. When they see you putting in effort to get to know them and mold your teachings around their lives, the more successful you will become.

10. Successful teachers can empathize with students.

The best teachers are patient with students, and understand when they are under stress or have problems with material. They do whatever is necessary to get their students back on track, and are able to recognize that everybody has bad days.

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

There are many qualities and teaching strategies that effective educators must possess. They must have a love for teaching, demonstrate a caring attitude, and be able to relate to his/her students. Think back to when you were a child. What qualities did your teachers have that made them special? While there is no exact set of qualities, it does take a perfect blend of several qualities and teaching strategies to truly make an effective teacher; one that will be genuinely remembered and have a lasting effect on every student.Here is a list of the qualities and components that make an effective teacher. Use this list to reflect on the components that are important for effective teaching, and apply them to your teaching strategies.

Teaching Strategies: Personal Qualities

1. Caring – Shows concern for a student’s emotional and physical well-being. Displays interest about a student’s life outside of the classroom, and is an active listener.

2. Enthusiastic – Takes pleasure in his/her teaching, shows joy for the material that is being taught, is involved in activities that correlate with what they teach outside of the classroom.

3. Motivated – Provides students with meaningful feedback (positive as well as negative), and returns student work on time.

4. Respectful – Shows utmost respect for all students regardless of their race, ethnicity, or gender. Responds to misbehavior on an individual manner, and prevents situations from occurring where students are disrespected by their peers.

5. Fair – Treats all students equally and is unbiased and objective.

6. Appropriate – Maintains a professional role at all times while still being friendly, playful and joking when appropriate. Values what students say while interacting and showing interest.

7. Positive – Displays a positive attitude about school and life in general.

8. Dedicated – Is dedicated to teaching and lifelong learning. Seeks professional development and participates in collegiate activities inside and outside of school.

9. Reflective – Uses reflection to improve teaching methods, knows their strengths and weaknesses, as well as sets high classroom expectations for themselves.

10. Responsible – Accepts all responsible that go along with being an educator.

Qualities of Classroom Management

• Classroom Manager – Establishes rules, procedures and daily routines, orchestrates smooth transitions, is able to multitask, balances a variety of activities, challenges students, and uses their space to access troublesome areas and potential problems.
• Classroom Disciplinarian – Uses appropriate discipline measures, implements rules of behavior, responds to inappropriate behavior promptly, and reiterates positive behavior.
• Classroom Organizer – Organizes classroom space effectively and efficiently, prepares classroom materials ahead of time, handles all classroom tasks promptly.

Qualities for Instruction

1. Engages Students – Varies instructional activities that engage students, leads, directs, and is clear of explanations and expectations.

2. Has High Expectations – Sets high expectations toward growth in classroom, stresses students’ responsibilities and accountability, and offers clear examples and practice.

3. Employs Strategies – Employs a variety of instructional techniques that are meaningful and hands-on.

4. Uses Questioning – Uses questioning to maintain student interest and classroom momentum, questions reflect objectives of lesson content, and is patient while waiting for students to answer.

5. Differentiates Learning – Understands that each student learns differently and applies that knowledge to all lessons and activities.

6. Utilizes Technology – Effective teachers embrace technology and are not afraid to use it. They stay up-to-date with the latest in the digital world and use this knowledge in the classroom.

7. Thinks Outside of the Box – Is willing to try new things and be creative as well as adaptive. They utilize different strategies and understand that every child does not learn in the same way.

Qualities for Organization of Instruction

Time Management – Maintains a consistent schedule, handles tasks in a timely and prompt manner, prepares classroom materials in advance, and maintains classroom momentum.

Classroom Instruction – Organizes content carefully, explores student understanding, considers student attention span, considered student learning styles, links objectives with activities, develops activities that are appropriate for all students learning styles.

Qualities for Student Potential

An effective teacher monitors all student progress. They give clear and specific feedback so that students can be successful, and they offer help for those who did not master content. They suite their instruction based on students individual needs and monitor their progress throughout the school year. Effective teachers use a variety of grouping activities and strategies to adapt to all learning styles and achievement levels.

An effective teacher has a true understanding of the content that they teach. They challenge their students and push them to work hard and be successful. The most effective teachers are the ones who are usually the students least favorite, but are later remembered as the ones who prepared them for their future. Being an effective teacher is not always easy, you may not always be liked or the student’s favorite, but you will be the one that they will want to thank later in life.

TEACHING STRATEGIES

Institutions of higher learning across the nation are responding to political, economic, social and technological pressures to be more responsive to students' needs and more concerned about how well students are prepared to assume future societal roles. Faculty are already feeling the pressure to lecture less, to make learning environments more interactive, to integrate technology into the learning experience, and to use collaborative learning strategies when appropriate.

Some of the more prominent strategies are outlined below. For more information about the use of these and other pedagogical approaches, contact the Program in Support of Teaching and Learning.

Lecture. For many years, the lecture method was the most widely used instructional strategy in college classrooms. Nearly 80% of all U.S. college classrooms in the late 1970s reported using some form of the lecture method to teach students (Cashin, 1990). Although the usefulness of other teaching strategies is being widely examined today, the lecture still remains an important way to communicate information.

Used in conjunction with active learning teaching strategies, the traditional lecture can be an effective way to achieve instructional goals. The advantages of the lecture approach are that it provides a way to communicate a large amount of information to many listeners, maximizes instructor control and is non-threatening to students. The disadvantages are that lecturing minimizes feedback from students, assumes an unrealistic level of student understanding and comprehension, and often disengages students from the learning process causing information to be quickly forgotten.

The following recommendations can help make the lecture approach more effective (Cashin, 1990):

1. Fit the lecture to the audience

2. Focus your topic - remember you cannot cover everything in one lecture

3. Prepare an outline that includes 5-9 major points you want to cover in one lecture

4. Organize your points for clarity

5. Select appropriate examples or illustrations

6. Present more than one side of an issue and be sensitive to other perspectives

7. Repeat points when necessary

8. Be aware of your audience - notice their feedback

9. Be enthusiastic - you don�t have to be an entertainer but you should be excited by your topic.

(from Cashin, 1990, pp. 60-61)

Case Method. Providing an opportunity for students to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-life experiences has proven to be an effective way of both disseminating and integrating knowledge. The case method is an instructional strategy that engages students in active discussion about issues and problems inherent in practical application. It can highlight fundamental dilemmas or critical issues and provide a format for role playing ambiguous or controversial scenarios.

Course content cases can come from a variety of sources. Many faculty have transformed current events or problems reported through print or broadcast media into critical learning experiences that illuminate the complexity of finding solutions to critical social problems. The case study approach works well in cooperative learning or role playing environments to stimulate critical thinking and awareness of multiple perspectives.

Discussion. There are a variety of ways to stimulate discussion. For example, some faculty begin a lesson with a whole group discussion to refresh students� memories about the assigned reading(s). Other faculty find it helpful to have students list critical points or emerging issues, or generate a set of questions stemming from the assigned reading(s). These strategies can also be used to help focus large and small group discussions.

Obviously, a successful class discussion involves planning on the part of the instructor and preparation on the part of the students. Instructors should communicate this commitment to the students on the first day of class by clearly articulating course expectations. Just as the instructor carefully plans the learning experience, the students must comprehend the assigned reading and show up for class on time, ready to learn.

Active Learning. Meyers and Jones (1993) define active learning as learning environments that allow students to talk and listen, read, write, and reflect as they approach course content through problem-solving exercises, informal small groups, simulations, case studies, role playing, and other activities -- all of which require students to apply what they are learning (p. xi). Many studies show that learning is enhanced when students become actively involved in the learning process. Instructional strategies that engage students in the learning process stimulate critical thinking and a greater awareness of other perspectives. Although there are times when lecturing is the most appropriate method for disseminating information, current thinking in college teaching and learning suggests that the use of a variety of instructional strategies can positively enhance student learning. Obviously, teaching strategies should be carefully matched to the teaching objectives of a particular lesson. For more information about teaching strategies, see the list of college teaching references in Appendix N.

Assessing or grading students' contributions in active learning environments is somewhat problematic. It is extremely important that the course syllabus explicitly outlines the evaluation criteria for each assignment whether individual or group. Students need and want to know what is expected of them. For more information about grading, see the Evaluating Student Work section contained in this Guide.

Cooperative Learning. Cooperative Learning is a systematic pedagogical strategy that encourages small groups of students to work together for the achievement of a common goal. The term 'Collaborative Learning' is often used as a synonym for cooperative learning when, in fact, it is a separate strategy that encompasses a broader range of group interactions such as developing learning communities, stimulating student/faculty discussions, and encouraging electronic exchanges (Bruffee, 1993). Both approaches stress the importance of faculty and student involvement in the learning process.

When integrating cooperative or collaborative learning strategies into a course, careful planning and preparation are essential. Understanding how to form groups, ensure positive interdependence, maintain individual accountability, resolve group conflict, develop appropriate assignments and grading criteria, and manage active learning environments are critical to the achievement of a successful cooperative learning experience. Before you begin, you may want to consult several helpful resources which are contained in Appendix N. In addition, the Program in Support of Teaching and Learning can provide faculty with supplementary information and helpful techniques for using cooperative learning or collaborative learning in college classrooms.

Integrating Technology. Today, educators realize that computer literacy is an important part of a student's education. Integrating technology into a course curriculum when appropriate is proving to be valuable for enhancing and extending the learning experience for faculty and students. Many faculty have found electronic mail to be a useful way to promote student/student or faculty/student communication between class meetings. Others use listserves or on-line notes to extend topic discussions and explore critical issues with students and colleagues, or discipline- specific software to increase student understanding of difficult concepts.

Currently, our students come to us with varying degrees of computer literacy. Faculty who use technology regularly often find it necessary to provide some basic skill level instruction during the first week of class. In the future, we expect that need to decline. For help in integrating technology into a course curriculum contact the Program in Support of Teaching and Learning or the Instructional Development Office (IDO) at 703-993-3141. In addition, watch for information throughout the year about workshops and faculty conversations on the integration of technology, teaching and learning.

Distance Learning. Distance learning is not a new concept. We have all experienced learning outside of a structured classroom setting through television, correspondence courses, etc. Distance learning or distance education as a teaching pedagogy, however, is an important topic of discussion on college campuses today. Distance learning is defined as 'any form of teaching and learning in which the teacher and learner are not in the same place at the same time' (Gilbert, 1995).

Obviously, information technology has broadened our concept of the learning environment. It has made it possible for learning experiences to be extended beyond the confines of the traditional classroom. Distance learning technologies take many forms such as computer simulations, interactive collaboration/discussion, and the creation of virtual learning environments connecting regions or nations. Components of distance learning such as email, listserves, and interactive software have also been useful additions to the educational setting.