Honoring Pedagogical Cycles Online

Robin Hill
Instructional Computing Coordinator (and long-time faculty)

University of Wyoming

Abstract: ?The clean presentation of course materials must be augmented with backtracking, repetition, and integration of concepts in order to provide an active learning experience. The online environment presents challenges to this aspect of pedagogical guidance. We explore how these cycles are manifested in the teaching routine and how they might be handled in a course management system.

A course is a progression through states of learning

Our context is a standard academic course, of a term's duration, manifested by a set of topics. ?Example: Logic I

PedCyclesAcyclic.jpg

Backtracking

But backtracking occurs! We see it in different ways:

1. Natural
2. Deliberate
3. Unfortunate

Other obvious pedagogical cycles are not addressed here:

• Editing and revision of materials between terms.
• The standard formative assessment, peer review, and other feedback loops.

Natural Cycles

Some cycles are inherent in the content. ?Example: Logic I\\\\PedCyclesCyclic.jpg

This occurs upon expansion of what was treated as constant into a dimensional parameter.

Deliberate Cycles

Some backtracking is imposed by the instructor.

1. Question on earlier exam is discussed in class and appears on subsequent Exam.
2. References to previous items in situ
3. Pre-test and Post-test

Deliberate Cycle 1:

Question on early exam reappears

Occasionally an instructor wants plain old repetition, and will settle for the old-fashioned pedagogical technique of memorization.

"The quality of the answers to this question was abysmal. It will appear again on the Final Exam. Be sure to look up the answer and understand it."

Deliberate Cycle 2:

Reference to previous items in situ

1. Question from Homework 4 and Discussion appears on Mid-Term (and many variations).
2. References to Discussion postings by students.

Example given in [ Use Case Snippets on Confluence.|http://confluence.sakaiproject.org/display/UX/Incorporate+Snippet]

Deliberate Cycle 3:

Pre- and Post-Tests

These exercises are used to both assess learning and to demonstrate it to students.

Examples:

1. In the chain of reasoning in this passage, what is the conclusion? ?...
2. Is this a valid argument or not? ?...
3. If P is true and Q is false, then is this true or false? ?"If not P then Q"

Unfortunate Cycles

Some cycles arise from the rectification of errors.

1. Incorrect scoring? means that grading must be revisited.
   On exam (shifted answer key), or on other assessments.
2. Mistake in Discussion means that subsequent materials must be checked
   Example: Mis-use of the important concept "sound" by the instructor, corrected by a student.

Graph Theory!

Insofar the content of a course can be?be construed as "states" of learning, the content is subject to graph theory.

These are genuine cycles, in that a node of a directed graph is revisited, and an entire subgraph may be traversed again.

Workflow

Sometimes the cycles are predictable.

• The Natural Cycles
• Some of the Deliberate Cycles

Sometimes the cycles are extemporaneous.

• The Unfortunate Cycles
• Some of the Deliberate Cycles

Facilities

1. Finding a particular item: Search by text, by tags, by context such as author and date.
   ?Calls for indexing via meta-data.
2. Displaying: To instructor and thence to student. ?
   Calls for a web page pop-up or similar subordinate view.
3. Linking/Including: To re-use questions, example, definition. ?
   Calls for embedding in a content or tool page.

Facilities, continued

1. Added after the talk Cancellation: A clean and complete retraction of recorded results.
   Calls for removal of erroneous data and all contingent computations. Already available in Sakai as retracton.
2. Comparison of states on revisits, such as grades: For comparison in pre- and post-tests and other assessment. ?
   Calls for side-by-side comparison of answers and scores, and calculation of differential.
   
   • But extensive analysis can be done through other means.

Conclusion

A course platform should homor the cycles of teaching insofar as it can. ?Sakai 3 treats items as first-class objects; may provide the referencing desired.

But software can't do everything!

Full facilities for backward references-- drop-down lists of all previous items on every new item?
Not?realistic! Some of the scene must play out in real time, and must be handled by the instructor.

Course Platform should Allow Cycles

At least, a Learning Management System or course platform should allow and enable the mechanics of cycles in content. ?(No removal or dereferencing of earlier material, for instance.)

Robin Hill
hill@uwyo.edu
//www.surveymonkey.com/s/sakai10