Bored of Teaching Psychology?
 I certainly was. That’s why I changed how I approach the teaching and
learning of this course. Outlined below is my attempt to explain the
process I went through in transforming my teaching practice and the
learning process of my students.
Continue this narrative to find out how and why I changed my teaching.
Continue this narrative to find out my concerns about using this site and eLearning.
Many colleagues may be unsure as to how to integrate ICT with their
teaching of psychology. Given that ICT and in particular the www is not
going to go away, and indeed is becoming more a part of young peoples
lives each year, I feel that we all need to become conversant with this
technology. However most of us do not have the time, skills and
knowledge to use ICT and the www in our teaching practice. What this
site sets out to do is to be a flexible resource that will enable you
to use ICT and the www to aid student learning, but without you having
to do all the tedious and time consuming development of such resources.
Currently many colleagues are using SimplyPsych.com to extract
information which is then in various ways disseminated to their
students. In other words the site is being used like a text book. This
is understandable given how most of us teach A levels, however they
could be doing an awful lot more that would make your teaching easier
and more enjoyable. In addition it may mean your students’ diverse
learning needs could met more easily.
Much of what I point out below is not radical, but you would be
surprised with how many colleagues feel that it would not be
appropriate for them to undertake such change. I have found that this
view is incorrect and needs to be challenged. Much of the use of ICT
and the www in teaching and learning Psychology is about a conceptual
shift. This is one that moves away from the teacher as the source of
all knowledge and holder of the keys to learning and instead moving
towards empowering students to be responsible for their learning and
development. Whilst I know this has been an ideal for some time, most
of us have not successfully moved in this direction due to at least 3
main reasons –
We do not trust our students to be responsible.
We do not have the technology and skills required to facilitate such a move.
We do not think it will benefit our students.
Below I set out to show that these are not good enough reasons to continue teaching in ways that are becoming more outmoded.
In my practice as a teacher of the social sciences for 10 years I
finally got really, really bored and tired and frustrated with my
dominant mode of teaching. I taught how most of us do. If this sounds
familiar then you are doing what I think most of us do, if it is less
than this then I’d be worried about boring my students to tears, if it
is more, then good for you and well done.
How I used to teach went something like this –
In a week I would...
- Take a lesson or so given over to expounding the topic to be
covered. This would involve Q & A throughout, though this may be
limited since the students did not know about the topic in advance. It
would also require the use of a whiteboard and probably an OHT or data
projector.
- Another lesson would be the same as above, but also may be mixed up with some formal Q & A time.
- A third lesson given to so some ‘activity’ that may or may not
work and may or may not have helped the students to pass their exams.
- Usually a fourth lesson was given over to ‘independent study’ or more discussion of the topic if required.
There was nothing inherently wrong with this approach, but I was tired
of it, and it required way too much input from me. In addition written
work by students was not getting marked quick enough, feedback on the
work was limited and invariably ignored by the students. Further, I was
not really improving the students academic achievement nor helping them
to move towards becoming more self-directed and responsible learners.
So I sat down and thought I had to do something otherwise I’d go mad if
I stuck with this format for the next few years. Thankfully I was (and
still am) in a school that was very well resourced. I found they had
loads of ICT resources that were not really being used a great deal.
My initial attempts were random and rudimentary, but gave me some good
ideas. I found that the school intranet was ok in that it was quick and
easy to access, was free and in theory all my students had access to
it. Thus I put work, documents and powerpoint presentations on the
intranet. However I encountered 3 problems –
Students could not always get on the school computers and obviously
they could not access the intranet from home (most intranets are
protected so that others can not hack into the school system). This
meant that too many students were not getting access to what I needed
them to access. This caused me a lot of headaches.
Even if they did gain access, some students could not find the
materials they needed because it is harder to order and link between
materials on a school/college intranet, unless you are using some
advanced third party software (e.g., Digital Brain, etc).
If something went wrong with the school intranet, even if this was very
infrequently, it meant my whole week's planning, was useless. I needed
a more robust and user-friendly system.
This led me to developing on-line materials through the school website.
Through a great deal of trial and error I found ways of presenting
material that worked best for students. Further nearly all of my
students had internet access at home, thus eliminating one of the main
barriers to the use of ICT in education; not being able to access the
technology. Now it meant my students could easily work at home at
whatever time they liked, rather than in a few spare free periods in
school.
Whilst I was developing the on-line materials I was also altering how I
delivered the course. Again this was a process of development, which
has led to the current format for course delivery that is outlined
below.
Over a two year period I found that the WWW offered a number of
possibilities for teaching and learning of psychology that most of us
were not using, hence the creation of the current site. Thankfully I
have been able to be in a partnership with the Director of ICT at my
school throughout the site's development. This has been essential to
its growth because the knowledge and expense involved in setting up the
more complex functions of the site are well beyond my current abilities
and time available to me.
The site, though getting complex, is still in its formative stages of
development because of the possibilities that are available to us if we
use it as an interactive medium through which to improve and alter the
teaching and learning of psychology. Whilst I know that some of you
will grasp quickly the possibilities offered to us through the use of
e-learning, too many of us are still unsure what the implications are.
So I offer a detailed outline of how I run the OCR Psychology course
for my students, not as a best way, or even as good practice, but
rather as one way that I have found works for me and my students with
the current technology available.
AS Level OCR Psychology course delivery outline at Jersey College for Girls.
Nature of school: selective and fee paying, but not private.
Students: 11-18. All female. Mostly middle class, though by no means
all. Fairly diverse ability range, though nearly all get 5 A*-C.
Resources: Good ICT provision within school and supportive senior management re elearning initiatives.
I have two classes of varying number. Currently I have a class of 14
and another of 30. I have had up to 60 spread between 3 groups.
I see all the students together on a Monday after school for a formal
lecture. I take 1 hour to give some background information and the
essentials of 2 studies. The students take notes on the powerpoint
handouts provided. The aim is to give them a point of entry for each
study. They are expected to have read a summary of the two chosen
studies before the lecture.
I see each class for one lesson (1hour and 15 mins) a week in which we
undertake various learning activities, though mostly focusing on their
understanding of the key studies and course themes. Sometimes I will
need to use more expository teaching, though this is limited and only
used infrequently.
I then break each class into tutorial groups. These very in size but
are not over 10 students. Mostly they are between 6 and 9 students.
These are friendship groupings which the students choose, though with
input from me if the group will obviously not work well for some
reason, or some one is being left out (very infrequent). The tutorial
groups then choose what timetable slot they want to come to. All of
this gives them a sense of ownership in how they are going to learn.
I see each tutorial group once per week at their chosen time (the time
does not vary and is recorded on their timetable). This is the most
important lesson for them because it is the method by which I ensure
learning has taken place and am able to feedback to them on their
progress. The students bring with them the completed work for that
week. Invariably this is the answers to the Understanding the Study
questions for the 2 Core studies being covered that week. However the
questions are differentiated into what they Must know, Should know and
Could know. Usually they only have to complete the Must and Should
questions.
During the tutorial the students mark their own, or someone else’s
work. I ensure that their understanding of the topic is acceptable or
better, by making sure that all students contribute to the session.
Given the number of questions they will have answered, the small number
of students in the tutorial and that they are all friends/well known to
each other, means it is fairly easy to ensure that effective learning
has taken place. If the tutorial is run well there are a number of
factors that should come together. These are -
Prior learning
Since they have worked on their own or with a friend on answering these
questions they must have read the study and have processed the material
at a greater than superficial level due to the nature of the questions,
especially the ‘should’ questions.
New learning
During the tutorial I introduce new aspects to the topic and/or expand upon themes they should be aware of.
Feedback and Reinforcement
This is instant and appropriate for the individual because of the small group size and that all are contributing.
It is apparent that the tutorial is essential to ensuring that learning
has taken place and this can be reinforced and improved during the
tutorial. For these reasons students must complete all work for their
tutorial. If they miss their tutorial due to illness I allow them to
attend another tutorial that week. However I need to be very careful
that group sizes do not become inbalanced.
To make sure this system works there are a few points I have found to be essential –
- Non completion of work for the tutorial is not an option.
Students who do not complete the work have only one chance. After that
they can be removed from the course. Whilst most of us are constrained
by funding regimes in terms of student retention, you can justify the
removal of a student off your course because they are obviously not
suited to it, and you have the evidence to back this up. Invariably the
minority of students who fit this criteria show this behaviour at the
start of the course, so swapping to another AS level is not an issue.
In addition I have found that if you explain that this is not homework
but rather a process of ensuring learning, then nearly all students
respond positively.
- Non attendance at a tutorial is not an option unless they are on
‘deaths door’. Again the emphasis on one lesson a week that is a must
usually means students respond favourably.
- The work set needs to be designed so that students can work on
their own to complete it, but also hard enough to stretch their
understanding.
- The work needs to be easily accessible.
- Tutorial time needs to be used explicitly to focus on the work
set and their ability to have answered the questions fully. This means
little deviation from the questions, waffle, and no off-task behaviour.
- Have high expectations. If you allow the students to think it is
acceptable to not do their best in any way (attendance, work completion
and contribution in class) then the system fails them to some extent.
- If a student consistently fails to follow the system laid down
then I have them come into each timetabled class and complete work
there. Usually this is only required once before they get the idea that
being able to do it on their own when they want to is more desirable
than being forced to do it when I say so.
What I have found to be the advantages of this system –
- Improvement in attention in class.
- Reduction of off-task behaviour.
- Better quality of understanding of the studies, themes and methodology.
- Quicker development of understanding.
- Plenty of assessment and data recorded to give a formative picture of the students ability and performance.
- Focus on learning rather than teaching, because students spend a good deal of time having to learn.
- Improvement in results (last year 23 out of 46 students gained an A at A2 level).
- Acts as a very good basis for development during the A2 course due to the heavy emphasis on student responsibility for learning.
- The tasks and access to them and other learning aids are very
well structured so that little confusion occurs. In addition the
students feel confident enough to undertake learning in this way due to
the highly structured approach.
The main problems are –
- Ensuring attendance at all classes, but most importantly the tutorial.
- Ensuring work is always completed and that the standard is good.
- Ensuring that the students know why they are doing something (metacognition skills).
- However the main difficulty is convincing yourself and others
that the time you have allocated to you should be used differently and
that students really do not need to be in front of you to ensure that
learning takes place, so long as you have strategies that offer quality
assurance.
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