On Course Workshop:

Station-to-Station: Covering the Syllabus

and Setting the Tone for a Learner-Centered Class on Day One

Presented by Palomar College Professors

Kelly Falcone:

Al Trujillo:

Rationale for using station-to-station for covering your syllabus

  • Sets the tone of the course from Day 1
  • Students are active: discuss, collaborate, question
  • This starts the course in the On Course direction
  • Students find answers about the syllabus
  • They don't just hear and read about it, they "DO" it--which means they'll UNDERSTAND it better
  • Creates connections with students
  • Building connections in the class is building a class community, which equals more commitment to the class
  • Lets students know they will be working together in teams, which facilitates group work for the rest of the semester.
  • Builds connections with the instructor
  • Students connect with the instructor, which means increased commitment to class attendance
  • Gets students up and moving! (exercise improves brain power)

Syllabus station-to-stationcommentsfrom students:

  • “I have never made so many friends in a class my entire college career and I have been here for 5 years!”
  • “This is the first semester where I felt like I belonged.”
  • “The first day [station-to-station] activity was a clever way to get us engaged in the course.”

Selling active learning to your students

  • You are breaking the mold, be ready for a push back from some students
  • Start from the first day of class so they know what to expect in your course
  • “I hear I forget, I see I remember, I Do I Understand” ~Confucius
  • John Dewey (1938) - Experience and Education
  • Education through experience, through doing!
  • “…there is an intimate and necessary relation between the processes of actual experience and education.”
  • National Center for Education and the Economy (2008)
  • To be successful we must be "among the top two in technology in every industry in which we hope to be a major player" (p. 29).
  • We "will have to change the [education] system from one that was designed a century ago to meet the needs of our emerging mass production economy to one that will sustain the knowledge-based, technology-powered, globally interconnected economy" (p. 40).
  • Education must focus on creativity and innovation.

16 Syllabus station ideas:

  1. Student-centered vs. teacher-centered classrooms
  2. What is the difference between a teacher-centered and a student-centered classroom?
  3. What are 3 benefits and 3 drawbacks to a teacher-centered classroom?
  4. What are 3 benefits and 3 drawbacks to a student-centered classroom?
  5. Qualities of successful students
  6. At this station, work as a group to come up with 3 qualities/characteristics of successful students.
  7. Write these on sticky-notes and add them to the big board at this station.
  8. Note that you CANNOT duplicate any that are already on the board!
  9. Qualities of successful teachers
  10. At this station, work as a group to come up with 3 qualities/characteristics of successful teachers.
  11. Write these on sticky-notes and add them to the big board at this station.
  12. Note that you CANNOT duplicate any that are already on the board!
  13. Your Success Team
  14. A Success Team is a group of students whohelp each other succeed in class. Students in a Success Team share contact information in order to contact each other to ask questions and for other help in the course.
  15. This is your Success Team! Exchange contact information with your classmates. Also, give your team a team name and add it to the list at this station
  16. As a group, discuss what you will do to help each other succeed.
  17. Academic integrity
  18. Is there a statement about academic integrity in the syllabus? What does it say?
  19. What does academic integrity mean? You may want to refer to the Standards of Conduct available at this station.
  20. What are some common violations to the student code of conduct?
  21. What are the consequences to violating the student code of conduct?
  22. What would you do if you knew a student was cheating in class or plagiarizing assignments?
  23. How do students learn?
  24. How do you learn best? Auditory, visual, kinesthetic, or a combination?
  25. Edgar Dale's Cone of Learning represents how much we remember from different ways of learning. He says, we remember about…
  26. 5% - 15% Verbal or Written
  27. 10% - 20% Visual
  28. 40% - 50% Visual and Verbal
  29. 60% - 70% Discussion
  30. 90% of what you experience
  31. Do you agree with this???
  32. Do students need communication and collaboration skills for future employment?
  33. "The number one reason people lose their first real job is not a lack of technical skills, it is because they can’t get along with other people." National Job Service.
  34. "51% of employers said their employees did not work well with others." USA Today - March 15, 1999.
  35. "Communication skills and working in a team were listed as abilities that were missing in newly graduated students." National Alliance of Business.
  36. Increase learning through activelearning
  37. "Lectures put participants in a position of sustained, passive listening. Learning, unfortunately is not an automatic consequence of pouring information into another person’s head. It requires the person’s own mental processing. Therefore, lecturing by itself will never lead to real learning." Dr. Mel Silberman, a professor at Temple University.
  38. "No matter how creative, colorful or exciting a lesson is, if the teacher's brain is the only one interacting with the material, the teacher's brain - not the student's brain - is the only brain forming dendrites." Pat Wolfe, "The Brain Matters: Translating Research into Classroom Behavior.
  39. Instructor contact information
  40. What is the instructor’s e-mail address?
  41. What is the instructor’s phone number?
  42. Where is the instructor’s office located?
  43. What are the instructor’s office hours?
  44. Does the instructor have specific communication guidelines?
  45. What are at least 3 “significant events”that may affect a student’s attendance in class that would be important to communicate to your instructor?
  46. Course assignments/exams
  47. How do you earn points for this course? (number of exams and assignments; point values).
  48. Go around to each member of the group and share how many units each of you are taking this semester.
  49. Is there a policy for make-up or late assignments/exams?
  50. How difficult does the workload seem for this course (easy, medium, hard,…ridiculous?)
  51. Course topics
  52. Review the course topics or lecture topics. Have each person in the group share which topic they are most excited to learn about and why.
  53. Is the content for this course different than what you thought? How so?
  54. What questions do you have about the course topics that you hope get answered in the lectures?
  55. Expectations for success
  56. As a group, list 3 expectations you believe the teacher has of each student to be successful.
  57. As a group, list 3 expectations you have of the teacher in order to help you succeed.
  58. Advice from former students
  59. At this station are index cards with comments from last semester’s former students on how to succeed in this course. Have each student select one and read it aloud to the group (you may keep the card to take home).
  60. Read a few others and read aloud any especially compelling ones. Discuss the common themes you noticed.
  61. Study skills
  62. Take turns telling the group what one study skill or study tip has worked particularly well to help you succeed in your past classes.
  63. Identify one new study technique you can employ this semester to help you be more successful in college.
  64. Miscellaneous but important stuff from the syllabus
  65. What is the exam make-up policy for this class?
  66. What types of extra credit are offered?
  67. What is the instructor’s cell phone policy?
  68. Are there any field trips for this class?
  69. Q and A with the instructor
  70. This is your time to get to know your instructorbetter! (no question is too unusual to ask)
  71. What questions do you have about the course? About your instructor? About any station you’ve completed?

Conclusion of stations wrap-up:

  • Have students sitwith their Success Teams and ask for any further questions or comments.
  • What did you learn? What questions do you have?

Tips for successful facilitation

  • Organize students into groups
  • Count off and send to stations, or hand out index cards with numbers.
  • Setup stations around the room in numerical order to make switching easy (ex: clockwise flow around the room)
  • Students can start at any station
  • If possible leave at least two stations open prior to the “Q and A with the instructor” station to allow students to get to know each other and work through a few stations prior to meeting with the instructor. Or, just make the “Q and A with the instructor” station the last station.
  • Each station has an activity with questions along with 1 copy of the syllabus. Add a QR code to the syllabus so students can scan it view it on their mobile device. Put all station information in plastic sleeves. Let students know to leave all materials at each station.
  • Allow ~4 minutes per station
  • Use an interval timer or a timer displayed as aPowerPoint slideshow. Make sure it is visible to the students so they can keep track of their time.
  • Instructions to students:
  • Work together to determine the answers
  • Students need writing utensil and paper
  • Taking roll
  • To save time on the first day you can take roll when the group comes to meet you at the “Q and A with the instructor” station. This way you can also welcome them individually to the class.