Day 9 – Monday, July 16, 2018
On this Monday morning, I facilitated the workshop on the scholarship of teaching and learning. This is the first time I was conducting a workshop on this topic, although I have been writing educational research methods papers since 2002.
| Workshop Title: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning |
| Workshop Description: In this workshop, we will discuss the development of a research question, designing the study, implementing the methods, collecting data via surveys and examinations, analyzing the data, and then publishing the results. We will use examples and reflective exercises to get the participants to generate a pathway to conduct what is called SOTL – scholarship of teaching and learning. |
This was a highly interactive workshop as I took the participants through the five steps of SoTL.
- Identify the research question
- Design the study
- Collect the data
- Analyze the data and draw conclusions
- Present and publish the SoTL project
Worksheets asked them to fill in details and these were followed by an example of our own study of comparing flipped learning with blended learning. Most of the discussion revolved under how to codify qualitative data and ethical considerations of conducting a study.
Photo: Participants of the SoTL workshop at UTP, Malaysia
In the afternoon, I co-guided a recitation session in a Numerical Methods class. The topics discussed were numerical integration and differentiation. I asked some conceptual questions and related them to applied problems. The instructor of record had given a worksheet to the students, and I and the graduate assistant guided the students through it. Most questions revolved around the use of trapezoidal rule formulas for discrete data, calculation of relative true errors, relationship to true errors to the number of segments, and order of the accuracy of divided difference formulas. The tutorial session became an avenue for the graduate assistant, Zuhaib to learn about implementing active learning as well as an opportunity for the students to take ownership of learning.
Photo: A selfie with graduate assistant Zuhaib. He went to the same high school I attended in India – yes he graduated 35 years later than I did – but what a small world.
Back in my room, I ordered room service to try some local Malay food. I ate Ilham Naluri, which is fried rice with chicken on skewers. I also had a fruit platter for dessert and some hot tea made with mostly milk.
Photo: Left – milk tea made mostly with milk and a generous amount of sugar; Right – fruit platter made with apples, papaya, watermelon and cantaloupe (sauce is a mystery).
I spent the rest of the evening rereading the book – Make it Stick for tomorrow’s workshop on “How to Increase Cognitive and Affective Gains in Student Performance”.
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This material is based upon work supported by the Fulbright Specialist Grant and the products of the National Science Foundation Grants# 0126793, 0341468, 0717624, 0836981, 0836916, 0836805, 1322586, 1609637. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the Fulbright Program.