Bias affects many of the things we do in higher education, but there are some techniques that can help mitigate it. This in turn can help increase equity, which one might define as a freedom from bias.
Here are some examples of research on how bias impacts
different things we do in higher education:
“Bias is a natural part of human behavior. We make thousands of decisions a day, many of which by necessity are based on preconceived or pre-learned ideas. But professors have an obligation to their students to try and overcome their natural biases and provide all students with equal opportunities. With effort and understanding, it can be done.”
Try the two-stage exam technique. Students take a quiz or exam first individually, and then a second time in a group. This can prevent struggling students from falling further and further behind, since they can learn from each other the things they missed in the first stage. And you don’t have to spend so much time reviewing the exam yourself. Here’s a video of it in action, as well as more tips for success.
Flipping the classroom is an evidence-based teaching technique that usually involves moving some lectures online to free up time during class for more active learning strategies like peer instruction or collaborative learning.
Flipped Learning is a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter.
See this short video for a quick explanation of how and why flipping the classroom works:
Why Flip Your Classroom?
Some potential reasons:
Efficiency, saving time, covering more content
Instead of repeating the same lecture over and over, record it and have students watch it online
More careful, precise, or in-depth lectures
Students can pause, re-watch lectures, you can go more in-depth
Knowledgeable students can skip ahead if need be
Sharing your knowledge with others
Sharing your lecture videos on Youtube, for example
Free up time during class for active learning
Replace lecture time with group problem solving, individual activities, etc.
Be there to support students when they need you the most
When students may struggle the most and when they may learn the most is perhaps when they are working on their homework and preparing for exams. Traditionally, they do those alone. In a flipped class, they can do those during class while you are there to help and guide them, thus helping them improve their achievement and success in your course.
“The vast majority of the papers reviewed show either higher scores than students in traditional settings, or else the differences are not statistically significant.”
“One of the most consistent results in flipped learning research is that it is strongly correlated with improved class meeting attendance.”
” Students tend to show higher satisfaction with flipped learning than with traditional methods…But — and here’s the big caveat — these benefits only tend to sink in over time.”
“Students in flipped courses exhibited gains in critical thinking, with the largest objective gains in intermediate and upper-level courses” (ref)
A negative result of flipping: “possibly because of poor video usage by the hybrid-flipped learners.” (ref)
“Meta-analysis shows a small effect of flipped classrooms on learning outcomes” and “Flipped classrooms achieved higher learning outcomes when quizzes were added in their design.” (ref)
“embedding self-regulated learning (SRL) prompts in a video…enhanced instructional efficiency, as evidenced by the significant difference in learning outcomes. (ref)
Student satisfaction
Instructor-made videos: “Student perceptions of this instructional strategy were overwhelmingly positive.” (ref)
” Student evaluations of teaching showed that students rated the instructor significantly higher in a flipped classroom setting.” (ref)
Discipline-specific examples:
Computer science example: “Watching course content earlier has a significant correlation to course performance” (ref)
Biology example: “Students in the flipped sections had significantly higher quiz scores” (ref)
Upper-level engineering: “inverted classroom allowed the instructor to cover more material” (ref)
Chemistry: “students enrolled in the flipped course reported attending class more often than students in the non-flipped course” and ” students enrolled in the flipped chemistry course experienced, on average, a statistically significant increase of half a standard deviation in their grade in the subsequent chemistry course.” (ref)
Math – flipping without video example: “students were required to respond to a reading before class and take a quiz after class. During the active learning class, students worked together in groups on problems instead of listening to a lecture.” (ref)
Tips for Success, Things to Avoid When Flipping the Classroom
If the videos are not connected to in-class activities or not necessary to succeeding in class, students will likely not see the need for them or else not be as motivated to watch them. “Alignment of out-of-class content and in-class activities and the alignment with both of these with the objectives of the course as a whole is crucial to success.”
Consider how you might replace some lecture time in class with some interactive activities, such as perhaps formative assessments, think-pair-share, worksheets, group quizzes, etc. One technique is to occasionally ask your students a question using a polling tool such as Poll Everywhere or Kahoot.
Flipping the classroom is sometimes combined with the Peer Instruction technique.
Youtube – share your videos publicly or keep them unlisted. You can create a separate playlist or Youtube channel to organize all your course videos. Be sure to edit the captions for accessibility.
Panopto and Microsoft Stream – for videos you want to restrict so that only people at your school can see.
Vimeo – for videos you want to share publicly but they are too long for Youtube
Interactive Video: Embed Questions In or After Your Videos
These tools let you embed questions in your video to add some interactivity and help ensure students are actually watching them:
H5P – free and open source collection of dozens of tools for adding interactivity to your course, including one for interactive videos linked here
You can also add questions without using these tools. You might embed your video at the top of a Canvas quiz, for example, and ask them to answer questions after watching the video.
Your videos may not have the polish and editing that professionally-made videos have, but they can still be effective for learning. Even editing your own videos is often unnecessary if you plan appropriately.
Plan ahead – create a bulleted list of items you want to cover (or even a script or storyboard if you so desire) so that you do not miss something important, and so that you can pace yourself. Prepare the items you want to show in advance so students don’t have to wait while your software program launches or while you search for some file or resource.
Start the video on your opening slide or some resource that signifies the topic of the video. If using a whiteboard or drawing software, draw the “title” of the topic at the beginning (or before the video starts). This is so that you don’t have to edit the video later to insert a title sequence.
If you find yourself losing track of your place or you have to cough or something like that, just pause the recording, and then unpause again when you are ready. That way you don’t have to start all over. If you make a mistake that is not too major, just explain it and fix it while still recording. If you made a mistake, most likely some of your students will, too, and it helps pedagogically to discuss common mistakes.
Your first video or two, however, may take two or more takes. It takes practice to become comfortable speaking in a timed video. Go back and listen to your videos – are you speaking too fast? Is the audio loud enough? You might record a very short practice video first just to make sure everything is coming out okay.
Use HD Quality
In order to see the text or other small details in a screencast, you should record to HD quality video, and also during the video you might recommend to students that they press the full-screen button (on the bottom right of the video player if using Youtube) and/or switch to the HD quality version of the video (if it is on Youtube – see the gear icon for changing video quality).
I usually size the Screencast-o-Matic box to “Medium HD” for my screencasts.
Zoom in, select, or annotate to focus the viewer’s attention
Even with HD quality videos, you can better help focus viewers’ attention by selecting, highlighting, marking, or even zooming into a particular aspect of the screen. Use your mouse as your pointer or as a way to provide gestures to focus attention. Many screencast tools will add a halo or circle around where the mouse is.
Recording lessons is only the first step. The next step is replacing class time with more interactive activities. If one only records lectures and does nothing else, the pedagogical benefits will likely not be that significant.
Sequencing – Should students watch video lectures before or after active learning experiences?
Counter-intuitively, several research studies show that lectures are more effective after students have done some exploratory learning activity (like a lab, simulation, game, data analysis, etc.). When lecturing on the topic before students have had a chance to explore it or try it for themselves, students are more likely to tune out of the lecture and not retain much, because they do not see the need for learning it, or why the concepts are important, and what problems they solve. After students have had a chance to explore (and maybe fail) at something, they have more of a need to know. They have developed questions in their mind, they have run into problems that they couldn’t solve. A lecture at that point helps them see the concepts and links between their experiences, and one can also connect the concepts covered in a lecture to the previous experiences the students have had.
You can make videos that are open-ended instead of just explanatory lectures that give students the “answers.” You can ask students to watch a video that asks some open-ended inquiries and have students think or work on them before and during class.
Target misconceptions rather than only showing the “correct” answers
Try to directly address potential misconceptions or mistakes and errors in the video, rather that just showing the “correct” answer or technique. See this video on Khan Academy and the effectiveness of science videos as an example.
Dialogue better than monologue
Like in the above video, there is a lot of research (e.g., 1, 2) showing students learning more by watching a dialogue between multiple people from different perspectives rather than just a single person monologue.
Embed questions in or around your videos
As mentioned in the previous section, one suggestion is to not show the “answer” in a video, but ask open-ended questions of the students, and have students do the work and the learning.
And as mentioned in the above Interactive Video section, you might consider embedding questions in or around your videos. This can have the dual effect of spurring your students to think more deeply about the concepts in the video and holding them accountable for watching the videos with something like a quiz.
Students enjoy making screencasts and teaching each other (and the world) topics they have learned.
They could either use their phones and the Youtube app to record and share videos, or you might use a video discussion board like FlipGrid, which integrates with Canvas.
Issues and Concerns about Recording Lectures and Flipping the Classroom
Intellectual Property
If I record my lectures, will the university own that content and potentially replace me? I’d recommend recording your own videos and uploading them to Youtube, so that not only do you keep control over the videos (and you can take them down when you want), but also so that people outside the university can also benefit and learn from your videos.
If you work with the university to create videos, discuss any issues or concerns you have with your supervisor.
Copyright
An exception to the above suggestion of using Youtube is if you video uses copyrighted materials from someone else, such as a publisher. While you have fair use to use copyrighted materials for teaching purposes with your own students, you can’t really share those materials outside the scope of your teaching. So for example if you are recording a screencast using a PowerPoint from your textbook publisher’s site, for example, I would put share it on Panopto or Microsoft Stream (and not Youtube), so that only students here can view it.
Class Attendance
If you record your lectures, will students skip class? There is some research that your class attendance might dip very slightly if you record your lectures. But you can counteract this by increasing accountability and interactivity in your classes. Start your class off with a question that students might answer related to the video, for example, or have an attendance policy, or add some required group activities to your class sessions.
Student Resistance
If you flip your classroom, try peer instruction, or try anything new or different or out of the norm of traditional teaching approaches, yes, you might expect a small amount of resistance, although the research shows that actually students show greater satisfaction in classes that use these kinds of techniques. Still, I would recommend framing what you are doing with students: explain to them why you are doing this, why it will benefit them (perhaps share research), and basically sell them on your teaching strategy. You may have to periodically remind your students of why you are doing this, instead of only explaining it to them at the beginning of the semester.
Did a workshop on Finding and Using Open Educational Resources (#OER) on Learning Day. Here some of the resources we checked out: http://bit.ly/oervalencia
We also tried to make the case for open textbooks and OER to the Learning Council and at the Big Meeting. Here are the slides: https://bit.ly/insightmaterials
There have long been calls for using evidence-based teaching techniques and technologies in the classroom to improve student success. For example the 2012 “Engage to Excel” report by the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) notes that “Classroom approaches that engage students in ‘active learning’ improve retention of information and critical thinking skills.”
Sometimes it may seem risky to try something new or nontraditional in your class, however, partly because of the uncertainty about how students may react. And even when you are not trying anything new at all, some students may passively or even actively show signs of resistance or dissatisfaction, for various reasons.
There are actually many potential barriers to the adoption of evidence-based teaching techniques and technologies, such as: lack of time, insufficient resources or support, and, the topic of this post, the possibility of student resistance, which in turn might negatively impact student satisfaction and ratings.
How can we design and facilitate our courses in order to anticipate and reduce the potential for student resistance? There are several techniques one may employ, many of which are backed by research. First, however, let’s look at the causes and types of student resistance, and then we’ll look at strategies for addressing it.
Several examples of student resistance are listed in the book. They divide the examples by the type of the resistance (passive or active) and the motivation for the resistance (asserting autonomy or self-preservation):
So it is not as bad a problem as we might think. However, there is still a likelihood of student resistance, especially when you first adopt a new technique. This may be why, for example, some instructors may abandon a new technique after the first semester of trying it.
What can we do to anticipate and address the potential for student resistance in our courses? Again, feel free to share your own thoughts and ideas below, and here is a list of some strategies that have been identified by others.
Ease into new teaching techniques or technologies. For example, if you are trying out flipping the classroom, try it out one week at first before switching the whole course to the technique.
Explain what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what the benefits are to the students. I’ll share some example explanations below.
Survey your students about their experiences to get their feedback. I’ll share some example techniques for collecting student feedback below, as well.
Providing students with a rationale for using active learning in the classroom by explaining how the activities relate to their learning, connecting the activities with course topics, discussing their relevance to industry
Communicating overall course expectations for student participation at the beginning of the semester
Providing explicit instructions about what students are expected to do for a specific active learning exercise
Facilitation Strategies
Establishing verbal or non-verbal cues such as setting a tone for risk taking, caring about students’ success, encouraging responses by using uncomfortable silences, etc.
Confronting students who are not participating in activities by physically approaching them, calling on them during more structured lecture, etc.
Using points or grades to encourage participation
Walking around the room during active learning instruction
Encouraging students to provide feedback about an in-class activity
Prompting students to ask questions about an activity during that activity
Establishing an “active learning” routine by having a standard type of “bell work,”
Creating student groups, reframing tasks, etc
Use incremental activities: giving hints, decomposing a problem into parts,…
Some more concrete details about strategies are listed below.
1. Framing: Explaining to Your Students
Here are some examples of instructors explaining to their students the rationale for using some new teaching technique or technology:
Instead of you trying to explain the rationale, have former students explain what it takes to succeed in your course.
This is a technique that may not only help reduce potential student anxiety and resistance, but it also has been shown in studies to improve students’ sense of belonging, which in turn reduces equity gaps, including for international students and minority students.
2a. Video Testimonials
You can create or have your students create video testimonials. Here is a “realistic job preview” video by and for students taking courses online:
“When I first started the course, I worried that I was different from the other students. Everyone else seemed so certain it was the right level for them and were so happy to take it. But I wasn’t sure I fit in – if I would make friends, if people would respect me. Several days after I started, I came to realize that almost everyone who takes the course feels uncertain at first about whether they fit in. It’s something everyone goes through. Now it seems ironic – everybody feels different at first, when really we’re all going through the same things.”
2c. Ask Students to Reflect on the Explanation/Testimonials – Not Just Watch or Read
If you just have students passively watch or read an explanation or testimonial, it may have no impact on improving their success in the course. Here is a sample writing activity students did after reading the aforementioned student testimonial:
Now consider the strategies and insights for how to learn best that you just read. What are your own strategies and insights about how to learn best? And, how are they similar or different to the ones that you just heard about from other students? Please write at least a paragraph. Focus on your thoughts and feelings, and don’t worry about spelling, grammar, or how well written it is.
2d. Generating / Creating Student Testimonials
You’ll also have to think about how you will collect and present student testimonials. Will you ask former students to visit your class and speak with the current students? Or create a video or collect written testimonials? Here is how student testimonials were collected in the aforementioned article:
New students really appreciate hearing directly from students who already have some experience with learning in an online course. To give the new incoming learners a chance to hear directly from somewhat more experienced learners, we would like you to write a note to an incoming learner about your experience and what you’ve learned so far. Write about how they may feel unsure at first of their belonging in the online course but ultimately come to feel that they belong. We will give your note to a student who enrolls in the course for similar reasons as yourself, so you can imagine it is a student like you. We know it can be difficult to write that way, but we believe it will be particularly meaningful for new learners if they feel as though a more experienced learner is speaking directly to them.
The remaining strategies for addressing student resistance are related to soliciting feedback from your students about your teaching and the course. By getting their feedback early and throughout the semester, you can make adjustments that will help improve student satisfaction and learning and reduce student resistance, as opposed to waiting for the traditional end of course survey when it is too late to make changes for those students.
3. Midterm Student Feedback
Midterm Student Feedback (MSF) involves collecting feedback from students near the start or middle of a course in order to give the instructor an opportunity to make adjustments and improvements. Usually an outside consultant collects the feedback and provides guidance for the instructor on translating the feedback into positive changes in the course. The entire process is confidential to the instructor and anonymous for the students.
You can also collect feedback from students yourself by asking students to answer questions at the end of class (exit ticket) or the end of an assignment or module. Here are some examples of the types of questions you might be interested in asking.
What was the most important point of the class?
What question remains unanswered in your mind?
What question from this class might appear on the next quiz/test?
What was the muddiest point of the class?
What was the main concept illustrated by the in-class demonstration/experiment?
Here are some of the types of questions you might want to ask when your students turn in a paper assignment:
Paper 1: I’m most satisfied with . . . I’m least satisfied with . . . I’m having problems with . . .
Paper 2: In writing this essay, what did you learn that surprised you? When editing your paper, what were you unsure about?
Paper 3: Point out specific places in your argument at which you were aware of accommodating your audience (their knowledge or attitudes). Point out places in which you used sentences for rhetorical effect.
Paper 4: Why did you choose this particular arrangement?
What would you do differently if you had more time?
How will you collect feedback from students to improve upon what you are doing in your courses? Doing so may also help reduce student resistance, as well.
More Resources
You can find some handouts and slides related to the topic of addressing student resistance here: bit.ly/studentresist
MHFA is an evidence-based training program designed to instill participants with the necessary skills to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. MHFA’s action plan, summarized by the acronym ALGEE, is simple and easy to remember.
Assess for risk of suicide or harm
Listen non-judgmentally
Give reassurance and information
Encourage appropriate professional help
Encourage self-help and other support strategies
The primary focus of MHFA is not what the specific mental health issue is or naming the problem, but how to recognize when someone may be experiencing an issue and how provide assistance. MHFA is often compared to Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) since both programs focus on training individuals to become first aiders, not medical experts. Since the goal is to assess warning signs of mental health and substance abuse issues, and not become mental health experts, participants concern themselves with providing resources and encouraging professional-help and self-help. Remember, individuals trained in CPR don’t know if someone has had a heart attack, or some other medical issue, but they do know something is wrong. According to research studies, MHFA participants:
Understand the signs, symptoms, and risk factors of mental illnesses and addictions
Can identify multiple professional and self-help resources for individuals experiencing a mental health illness or addiction
Have increased confidence in assisting someone in distress
Demonstrate increased mental health wellness themselves
Dr. Raviv: From my perspective, the most important role a teacher plays is developing a strong relationship and intimate knowledge of his or her students: as learners, as individuals, and as members of their classroom community.
The first step of becoming trauma-informed is to understand the ways in which some of the behaviors that concern teachers–reactivity, social withdrawal, tardiness, and absenteeism—may be manifestations of traumatic exposure. Viewing student behaviors through a “trauma lens” rather than labeling students as defiant, disengaged, or unmotivated opens the door for considering alternative strategies to connect to and support students and respond to these behaviors.
In our work with teachers and schools, we emphasize three key components that form the foundation for a trauma-sensitive classroom:
Tips & Tools for Family-Safe Usage of Devices A copy of this document is online at: bit.ly/ortonasafe General Tips Talk to your kids about their use of devices: time limits, rules, online dangers Read the description, content rating, and user reviews of apps & games Try them for yourself & play…
I updated an old handout I made for parents at the elementary school where my wife used to work: Tips & Tools for Family-Safe Usage of Devices.
It has suggestions for parents to help monitor and support their children’s use of devices such as smart phones, tablets, and laptops. If you have any additional suggestions, please let me know.
Thanks for sharing information about #IndieWeb & #WordPress, Greg McVerry. Still just gradually trying out things here. This is a first stab at trying a webmention. The IndieWeb site and Chris Aldrich’s site have been very helpful in getting started, too.
If you have an engineering program in which a high percentage of students are underprepared or failing calculus & physics, see the Wright State Model for Engineering Mathematics Education. 89% of students who took their engineering math course went on to pass Calculus, vs. only 60% of students who did not. There are other examples out there of teaching math in context (biology, business, etc.) to improve student success.
Adopting open (free) textbooks can improve student success in math and other disciplines, perhaps partly because a significant percentage of students don’t even buy the textbook. See for example the free math books offered by OpenStax and Active Calculus. See also my previous post on The Case for Open Textbooks.
Below are some arguments for open textbooks explained in more detail and updated with more recent research and data. But the gist is – open textbooks not only save students money, they can help improve student success, as well.
Background – The High Cost of Textbooks
How many students do you think have avoided purchasing a required textbook for a course?
Recent surveys and studies have found that over two thirds (66%) of students report not purchasing a required textbook because of cost (Florida Virtual Campus, 2016, Martin et al., 2017). 94% of those students recognized that doing so would impact their grade in the course (Student PIRGS, 2016). 26% of students occasionally or frequently drop a course because of high textbook cost (Open Textbook Alliance, 2016).
Textbook prices have increased 88% in the past decade, compared with a 63% increase in tuition. 37% of community college courses require students to purchase an access code (Student PIRGS, 2016). Faculty report the average prices of their textbook is $97, and only 9% of faculty report adopting an open textbook (Seaman & Seaman, 2017). Students spend an average of over $1200 a year on textbooks (College Board, 2017).
The consequences of the high price of textbooks include scenarios such as students having to decide between textbooks and food or rent, students’ learning and grades suffering, and hurting time to graduation and access to courses. Search #TextbookBroke on Twitter for some stories.
Benefits of Open Textbooks
1. Saving Students Money
Individual faculty, colleges, and states adopting open textbooks are saving students millions of dollars every year, with the total approaching $1 billion in savings worldwide. See this list of the amount of money saved at some institutions:
Four states (California, Oregon, Texas and Washington) recently passed legislation requiring the labeling of courses that use open textbooks and open educational resources (OERs), and colleges like Tidewater Community College are creating entire degree programs that utilize free resources. Students in these open textbook courses persisted at a 6% higher rate and take more credits each semester than students in traditional courses (InsideHigherEd, 2017).
2. Increasing Student Success
But saving money for students isn’t the only benefit of open textbooks – student grades and course passing rates may increase, as well.
A 2015 study of over 15,000 students in 15 courses found that in 4 of the courses students had better grades with open textbooks and 9 showed no significant difference. Students in courses using open textbooks also enrolled in a higher number of credits in the following semester (Fischer et al., 2015). What about that one course where students had better grades with the commercial textbook (Business 110)? It turns out that “21% of students in the commercial textbook condition withdrew from the course while only 6% of students in the OER condition withdrew from the course” (p. 165, ibid).
A 2018 study of over 10,000 students found that ”students using the print format of the open textbook perceive its quality to be superior to the commercial textbook. Moreover, students assigned an open textbook in either format [paper or online] perform either no differently from or better than those assigned a commercial textbook” (Jhangiani et al., 2018).
In 2016, John Hilton III reviewed 16 studies on open textbooks and found that “students generally achieve the same learning outcomes when OER are utilized and simultaneously save significant amounts of money. Studies across a variety of settings indicate that both students and faculty are generally positive regarding OER” (Hilton, 2016).
If an open textbook is licensed with a Creative Commons license and available in a standard format, you are free to revise and remix the textbook however you see fit.
Pressbooks is a popular choice for authoring open textbooks that also makes it easy to clone and edit existing open textbooks.
Search through the largest list of existing open textbooks at the Open Textbook Library. Browse through the subject-based directory of thousands of open textbooks at College Open Textbooks. See if there are textbooks related to your courses!
Check out the Rebus Community to connect with other folks interested in creating or editing open textbooks.
