[BUG] Whiteboards, etc...

[Tevian Dray]

The following is my response to some questions of John Knudson of Seattle
Central Community College, who participated in our workshop last summer.
It is reposted here (slightly edited) with his permission.  He subscribes
to the list, so any further postings on this topic will reach him.

Tevian

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  JKK>  1.  Completing the project in class.  That never happens.  In fact
  JKK>      they usually are just getting started at the end of the
  JKK>      period. I then give them several days before their write-up is
  JKK>      due, and they work on it outside of class a lot.  Is this
  JKK>      a problem?  Should I scale back the projects some?  I haven't
  JKK>      really done any collective summarizing about the project at
  JKK>      the end of the period, because there hasn't been too much
  JKK>      to summarize yet.  Is that bad?  Do you ever hand out a project
  JKK>      the day before, so they can familiarize themselves with the
  JKK>      material? (this seems to defeat the purpose of communal
  JKK>      learning).  Or let a project spill over onto the next day?

Depends a bit on why the project doesn't get completed.  If there are multiple
ideas involved, we'd recommend separating these into separate, shorter
projects.  And we usually don't hand out the projects in advance, since this
often creates significant differences in how well-prepared students are.  The
one exception is that we do occasionally ask students to, say, prepare a topo
map in advance, rather than spending class time on it at the start of the
project.  But even in this case, we don't tell students in advance what the
topo map is for.

My own preference is to have the writeup due the next day.  Unlike some of my
TAs, I discourage students from handing it in at the end of the class period,
both because I'd rather have students keep talking to each other, and because
I expect a more polished writeup than can usually be accomplished in class.
On the other hand, I also don't want the writeup to dominate their life for
too long, so I normally don't give them beyond the next class meeting, usually
the next day, to complete this.  If we don't finish a project in class, I
usually tell students not to include that part in their writeup -- if it's
important, I'll cover it in class.

As for the wrapup, a few minutes of discussion always helps to reinforce the
ideas in the activity.  But it's not that important that it be the same day,
so if groups are still working through a crucial point towards the end of the
period, I usually postpone the wrapup until the next class.  Such wrapups do
tend to be shorter, with me doing more of the talking than I would have
otherwise, but the important thing is to reinforce the activity, and connect
it to the rest of the material.

  JKK>  2.  Whiteboards.  I have no whiteboards of my own, yet. So at the
  JKK>      beginning of the term I handed out a page of 11 x 17 paper
  JKK>      with the projects, with perhaps a relevant diagram or grid
  JKK>      or something on it, for them to use as a communal
  JKK>      workspace.  This worked OK, I think.  They can't hold them up
  JKK>      to show the rest of the class, but they can take them with
  JKK>      them.  Then, I borrowed Bryan John's whiteboards, and have
  JKK>      been using them for the rest of the term.  Yesterday, I
  JKK>      polled the classes about which they preferred.  Most
  JKK>      preferred the 11 x 17 (not so messy, and they liked being able
  JKK>      to take them with them), although some preferred the
  JKK>      whiteboards.

Don't think it matters; if it's working, use it.  I am a bit leery, however,
of providing too many clues; coming up with the relevant diagram is often half
of the problem.  There are excpetions, though, such as the topo map already
referred to, which we've recently decided is not directly relevant to the
activity.  So the latest version of the hill and valley activities (available
on the website) include the topo maps.

Best wishes,
	Tevian


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