Overview and Structure of the Course
- Instructor
Contact Information
- WebCT
Courseware (www.elc.uga.edu)
- Course Policies
- Course FAQs
- Group Projects
and Individual Assignments
- SMIS Meetings
(5)
In Class Activities
- Introductions
- True Colors
- Maybe More
Active Learning
In
Class Activities
(Turn in D1 - D2)
D1: Introductions
Purpose: Let's get to know each other.
Introduce
yourself to the class. Tell us your (this questionaire is included in
the personal information form
mist5620personalinformationform.html)
- Name
- Email Address
- Phone Number
- Hometown
- Major(s)
- What year you are in
- When you plan to graduate
- What you plan to do when you finish
- Something interesting or unusual about yourself (do you have a
hobby, play a sport, went or did something interesting once (or more)?)
- Or: what is the most surprising thing that ever happened to you?
D2: Brainstorming: How do you feel about
the course? How do you think I feel about the course? What have you
heard about the course from other students/people?
Purpose: Let's get a sense about
how we feel about the course and compare notes. Let's also find out
what everyone has heard about the course.
Take out a piece of paper
and answer:
- On the front, write down a phrase or word about how you feel,
right
now, about the course. I'm going to call on you and we will discuss
these in this brainstorming exercise.
- Below, write down a phrase or word about how you think I
feel,
right now, about the course. I'm going to call on you again.
- Let's compare the answers to these two.
- Let's find out about
rumors and stories and put them all out on the table. Below,
write down a few sentences about what you have heard about this course
from other students/people? I'm going to call on you again.
Turn both of these in.
D3: True Colors:
Personality/Temperament Types and Learning Styles.
Purpose:
To illustrate
the different personality types and to
identify the strengths and weaknesses of each one. These can help you
understand to some degree how you learn and relate to other people. It may also be used in
forming groups for teamwork and to explain how each team member relates
to each other.
In-class learning style exercise for the
first
class (you may be doing this on your own)
- see the separate write-up on the Web [color.html
(description), and colorform.html
(just the answer sheet for the questions)]. There are many more details
about the True Colors concepts and theory available in the Birkman True Colors book, which is
summarized in
the
PowerPoint Presentation TrueColors.ppt.
D4: Active Learning
Get two or more course buddies.
Here is something I noticed on one of my youngest daughter's AP class
syllabus
at Clarke Central High School:
"Class lectures will reflect a college style atmosphere in which the
students will have to listen to the lectures, and decide which material
is most significant."
I found this extremely interesting. The reality, in relation to this
course, is that you are responsible for your own learning, while your
instructor is responsible for structuring a learning environment. Now
is a good time to take charge of your education so you can maximize
your learning. Welcome to college!
Active learning involves taking responsibility for your learning. Since
you are in college, you are adults and responsible for your actions. To
be a true learner, you
really have to practice active learning. A lot of details and
rationale on active learning appears in the Course Policies document.
Instructors are
responsible for structuring a learning environment. In a nutshell,
active learning involves the following
success factors:
- Come to every class (even if you are late).
- Pay attention in class. Stay focused.
- Read the material (do the tutorials) before you come to class.
- Try stuff out on your own. Experiment! See what works, what
doesn't and try to figure out why or why not!
- Take notes (on paper is the best way). This is a form of active
listening.
- Just because something is not to be turned in does not mean it is
not important. Treat the Suggested Exercises as assignments and do them
in a timely way. Experience shows that students who do not generally do
not perform well on exams.
- Practice peer learning - get together with fellow students to
work together on understanding new material and have course buddies.
- Plan to learn how to learn, if you have not yet to do so. The
primary goal of the Division of Academic Enhancement is to enhance the
academic success of University of Georgia students by providing a wide
range of courses, programs, and services. Several courses are oriented
toward learning and college success. If you are having trouble
learning, contact them in 233 Milledge Hall, or via http://www.uga.edu/dae/ ,
706.542.7575.
- Plan
on being involved in class.
If you plan to spend class time surfing the Web, emailing, Facebooking,
Messaging, watching videos, typing (not notetaking), using your cell
phone, doing homework for other classes, reading the paper, reading,
listening to music, and/or bothering others in the class, do
not come to class.
And, there is much more.
Page maintained by JE
Aronson
Last Modified: August 17, 2009
