Many 萝莉社-Dearborn faculty and administrators are currently engaged in an effort to transition 3-credit courses to 4 credits. The thinking behind the Four-Credit Transition Initiative is that if faculty are able to focus on two 4-credit courses per semester instead of three 3-credit courses, they鈥檒l have more time and energy to work on other things they enjoy, like research, course development and new initiatives. The question of how to transition a course, however, isn't always straightforward, according to Instructional Designer Autumm Caines. 鈥淎 lot of people think adding that extra credit hour means adding more content 鈥 like, you could just add a couple extra readings,鈥 Caines says. 鈥淏ut from a design perspective, that鈥檚 certainly not the only option or probably the best one. You could actually keep the amount of content the same, but go deeper. In some cases, an instructor might think about reducing content.鈥
So how does the idea of less content jibe with adding an extra credit hour? First, it helps to understand that when Caines talks about reducing content or increasing credit hours but keeping the amount of content the same, she鈥檚 not talking about making classes lighter-weight or less challenging. Rather, it鈥檚 about being conscious of the amount of material that students can realistically learn, given the time constraints of the course, and finding ways to use that time to produce learning outcomes that last. For example, let鈥檚 say an instructor has traditionally organized a 3-credit course around 12 core subjects. With an extra credit hour to play with, they could potentially cover 16 subjects. Or, Caines says, they could stick with 12 and add different kinds of learning activities that allow students more exploration in those essential areas. A unit that is usually covered by a textbook chapter and lecture could be developed further with an active assignment that asks students to apply what they鈥檝e learned to a problem facing their own community, or engage in a group project, or write a personal reflection about how a key concept relates to something in their lives. Caines says the possibilities for these types of active learning assignments are basically unlimited.
The approach of going deeper with less material is gaining momentum in academia, in part, because emerging research suggests it enhances learning. Caines points to recent work from Bryan Dewsbury, an associate professor of biological sciences at Florida International University and current scholar in residence at 萝莉社-Dearborn, who鈥檚 an expert in inclusive teaching, a philosophy that emphasizes providing equal opportunities for students of all backgrounds to have successful learning experiences. In Dewsbury and his co-authors鈥 , they followed students over two semesters of sequential introductory biology courses that used different instructional formats. During the first semester, three sections of the intro course used a traditional lecture format. A fourth mixed active learning and inclusive teaching with a reduction in content to make room for these more learning-centered pedagogies. In the second semester, students took either a lecture-based section or an active learning one. The result: Students who took the non-lecture sections both semesters had the highest grades in their 200-level biology courses the following year, with students from traditionally underrepresented identities showing some of the largest gains. Caines says outcomes like this suggest that active learning and inclusive teaching approaches help students hold on to the information and skills they鈥檙e learning because they鈥檙e able to spend more time with the content and experience it in different ways. It鈥檚 also a counterpoint to one of the most common arguments against active learning 鈥 namely, that it might be a good idea, but there simply isn鈥檛 time for it if students are going to get through all the material an instructor has deemed important. 鈥淏ut if students aren鈥檛 holding on to what they鈥檝e learned beyond the course, that鈥檚 obviously not a great thing. What we鈥檙e seeing is more content doesn鈥檛 equal more learning,鈥 Caines says.
Grace Helms-Kotre, a social work lecturer on both the Dearborn and Ann Arbor campuses, describes it as the difference between 鈥渕aking a point and driving a point home.鈥 Over the past several years, she鈥檚 revised her Stress Management course multiple times, and each time it鈥檚 trended in the direction of less content. Initially, her course was organized around a traditional (thick) textbook, lots of assigned reading, quizzes and tests. But she noticed that the pace of the class and amount of material they were covering meant students were often just regurgitating the material on quizzes and tests rather than experiencing any kind of transformative learning. So she reduced the amount of required reading, shrunk the textbook, cut the number of core topics to just the essentials, and added some active assignments. For example, rather than assigning all the reading, sometimes she asks students to go find an article or video on the topic themselves and do a report back to her or the class. Often, she assigns a reflection piece that challenges students to engage with the material in a personal way. Helms-Kotre says the new approach has paid all kinds of dividends, including in richer class discussions and students reporting positive changes in their daily lives. Now, the most common feedback she gets about her course is that 鈥渋t鈥檚 a class I鈥檓 really getting a lot out of.鈥
Incidentally, Caines finds student perceptions of active learning to be another interesting area of emerging research. She points to a that found outcomes similar to Dewsbury鈥檚 recent research when it comes to learning outcomes. 鈥淏ut when students were asked how they felt they were doing, the students in the active learning and inclusive teaching sections felt like they weren鈥檛 doing as well, even though they were doing better. And the students in the lecture class felt like they were doing great, even though they weren鈥檛 doing as well.鈥 Caines suspects this may have to do with the nature of active learning assignments. They鈥檙e usually less prescribed, less predictable, involve problem solving or innovating, and rarely reduce to right and wrong answers. As such, uncertainty and failure are par for the course. In some cases, trying and failing and trying again might lead to the deepest learning experience of all. But as we make our classes more active and inclusive, Caines says that鈥檚 a lesson we鈥檒l have to help our students understand. 鈥淭he way I explain it to students is that it鈥檚 sort of like going to the gym when you haven鈥檛 been working out for a while,鈥 she says. 鈥淭he sore muscles don鈥檛 feel good, but that鈥檚 an indication it鈥檚 working. So if you feel like you鈥檙e struggling with this stuff, that鈥檚 completely normal. It might even mean you鈥檙e on the right track.鈥
###
Want to dive deeper into this topic? Check out Caines鈥 discussing why it鈥檚 important that we pay close attention to how much time students are spending on course-related tasks. Story by Lou Blouin.
