Three Ways to Prime Students for Learning

Are there parts of your course you wish could be taught more effectively?
Would you like to prepare students for learning material with which they tend to struggle?
Do you want to help students transition effectively from one learning activity to another?

Priming your students will provide solutions to these questions. Read on for three useful ways to improve student learning.

Priming

Priming is a strategy that introduces a new topic to students in a way that facilitates their academic learning because they know what they can expect. Priming prepares students for upcoming information or a learning activity before they receive the information or participate in the activity in a course. Priming exposes students to new material in a way that influences their learning behavior later, without them necessarily being aware.

According to cognitive psychology, priming is a process in which we use a mental framework (or schema) to organize and understand the world around us. Schemas of information are stored in long-term memory. The activation of these schemas draws related information into our memory and can either be increased or decreased in a variety of ways to make memories easier to access or less likely to be retrieved. When our minds have been primed to think of this new information, we can think and act quickly when we come across it again.

There are three key ideas that underpin the strategy of priming. These are: pre-exposure, activating prior knowledge, and retrieval practice. When we understand the different ways of priming and how they work, we can better identify opportunities for incorporating priming into our courses and programs.

1. Pre-exposure

When students are pre-exposed to information, the pre-exposure provides a framework for recall and may improve student learning. This scaffolding of new information helps students to understand, organize, and extract meaning. For example, multiple-choice pretests appear to make subsequent studying more effective than other activities that pre-expose students to the information (Little & Bjork, 2012).

We can pre-expose our students to learning material months or weeks in advance. Students put the information into a “cognitive storage unit” until the rest of the information is provided to unlock the complete learning content in it.

Pre-exposure is good for increasing the credibility of information and preparing students for new ways of learning, such as immersive technology.

We can pre-expose students to new information before starting a course or a class with:

  • a welcome letter or email of the course description
  • a video about a course or topic
  • color-coding key items in the pre-exposure materials
  • setting a relevant problem to solve
  • reading a relevant book or article
  • a workbook to preview
  • previewing slides
  • pre-test quizzes
  • opinion polls

For example, an undergraduate psychology course sends out a welcome letter that has a sequence of pre-course exercises designed to prepare students for online learning and guide them through the first steps of studying the course.

2. Activating prior knowledge

Prior knowledge is what students already know before learning new information and provides a framework for them to better understand new information, and to see the connections between previous knowledge and new instruction.

We can create learning activities based on students’ prior knowledge to focus student attention and arouse their interests and curiosity to learn more. When students have a foundational building block to support the new knowledge, they can then build on that foundation to increase their comprehension about a subject.

Activating prior knowledge is good for tailoring the learning process to the individual needs and developmental level of the students as well as preparing students for the common misconceptions that they may have about a topic.

We can activate students’ prior knowledge with:

  • quizzes and exercises to reach back to concepts and learning covered earlier in the course, as well as covered in previously required courses
  • activating questions to encourage students to start thinking about what they already know and reflect on how this prior knowledge will be useful for learning new material
  • students spending 10 minutes before starting a topic sitting with a blank piece of paper on which to write everything they know about the topic
  • using a list of everything they know about the topic to look through the course and find out what they know and don’t know and then focus on the latter
  • students explaining the concepts to somebody else in their own words and connecting it to what they already know, or explaining how the concepts relate to their life outside of the course
  • a discussion, brainstorm, list, or map of what they already know about a new topic
  • an emphasis on the relevance of the new topic and show its connections to what the students already know
  • students create a metaphor or visual image for the new material (e.g., a concept map)
  • students illustrating on a single sheet the information studied, showing graphically and through key words how the concepts connect to each other

For example, an undergraduate history course provides an ungraded, self-test quiz at the start of every online unit that allows students multiple attempts at answering a question and provides prescriptive feedback for each attempt. The content of the questions is aligned to the learning outcomes and is linked to the subsequent assignments.

3. Retrieval practice

Retrieval practice is where students deliberately recall information to mind to bring prior knowledge out and work with it. Retrieval practice draws together theory and practice, enabling students to organize and construct meaning from their prior knowledge which can then be applied to solve problems and in new situations.

Retrieving knowledge, skills, facts, concepts, or events from memory increases long-term retention and is more effective than rereading notes or learning materials. Retrieval practice really means testing yourself which primes the mind for learning and retention (Brown et al., 2014).

We can provide regular retrieval practice activities so that students begin to cultivate it as a habit and even as their primary study strategy—a likely outcome when they experience how effective it is. Through retrieval practice, students form an early mental outline of the material that will be filled in with details later as their learning progresses.

Retrieval practice is good for making sure new learning is available when it is needed, and for students to recalibrate their understanding of what they do and do not know, illuminating where to focus their study efforts (Brown et al., 2014).

We can use retrieval practice with our students through:

  • worksheets consisting of questions and exercises where students are not expected to have all the information they need to know yet
  • brain dumps of writing down everything they know on a topic
  • list memorization of things that students must know about in a situation
  • students attempting to answer a question or solve a problem before being shown the answer or the solution
  • challenging tests on the material at which they are likely to fail
  • low-stakes quizzes and practice tests
  • flashcards

For example, an undergraduate labor relations course assesses students through a series of structured reflections. Students write weekly summaries of what they did, how it worked, and what they might do differently next time to get better results.


References

Brown, Peter C., Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Harvard University Press.

Little, Jeri, and Elizabeth Ligon Bjork (2012). “The persisting benefits of using multiple-choice tests as learning events.” In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, vol. 34, no. 34.

How to Study Online Effectively with a Smartphone

The following three tips have come from in-depth interviews with ten postgraduate learners at Athabasca University. These busy learners value the ease and convenience that the mobile technology provides for part-time, online, graduate studies when they are working full-time and have a family and other commitments.

1. Make use of tiny time slots

  • Identify the best tasks suited to the time slots available to you wherever you are.
  • Become aware of and leverage the tiny time slots that can appear unexpectedly during your day.
  • Read course content and activities in little bits throughout the week so that you have more time to digest the information.

A 40-year-old father of three and full-time working professional uses his Samsung phone to track and think about his classmate’s postings in the discussion forum during the day, contemplate everything that they have posted, and then writes his own post in the evening. He finds that this works better for him than sitting down and reading it all once or twice a week and trying to grasp complex information or think through the implications of an idea.

A 53-year-old nursing postgraduate student realizes she has only has 15 minutes before an appointment; she will use her iPhone to see what is going on in the course discussions or read an article that she knows that she should be reading. She studies more frequently than before. If she has a spare 15 minutes, she uses it to study.

A 32-year-old nursing postgraduate student tailors studying with her Windows phone to any available time she has. Whether she has 10 minutes or four hours, she will choose to read a couple of studies very briefly or read a big chunk of the textbook. She finds that she is quite effective when she can do a 15–20-minute spurt or a 45-minute spurt.

2. Focus only on essential tasks

  • Focus only on the elements that need to be done to succeed in a course and don’t waste time on unnecessary tasks.
  • Be judicious in the material you study with your phone based on the course requirements.
  • Notice for you what times of the day are best for what kind of task.

A 32-year-old nursing postgraduate student uses her Windows phone to only study the content that she is sure she doesn’t know or understand well, and will only do more than an overview if she has the time and interest to do more.

A 51-year-old business administration postgraduate student uses his iPhone at different times of the day for different purposes. In the morning, he will study more complex or complicated subject areas. In the afternoon, he will study easier subject areas or review that morning’s work. In the evening, he will work on an assignment or carry out research on the Internet.

A 30-year-old integrated studies postgraduate student uses his BlackBerry for one hour per day to read content, work through the course website, understand the course structure and find out what needs to be done. He creates his own essential course materials as an e-notebook with OneNote as a way for him to engage with the course and make it his own.

3. Make and stick to your own schedule

  • Keep your due dates organized in the phone’s calendar and synced across all your devices.
  • Keep track of the steps you have to take to complete the course with a calendar and study schedule.
  • Make a commitment to deal with the inevitable distractions that come with a phone.

A 40-year-old nursing postgraduate student uses his Samsung phone to keep organized with due dates in the device’s calendar. He fits the mobile study in between other activities as opposed to setting aside dedicated time to complete it. He finds that he wouldn’t be able to complete a postgraduate degree without a phone enabling him to fit his studies into his busy life.

A 50-year old information technology postgraduate student studies on her iPhone and sets her own goals. She finds that her stress level does not get out of control because she is no longer afraid that she won’t complete the course. She then has the flexibility to deal with unexpected events that may come up that could take away time from her planned, small study times.

A 29-year-old nursing postgraduate student knows that she has to be determined to study on a tiny screen—she is not going to waste that time. The more she studies during the day on her phone, the less she has to do in the evening. She turns off the notifications on her phone to reduce distractions. Even if she wonders about the messages that she may have missed, she doesn’t turn the notifications back on until after her study session.

For how to implement these tips as an instructor, see my original article posted on the Faculty Focus website: How to Help Your Students Study Online Effectively with a Smartphone – https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-classroom-management/three-tips-on-how-to-help-your-students-study-online-effectively-with-a-smartphone/

Effective Educational Video

I like to think that simply putting a video into a course will automatically engage students and improve their learning. 

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.

Watching a video can be as passive as reading a textbook can be.

Which is why I want to find out how to efficiently make effective videos for online education.

From my own experience, I know that video can be a highly effective, educational tool. It’s great way to learn from an expert who knows and can do what you want to be able to know and do.

I think it is also a good idea for our courses to reflect what is happening in today’s society in the way people tend to consume media and information.

In fact, many of online academic students are asking in the course evaluations for more video.

Such video provides visual learning content to students wherever they want it, whenever they need it and at whatever pace that works for them. 

Do students learn more from video than from books?

Research is showing us now that short videos improve learning in online education. 

Sin & Sigas (2013) found that when an online course has mini-lecture videos in it, the students are more likely to stay in the course and have a slight increase in their grades. 

Lawson et al (2006) show that students tend to remember more of the content in a video when compared to reading it in a text.

Our students love video. 

The only problem is – it takes a lot of time and effort to produce good videos.

Which means that I will focus on: 

  • How can we quickly produce effective videos that engage students and promote active learning?

Or more simply, how can we do it right and how can we do it in less time?

What have I found out already?

How do we increase student engagement in a video? 

Keep it short, target the key learning outcomes, talk in a conversational way, and speak relatively quickly.

How do we increase active learning in a video? 

One way is to embed guiding questions into the video that help students to process the information and monitor their own understanding.

Another way is to directly connect the videos to the assessments.

What is the optimum length for an online educational video? 

Current wisdom says around six minutes. But I think they can be longer than that as long as the presenter is enthusiastic, and the content is focused and effective.

What makes a video effective?

The video needs to have carefully-structured content that is easy to understand, reinforces learning, and looks professional. 

In my research, I intend to find out how to structure these learner-centered, didactic videos.

  • How can I make sure that my research into effective videos is beneficial to the future design and delivery of AU courses?

In conclusion, why is understanding effective educational video important to me?

Because I think that ultimately, providing effective videos for our students will help improve their learning and help us to understand how people learn best by example – even if that example comes via an expert in a video.

Course Review: Steve Martin’s Comedy Masterclass

I took the Steve Martin Comedy Masterclass  online course to improve my joke writing. I love writing jokes and telling them to my friends in everyday conversation.

I am looking for and experimenting with the best format(s) to express my jokes and bits. I have absolutely no ambition to work as a travelling stand up comedian, but I do love the structure of comedy and the real place for humour.

As I love to write jokes and funny lines, I enjoyed lessons 3 to 8 the most: gathering your material; finding your comedic voice; developing a comedic persona; jokes and bits; delivery; and crafting your act. I wish there were more lessons on these topics.

I studied this course by watching all of the videos in about a week so that I can see the whole picture while taking notes of the most important bits for me to apply. Then I went through the course again and applied it to the 10-15 minute act that I am writing now for a performance in August 2017. I am also applying it to the 1 hour stand-up act I am developing for fun.

What I liked best about the course was the genuine insights from Steve Martin who clearly knows what he is talking about.

What has meaning for me is that Steve Martin speaks from his direct experience and the course is not theoretical. As a result, he says things that are the opposite of advice you get in how to do comedy books, such as look directly at people in the audience. Yikes! That always flusters me when doing work presentations, especially when people look bored or unhappy – and maybe for their own personal reasons. So Steve says don’t look at the audience.

The course is video lecture-based followed by a written recap of the major points, reading suggestions and links on sub-topics and activities. The lecture are short, talking head videos; no more than 15 minutes. Each video lecture is on one topic with a few sub-topics. For each lecture, you watch the video, then read the recap, and complete the activities.

I really like how in this course is structured in a way that is like an online version of the face-to-face university courses I did as an undergraduate.

Some topics have videos of Steve working with 4 students on the concepts and practices mentioned in the earlier lecture videos. These workshop videos are like the seminars in face-to-face university teaching, except we watch them and then do the work ourselves at home on our own (or not.) A video lecture-based approach is certainly the trend right now in online education. It reflects how the population is consuming their information and media.

There is a general discussion board so that you can connect with other students and there are more specific discussion boards where you upload your completed activities to get peer feedback. As there are so many students enrolled in this course, there is no feedback from Steve Martin or a professional tutor. Maybe there is for a few selective students.

I am wary of posting my jokes in the discussion forums of this course as I do worry somewhat about joke theft – it does seem rife in the stand up world as great jokes are not easy to write.

What I don’t like is that there isn’t any professional feedback on the assignments that I complete and the short videos that I post in the assignment sections. I don’t think peer feedback is working in the Masterclass. There are too many people in the course and there are too many comments to read.

Top 10 Takeaways from the Steve Martin Comedy Masterclass:

  1. Figure out a way to let your individuality come out.
  2. There has to be as many variety of jokes as they are performers.
  3. Tell a joke that is funny and has another level of meaning.
  4. Think beyond punchlines. A little slight twist, unexpected thing, can just be a look, can be your own facial response to the line you just said.
  5. Use your old jokes (and ones that didn’t work, but you like) in new contexts.
  6. So much is wrapped up in delivery. Joke epigram changes when delivered by different comedians.
  7. Timing is knowing when to pause, when to talk, and when to do nothing to increase the laugh.
  8. Speak with your body. Express a thought or idea in the tiniest, smallest way.
  9. Think of your act as a unified whole, not from joke to joke or bit to bit.
  10. Give your act meaning. Audiences want it to be about something.

Key Questions:

  • What does society need right now? What needs to be discussed?
  • What is the state of the nation and what could I do that is slightly unique?
  • What is my cultural perspective and how can I perfect it?
  • When I tell a joke I am defining my taste, what is it?
  • What comes out naturally in me on stage?
  • What do I want the audiences response to be?
  • What can I parody?
  • What am I absolutely not?
  • What are most comedians doing today?

Verdict:

I would recommend this course for anyone interested in stand up comedy. I have found the Steve Martin Comedy Masterclass  online course to be very useful and good value for $90. It won’t turn you into a stand up comedian, but you will know something about it.

Overall, I am looking for the best format to express my humour and joke writing and I feel this course has taken me a step closer.

 

Book Review: How to Write Funny – Scott Dikkers

I love this book. I refer to it more than any other book when I need to make something funny. I find it be the most useful of all of my books in coming up with jokes and funny lines for my stories, speeches, online courses, and comedy performances.

How to Write Funny is built on the premise that you need to learn the fundamental skill of writing a joke in order to be a successful comedy writer. Scott Dikkers is the founding editor of the Onion and a New York Times best selling author. I feel he knows what he is talking about.

What I learned most from this book was the importance of having good subtext in a joke and how to use the various funny filters to come up with joke and bits that I think are funny.

I enjoyed learning about the subtext in a joke. It was a real eye-opener for me. I hadn’t thought about what my jokes were really saying before. I didn’t know that my funny lines had subtext. But it is there if you look for it. Now I am able to write many jokes using the same opinions and judgements that I have frequently about something. I am able to better fix a joke now when it is not working by looking for what is it really trying to say. Is it true for me?

What’s more is that I realize that my favourite funny filters – the ones that I tend to use instinctively – are irony, character, reference, hyperbole and meta-humour. (This makes me an introverted and contrarian comedy nerd who is prone to exaggeration and making trivial observations that mock stand up comedy and the idea of humour itself.) At the same time, I can expand my joke writing skills by using the other filters that I do not come so easily to me such as – shock, misplaced focus, analogy, wordplay, madcap and parody.

What doesn’t work for me in this book is that there is an over-emphasis on satire which is a form I don’t tend to find funny. It can be too clever for its own good. For example, I don’t read the Onion. It is not my cup of tea.

Favourite Quote:

“If you’re working with good Subtext, one of the Funny Filters will work to make your Subtext funny.” (p.131)

I find this confidence-building. I often run my favourite subtext through all of the 11 funny filters and pick out the funniest line to use in my work. I am pretty sure I will come up with something that I find funny.

Example:

“It’s so cold here in Washington, D.C., the politicians have their hands in their own pockets.” (p.76)

In this Bob Hope joke, the subtext is that ‘politicians are money-grabbers’ and the funny filters used to make this opinion funny include hyperbole, character, irony and meta humour.

Verdict:

If you buy only one book on how to write funny stuff, then make it this one. By understanding subtext and using the different funny filters, you will learn to write funny things and write things funny. Even if you are are not a fan of satire.

Key Question For You To Answer:

  • What is a favourite joke really saying when you strip away the humour?

When you have identified the opinion or value judgement, write more jokes based on this subtext which clearly means something to you.

Scott Dikkers at FunnyBizz Conference 2016: