Category: High Stakes

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Formulate Questions to Advance Learning and Understanding of Course Content

Formulate Questions to Advance Learning and Understanding of Course Content

Diana Zhu

Mathematics/NYCCT

MAT1375 Pre-Calculus

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Weekly discussion boards will be set up for students to ask questions from the class. Students can view and answer them. I will post feedback for the class to see, and I will take one or two good questions to discuss when I see them in the next class.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

I want to create a learning environment where students are welcomed to ask and answer questions comfortably. I want students to know that their questions are being valued, and that plays a big role in their learning. It gives students another view of learning Math is not just working on Math problems, but formulating questions outside class is a key for deeper understanding of the course content.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

A week before the first day of class, I sent students an email to inform them about this discussion board. To get started, I asked them to write a post on the following questions: “What is your view on Math learning?” “How do you learn the best? Independently or in groups?” and “What are your expectations for this class?” I have a few reasons for giving them this: first, I get to know students before the first day. Second, it helps me design my classroom setting according to class topics. Third, I can track how many students have access to Blackboard.
During the first day of class, I would go over the Blackboard with students to get them familiar with it and informed them about the weekly discussion boards would be set up for discussion questions. I usually spent up to 20-30 mins on questions they were still confused after the discussions on Blackboard with their peers.
Outside of class, students are expected 10-30 mins on discussion board as posting a question or replying to their peers' questions. For students who did not have questions, I would also encourage them to share the problems they encountered or learned with their peers. For me, I would spend about 40-60 mins weekly as reviewing students' questions and see if they are anything that need to be clarified. I also gave them feedback when they replied to questions on discussion board. Also, sometimes I would send the class an email if what they shared on Blackboard would be beneficial to students before next class.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Students would need to take good notes and use notes to work on their homework assignments. Sometimes, students will have questions by reading notes or working on homework questions. I was very flexible with questions they had from the class, and I just posted the weekly discussion board after each class. Also, I would send them a gentle reminder along with class update. When students got busy with their high school assignments or exams, I would remind and ask them to post questions after they finished with them. I think this activity can be low stakes if students ask very basic questions. It can be high stakes if students want to generate a question that requires deeper thinking. Sometimes, students may not understand others' questions because they did not have a good understanding of the content that the question is focused on. In general, formulating a question can be harder than answering a question.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

I counted this activity part of students' participation grades. In addition, students' in-class participation weighs more, but I did not tell that to the students. In class, I tried to cold call every student to get them engaged; I would ask students to come to board to show their work. I created a simple rubric that focuses on "initiative", but I did not make full use of it. Some topics may only require students to apply formulas that did not really give students much confusion where I did not expect questions from them. Therefore, it can be hard for me to assign specific points weekly based on students' discussion questions on Blackboard. Instead, I combined students' in-class participation and their participation on discussion board to assign participation grades for each student.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

*Being the first time implementing such activity, I think it went well as students got used to questions in my class.
*I would like to think about alternative ways to help students initiate questions because towards the end, many students would just post their screenshots of questions that they have from assignments. My original intension was helping students to generate questions not simply solving Math problems, but general questions related to the topics.
*Some students had the misunderstanding that if they knew the materials then no need to post questions. I had to have a class conversation to students that even if they understood everything, they were required to answer others' questions or share what they learned from each other's questions and responses. A student talked to me in office that he felt no need to post a question because his confusion can be answered during office hour. I told the student that team/group work is so important not just in school but in future career. I told the student about my expectations for him to share what he asked and learned from office hour to his peers, and he did. I think I would like to have a sheet of specific weekly discussion questions ready for future students and leave a question for students to write one. I think this way, I can check students for understanding and I can use students' common and meaningful questions for in-class discussions. This prevents the problem as no questions being posted on Blackboard occasionally.
*Students enjoyed the activity when they missed a class because they can ask each other questions on discussion boards. When they answered each other's questions, they also tried to be as specific as possible which made me very proud of. They did not rush to just giving out answers but explaining their work.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

I only used the OpenLab to share the reflection because I could not attach it here. I finally found a way to make the file onto OpenLab with tables shown. Overall, it was a great learning experience for me. Without attending the workshop, I could never come up with discussion board idea for my class to help students form the habit of generating questions and share with their peers. Very appreciate this opportunity.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/mat1375cn05/reflection-on-discussion-boards/

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Being Informative and Persuasive when Discussing Legal Topics

Being Informative and Persuasive when Discussing Legal Topics

Terel Watson

Law and Paralegal Studies

Senior Legal Seminar

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

In this activity, students are required to view two videos relating to an area of Criminal Justice Reform that the students are drafting their scholarly paper analyzing. The two videos are excerpts from documentaries or journalistic pieces. The students are then required to spot the legal issues presented in the videos and use the research they have done on the topic and discussions in class to take a position on those issues orally. Students will have 5 minutes to present their position. The presentation is followed by a 5-minute student-led question-and-answer session.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

This is an assignment for a writing-intensive capstone course. One area in my students' writing that needed improvement was their ability to articulate their position using reliable evidence. While all of my students had strong opinions on the legal topics discussed in class, they struggled to defend why they had certain positions. For their scholarly paper, my students are asked to inform on one of three areas of Criminal Justice Reform and to persuade an audience of their position relating to an aspect of the topic. The students are then required to use numerous primary and secondary sources to inform and defend their position.

This assignment assesses their ability to articulate their views orally and cogently. Once this assignment is completed, students will apply the same principles to improve their ability to inform and persuade in written form.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This course requires that much of the semester be devoted to the 15-page significant written assignment. This oral assignment serves as part of the scaffolding process in students preparing their papers. Thus, the oral assignment would be completed during the latter third of the semester, during the drafting of the final paper. In addition, time will be devoted to the presentations over two, two-hour class sessions.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

As students are writing their final paper, they are doing significant research into the issues presented. This assignment is designed so students aren't required to do research outside the scope of their paper. Once students understand that they are very receptive. Students are first alerted to the need to complete an oral presentation early in the course. The syllabus also provides a brief overview of the oral assignment. The syllabus also states that the oral presentation is 15% of the final overall grade. Thus, it can be "high stakes" for students.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

My course is not a part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative. The Oral Communication VALUE Rubric is a great guide for me in assessing the student’s mastery of the learning goals related to this assignment. However, I do not publish a set rubric for this assignment. I will consider doing that in the future. As a general matter, below are some questions I consider determining a student's success with the assignment:
1. Did the student spot the legal issues requiring analysis?
2. Did the student properly use primary and secondary sources to inform on the issue?
3. Did the student use their sources to present the information accurately?
4. Do students properly use primary and secondary sources to persuade their audience on their position.
5. Are the students logical and coherent in their presentation of their position?
6. Can students answer questions about their position extemporaneously? Or is the student tied to excessive notes?

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

While I have always had an oral presentation component to my course. I have not yet implemented this video-driven prompt to my course yet. Last semester I taught Legal Ethics and not this seminar. However, in the past student used PowerPoint to present on their legal topic. However, this led to students excessively lecturing on the topic and made it difficult to incite dynamic and meaningful questions after the presentation in some cases. Thus, the use of provocative videos serves to focus the presentations a bit. These videos will also stimulate deep thought on "hot-button" issues important to students. I look forward to incorporating this into my course the next time I teach the seminar!

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/watsonlaw4900spring2020/course-materials/assignments/

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PowerPoint Presentation: Global Learning – Comparison of Alfred Schenker’s Secret War Diary, 1941-43 to a Current Event in Terms of Human Impact

PowerPoint Presentation: Global Learning – Comparison of Alfred Schenker’s Secret War Diary, 1941-43 to a Current Event in Terms of Human Impact

Prof. Nadine Weinstein-Lavi

English/NYCCT

English 1121

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Students were asked to read my grandfather, Alfred Schenker's Secret War Diary, 1941-43, written while he was hiding in a cellar with nine other Jews in Lvov, then Poland, and to do namep-based and place-based research using the diary. Then, students were asked to compare an idea, quotes, names, and places in the diary to a comparable event, e.g. the current Russian invasion of Lvyv, now Ukraine (same city), or slavery, etc., and to conclude with how their ideas about those events changed as a result of their research, and how that has impacted them personally.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

The Learning Goals for students are to acquire a global perspective in terms of learning about a specific historical event using an actual historical document (my grandfather's Secret War Diary) and to make a comparison to a comparable and/or modern event in terms of social, human, ethical, and cultural impact, so that they, in turn, might expand upon their perceptions of history vis a vis modern events and how they might effect change in actuality – whether via more open and embracing stances or more – in the world.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

The reading of the diary and the subsequent PowerPoint presentation assignment was done in the middle of the semester to mark it as a unique "break" and transition assignment from the previous text (a Netflix series) to the next one, and to have students engage with current events, e.g. the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Preparation involved a guided reading and discussion of the diary in class, homework to finish reading it on their own, answering 5 Discussion questions posted on Blackboard about the diary with 1 paragraph responses to prepare them to think about it more deeply, and suggestions as to possible topics for comparison for the PowerPoint. A slideshow demonstrating how to create a PowerPoint using the diary was shown, and specific guidance was given to each student regarding his/her topic. This was a high stakes activity given the nature of the thinking and analysis that the students were asked to do in class and on their own worth 25 points. They did very well on this particular assignment.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

The rubric was as follows (given in bullet points on the board):
*Aim for 10-12 slides
*Present SLOs and what you will determine
*Use images that you have researched about the diary and additional images you find about the places and names in it
*Use images of the comparable event
*Analyze the similarities and differences
*Answer 4 questions: 1. What were your assumptions about both event prior researching them? 2. How have your assumptions changed post-research? 3. How this has affected you personally and in terms of your worldview? 4. How will you effect change in the world as a result of this new perspective?

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

This activity worked very well in the classroom. Students were immediately engaged in reading an actual historical document being presented by a relative (me) of the author (my grandfather) whose eye witness account of the events in Lvov, then Poland, now Ukraine, during the Holocaust made them more real and uncontestable than other information they had seen about the Holocaust, such as movies, posts, articles. Students also found trying to do place-based and name-based research about the diary interesting and like being a detective. Analyzing how it compared to a comparable event asked them to think about it more deeply from an additional perspective, and summing up the impact it all had upon them personally was a good culmination.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

NYCCTEng1121ProfLaviSpring2022JoshuaIronsPowerPoint.pptx
Alfred'sWarDiary.pdf
C:\Users\nlavi\Downloads\NYCCTEng1121ProfLaviSpring2022ArielCabreraPowerPoint.pdf

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

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How strong you should hit a ball to break a glass?

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Viktor Boiko

Physics

General Physics I (Phys 1433, Phys 1441)

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

The Project is based on the work of Pyotr Kapitsa, who was famous physicist and Nobel laureate. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Kapitsa)
He published book “Problems in Physics”, which include problems for discussion. These problems did not give all conditions and details for a solution, so a student can choose them.
One of such problem is: “What must be the speed of a tennis ball that can break glass?”
I modified a little bit this problem and student should find an answer on a question “How strong you should hit a ball to break a glass?” (What force should be applied)
To find an answer students should use all Physics laws and principles from a semester (Physics I) and to choose all conditions what they need for the solution.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

What should student use during the project:
Physics
Imagination
Abstract and critical thinking
Understand how and which questions to ask
Basics of engineering design
Analytical thinking and mathematical calculations
Technical/report writing
Backward thinking
Calculation in a new soft/web program
Working with data
Working in a group

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This project is one thirds of a semester. Students should do it at home. All steps would be describe during class time and all questions would be discussed in a class.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Students will have step by step instructions for this project.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

CRITICAL THINKING VALUE RUBRIC, PROBLEM SOLVING VALUE RUBRIC, WRITTEN COMMUNICATION VALUE RUBRIC, READING VALUE RUBRIC, CREATIVE THINKING VALUE RUBRIC (Project with wide borders for advance level of the course)

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

Student are interested in the project, they ask a lot of questions. The assignment requires a good level of knowledge and some students have difficulties. In this case more time for a discussion should be during a class.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

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Programming in Python

Programming in Python

Marius Constantin

CET

EMT 1111

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

In the midst of the challenges we went through this Spring semester, I decided to address the priorities of general education using some critical and innovating teaching strategies, such as collaborative assignments and projects on OpenLab, ePortfolios, open educational resources to further engage my students in the new academic context.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Research has shown that online learning is generally less effective than face-to-face interaction and that students who are already struggling are likely to be harmed the most.
My goal is to compensate the drawbacks of remote instruction: self-discipline, time management, anxiety and depression due to isolation.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

The entire semester.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

In terms of high impact educational practices, I will consider collaborative assignments and projects and ePortfolios. While I will continue to request that each homework assignment to be completed and submitted individually, multiple attempts are allowed and the highest grade to be recorded. At the end of the semester, a final project in a form of a computer program will be assigned to 4 groups of students, and each student needs to have his/her collaborative share. This final project will weight 30% of the final grade for each student in the group and needs to be posted on OpenLab.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

Inquiry and Analysis is the rubric I chose to assess the students’ needs. For a proper inquiry I need to identify what doesn’t work for them and then analyze these findings by chunking down information into smaller parts, or from abstract to more specific concepts for a better understanding.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

To compensate for the lack of physical presence I will continue to provide, and even improve, a supportive learning environment where all students feel comfortable participating.
Attendance was the foremost concern, followed by internet connectivity issues.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

I shall continue to use My Programming Lab, a excellent cloud-based tool, for the following reasons:
a. it provides a personalized learning experience that improves results for each student;
b. it contains a set of programming exercises correlated with the textbook that are focused on
a particular topic;
c. the feedback offered to students helps them master the syntax, semantics and basic usage
of Python programming language;
d. autonomous practice, where the feedback provided allows students to easily identify both compiling and logic errors in their code.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

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Structure for Architects – Student Video Lessons

Structure for Architects – Student Video Lessons

Ramsey Dabby

Architectural Technology Dept / City Tech

Structures 1

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Activity Description
The overriding mission of the college experience is to help City Tech students succeed in the classroom and beyond, by imparting an enthusiasm for lifelong learning. This enthusiasm can be dampened for City Tech’s multicultural population by the cultural obstacles many students face. The concept for this proposal is to enhance the student experience for a course titled “Structures” in the Architectural Technology Department, by stimulating an enthusiasm for this particular area of their studies. The idea encompasses a visual and intuitive approach within the classroom, combined with place-based learning outside the classroom. Aside from conveying technical knowledge, the intent is to create student awareness of cultural barriers that will help them navigate the complexities of today’s world.

Barriers
In a multicultural setting such as NYC in general and City Tech in particular, cultural divides abound. They can be obvious like nationality and religion, or more subtle like age and personality. They can also occur within the profession between its white collar “architectural” and blue color “construction” sides. Caught up in day-to-day problems, we (both students and instructors) tend to overlook these divides that create tensions and stresses in relationships.

Background
Structures is a branch of architectural study dealing with the engineering side of how buildings stand up. Architectural students, as conceptual thinkers, tend to be intimidated by the technical aspects of engineering and tend to “turn off” to their engineering courses. Added to this inherent aversion are the cultural barriers many City Tech students face such as language, family responsibilities, and deficient social support systems. For many, this also includes having to learn a new system of engineering units used in the US – the imperial system in place of their more familiar metric system. In short, the challenge is to address and overcome these cultural obstacles and create an enthusiasm for a course that holds the potential for dread in many architectural students.
 

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Goals
The goal is to engage students and create enthusiasm for a course in Structures that will serve to further their undergraduate technical knowledge and professional lives upon graduation. This will be done through strategies for both classroom and place-based learning.

Classroom Learning
Conventional structural textbooks tend to be wordy and lacking an intuitive approach to the subject matter. These textbooks present a challenge to City Tech’s multicultural architectural students. Course material will be communicated across cultural and linguistic barriers by conveying structural principles in a visual, intuitive manner through discussion, dialog, and physical “props”, rather than formal “lectures”.

A key component of classroom sessions will be a series of short, five-minute student videos highlighting the essentials of structural principles. Students will be teamed to prepare these videos in discussion format, among themselves and their instructor, supported by physical props. The precedence for these videos is an experimental one I had prepared, without rehearsal and just for fun, to which students enthusiastically responded, overwhelmingly endorsing the concept and asking for more like it.

Place-Based Learning
The classroom experience will be complemented by visits to architectural offices and construction sites, where students will not only will see the professions in action, but also observe the general cultural distinctions and personalities of the two sides of the profession. A goal of these visits to create an awareness that technical knowledge does not work in a vacuum, and that an understanding the interrelationships of personalities, influenced by culture, is an essential part of a successful professional experience.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

The strategy is intended to be used throughout the semester. Classroom time will be approximately 10 minutes per session. Two place-based learning field trips will be conducted for a total of approximately 8 hours per semester.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

See above.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

Assessment will be conducted by student essays reflecting on questions such as “why do I like this?” and “what is it that helps me learn?”

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

Lead discussion on ways to learn without cultural coding; record outcomes of discussions.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

The experimental video can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4d3eDq_7pw

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

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