Why would I do this?
Establishing the experts teams as consultants gives me more time to interact with students on higher-order writing concerns in class rather than focusing on surface errors.
Do the students make fewer editing errors?
Does their
writing greatly improve because of their collaboration?
I have no statistical evidence from my own classrooms to show that they make fewer errors and I have no control groups nor bases to compare the learning results to since this is not my intention. I can't prove that they learn more or better because they become the experts as I have no way of measuring what they might not have learned had I done things differently. The overall class GPA would tell very little since class GPAs tend to fluctuate widely for a variety of reasons. I base my assumptions of the effectiveness of such learner-centered pedagogy on the huge volume of extant research on learning and retention, on my own experiences as a teacher, and on what seems to me to be common sense.
Research on the most effective methods of learning* My goal is to move learning from the 5% retention rates of lecture alone, toward the 90% retention rates achievable by immediate use or "teaching others," the most effective means of retaining material learned.
*Research on learning and retention of information from the National Training Laboratories, Bethel Maine |
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Outcomes
Below are links to some of the English 111 students’ experts projects from recent semesters.
Experts Teams Sample Projects:
How would you adapt this strategy to your classroom?
To your on-line classes?
To your BlackBoard site ?
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Rick Dollieslager, Ass't.
Professor of English
Thomas Nelson Community
College
P.O. Box 9407, Hampton, Virginia 23670
Phone: 757/825-3543 Fax: 757/825-3842
Chairman, VCCS Tidewater Regional Center for Teaching Excellence