More on Follow-on Instruction and Classroom Application (Phase 2)
The second phase of the project is follow-on and support that will help participants implement interactive learning strategies. Participants will return from the workshop with new, but not fully formed, ideas about how to employ interactive teaching. As they prepare for the coming semester, they will choose two interactive strategies to use in their courses and to agree to complete an on-line module (mini-course) for each strategy they choose.
Each on-line module will provide participants with a review and additional instruction about an interactive learning strategy. Through the on-line course, participants will refresh their understanding of the strategy and learn more about how to use it. Participants will be able to complete the mini-course at a time of their own choosing and will thus receive "just in time" and on-line instruction about the new teaching strategies from program staff.
The mini-course will require participants to complete exercises. Participants will submit their completed exercises electronically through Blackboard. Program staff will read the exercises and respond to participants with feedback and suggestions. Participants will be able to ask questions and receive suggestions from staff experts and will continue to interact with their teammates from past workshops.
Project experts will create instructional modules for each interactive learning strategy covered in the workshops. As the workshops evolve over the years, new teaching strategies will be added to the workshop curriculum and experts will prepare new modules. In this way, participants from all five years of the project will have access to the latest and best teaching ideas.
As of September 1, 2007, seven modules are available for follow-on instruction:
- assessment
- case studies
- classroom experiments
- cooperative learning
- discussion
- interactive learning in large classes
- context-rich problems
These seven modules and perhaps others will be available for follow-on learning in Phase Two by the participants who complete the residential workshop.
Participants who attend the workshop and complete two follow-on modules will receive from the Committee on Economic Education a Certificate of Achievement that they can use as tangible evidence of their dedication to teaching.