This episode focuses on ways to assess throughout a college course and as well as promoting active learning in lectures! See the show notes for the transcript and links to Barbi’s work!

Transcript:

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Caleb Curfman: All right. Well, I am so excited to be talking with Barbie Honeycut today on the podcast where we’re Gonna, look at a whole bunch of different things. around assessment looking at active learning and tons of fun stuff. But Barbie, as we get started here the first thing I’m gonna have you do is introduce yourself. Kind of talk about what you do

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Barbi Honeycutt: in in higher Ed. And then I’m gonna ask you one of my icebreakers, and that would be what is the story of you in 3 to 5 objects? And so you go ahead and take it away start out with your introduction, and then the objects

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in higher education. And so I I used to direct to teaching and learning center on a on a big research campus and I left that work in 2,015 to speak full time, travel around the country, run my own educational consulting business launch, podcast the lecture breakers. Podcast just to put a plug in there. and really, my work is focused on supporting faculty, graduate students, postdocs

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any higher education instructor. who wants to create a more engaging space for their students to to learn and grow and share ideas and collaborate. And and you know, really change up. You know that traditional lecture sage on the stage model that we’re also familiar with, and I always say, yes, there’s a place for lectures. I’m not trying to eliminate all lectures. We we do have the lecture. It’s just that we tend to default to that so much that I’m trying to get out there and encourage people to break up those lectures where they can.

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And so that’s the work I’ve been doing So for 22 years I’ve been working with faculty and just really trying to, you know, have these conversations across the the world when it comes to teaching and and learning. And so

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Barbi Honeycutt: you want me to go ahead and describe myself and and 3 to 5 objects. Okay? Well, the first one that came to mind. is a 4 leaf clover. because I have the talent of finding them anywhere. I go and I can always share a picture. I’ve been pushed pictures out on social media about how I can find, you know, 5, 6, 7, 8, fourly clovers right there, just standing in my yard. So my my son has a he. He’s inherited this, too.

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Barbi Honeycutt: for me, so we can find them, too. So so I should play the lottery, maybe right? and then, I think headphones, because I listen to podcasts and music all the time, like.

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Barbi Honeycutt: just whether I’m cooking or or doing the laundry or taking a walk, or whatever it is. I’m I’m just constantly I have my headphones in so any kind of earbuds or headphones, and then maybe a GPS, because I absolutely love to travel. I love to drive, so just I will go wherever I see a GPS to help me get there. Personally, maybe a wedding, my wedding band set, or anything related to my family. So

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Barbi Honeycutt: You know, family pictures, wedding album, that kind of thing, because my family is very important to me, so I think that kind of covers the personal as well as the professional.

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Caleb Curfman: Learn a lot right there. the floor leaf, 4 leaf clover, you would actually, you had told me that in the different Zoom Meeting we had done so, I’d heard that part, but I had not heard the part that your son can also do it. So that’s pretty cool. You can. He has that talent. That’s a genetic connection there with with the 4 leaf. Yeah, and I’ve been able to do it all my life. That’s what’s been amazing. I find out a bus stop. I’ll find him, you on the playground as a kid. Yeah, it’s just one of those one of those things

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Barbi Honeycutt: fantastic. And you know, before we go too far, I do want to also say, Yes, your your show, the lecture breakers. Podcast it was the first time that really launched me to a larger audience that has really helped me grow as an educator and as a professional development consultant. And so thank you for taking the chance on and and having me on. That was fantastic. I was on

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Caleb Curfman: episode 71 was the first time, and one was a little bit later. I know it was 71, because I have a little plaque that has the picture when I was on. Yeah. And and so it is a wonderful place to go. and a lot of the guests I’ve had. You’ve had as well, and it’s been fun to to grow in this space of of teaching and learning to a a different medium as well. the option.

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Audio. I I like how you shared headphones. Because, yeah, I mean, you can do it anywhere. That’s one of the joys of the podcast right? so

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Caleb Curfman: what I want to talk about today. And what you kind of brought up is, you know, assessment, some of the current challenges we have with assessment

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Caleb Curfman: and your solutions. seem to go around active learning. I followed your work for quite some time. That is kind of your wheelhouse, and so would you be able to start out by just kind of saying, You know, what does active learning look like for you in a class, and and that can be regardless of in person or online.

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Barbi Honeycutt: That’s a great question. And so for me, in the in the context of this, podcast but I’ve even talked about it outside of an assessment specific conversation. I have actually always referred to active learning as assessment in action.

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because when you do active learning, meaning your students are the ones who are doing the thing in the classroom. They’re not just listening to you talk, and they’re taking notes passively, if at all.

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But they’re really switching that mode and doing something. They’re involved in the process of whatever that is, solving a problem, constructing something filling in the blanks like they’re doing the activity. And when you see them do that, that is assessment. In real time, assessment and action. It’s taking place. You can see if your students can fill in the blanks. You can see if they can outline

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the main points of a story. You can hear their conversations to see if they’re on the right track, or if they’re having questions. And so that’s why I’ve I’ve often referred to

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Barbi Honeycutt: active learning in that way. if you kind of step out of the assessment framework, it’s really just that switch from you being the one delivering all of that information and content as I mentioned that stage on the stage model to your students or the one that’s that are.

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Barbi Honeycutt: you know, they’re wrestling with the big questions and the big issues and you become their guide on the side. And a lot of us who do this faculty development work refer to that often, you know, you move from the stage to the stage to the guide on the side. But really thinking about what that means, you are literally giving your students the structure.

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Barbi Honeycutt: You give them the resources to succeed. They’re not just out there, flowing around, teaching themselves. You’re there. You’re coaching them. You’re guiding them, whatever that title is you want to wear. But your students are the ones that are that are kind of wrestling with, you know that content.

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Caleb Curfman: Yeah, I I really like how you you put that. And I did not know. That’s kind of how that assessment and action, how you kind of use that because

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Caleb Curfman: when when I started doing more active learning in in my courses.

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Caleb Curfman: It really surprised me because a few things changed The first thing that changed was I wasn’t so worried about quote filling up time end, quote, right? This, this idea of okay, I am the, you know, quote unquote experts. I need to provide this information in some way, and it almost there. There was a time, and and some of that was just from how I had gone to school. but you know, for my instructors that I had had. They talked for the whole 50 min, some of them did.

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Caleb Curfman: and then that was class, and so I kind of felt right away. That’s what I needed to do. And so when I tried to get into more active learning right away, I almost felt a little selfish or bad, for like putting that on. And I’m going to use that, we’re putting it on the students in that way. But that was until I realized how you facilitate that. And that’s really what makes a difference.

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Barbi Honeycutt: So does that kind of make sense to you as far as somebody on their journey

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Barbi Honeycutt: thing that and and time like. I just don’t have the time to do this. I have time to plan it. Do I try to do it in class, you know. I mean, there’s a lot of different variations of time. And and it’s it’s it’s truly valid, is an absolute, valid concern. And you know, I’ve always thought of active learning as a on a continuum.

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Barbi Honeycutt: so there are what I call low intensity activities, things like like, I think pair share, which you know we’ve talked about on your show with formative assessment, where you ask students to question. You have them talk about it together, and partner with a partner, and then you share it out as a class. That is what I call low intensity, because it does not take long to plan. We could literally think about your question walking across campus on your way to class that morning.

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Barbi Honeycutt: and it doesn’t take long to do. Give your students 3 min, you a minute to think about it, 2 min to talk about it, and then we share.

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Barbi Honeycutt: you know, as a as a whole class, and then you move on with your lecture, and you could drop that in at any point that could be to the thing that kicks off your class, and the first few minutes it could be the thing in the middle of class that breaks up your lecture. It could be the thing at the end of class. That’s like, okay, let’s summarize what we did in this lesson today. And so so I think about the the lower intensity. And then on that continuum. There are a lot of things I can drop in along the way. Then you move to more of the higher intensity and the

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Barbi Honeycutt: higher intensity. Assessments are your. The big ones that may take an entire class to do may take an entire semester to do. They could be, very intensive case studies or projects or group groups, service learning activities like there’s so many things.

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Barbi Honeycutt: But if we we have to in terms of you and I, our work is support faculty on that whole journey, and one is not better or worse than the other. They have in completely different learning outcomes. but we have to realize that when we talk about assessment and we talk about active learning those things land on a continuum. And I think that that’s something that we don’t always clarify when we’re when we’re having this conversation

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Caleb Curfman: I’ve heard people refer to. Well, even my class, someone had said, walking by my classroom, they said.

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Caleb Curfman: Well, you have. You have one of those active learning classrooms, and they made it sound like that was the only thing we did. And it’s it’s that misconception that you know it is finding those times, those moments where it’s more effective for you to be the the guide that is helping, that is clarifying, and where that time really fits in. And so I really like how you bring that up.

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Caleb Curfman: And and the fact that there is this.

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Caleb Curfman: this continuum and and how you you map that, how you put that in your class, that is, gonna make a major difference. one thing I would like to to add to that. you talked about the Think pair share using that in the class

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Caleb Curfman: an environment that I spend about 50% of my time teaching in is the online environment. And I know that you have done some some work with with online and finding ways to do this.

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Caleb Curfman: Can you think of a way that we could almost mimic a a think pair share in an online classroom or some activities that you have used or suggested.

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Barbi Honeycutt: Oh, it’s it’s it’s awesome question. So it does. I think that think pair share in a online space takes more time. Because if you’re going to divide the students up into, you know, chat rooms, or you’re gonna kind of break that up, depending on what tech platform you’re using sometimes that’s like the click of a button. But you have to like, explain it. Then you have to facilitate it. Then you have to come back. So think per share looks a little different in the online space. You just have to give it a little more time still has the structure.

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It can still be very effective it. Just a few more buttons to click, so to speak. But you know, I I mean, when you’re in the online space, and you want a quick, low intensity type of assessment or active learning. As you know, strategy. You know, your polling software is always something that’s easy. Click clickers. you know. Now we have everything from coot to you can even do you know, I’ve done these Aha walls where students go in with

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Barbi Honeycutt: something like Pablet, and they post their comments there. Just those are very quick. And they still leverage the power of the tech platform and honor the space that you have with your students in a virtual environment. and they’re still very effective. And and the other thing that’s so cool is you can hang on to it right? So that you can record it, or you can screenshot it. And you can’t do that in the in person classroom, unless your students are like writing something down or recording it physically. So it’s kind of cool to

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Barbi Honeycutt: to add this layer of technology to our active learning strategies. We just have to think it through like just like you would anything you’re like. What’s what’s my learning? Outcome here? How am I going to set this up? What’s the process. What’s what are the students going to do? How do I need to explain it? Do I need to give written instructions as well as verbal instructions? You know, you really have to think through that even for the simplest activities, until your students are are comfortable with that. So I don’t know. Those are 2 that come to mind

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Caleb Curfman: and that actually, that brings up. I I like that, you know. This is one of the joys of of recording and talking together just brought an idea I hadn’t shared. One thing that I really enjoy doing in my classes is I use

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Caleb Curfman: mentor to create

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Caleb Curfman: a word cloud

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Caleb Curfman: you know. So the larger the word, the more times it’s used, whatever and in our next live session I teach a lot of high flex in the next live section. All of the online students have put their ideas into, and that becomes the Think pair share for that next session. And so they see. Wow! Everyone felt this way, or had this idea or thought about that. And so you can use these throughout the class and and making that

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Caleb Curfman: that kind of snapshot of the learning. That is definitely something that is a benefit to the online classroom that we don’t necessarily get in person. You know, I’ve had people write things on the board, but it’s not like I can save that as a Pdf. And put it online, you know. So it’s it’s really nice. And in a interesting way to look at the the advantages of doing these things in the online environment.

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Barbi Honeycutt: the 2 examples I gave were kind of in real time teaching, you know, in real time live with your students, but what you’ve used can be used in the asynchronous or high flex format, as well as you know, in real time.

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Barbi Honeycutt: and I’m sure we have listeners from all of their all of the different formats of courses, and I’ve really become more fascinated with

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Barbi Honeycutt: the asynchronous space. What are what are people doing? What are our students doing when they’re not together at the same time. And how can that be engaging? And I’ve taken some online courses to try to experience this as a learner in a space to see what works, what doesn’t work. And I think that you know, if we can keep figuring that out. And and our technology keeps up with us to make those asynchronous spaces engaging.

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you know, we can. Really, we can really reach more students and and do something because it’s just to me. I think that’s kind of where it is. Our students are so busy. They’re professionals, you know. We are busy. We’re professionals. We’re running more than you know, teaching more than one class and either something to be said for coming up with ways to create online experiences that are engaging. But we don’t necessarily have to be there in real time.

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Caleb Curfman: Yeah. And that really transitions well into another part of focus for for this episode. And that is really looking at some of the challenges we see right now. in current assessment trends. whether it’s, you know, students are online students are here, there. And then what are some possible solutions or ways that

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Caleb Curfman: we can change just small things to make a huge difference. So kind of taking a a page out of James’s book there. But you know these small things. What are some of the small things we can do? But the first part of that is just.

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Caleb Curfman: You know what are some of the challenges, you see, and I kind of know, because I I’m you know, taking some different opportunities with you, which I want you to mention at the end of the show as well. This academy we’re working on. But you’ve you’ve talked about some of the challenges and how

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Barbi Honeycutt: active learning can be a way to fix it. But would you be willing to share a little bit of your your thought process along those lines. Yeah, you know, when you mentioned this in our emails, you mentioned this question, my mind immediately went to to 2 places. One are those bigger macro level challenges which we, we have to pay attention to the landscape of higher education, like what’s happening there, and

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Barbi Honeycutt: we may not feel that we can change those. But I think we need to mention those. And there are are sort of what’s in our classroom right now, like, what can we do like today to address some of these challengers, or or or address the challenges that I’m facing when I log into my course on Tuesday, you know. So you know, the bigger challenges no surprise. You know, we definitely have the the larger classes. That’s the biggest one that I hear is professors that are teaching classes that are just so large and

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Barbi Honeycutt: and by large I mean whatever large means to you. So if you’re used to teaching 20 and suddenly, next semester, you have 40. Well, now, you have a larger class. then, of course, there’s the large class where there’s a thousand students. I’ve interviewed some people from my podcast for that. And

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Barbi Honeycutt: you know the advice there is, how do you make a larger class smaller, with smaller groups and things like that and tech can really help with that. But and I do think we have to mention that. And speaking of technology, of course, technology is the

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Barbi Honeycutt: the a huge huge challenge right now, there’s a lot of opportunity within that which I think we just discussed. some of the benefits, of course, of teaching online. And you know, I came to teaching online, kicking the screaming like I was like, no, we got it. We got to teach in personally that we got to do. But I have really changed my whole attitude over the last 4 years about teaching online and what it can be. And I think part of that’s because the tech is keeping up, you know, and and it’s it’s we can do so much more now than we could even do a year ago.

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Barbi Honeycutt: So I think that’s another place where assessment is a challenge. And certainly, you know, I know you’ve had Guest when you show talking about Chat Gpt and artificial intelligence. And what that means. That’s a whole. Another can of worms which there’s some good opportunity there. if we can figure out how to navigate that. And I’ve had a couple of people on my show talking about as well, because it’s so new for all of us, you know. What does that mean? And then I think the other, the other big, just kind of how big challenges here

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Barbi Honeycutt: is just I see, a lot more faculty who are challenging the system like the system and the processes like, why are we

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Barbi Honeycutt: doing research papers when 90% of our students are not going to become faculty members. And, you know, like really starting to question the types of assessment that we do. And so you know, the biggest conversation that I’ve been a part of is an ungrading

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Barbi Honeycutt: stepping away from these formal systems of grading. And there’s a lot of scholars right now who are writing about what that could look like even things like dropping the gr in the sats. So I think that, you know, it’s a really exciting time for assessment and higher education.

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Barbi Honeycutt: I think we’re really questioning. Why are we doing what we’re doing the way we’re doing it? You know, it’s like, why are we doing, you know, a mid term and a final, and that’s it, like what else should be happening in our classrooms?

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Barbi Honeycutt: So those are like the big picture, and I know it’s hard to think about your small contribution to that every day when you teach. So I did start to think more at the smaller level which I think, for me ended up being, I think, the biggest one you’ve mentioned, which is a lot of us. Just when we’re teaching.

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Barbi Honeycutt: We’re like, okay. I know, I need to assess student learning. And what does that mean? And and I think one of those is just, you know.

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Barbi Honeycutt: first of all, like, how do you do it? And

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Barbi Honeycutt: when do you do it? And what do you do like? That’s the biggest thing it’s like, Okay, well, I I I know I should be doing it. But when should it happen Can I do it too often? do my students get burnt out on it, you know, if you’re doing, think per share every single week like loses its magic, you know. And so I think that’s a challenge to So when I’m when I’m looking at like solutions to things.

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Barbi Honeycutt: I was kind of coming back to this like, what can you do in your classroom that still addresses these bigger, bigger issues. And so you know, I love your episode when you talk about formative assessment, and I think that that one is is one that is easy to implement. That doesn’t take a lot of time. You just need ideas, you know. So we’ve talked about a few of them already on the show and just mixing those up and just remembering that your assessment can take place

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Barbi Honeycutt: at the very beginning of the class, right in the middle of class or at the end of class, and doesn’t have to take place always at the end. It doesn’t always have to be in the middle of the semester, you know, you can mix it up

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And so I think that’s that’s kind of Maybe my biggest. I guess recommendation is just to try to mix up when you do it, and to bring in some different things that that challenge students in new ways. So maybe instead of they’re always writing the answer to this quiz question, or what if they instead of if you’re doing something more intensive, like students are doing a big.

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Barbi Honeycutt: why does it have to be a big research paper. Why can’t we do a. Why can your students create a podcast? Together and run 2 episodes together or create a video series, you know, on Youtube, or something that just gets out of this box of assessment has to be

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Barbi Honeycutt: in the blank answer this research question.

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Caleb Curfman: I I completely agree. Obviously, that’s one of the main things that I I preach all the time is is finding ways to have more authentic or creative assessment. But the question that comes up for me and I’m sh! I know it comes up to you when it comes to active learning. The question comes.

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Caleb Curfman: how do we prepare students

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Caleb Curfman: to actively engage with it? Because a lot of students, myself included. The first time I was in an active learning class.

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Caleb Curfman: I got really nervous because it wasn’t like what I’ve done before, and I felt like it was wrong.

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Barbi Honeycutt: So even as faculty, it’s scary, right? So I mean, we’re trying something new. So for us to put ourselves out there and think, oh, I don’t. I don’t even know if this is going to land our students going to see me differently. What if I don’t know the answer to a question that they ask, or what if I don’t understand the tech they’re using to create this thing like there’s a lot of uncertainty. And there is what I call risk in in that doing this as a as an instructor.

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Barbi Honeycutt: Well, the exact same thing applies to students, because, you know, they know, especially by the time they’ve, you know, made it to college, they’re returning to school, or who whoever your learners are, they know how to

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Barbi Honeycutt: quote unquote play school. Right? We, we go in, we listen to the lecture. We do the test that we’ve crammed for for the last 24 h we get our grade and we move on, and we are now

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Barbi Honeycutt: asking them to to change all of that right. We’re asking them to be the ones to drive the questions we’re asking them to one be the ones to step up and take that risk, and perhaps have the wrong answer. And you know it. It is it? It is something you have to prepare students for. And that’s why, I really like the idea of bringing in lower intensity or lower stakes, assessments and activities to help students sort of Prom, the pump, right? You’re kind of getting them prepared

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for. Oh, okay, this is what this professor expects, and at the exact same time you are building the skills for yourself to be able to let go, if you will, of some of that control it’s like, No, I have to have these 50 slides, and I have to say, have to have my text right here. I have to have my examples right here, my stories ready to let go of some of that and see what can happen in a classroom can be magical. But you both have to be prepared for that. And so, like, I say, doing, those lower intensity activities

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Barbi Honeycutt: can really help and anything where you can establish a level of trust and comfort among your students, so that they they are okay. Taking that risk, raising their hand, speaking in front of, you know.

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Barbi Honeycutt: 50 other peers in their class. we’ve talked a little bit on my show about psychological assess not assessment, psychological safety. being a part of of this where it’s like, okay, I feel like I can take a risk and try something new. I can try a game in the class today, and let’s see how that’s received from students. But you know, if you are in the middle of a semester and you have been lecturing

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Barbi Honeycutt: the whole time, and your students have been taking notes, and the most that you’ve done is maybe ask them a quiz question or a clicker question. And then you decide because you listen to this cool podcast or you went to a cool workshop. You’re like, Oh, I’m going to try this thing, and you just throw that out there on your students. It they are going to absolutely revolt like this is not going to be a good thing, so you have to prepare them. Get them ready to understand the expectations for what they’re going to do. And I used to do a lot of work with flip classroom.

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Barbi Honeycutt: when it was the big thing. And this was kind of the number one question. It’s like, Wow, we’re totally flipping the idea of teaching and learning on its head, and our students aren’t with us on that journey. So how do we bring them along? And and I remember talking with one of my mentors, and I’ve I’ve shared this story on my show, too, and I actually had Richfeld and Rebecca Brent on the show, and they are engineering professors who’ve been doing faculty development work for 35 years, and

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Barbi Honeycutt: they are the ones who introduced me to active learning and totally changed everything. I thought about teaching and learning what that meant, and I remember early on they talked about aligning active learning with the stages of grief now again, not not not going to like.

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Barbi Honeycutt: and I not. I’m not minimizing grief when it’s happened because of trauma. But we can unpack that a little bit, and we can see that. Okay? Well, at first, when you’re introduced to something that’s unfamiliar, you’re not sure it’s like shock, right? It’s like, I can’t believe that he’s asking me to, you know. Do, this activity is not going to talk to us in class today. I gotta do more than take notes like it’s just shot.

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Barbi Honeycutt: Then you move. Your students might move to a place of denial like, no, no, I can’t know. This is not no, I’m not gonna this. I’m not going to do this. I’m not gonna participate in this. I’m gonna

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Barbi Honeycutt: I’m gonna do the project, you know, by myself. They almost become isolated right sort of isolate themselves. There’s also a stage of anger that some students could hit where it’s like, oh, no, I pay you to teach me. This is not what I signed up for, you know, and we try to support our students, recognizing these are valid emotions that they could experience and move them to a place of acceptance and value, and actually seeing the value of an active learning experience. And so, you know, doing things like

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Barbi Honeycutt: explaining to them what it is we

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Barbi Honeycutt: showing them some of the research to show that I mean, the research continues to show over and over again in every discipline that when students are actively engaged, their, you know, test scores increase. If that matters to the most their knowledge, retention increases, engagement increases.

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Barbi Honeycutt: And so some students may need to hear that story, and then just your own personal journey. If you feel safe, saying, You know, wow! This is how I learn and teach, and I want to bring you along on this. I want to hear what you had to say. Our world’s changing every day the jobs you’re training for now may not exist, you know, by the time you graduate. So I think, having those conversations can really help sort of reframe that mindset that students are coming into, but also recognizing your on journey through this as well.

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Teacher and a professor

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Caleb Curfman: is that you know you have to be prepared for a little bit of on on comfort, if discomfort if you will. in this process. Yeah. And you know, I would add that that all is, you know, Spot, on what I would add is vulnerability. You need to add

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Caleb Curfman: vulnerability as an instructor. we. When I start a class. It’s all about on boarding the students. And and it’s not just here’s the information we’re going to go over. It is here is how our environment is going to be. We’re going to be a community you’re going to learn in these ways. And if things don’t go right, I will stop it.

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Caleb Curfman: and we will get it on the right track, and I’ve had to do that before. I’ve had it where I start on a project with with a group of students. And it just wasn’t working.

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Caleb Curfman: And of course I was embarrassed. But I just stopped everyone. I said, Okay.

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Caleb Curfman: we’re gonna make a few changes, you know. Don’t worry. We’re gonna figure it out. we’re all learning this together. And that ended up being one of the best classes, because it was this level of trust. And and you go back to this idea of

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Caleb Curfman: sharing with students and sharing how helpful this information is, and how helpful active learning is

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Caleb Curfman: my coursey bells. I create my own as well as have the school one, and in my own one I always ask, what is something that you will take away, or what was something that helped you the most in this class.

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Caleb Curfman: And it wasn’t how to take the larger assignments. It wasn’t it

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Caleb Curfman: me telling them something in history? The number one answer I got. This was written response. It wasn’t multiple choice written response number one answer was, hearing what my fellow students

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Caleb Curfman: had to say or thought about things, you know, and that, and to me that that just sailed in, I’m like, yeah, the good it it worked out. It did work, but I think, adding that that vulnerability of of realizing that you are

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Barbi Honeycutt: stepping out of a comfort zone, and so are the students. I think that’s a very valuable message. So thank you for sharing that for sure. Thank you, and and shout out to you for doing that with your still like modeling the way with your students showing them that, hey? I can tell this isn’t working. And let’s come back to this, and let’s make some adjustments like, I mean that that’s amazing. And that’s something that they’ll always remember and take with them into. You know, whatever career they happen to go into, and they’ll remember that moment. And

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Barbi Honeycutt: that spoke volumes, you know. So shout out to you for for doing that. That’s that. That is a vulnerable place to be. And it’s it’s hard. It’s hard to do that because

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Barbi Honeycutt: we take on this persona this role in a classroom of being that expert when you’re the teacher, but you know we have to step back from that and let that go a little bit. Yes, you’re still in charge of your class. Yes, you’re still the one who has the content knowledge. But you don’t know everything, and you know sometimes your students can come up with something you never even thought of so. Yes, and that is it being a a wonderful project in the end. So

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Caleb Curfman: What I wanted to do now is at this part I try to ask the guests. What is one piece of advice

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Caleb Curfman: that you would have for an instructor? somebody that might be new to this idea of assessment and action. something that they could implement, you know, tomorrow, if they’re teaching a class, or as they’re preparing for the fall because we’ve talked about things. And you know, listeners

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Caleb Curfman: and I have been working with active learning for a bit. And so it sounds like it is so simple, but it there is a lot to it. And it’s just like you, said Barbie. You don’t want to do this mid semester. This is kind of a a change in teaching philosophy, really, of of how we want to go about things. But maybe for the instructor who is thinking they might want to try something like this.

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Caleb Curfman: What are some things they could do to get started right away?

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Barbi Honeycutt: Hmm! Great question. So first of all, my guiding question to everyone thinking about. You know this, this switch in the way that you teach, and for some listeners this might not be a switch. It might be the way you do things. You just need more ideas. But for some it might be like who. I don’t know if I can handle this yet. I’m not ready. I just want you to ask yourself when you sit down to plan a lesson. I want you to change your question, because when we sit down, the To To

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Barbi Honeycutt: to, you know, plan a lesson. We always ask ourselves, what am I going to talk about today, or what I’m going to cover today, or what I’m going to put in my slides today. Those questions are all about you. And so I challenge you. When you sit down, just write it at the top of a piece of paper. What are my students going to do today?

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Barbi Honeycutt: And that little shift will change your mindset. And it’s not about you. It’s about them. And now you can start to say, Okay, well, at this point in this lesson, this is what students need to do. This is what I want them to do to write this down. I want to diagram this. I want to fill in this worksheet. I want them to talk to each other, whatever it is. And that way you’re you’re you’re taking that baby step. But that small step can make a huge difference in

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Barbi Honeycutt: you. You’ll notice in the energy of your class, especially if you’re teaching in real time, like, if you’re standing in front of a group of students, and you’ve been lecturing for 20 min, and you introduce something like this. Perhaps it’s a fill in the blank slide. Perhaps it’s a picture. you know, of of something like a small engine or a map or something. And you say, Hey, diagram, this or what? You’re just, you’re literally changing the pace and the mode of information.

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you’ll feel that you’ll fill it instantly. The energy in the room will shift and change, and students will be like, oh, what? What’s just happened right now, you know, and that’s very small but very powerful. And that’s those are great ways to kind of plant that journey to help students get to something more.

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Barbi Honeycutt: int more intense, like the level of intensity being higher and other things you can do. you know. Again, you can open your lecture with a question.

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Barbi Honeycutt: okay, so you’re not coming in and saying, Here’s our learning outcomes for today. This is what I’m going to talk about today. What I’m going to cover today. It’s Nope. Here’s a question for you right now from the first 5 min of class. This is what we’re going to do. And again, you’re just changing that flow. And it that focus is not about you. It’s about your students. What are your students going to do today? Whatever that looks like for you, and

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Caleb Curfman: you know that that’s probably my my biggest takeaway piece.

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Caleb Curfman: What is not being said here is to throw away your lecture. What is being said here is to

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Caleb Curfman: empower students to be engaged in the material in a active, not a passive way. And so.

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Caleb Curfman: you know, I know one way that that many do this. And and I’ve incorporated this as well is some interactive lecture notes.

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Barbi Honeycutt: have you had any experience or any recommendations or working with any type of lecture notes, and how that might be a way to engage students.

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Barbi Honeycutt: It’s the active learning where you just throw students to the wolves. And you’re like, here’s what you’re gonna do today have have added, that does not work that creates that animosity that creates that anxiety and fear and all the things we don’t want in our classrooms.

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Barbi Honeycutt: So you have to think through the structure. And so a guided note is literally like, if you were to take. If you had your Powerpoint floods, you would literally take like the headings on each one, and you would give that to your students, perhaps with the the maybe have a lot of definitions or something or live terminology. Those things would already be written there. So the students fill in the definition or the example that you use. And they’re going along. And they’re literally you’re kind of you’re giving them the first

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work for their notes. and that’s helpful for all students. All students can benefit from that, and they’re not worried so much about capturing every like. Did I spell the term correctly, did I? You know, they’re not worried about that. They’re focused on the learning of it. so that can be very helpful. It’s easy to create And and it’s not something that takes a a whole lot of time. I mean, you do have to kind of think through what’s most important to pull from your notes. But

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Barbi Honeycutt: you know, that’s that’s an easy one that can that can go along with your lecture and and like say, well, you said it right. You’re not throwing out the lecture. I’m not. I’m not doing, I’m saying, break up these lectures and and try to think about what can students do instead of listening for 50 min. Let’s pause even just one time. I think I read a study where, even if you pause one time for, like 3 min in the middle of a lecture. That student. retention of that information goes up as much as 80%.

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And so just that brief pause, just just 3 min, even if you do something as simple as a a Paul’s technique. Where you say, Okay, I’m gonna pause right here. I want you to review your notes for to take 3 min.

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Barbi Honeycutt: Look over what we’ve done for the first 20 min of class. Pull out one question. You have like something that’s simple that is to me assessment and action. That’s not. It’s not that difficult to do. We’re asking the question where you confused. Let’s pull that out. Let’s talk about it, and we’re going to write back to it. And that’s also not a place where you would be scared. I I hope you would be open to questions from your students, and you know

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Barbi Honeycutt: that that doesn’t take as much vulnerability as say, creating a whole game or doing. You know, something like that. This is a little bit different level. So

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Caleb Curfman: the idea of guided notes you’re you’re providing that that framework, that structure.

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Caleb Curfman: But one thing I noticed when I started implementing these I never had the students that asked me to stop because they weren’t done writing everything on the slide, because that that is often a a concern for students, and and I’m not saying that critically of them, I’m saying they were uncomfortable because they felt like they needed every little piece of information. And the other thing is.

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Caleb Curfman: the lectures became much more engaging because students weren’t worried about writing every little thing that was either on the slide, or that, I said, but they started answering when I asked questions. So if you’re if you’re teaching right now, and you’re sitting here going? Oh, my gosh! That’s my class where I I ask a question. Everyone’s head is down writing notes. No one’s answering. This might be a way to help you in that journey.

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Barbi Honeycutt: Yeah. And you know you mentioned, too. I I want to give a shout out to a reflection in in the moment, because I don’t think we give our students enough time to think during class like to reflect on what’s being said, or to reflect on how they might apply it, or to reflect on what’s wrong with it. Or perhaps it’s happened in their life just just giving students these spaces in the class where they can think about something.

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Barbi Honeycutt: because, like you said so often, they’re just writing, writing, writing, or they’re typing, or they’re trying to get it all down, or they’re trying to figure out, you know, what is this topic even about? I’m lost, I don’t even know. And so, just by giving them the space to just just think or to review their notes or to ask a peer, hey? I kinda I kind of drifted out when he was talking about that topic. Can you summarize that for me in a sentence just to allow them to do that, and they fill it in. And they move on, you know. So even even that can be a very powerful way to just just kind of pause and

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Caleb Curfman: kind of gather students, energy and thoughts as before. You move on, for sure. Well, you know, we could go on for a couple of hours. So this has been fantastic. but one thing I would like to do is, I would like to ask you, before we leave about the Academy that you have going on some of the projects you’re working on, because for being you know now that you have have kind of left the the teaching and learning center and that information

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Barbi Honeycutt: you have really done some cool things I had mentioned earlier. I’m part of it right now. But would you be willing to share a little bit of what you’re doing, and also how people can get in contact with you or follow your work. Yes, awesome. Thank you so much for giving me the chance to to share. So I do host, the lecture breakers. Podcast it runs on season. So we have season 6 coming up this fall.

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and so you can find that at lecture breakers.com, and it’s available on all podcasting platforms. And I’m very proud of the fact that every single one of the episodes that I have has an interactive transcript that you can download and or follow along. So that was something that was very important to me. when it comes to just supporting all, all faculty out there. You’re listening to the show. So let your breakers.com.

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Barbi Honeycutt: then my podcast I’ve had for the last 5 years, and out of that has spun a couple of really cool projects. One is my lecture breakers Virtual summer conference. I think I’m gonna run that about every other year. it’s hard to run it every year. Just depends on kind of what’s happening out there. But I love to do a virtual conference and bring together lots of experts to talk about teaching and learning, and so that might be on some people’s radar if they’re looking for a quick.

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Barbi Honeycutt: you know. Two-day conference with with the other educators. And then what you mentioned our lecture Breakers Academy. It’s it’s

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Barbi Honeycutt: this is something really cool and new that I wanted to try. You know we’re all busy, and I have been following the work of mobile learning quite a bit. And what that means. how we learn and engage and do things on our phones which so many of us spend so much time on, either for good reasons or not. but I would like to think about how we can leverage the power of learning on a mobile device but for faculty development. And so the program that I developed is.

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Barbi Honeycutt: is part of the lecture Breakers Academy. It’s called your teaching coach. And literally, it’s like having a teaching learning coach in your pocket. Right? So you have these little micro lessons that you scroll through and they teach you about different things. So active learning is one of the topics. And so you can scroll through, get some ideas. I’ve tried to make them interactive. So some of them are little quizzes. Some of them are word searches different things like that. But it’s designed to be quick and interactive and help with a faculty. Keep learning kind of on the go. And so.

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you know, you’re in that. Now you’re in the first cohort and so we are navigating through this together. right now. It includes coaching sessions. It includes a forum. It includes lots of videos. I’ve set up a choose your own adventure experience where faculty can go in and choose. Hey? I’d rather watch a video on this, or I’d rather listen to a podcast episode, or I’d rather read something. So you can kind of customize and build your own journey. And

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Barbi Honeycutt: I want to get more into the space, because faculty, you are experts in what you do. And I think there’s power in you being able to choose how you want to learn and what fits your schedule. And so I brought all that together

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Barbi Honeycutt: to create the Academy. And it’s it’s been a lot of fun it’s been. It’s been fun to connect with faculty from all over the world and learn from each other.

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Caleb Curfman: Yeah, I will say, I.

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Barbi Honeycutt: I find myself. Once I start, it’s hard to stop going through some of those you know the almost a little games. And then you realize, after the fact, you learn something so no fantastic work on that. And how can we reach you if if people want to get in touch with you? have questions, and whatnot

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Barbi Honeycutt: that Barbie does not have an E not like the doll, so it’s b a, r B. I, h o, n e, I, c t.com and you can also go to lecture breakers.com. Everything kind of lands on the same page. And right now my social media of choice is is linked in So you can connect with me there. I do have a Facebook group still still kicking out there for the lecture breakers audience. So you’re welcome to join. There’s a couple of 1,000

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awesome faculty members and educators in there, so are you welcome to do a search for lecture breakers, and that should come up as well. So, you know. Thank you so much. I look forward to connecting with anyone who would like to learn more and talk about active learning and student engagement and teaching learning in the college classroom.

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Barbi Honeycutt: All right. Well, thank you so much for being on the show like, I said, you kind of helped springboard some of my ideas to get to a wider audience in the beginning of this, and it’s been fun. We’ve known each other for a few years, and hope to continue the conversation, and would love to have you back sometime soon. Thank you.