Kl. 13:40-15:10
Rannsóknarstofa um háskóla
John Baird
A Flipped Approach to Statistics Teaching and Learning
Rannveig S. Sigurvinsdóttir, assistant professor, RU and John Baird, educational developer, RU
Rannsóknaraðferðir og tölfræði I/Research Methods and Statistics I is an undergraduate Year 1/Semester 1 course in introductory research methods and statistics for psychology. For the 2020 iteration of this course, a flipped approach was taken to the key course topics of Miðsækni (Centrality), Dreifð (Variability), Fylgni (Correlation), Öryggisbil (Confidence interval) and T-próf (T-test), with the aim of encouraging better student engagement and deeper learning. The approach taken involved creating a series of online Námspakki (Learning Packages) around each of these topics, comprising instructional videos and simple, quiz-based, problem-solving exercises with immediate feedback. Students were able to work through this introductory content in their own time and at their own pace. In the group teaching space, class time was used to clarify and deepen understanding of these concepts and their inter-relatedness through their application to more complex problem-solving exercises. In this presentation, we will describe and discuss the following themes: ─ the learning package design, ─ student feedback on the flipped approach and ─ instructor reflections on the impact of the approach and future plans.
Shaking Off the Dust: Creating Engaging Methods for Online Ancient Language Teaching
Katrín Lísa L. Mikaelsdóttir, PhD student, School of Humanities, UI
The Covid-19 pandemic forced many universities to transition to online teaching in a short time. The experience gained from emergency remote teaching shows that virtual language classes present unanticipated challenges which need to be addressed to make language teaching viable for an increasingly digital world. This presentation seeks to fill the gap by combining two relevant current issues and explore interactive methods in the teaching of ancient languages and engaging teaching methods in online teaching. The aim is to improve online lessons of text-based courses in the Humanities by transferring to the virtual classroom effective methods of language teaching which reduce fatigue and increase engagement and effectiveness of teachers and students. Recent international research on experiences with online teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact thereof on student and teacher well-being is briefly discussed. The observations imply that the problem with online teaching seems not to lie with methods or learning design but with the missing digital literacy of instructors and the lack of engaging delivery. Several solutions to these issues and suggestions for features that good online teaching should entail will be introduced. To assess how these findings can be transferred to the teaching of ancient languages the three most common language teaching methods, the Grammar Translation Method, Communicative Language Teaching, and Task-Based Language Teaching will be presented, and their advantages and disadvantages will be compared.
Engineering education problem solving sessions in the time of COVID: How one course benefitted from the move online
Heiðar Snær Jónasson, assistant teacher, RU and John Baird, educational developer, RU
Students solving problems on a whiteboard during problem solving sessions (i. dæmatímar) is a classic feature of engineering education. So, what happens when this has to move online? In this presentation, we will discuss how the design of the problem solving session component in an Operations Research (i. Aðgerðagreining) course promotes a deep understanding of the subject matter by encouraging students to continuously engage with the course content via a scaffolded, peer-led approach. We will describe how the shift to online problem solving sessions resulted in a more meaningful problem solving session experience, resulting in higher-quality student work and more time in class for discussion of the conceptual and procedural knowledge that is at the heart of this course. Additionally, we will present data on the student experience of this online problem solving session course and its impact on their learning as well as sharing instructor reflections on the future design and direction of this course.
„Fordæmalausir tímar“? Um hlutverk kennslu í miðaldafræðum á krísutíma
Jan Alexander van Nahl, dósent, HUG, HÍ
Markmið þessa verkefnis var að kanna hvort fagleg hugleiðing um sögulegar krísur hefði áhrif á viðhorf til COVID-19. Átta viðtöl voru tekin við starfsmenn og nemendur á BA-, MA- og doktorsstigi við íslenskudeild Háskóla Íslands, nánar tiltekið í miðaldabókmenntum. Svörin voru afrituð og lögð til grundvallar fyrir þemagreiningu. Krísuhugtakið hefur verið áberandi rannsóknarefni á sviði miðaldabókmennta í áratugi og er þá fyrst og fremst um tengsl milli félagslegar og pólitískar krísu á Sturlungaöld og þróunar bókmennta á þeim tíma að ræða. Rannsóknarverkefnið sem hér er lagt fram snýr að því að kanna hvort krísuhugtakið sé fyrst og fremst fræðileg afstæð hugmynd sem tali lítið til raunveruleikans eða eða hvort hugleiðing um sögulegt samhengi af krísum skipti máli þegar veröldin og samfélagið lenda í krísu. Við greiningu á viðtalssvörum varð ljóst að skoðanir viðmælenda eru oft ólíkar eða jafnvel öndverðar. Áhugavert er að allir þátttakendur voru bæði gagnrýnir og sjálfstæðir í svörum sínum, þannig að augljóst er að krísa og krísuhugtakið eru þeim ekki fjarlægt, en krísa er samt ekki heldur neitt sem þeir töldu að ekki væri hægt að hafa stjórn á. Þátttakendur í rannsókninni voru hins vegar fáir svo að gildi niðurstaðna er takmarkað. Kennsluhættir virðast samt skipta töluverðu máli og hugsanlegt að kennarar á sviði miðaldabókmennta þurfi að huga betur að því hvort og þá hvernig hægt er að laga kennsluefnið betur að þeim kröfum sem eru til staðar í samfélaginu nú á dögum.