Breaking Content into Bite-Sized Chunks
Awe is a beautiful emotion. Gazing at a starry sky, watching from the summit of a tall mountain, or marveling at the rush of water crashing over a waterfall all make you feel small in a good way. You recognize the vastness of the universe and contemplate things beyond yourself. An increasing number of studies (many from the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley) indicate that this is good for your well-being. Awe contrasts mightily with overwhelmed similar but VERY different emotion.
At the start of the semester, I introduce a syllabus with a course plan that hopefully strikes a balance of challenge: kicking students in the butt with the right amount of overwhelm and showing them ‘I got you. With my help, you got this’. To use ed speak, I’m actively looking for their zone of proximal development. It’s problematic because the sweet spot is a little different for each student. But I know with good communication, we will find our way. Here are several things I intentionally repeat throughout the semester to help find that balance.
First and foremost, I break content and projects into bite-sized chunks. The term or topic paper then becomes: brainstorm an idea, pick some articles, make an outline with an APA reference list etc… Sometimes bite-sized chunks aren’t possible. I remember in my first days at Regis when Chad, a still missed IT guru, introduced me to Moodle and said, “Drink from the fire hose.” I liked the notion that the expectation was I would get a few things under my belt. I’d know what was necessary for the current semester and over time I’d learn about the other content that was impossible to digest at the time. I was an adjunct putting together a course brand new to me with a month’s notice, so Moodle was not my main concern. Eleven years later, I’m afraid that still rings true. Anyway, I’ve reflected a lot over the years on how I felt and what worked to create a successful course, especially as we transitioned to fully online and then hybrid learning. It was important to distinguish what was essential, what was supporting and what was above and beyond.
All the courses I teach have the very real problem of too much content to possibly cover in one semester. Several strategies help. Right now, a dozen popped in my head which could lead to overwhelm. Think big; start small. I’ll share two for now more later and that gets us back to awesome.
First, let go of the expectation that students will learn and retain it all. I do this repeatedly throughout the semester. Cognitive science is clear and somewhat disappointing as to average retention in a college course. I make a limited number of learning objectives explicit to students. Yes, hopefully they will learn far more than just the objectives and remember them for years to come, but focusing on a few aligns with the assessment, lowers the foreboding anxiety before the test, and makes mastery achievable. It’s like that starry sky. It’s beautiful and vast and we will appreciate the whole but focus on a constellation. That’s what the quiz is on. Students read about a concept, watch a video or two, attend a lecture where I/we/they connect it to meaningful and personal experiences hopefully encoding material in a way they can store and ultimately retrieve. Students are aware there is a whole night sky, but it’s less daunting to focus on five bits of information – just a few stars. They are exposed to a lot but only expected to deeply process some.
Secondly, I drive home the point that I am there for them, in the service of learning. I am genuinely excited about the material and that helps draw them in. It also helps that I’m a cognitive psychologist and know evidenced-based theory on how we learn. Every professor has strengths they share with their students. It’s useful to reflect on and sometimes even articulate yours.
We have a diverse population at Regis. Many of our students have had difficult relationships with professors and teachers and come to the first class with significant apprehension. Often there are many academic holes that need to be filled. What works for me and ultimately for them is to be explicit that I am their learning ally and to use many metaphors so that they process this deeply and receive it. I am a coach, conductor, mountain guide, etc.… Throughout the semester I encourage them to find metaphors that work and if none do, help me help them find one.
“Introductory” doesn’t mean easy; it just means how much exposure I expect students have already had. I can help fill in the holes. If you have never played soccer or an instrument before, you will need different coaching and drills than if you were captain of your high school team or in your high school orchestra. Getting them to think about this explicitly helps students recognize that they ought to be more metacognitive about what they need. Once WE identify strengths and weaknesses, I can teach them how to learn in addition to teaching them content, whether in Psychology, Education, or History of Rock-and-Roll.
Differentiated teaching, universal design for learning, and most of the teaching strategies I embrace all acknowledge that each learner is unique with different abilities and interests. Conveying that I’m dedicated to each student as a whole person and in how they learn and grow repeatedly throughout the class helps us form a more supportive relationship and ultimately leads to better learning and better teaching. Here’s to the process!
Author Bio:
Becky DesRoches, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Regis College. Dr. DesRoches combines many interests of music, emotion, child/human development, and pedagogy to inform her teaching and presentations. Her passion for teaching drives the work she loves the most helping students grow. Her work in Developmental Psychology and education gives her a unique bio/psycho/social perspective on teaching. These studies on development, differentiation, and UDL, have shaped a unique teaching philosophy that recognizes the importance of learning about individual differences and teaching the whole student.
At Regis, Dr. DesRoches has taught Child Development, Human Development, Intro Psychology, Cognitive, Positive Psychology, and History and Systems of Psychology. Happy to moonlight in the music department for History of Rock as well as graduate education courses on Curricular Adaptations for Special Needs and Instructional Methods customized for nursing educators.
Eclectic training at Wesleyan and UC Berkeley reflected her many interests in teaching, learning, and music. These days, you are likely to find her in the classroom, hiking a mountain, sprinting on the soccer field, or singing in a variety of groups including the Regis Glee club, The Lexington Pops Chorus, and as a singer songwriter.