I just recently attended Lilly International Conference on College and University Teaching and Learning in Bethesda, Maryland. I love these kinds of conferences as they really help me to expand my thinking about teaching and learning. I came away with a number of great ideas, strategies, techniques that I can turn around and use next semester.

One session I attended really expanded my thinking, not about a specific strategy or technique, but with a bigger picture idea. Oren Hertz from Johnson and Wales University began his presentation on leverage hybrid courses to promote higher level thinking by referencing a TED Talk from Simon Sinek on “finding your why.” Do yourself a favor and take 18 minutes to watch the video below. 

I’ll admit that when I focus on course planning and preparation, I tend to focus on specific learning activities and class experiences. I wouldn’t say I really begin with the why – or the bigger picture of what I want my students to take away from the learning experience. As Sinek suggests, it’s critical to think beyond the what (content) and how (learning activities) and focus on the why of the course. This is particularly challenging for me in a course I teach for students in our teacher education program on integrating technology on teaching. The content is always changing as new technology tools and resources become available. I also like to experiment with different learning activities. When I really try to pin down the why, I struggle.

How to Reset to Focus on the Why
This summer, I’m going to give considerable thought to my why. I plan to focus on the value that the course content and experiences can provide for my future teachers. How will what I’m teaching them help them to be more effective in the classroom. How might the experiences and activities help them to meet the needs of their students and improve their learning? How will my course help them to tap into their creative energy in teaching? I think this strategy of focusing on value may help me to find my why.

Once I put my finger on the why, I’m going to make sure that this why is foregrounded in the syllabus, in the way I launch the class and in the kinds of learning experiences I create. This seems much more engaging than starting right off with the practical aspects of the course – reviewing the syllabus, discussing major assignments, etc. I hope that by finding and centering on the why, I will not only create a better learning experience for my students, but also reignite my own passion and purpose for my course.

If this idea of finding your why in teaching is something you have or will be exploring, please share it in the comments below.

Does email ever feel like an anchor weighing you down? Opening my inbox and responding to emails is the first and last thing I do every day. And still, they keep on coming. I know, I know – it does increase the ability to communicate, share information, files and resources. But it can become an even bigger problem when you’re trying to get away.

I’m gearing up for some time away and offline. It’s been way too long since I’ve done this and I’m really looking forward to disconnecting for a week or so. We’ve all been there, though, it’s easier said than done. It’s always so tempting to pop into email to see if there is anything really important waiting. And if you manage to not check it for an extended period of time, you return with an overflowing inbox that can take days to get through. So much for a relaxing break!

If you’re planning on taking time away this summer, I have a couple of solutions that might work for you – enabling you to enjoy your time offline without the sense of overwhelm that you may have experienced in the past.

Don’t miss anything too important
The last time I took significant time away, I used a great service called AwayFind. This service allows you to set-up a contact form autoresponse that gives the email sender an opportunity to get in touch with you if their message is urgent. Essentially, they receive an autoresponse any time they send you an email with a customized message and a contact form. If the email is crucial, they can take the time to fill out the brief Web form containing any information you want.  Then, you receive a text message with the contents of the form. If it truly is urgent, you can use the AwayFind app to respond to the request without ever opening your email.

With this service (30 day free trial, or $5 per month for a single email address), you can rest assured that you won’t miss any truly important emails while you’re away. If it’s really important, the sender will take the time to fill out the form and you’ll be notified. This worked great for me on my last trip. I wasn’t nearly as tempted to check my email, and I only received two texts over the course of ten days. Unfortunately, when I returned from my time away, I had a lot of emails waiting for me. This time, I’m trying a more radical approach…

Don’t receive anything
To avoid returning to all those emails, this year I’m going to close my email inbox and send an auto response. Essentially, anyone who sends me an email while I’m away will receive this response:

Thanks for your email. I’m traveling and away from email until (date). Unfortunately, my inbox will not be receiving new mail during this time, so I won’t see your message. If your email isn’t urgent, please message me again after (date). If it is urgent and you need to get in touch with me right away, please contact…

I’m hoping that this approach will help me to enjoy my time away more than in the past. There will be no reason for me to check my inbox, since there will be literally nothing there. And those that really need to get in touch with me will have a way to do so. It may be that some people won’t be happy receiving this message. I hope, though, that more often than not, people will understand and perhaps use the same strategy the next time they need to get away.

How do you handle email when you want to take time away?
Please post your comments below.   

“If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”
- Albert Einstein

As the world becomes ever more complex and interconnected, it becomes increasingly critical that we provide ours students with the thinking tools, skills, and opportunities to develop their capacity to solve problems. Problems are rarely simple, direct, or can be solved with a single approach. These are the kind of learning experiences our students need to contribute to the future. Problem based learning (PBL) and case study experiences have the potential to help students to build these capacities.

Key features of the strategy
Problem based learning and case study activities are widely used in higher education to engage students in authentic, real-world learning opportunities.   There are a number of ways to design problem based learning experiences and case studies in postsecondary education. Some rely heavily on technology tools and resources for data exploration, analysis, and communication. Others are entirely paper-based or instructor-led. These experiences can be done individually or in small groups, face-to-face or online, in a single class session or spanning a semester. There are a few key elements of problem based learning and case study experiences that help students to build their capacity to solve complex, real-world problems beyond the courses we teach.

PBL experiences and case studies should focus on complex and often ambiguous real-world scenarios that are open-ended enough to be approached in multiple ways and lead to divergent student outcomes. They should be organized and facilitated in a way that encourages the use of questions, dialog, debate that draws on analytical tools and frameworks appropriate to the discipline. They should include a range of authentic, rich resources that include multiple perspectives or facets of the focus problem.

For faculty interested in these two approaches, a wealth of resources are available. The University of Southern California Center for Technology Excellence offers an excellent handbook for teaching with case studies. The Northern Illinois University Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center offers a similar resource for problem based learning. The University of Central Florida Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning offers a helpful list of collections of case studies from a variety of disciplines. The following examples provide a sense of what these experiences look like in practice.

Examples and Variations
At Texas Women’s University, Laura Trujillo-Jenks employs a range of different types of case studies in her teaching in educational law. She differentiates between different levels of depth in case study design. She regularly uses elaborate scenarios that focus on problems and issues that are similar to the kinds of cases represented in the literature. In addition to these more elaborate cases, she also utilizes short (one to two sentence) scenarios at the beginning of class to assist students in reviewing key concepts or to introduce a new one. Similarly, she leverages video or news stories of current events that serve a similar purpose. With all these different approaches, her goal is to engage students in small groups in “applying learned concepts, objectives, and knowledge to hypothetical situations” in ways that engage students in critical thinking.

In a more elaborate problem based learning example, Don Woods from McMaster University engages students in small group, self-directed, and self-assessed PBL experiences in the chemical engineering program. Students in the program work through one problem in a junior level course and five problems in a senior level course. Prior to their first PBL experience, students participate in workshops designed to explore the approach, managing change, problem solving, and group skills. In groups of five, students draw on their course knowledge to work through a problem collaboratively. The begin with three meetings: a goals meeting, a teach meeting and an elaboration/feedback meeting in which they share their results with the instructor. They journal about their experience and what they have learned throughout the exploration.

The medical school at the University of Limerick designed their curriculum from scratch and is built completely around PBL. These experiences are integrated in the first two years as students build their foundational knowledge in areas like physiology and anatomy. The work continues in the third and fourth years as they move into the clinical setting. The program Web site offers rich video descriptions of the program and how PBL supports student learning.

Connections to 21st Century Skills and Technologies
When students engage in case study and/or problem based learning, they develop critical 21st century learning skills real-world problem solving and innovation and collaboration. Through active engagement in these inquiry-based approaches students not only develop and apply their content knowledge related to the topic, the work together to devise and test innovative solutions.

These approaches can be accomplished without the use of technology at all. For decades, instructors in business, law, medicine, and other disciplines conducted paper-based case studies as an integral part of coursework. The affordances of digital media and interactive tools, however, provide opportunities to increase the authenticity of case study and PBL. By including digital media and access to real data, students work with the kinds of materials and resources that they will encounter beyond the classroom. In addition, they can use data analysis tools to work with and learn from the data provided.

What strategies do you use to incorporate problem based learning or case studies in your courses?

Please post your comments below.

In this episode, I had the pleasure to speak with Dr. Michael Luchs, Associate Professor in the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary. Michael has won numerous teaching awards for his engaging and innovative approach to student learning. He is also the Director of the Jim and Bobbie Ukrop Innovation and Design Studio at the Mason School. We explore how he uses an approach to design thinking to engage his students in creative problem solving and innovation. 

Show notes:

• d.School at Stanford University
• Carol Dweck's TED Talk on mindsets
• IDEO's approach to design thinking
• The Delft Design Guide