Tasks

A collection of in-class tasks for classroom interaction; sources include:

• Elizabeth F. Barkley (2010). Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty.
• Active Learning for the College Classroom
• Asking questions

Standalone

• +Mindmap
• +Mnemonic
• +Questions - Multiple Choice
• +Questions - Taxonomy

Quickies

Concept Bingo

Watch a video (such as a clip from a movie or short television show) that exemplifies course concepts. Ask the students to yell out when a germane concept is present. Pause and discuss. This can also be played as a game, between the class and instructor, or two halves of the class.

Controversy

Break students into groups to take a position on a topic that does not have a clear-cut answer. (Students can be paired into pairs, and then quads.)

Relatedly, ask students to take a position (strongly agree, agree, disagree, strong disagree), to write down their rationale (using arguments, evidence, and quotes from the reading), and then stand near the sign that most closely reflects their position. They each then articulate their rationale, and can also move if their position changes.

Source: Barkley (2010). SET 11: Academic Controversy; SET 40: Stand Where You Stand.

Correct the Error

Correct an intentional error based on important content just discussed. The intentional error can contain:

• inaccurate or illogical statements, conclusions, predictions, or implications;
• weak arguments;
• unlikely quotations;

Examples

Create demonstratives examples of concepts, as well as some “screw cases” that put pressure on the clarity of the concept.

For instance:

interpersonal media: point-to-point, person-to-person communication. e.g., Land-line phone.

mass media: single point to a large number of points were people e.g., Television broadcast.

network media: used for interpersonal or mass media e.g., the Internet

Screw cases

• Would twitter be interpersonal or mass by these definitions?

Go Around

This is a simple discussion exercise in which everyone has an opportunity to share: one person shares an insight, makes an argument or asks a question to the class and discussion proceeds. When that discussion has abated, the next person does the same.

Students should have plenty of items to share based on their reading or reading response. Tip: make sure you have a novel contribution as you don’t want to have to say “we already discussed my issue” when your time comes.

Matching Words and Definitions

One approach to testing related but (mostly) discrete concepts is to match words with their definitions.

Match the word to its definition

Word               Definition
----------------   ---------------
1. high culture    a. commercially motivated; manipulative
2. folk culture    b. produced by specialized professionals
3. popular culture c. the expression of a particular community
4. mass culture    d. speaks to a large audience

Answer: 1=b; 2=c; 3=d; 4=a

Role Play

It can be fun – and a good way to internalize something – by imagining and enacting a scenario that engages with what you are learning. Even figuring out what the actors/roles are, in addition to the story, can be a useful learning exercise. You may also wish to designate someone as a (part time) narrator to set the scene.

For example, in order to engage with concepts related to new media and polarization, you might describe/play a scenario in which polarization occurs, making use of the following concepts.

• polarization: the limited pool and social comparison
• parochialism
• reactive devaluation
• social (misinformation) cascade

Strengths and Weaknesses

Identify a text’s strengths and weakness – with suggestions of how those weaknesses could be improved.

Source: Barkley (2010). SET 10: Believe and Doubting.

Think Again

Identify common misconceptions on your topic material or discipline, ask students to agree or disagree, and then discuss with a partner as to why/which is the case.

Source: Barkley (2010). SET 24: Think Again!

Truth or Fiction

One of my favorite segments on podcasts like Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me and The Skeptics Guide to the Universe are the truth or fiction puzzles in which contestants are asked to distinguish between true and false statements. This can test our knowledge of current events (as below), discernment, or subtle distinctions.

Truth or fiction?

Two of these are true, which one is false?

a. self-confessed technophobe Simon Cowell has joined Twitter. b. Dead man tweeted his last few minutes alive. c. Mounties miffed about fake Twitter account.

Answer: b. = False

What’s the Problem?

Students work in pairs with common types of problem in hand to identify what type of problem are appropriate to each example. For example, identifying fallacies in political speech, or identifying errors in harmonic progressions.

Source: Barkley (2010). SET 23: What’s the Problem