Collaborative Learning in Engineering and English

The native English-speaking Engineering and English teachers held Faculty Development seminars on November 2nd and 4th respectively. The theme,“Making Classes Interesting,”was the same as the school-wide FD seminar held on Nov. 27, though because all the presentations were conducted in English, they were assessable to the native English speakers.
The 13 teachers were allotted 15 minutes to highlight an interesting class activity or teaching method/practice that helps make their classes interesting and that colleagues may be interested in learning about. A Question & Answer session followed each presentation. Here is a brief highlight of the Engineering FD Seminar:
Tablet PCs and ESL Integration for Educators
Hayato Ogawa introduced the Tablet PC and explained how it can be integrated into existing classrooms. He talked about the benefits of the Tablet PC for students and teachers and the advantages of using this technology for local and long distance learning. He had a Tablet PC set up and invited participants to use the system to see how it worked.

Bloom’s Taxonomy
Ana Rynearson discussed Bloom's Taxonomy. She explained the levels of Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor   domains.  She focused on the Cognitive domain and how students deal with information they learn. Ana explained how to use this information in developing course materials.
Lesson Planning vs Lesson Design
Robert Songer explained how applying the techniques of design thinking to lesson plans would increase student engagement. He showed how using the tools of good design (brainstorming, storyboarding and proto-typing) to achieve the elements of good design (observation, insight and empathy) can be used to design lessons that meet student's individual needs.

Games in the Classroom
Bruce Gaylord talked about why fun is an important part of the learning process and how a well-designed game can be a valuable teaching tool. He defined what an “educational” game is, when to use a game and the attributes of a “good” game.

Design Intent
Jamie Laverty explained how design can be used as a tool to teach students to think for themselves.  He talked about the different approaches that can be used and the fundamental nature behind design.  He also talked about how case studies can be used to gain students' attention and give them the opportunity to analyze and make decisions.

Department Integration
Bolaji Oguntoyinbo talked about the advantages of joining the three majors to create a multi-disciplinary senior project.
He explained that through this type of project, the students can experience more about how engineering in industry is conducted, what it is like to work on a large scale project, and gain an understanding to the other sides of engineering.

Here are the highlights from the English Department's FD Seminar:

Speaking Tests with Realia
Lucas D’Amico shared a first-year speaking test in which student-modified realia is used as a prop.  He defined realia as,“authentic material from the target language's culture,” then pointed out potential benefits of using it in speaking tests, such as, increased meaningfulness to students and greater understanding of the dialogue.

Making Original Student Video Short
James Green ran participants through the steps of an activity for making short, original student videos that can be used to practice natural conversation expressions and gestures in context, and which provide opportunities for teacher-student feedback and self-correction through video review.  It is a versatile activity that can be used for most unit themes.
Four short videos of students were shown.

Strategies for Getting Students Talking
Sarah Forbes demonstrated three of her favorite activities for getting students to speak up, including reading aloud daily messages or directions, a quick line-up conversation, and information gap exercises and offered some ways that these activities could be adapted for different levels and/or engineering classes.

ABC: Activities to Build Confidence
Ian Stevenson demonstrated how he opens 1st and 2nd year classes using a series of activities revolving around one specific idea that is revisited throughout the class. The basic structure: Students stand up, answer a question, complete a worksheet when they are finished, interview a partner, then check the work as a class. The activities practice all four skills, individually, in partnership and as a class. 
Life after Movies with Comic Life
Dubhgan Hinchey demonstrated how to create comics based on videos that students have watched in class. Using Comic Life software and VLC Media Player, he showed how to gather the digital photos to create multiple comics form the same video. He then walked the teachers through the writing and editing process needed before students receive their own unique comic.

The Way of Council
SeHwan Kwon demonstrated the “Way of Council” activity with other teachers at the seminar. As the participants were performing the activity with his instruction, he explained other variations of this activity in order to apply it in different settings and environments of the class. 

Rethinking Handouts
Doreen Gaylord asserted we can better attract students' attention by breaking away from the standard A4-sized handouts we so often give our students. She showed several examples of hand-outs that she designed to create interest, trigger students' curiousity and engage students.

The wide variety of interesting, relevant topics and varied presentations formats made for valuable and productive FD Seminars.