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Special thanks to Amy Ksir, US Naval Academy, for suggesting I create an RSS feed!

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The 2013 IBL Workshop at Cal Poly

Last week a team of IBL practitioners, and 43 participants met at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for 4 days at the MAA PREP IBL Workshop.  More information about the workshop is available HERE.  The next workshop will be held at Kenyon College (OH) in June 2014.  Stay tuned for more information!

The 2013 workshop was a blast!  We worked together discussing articles, talking about the nuts and bolts of running an IBL classes, watched and discussed IBL classroom videos, and developed IBL course materials.    Thanks to all who attended and helped out at the workshop!

It is always wonderful to see a group of dedicated math professors, who take a big chunk of their time (and in some instances their own money) to attend a workshop.  They do so because they want to improve their teaching and help their students be more successful in math classes.  Unsung heroes, indeed!

Sandra Laursen: Evaluation of IBL

Once again we are reminded by Sandra that IBL levels the playing field for women.  In her portion of the IBL Centers talk, Sandra reminds us that traditional lectures create a disadvantage for women vs. men, while IBL courses level the playing field (as things should be).

More information is available at:

http://www.colorado.edu/eer/research/steminquiry.html

Flexibility

One of the common themes in the presentations at this year's conference is "flexibility."

IBL instructors need to be flexible in more than one way.  IBL instructors need to be flexible

1. in the pacing of the course
2. in the selection, adaptation, and ordering of the problems (sometimes in real time)
3. in adapting classroom tasks (presentations, groups, pairs, etc.) based on how things are going in class

Flexibility and letting go of some control can be a difficult step. It is doable, of course, and being aware that one should have some options going into class is a good practice.  Have options when students get stuck or take a tangent and go with it!

Strategic Planning Questionnaire

Dear IBL Community.
The strategic planning questionnaire is up!  Follow the link, and let us know what you think!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/EAFstrategicPlanning

Who Does the Verifying?

A quick post...

A common question uttered by instructors is, "Is this right?"  Normally some student says yes or no, and then the instructor agrees and moves on.  (This is a cousin of the questions, "Do you understand?" and "Are there any questions?")  Unfortunately, it's overused now and its usefulness has declined.  It's not that the question isn't earnest.  The issue is that students hear this question all the time, and they sit back and wait for the bright kid to chime in and do the work on behalf of the class.

The goal when we ask, "Is this right?" is to check that students understand what is going on.  Another more effective way to accomplish this is to ask students to discuss in pairs what their thoughts are.  The instructor can say, "Work with your partner to determine if the presented solution is correct."  Then all students are invited to engage in the validation, and the instructor is removed from being The Mathematical Authority.

Perhaps the main point of this is that it is important to develop students' ability to validate arguments.  If the instructor and/or just a handful of students are the only one doing this, then the vast majority of the students are not engaged in validating arguments.  Good teaching techniques can make a big difference, and help every student in the class be a participant in validation.

A quick rundown:

1. Give a task
2. Students work on task
3. Student(s) presents solution
4. *All students discuss presented solution.  (Rather than ask, "Is it right?" you could state "Discuss the solution with your partner..."
5. Instructor moderates the discussion

AIBL Small Grants Program: Cohort 7, Fall 2013

I'm happy to announce the AIBL Small Grants Programs for 2013.  Eligible people are faculty who work a college or university in North America.  Full details are available on the AIBL website.

Link to AIBL Small Grants Program