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February 27, 2006
Teaching MIS at Northern Illinois University
Last Thursday, I had delightful conversation with Charles Downing who teaches the MIS class at NIU. Charles teaches to 200+ students per section and receives rave reviews. One of his teaching techniques is to have all the students stand up and explain a concept or definition to the person on their left and the person on their right. When everyone in a row agrees on the concept or definition, the row sits down. Charles then calls on the one of the rows to present their answer.
To me, this technique wins on several fronts. First, it gets the students up, out of their seats, and moving around. It also requires the students to practice verbal and negotiating skills. And, in the process of the activity, students are re-casting what they've been taught -- one of the key ideas developed by the Berger Center.
Easy to do, easy to explain, helps to break up the class, and beneficial learning technique!
Posted by DavidK at February 27, 2006 05:20 PM | Permalink