Learning Objectives of this Project: This project has been designed to provide you with an opportunity to engage in the process of preparing and delivering a discussion-based class.

Short Description: The topic of the class shall be a classroom teaching and learning topic that we have covered in class or a closely related topic that you would like to explore further. You will identify topics, search for relevant educational material, develop a lesson plan (which means define the learning objectives, educational materials, classroom activities, and (optional) mode of assessment) and implement your lesson plan in a 45 minute class. You (and your teammate if you have one) will be the course instructor(s) whereas the rest of your classmates (and your course instructor) will be your students. 

2015 Teams and Topics: The Table below will be completed as we pass the deadlines listed below.

Team	Date	Team Members	Short Topic Description
Team A	12/04	- Gerald Soosai Raj & Vidisha Mohad -	- Active Learning In Practice -
Team B	12/04	- Adam Denny, Brad Wernecke & Feiyu Lu  -	- Motivation -
Team C	12/11	- Hasti Mirkia, Christina Lewis & Idil Akin -	- Mentoring & Promoting Learning -
Team D	12/11	- Derek Martin & Ashok Sundramoorthy -	- Technology & Learning Community -
Team E	--	--	--
Team F	--	--	--

Project Timeline/Deadlines Below are the three main steps of the project with their own deadlines.

• Step 1 - Topics selection and team formation: Deadline Fri. Nov 20 10:00 am
  • Brainstorm for one or more topics of interest. For ideas, see previous years microteaching projects : 2013, 2012, and 2010. 
  • Do an initial library database search for relevant literature and/or educational material (optional; see below for details);
  • Share at least one micro-teaching project idea with your classmates and instructor using the Blog your Micro-teaching ideas page.


• Step 2 - Design a lesson plan for a 45-min. class: Deadline Mon. Nov 30 11:00 pm
  • This is an iterative process between identifying a learning objective and selecting educational (resource) material. To engage in this process, get familiar with educational databases and other electronic resources; read paper(s), view online materials and decide what would be relevant as pre-class assignment for your students:
  • Use the educational Library database. I would recommend "Education Full Text" and "ERIC" databases;
  • See also "T&L Journals (SoTL)" page of this site;
  • Manage your time so that you search these resources in multiple sessions using different databases and different keywords or descriptors;
  • Select the educational material for the pre-class assignment. Try to identify a few (at the most two or three) main messages or BIG IDEA(S) that you believe everybody should take away from your micro-teaching unit. What pre-class assignement educational material will help you (and your students) get there?
  • Write a short set of instructions describing what exactly you want your students to do before class;
  • Drop pre-class assignment materials (pdf, ppt, excel, etc.) and specific instructions (written as a word document) in the course DROPBOX.  so your instructor can post this material on the course website at least 4-days before class.


• Step 3 - Prepare for the 45-min. classroom interaction with your students: Fri. Dec 04 10:00 am (Teams A and B) and Fri. Dec 11 10:00 am (Teams C and D)
  • What will you do in class to reach your pedagogical objectives? What will you do in class to complement the pre-class assignment? Classroom time should be structured in anyway you see fit to maximize effectiveness of your discussion-based teaching. Examples of what you may elect to do include:
  • A handout highlighting micro-teaching unit goal(s) and instruction(s) for class activities;
  • View or review electronic resources (web-pages, You-Tube videos, etc.) as an introduction to class discussion;
  • Plan for individual, pair, small groups or whole-class discussion activities (feel free to review the best practices in facilitating a discussion);
  • Invite a panel of guests to provide a "real-life" perspective of the subject of discussion.
  • The class will review your pre-class assignement materials and follow your instructions (default will be the usual blog entries with the usual Thursday 9:00 pm deadline.

Micro-teaching schedule

Pd	Date	Modules and Topics	Class Blogs
13	F. 12/04	Microteaching: Team A	Pre A	Post A
		Microteaching: Team B	Pre B	Post B
14	F. 12/11	Microteaching: Team C	Pre C	Post C
		Microteaching: Team D	Pre D	Post D

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Wk 13 - 12/04 - Team A | Team B

Team A Required Reading: Gaffney-2008-SCALE-UP-PROJECT Scaling up Education Reform | Instructions: Complete the required reading and - as usual - post your blog entry using the "Pre A" link (see above).

Optional readings: Beichner-SCALE-UP-PROJECT | Moraros-2015-FlippedClassroom | Veeramani-2015-FlippedClassroom .

Team B Required Reading: Vallerand-etal-1992 The academic Motivation Scale: A Measure of Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Amodivation in Education | Instructions: Pease read pages 1003 to 1009 which will give us an understanding of motivation types. As usual - post your blog entry using the "Pre B" link (see above).

Optional reading: Williams and Williams. This paper provides suggestions to help you as an instructor to motivate students.

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Wk 14 - 12/11 - Team C | Team D

Resource material Team C : Russell et al. (2007) Benefits of Undergraduate Research Experiences | Instructions: Students should read the required reading and respond with a blog post as usual.

Optional reading: Pita et al. (2013) Five Effective Strategies for Mentoring Undergraduates: Students' Perspectives.

Resource material Team D: Schwier (2002) Shaping the Metaphor if Community in Online Learning Environments | Instructions: Complete the reading and the pre-blog (as usual).

Optional reading: Resta and Laferrière (2007) Technology in Support of Collaborative Learning.