 |
Active Learning, Critical Thinking, and Personal Responsibility in a Multicultural, Self-Organizing Course on International Relations
| |
| | Unformatted Document Text:
1
Active Learning, Critical Thinking, and Personal Responsibility in a Multicultural,
Self-Organizing Course on International Relations
Richard W. Chadwick
## email not listed ##
Abstract
Twelve years ago I began the process of reconstructing my classroom environment with theaim of improving the quality of my students' learning environment. Three benefits wereanticipated: class size would increase, learning would increase qualitatively, and mypersonal workload would remain constant and/or decrease. None of these benefits wereaimed at. Instead, the critical focus was on reducing the gap between (1) students' naturalability and their curiosity about the subject matter (international relations), and (2) thematerial to be learned (embodied by the texts, syllabus, and assignments). The generalpedagogical approach was that promoted by W. Edwards Deming and his associate, DavidLangford. So far, the results have been, my class size has roughly tripled, students doexceptionally well on objective tests, and my traditional workload has actually gone down.An unanticipated result was the introduction of an intergenerational learning process thattakes place among students across my classes over time, which results in spontaneousimprovement in class structure by the students themselves. Also unanticipated was thedifficulty I have had in keeping up with them--a most happy result!
Keywords
Systems approach, multicultural environment, class size, internet, simulation, continuousimprovement
Preface
In this essay I am taking an anecdotal approach, for one simple reason. I recently readDavid Gergen's Eyewitness to Power
1
and decided to use it in a class I was teaching for the
first time. His anecdotal approach to analyzing the strengths and weakness of the five USpresidents under whom he served enabled me, and now I hope my students, to acquireknowledge at an emotion-educating level that isn't normally reached by other methods. Ananecdotal approach is particularly appropriate, I believe, to convey my experience toscholars who might possibly wish to undertake this paradigm shift in their own pedagogy. Iwas interested in improving the quality of education acquired by my students, while holdingdown costs in terms of my time and university facilities. By describing my experienceanecdotally, I hope to facilitate these purposes.
Introduction
This essay is about a change in my pedagogical paradigm, which I have undergone over thepast decade of teaching. Prior to the change, I had taught courses for twenty years at theundergraduate and graduate levels. I was not looking for a major change in my thinkingabout pedagogy, nor was I advised to. I was comfortable. In was made uncomfortable bywhat I learned about teaching from two people, W. Edwards Deming and David Langford.
The essence of the change is this.
•
Before, I viewed the classroom and courses in general, as opportunities for students to
learn subject matter I had learned and was prepared to communicate through my
|
| | Authors: Chadwick, Richard. |
|
| |
|
|
1
Active Learning, Critical Thinking, and Personal Responsibility in a Multicultural,
Self-Organizing Course on International Relations
Richard W. Chadwick
## email not listed ##
Abstract
Twelve years ago I began the process of reconstructing my classroom environment with the
aim of improving the quality of my students' learning environment. Three benefits were
anticipated: class size would increase, learning would increase qualitatively, and my
personal workload would remain constant and/or decrease. None of these benefits were
aimed at. Instead, the critical focus was on reducing the gap between (1) students' natural
ability and their curiosity about the subject matter (international relations), and (2) the
material to be learned (embodied by the texts, syllabus, and assignments). The general
pedagogical approach was that promoted by W. Edwards Deming and his associate, David
Langford. So far, the results have been, my class size has roughly tripled, students do
exceptionally well on objective tests, and my traditional workload has actually gone down.
An unanticipated result was the introduction of an intergenerational learning process that
takes place among students across my classes over time, which results in spontaneous
improvement in class structure by the students themselves. Also unanticipated was the
difficulty I have had in keeping up with them--a most happy result!
Keywords
Systems approach, multicultural environment, class size, internet, simulation, continuous
improvement
Preface
In this essay I am taking an anecdotal approach, for one simple reason. I recently read
David Gergen's Eyewitness to Power
first time. His anecdotal approach to analyzing the strengths and weakness of the five US
presidents under whom he served enabled me, and now I hope my students, to acquire
knowledge at an emotion-educating level that isn't normally reached by other methods. An
anecdotal approach is particularly appropriate, I believe, to convey my experience to
scholars who might possibly wish to undertake this paradigm shift in their own pedagogy. I
was interested in improving the quality of education acquired by my students, while holding
down costs in terms of my time and university facilities. By describing my experience
anecdotally, I hope to facilitate these purposes.
Introduction
This essay is about a change in my pedagogical paradigm, which I have undergone over the
past decade of teaching. Prior to the change, I had taught courses for twenty years at the
undergraduate and graduate levels. I was not looking for a major change in my thinking
about pedagogy, nor was I advised to. I was comfortable. In was made uncomfortable by
what I learned about teaching from two people, W. Edwards Deming and David Langford.
The essence of the change is this.
•
Before, I viewed the classroom and courses in general, as opportunities for students to
learn subject matter I had learned and was prepared to communicate through my
|
|
 Convention | | All Academic Convention can solve the abstract management needs for any association's annual meeting. | | Submission - Custom fields, multiple submission types, tracks, audio visual, multiple upload formats, automatic conversion to pdf. | | Review - Peer Review, Bulk reviewer assignment, bulk emails, ranking, z-score statistics, and multiple worksheets! | | Reports - Many standard and custom reports generated while you wait. Print programs with participant indexes, event grids, and more! | | Scheduling - Flexible and convenient grid scheduling within rooms and buildings. Conflict checking and advanced filtering. | | Communication - Bulk email tools to help your administrators send reminders and responses. Use form letters, a message center, and much more! | | Management - Search tools, duplicate people management, editing tools, submission transfers, many tools to manage a variety of conference management headaches! | | Click here for more information. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Page 1 of 15 
