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Microlearning Series: New Professor Training- Classroom Management
Summary: New professors at universities are often chosen for their research programs, and not their ability to teach courses. However, teaching courses is a large part of the expectations for the job. Often, these new professors are unprepared for the students in their courses, specifically in the area of classroom management and handling difficult behaviors.
Audience: New Professors at University
Responsibilities: Research- including interviews and reviewing previous courses and additional materials, storyboarding and scripting, eLearning design.
Tools Used: Articulate 360, Articulate Rise, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe XD.
Problem & Solution
Problem
Teaching is part of a university/college professors responsibilities, however most professors are not hired for their ability to teach course, rather they are hired for their research programs and ability to win grant funding. Furthermore, university professors are often ill prepared to handle the behaviors, learning styles and disabilities of a class full of students who may or may not be interested in what the professor has dedicated their life to studying. This can lead to a number of issues in the classroom for both the professor and the students.
Departments of Teaching and Learning excellence offer courses and resources for professors both novice and experienced, however they do not always go far enough in offering explanations, scenarios, and help beyond resources.
Solution
The solution to each of these issues is a self-guided eLearning course focused on the various aspects of classroom management and learning engagement complete with scenarios for professors to practice skills they learn throughout the course.
Process for All Courses Overview
Research
The client for this program is a large, public, research level 2 university in a midwestern state. As part of her strategic plan for the university, the new University President is focused on improving the quality of teaching.
The university has already conducted a needs analysis with their current professoriate to determine gaps in their Center for Teaching Excellence programming. They have found that many professors appreciate the resources offered through the center, but would like additional information, as well as ways to practice the knowledge and gain new skills in teaching.
Key findings from Needs Analysis (done by the university):
1. Professors lack knowledge of classroom management techniques.
2. Professors struggle with the newest generation of students who seem more needy, have less study skills, and far shorter attention spans than previous generations of students.
3. Professors lack knowledge of engagement techniques to keep this new generation of students engaged during class.
4. Professors want more hands-on skills practice with handling difficult situations in their courses.
5. Many professors have faced what has been characterized at bully by the students, and are unsure how to handle these situations.
6. Thirty percent of professors have developed anxiety about teaching undergraduate courses due to the issues with classroom management and engagement.
7. All professors want "tools they can use" immediately.
Program Overview
Current Offerings at the Center for Teaching Excellence:​
1. Print Resources for the following: Syllabus creation, remote and hybrid teaching, using Blackboard for course administration, flipped classroom, engagement techniques, list of books, and other resources about university teaching and engagement.
2. Mini-Workshops in using clickers in classes, online engagement techniques, digital grading, and quality feedback.
New Programming Offerings by the Center for Teaching Excellence:
Tutorials
-One-on-One syllabus coaching tutorials
Instructor Lead Workshops
- Online Presence- Social Media and RateMyProfessor.com
Self-Guided Courses
-"This new generation- what's their deal?" Methods for working with Generation Z"
-"Cell phones: Working with them rather than against them": Techniques for using cellphones as a learning and learning management tool.
- Classroom Management Microlearning courses
Micro Learning Course Overviews
The client wanted the classroom management training to be divided into smaller, microlearning courses such that participants could choose the topic that they were most interested in and focus on that specifically, rather than having to take the entire course, if they were only interested in the before class preparations, for example, and not the scenarios.
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Course 1: Classroom Management- Before the Start of Class
Learning Objective: At the end of this lesson, participants will be able to explain the importance of the syllabus, planning, and setting their expectations for their courses and the impact that these have on Classroom Management.
Focus for the Course: Preparations that can be done before the start of a course to improve classroom management from the start.
1. Syllabus creation
2. Planning
3. Setting Expectations (for the professor, and making assumptions about student expectations)
Course 2: Classroom Management- During Class
Learning Objective: At the end of this lesson, participants will be able to give examples of common disruptive behaviors and possible solutions for in-the-moment thinking.
Focus for the Course: Policies, procedures, and behaviors during the class that impact classroom management
1. Setting the tone.
2. Setting boundaries.
3. Prosocial behaviors.
Course 3: Classroom Management- Handling Difficult Situations
Learning Objective: At the end of this lesson, participants will be able to explain the steps in handling difficult classroom behaviors.
Focus for the Course:
1. Step 1: Stay Calm
2. Step 2: Speak in a low and even tone
3. Step 3: Make sure you and the students are not in any danger.
4. Step 4: Speak to the student away from other students, or see if you can speak to them during office hours, or after class.
5. Step 5: Speak to the student privately
6. Step 6: Give them a moment.
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Course 4: Classroom Management- Scenarios
Learning Objective: At the end of this lesson, participants will be able to identify possible Classroom Management issues and the best ways to handle these issues.
Focus for the Course: Work with scenarios they might encounter in a course, and choose the best option for handling the situation effectively.
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Full Development: Microlearning Course 1-3
The development of courses 1, 2, & 3 was relatively short because the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning has a number of resources in the form of ILT syllabi and notes, previous PowerPoint presentations, as well as a number of books about classroom management in the K-12 environment and a few about teaching at university. I also had access to professors in the College of Education who specialize in adult learning.
Each of the first 3 Microlearning courses were designed in Articulate Rise because they were not graphics heavy. As such, Rise made more sense in terms of the time it would take from preparation to full development.
Course 1: Classroom Management- Before the Class
Course 2: Classroom Management- During Class
Course 3: Classroom Management- Handling Difficult Situations
Process for Course 4: Scenarios
Storyboards for Scenario
Wireframes
Wireframes were created in Adobe XD which allows for quick iteration and connectivity.
The goal of the wireframes was to get the general structure of the Classroom Management Scenarios microlearning course which will include the description of a possible classroom management issue and behavior responses for the professor to choose from. The "Support" button allows the user to obtain additional information, if they are struggling to make a decision for each scenario.
The wireframe above only shows the beginning slides, a single scenario set up (question, support slide, correct answer, and incorrect answer slides), as well as the two final slides (Congratulations and Additional Information).
The client was happy with the preliminary wireframe. Specifically they liked the continuity between the slides in terms of structure. They also liked the "Support" button and the "Additional Information" at then end.
From there, I moved on to putting color and images into the Mock Ups in Adobe XD
Design System for Mock Ups- Round 1
Mock Up- Round 1
Mock Ups- Round 1 Feedback
The client liked the choice of "Dr. Jones"- a female, professional looking, "professor-type", who looked like she could be multi-racial. They also liked the backgrounds were not just simple colors, but still had some issued with them.
Areas of Concern:
1. Colors- They seemed too drab and too many.
2. Font- While the font is the same as that of the logo, the client felt it was a bit overwhelming in the training and it distracted from what the training is trying to accomplish.
3. Backgrounds- Too much going on. The images distract from the text.
4. Color Boxes- While they liked the ideas of the color-boxes behind the answer choices, they felt that having so many varied colors was distracting.
Design System for Mock Ups- Round 2
Mock Ups- Round 2
Mock Ups- Round 2 Feedback
The client was much happier with the Mock Ups for Round 2. They felt that the colors were less harsh, and the structure was better overall.
At first they were unsure about the changing colors of the color blocks on each scenario slide, but they were okay with it because the colors were from a smaller palette. The backgrounds were also much better this time around, because it provided interest in the back of the slide, but did not take away from the information in the color boxes.
The client gave me approval to move to full development for Microlearning Course #4: Scenarios.
Full Development
Scenes from Articulate Storyline.
Each scene contains a question page, a support page, a correct answer page, and 3 wrong answer pages.
For each question, Dr. Jones offers support, but a new character was chosen for each of the answer choices.
Characters are of a variety of genders, racial backgrounds, ages, and style of speech to add visual interest.
Dr. Jones comes back on the last slide to congratulate the participant for successfully completing the course.
Take-Aways
Technology:
Articulate Rise is great for quick authoring and uploading and worked for the Microlearning courses that were content heavy.
Articulate Storyline was perfect for creating a more graphic experience with scenarios and question choices.
Course Type:
Microlearning allows the user to move through content more quickly, thus making better use of their time. Adult learners are want to know that their time is not being wasted and that what they are learning has immediate applications.
The scenarios course (#4) was focused on common issues in a university level course that a novice professor might encounter and offers the user a low-stacks opportunity to practice handling these types of situations.
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