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October 20, 2019

Higher Ed: How To Keep Tired Students Engaged? Help Them Produce – Not Just Consume – Knowledge

By: Jennifer Stayton

Students have a lot of tugging at their energy and attention including classes, homework, jobs and activities. In this episode of KUT’s podcast “Higher Ed,” Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger and KUT’s Jennifer Stayton strategize on how to keep exhausted students engaged in the classroom.

“I teach an elementary math methods course. My students are seniors who are concurrently student teaching. They have two 3-hour classes each Monday and they are in classrooms the rest of the week. My class is the Monday afternoon class. I am struggling to keep their interest for three hours…. Any ideas on how I can get my tired students engaged and interested for three whole hours?”

Speaking from experience, Ed says several teaching strategies can help keep students’ (or anyone’s) attention when they are low on energy and rest but have a long stretch of classroom or meeting time ahead.

First of all, try to make the longer class feel like a shorter class.

“You’ve got to make sure that you give time for breaks. That’s number one,” says Ed. “It can’t be a three hour block.”

Ed also believes teachers need to inspire and support students’ curiosity about the material.

“Teachers should never be answering a question that [students] are not at that moment asking,” Ed believes. “So the real challenge in teaching math, or frankly, teaching anything … is to bring students to a place where they look at us and say ‘well, how do you do that?’ And than you say ‘I am so glad you asked!'”

He says fueling that curiosity will not only drive engagement and participation but also learning.

“If you make it into a riddle or a puzzle or a conundrum, then there’s this curiosity of ‘how come that person did it and I don’t know how to do it?'” says Ed. “And then it’s like ‘show me how. Show me the secret.’ So it’s like magic. ‘Show me a magic illusion and then show me the secret behind the curtain.’ And all of a sudden they’re learning.”

That active learning will, Ed believes, puts students in the position of creating more ideas themselves, which will in turn keep them more involved in what’s happening in the classroom.

“The more you can create active learning in the classroom or even outside the classroom,” says Ed, “we learn better when we are actively engaged and we’re the producers of the ideas rather than merely the consumers of the ideas.”

Of course, it’s hard to get around the fact that a three hour class is a long stretch of time. Ed says in his opinion, even 50 minute classes are too long. For him, an ideal class would last about 20 minutes in rotation with other subjects.

So Ed says one way to break up the time into smaller chunks is to introduce a new element every 20-25 minutes. What about something like a puzzler? Listen to this week’s full episode to hear more ideas on keeping students (or anyone) engaged and to get the solution to last week’s puzzler. We will cross that bridge when we get to it!

This episode was recorded on Sept. 25, 2019.


Episodes

October 6, 2019

Higher Ed: I’m Content. And Comfortable. And Don’t Want To Change. Learn How To Do It Anyway.

“The only thing constant is change.” That saying, or some derivation of it, is attributed to the ancience Greek philosopher Heraclitus around 500 BC. But it certainly rings as true now as it did then. In this episode of KUT’s podcast “Higher Ed,” Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger and KUT’s Jennifer Stayton discuss preparing […]

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September 29, 2019

Higher Ed: “We’re Not Machines” – Engaging Your Heart And Your Head In Learning

When strong feelings bubble up, your heart might win out over your head in deciding what happens next. But at times, a more thoughtful approach might prove ultimately more effective. In this episode of KUT’s podcast “Higher Ed,” Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger and KUT’s Jennifer Stayton discuss the tug-of-war between feeling and thinking. […]

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September 22, 2019

Higher Ed: Want To Prevent Students From Dropping Out? Provide More Support, Realistic Expectations

Fewer college students than you might think make it from Freshman orientation all the way to graduation. In this episode of KUT’s podcast “Higher Ed,” Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger and KUT’s Jennifer Stayton discuss why students drop out, and what colleges and universities can do to help them stay in. David Kirp’s book […]

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September 15, 2019

Higher Ed: For Some Teachers “It’s Not A Matter Of Being Nice But Setting Great Expectations”

Just about everybody can recall an influential teacher who nurtured and inspired them. But not all great teachers are “warm and fuzzy.” In this episode of KUT’s podcast “Higher Ed,” Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger and KUT’s Jennifer Stayton explore dealing with fantastic teachers who have challenging personalities. Ed recalls a wonderful Philosophy teacher […]

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September 8, 2019

Higher Ed: Surviving And Succeeding During Freshman Year In College (Or Through Any Big Life Change)

First-year college student students often encounter tougher classes in a new environment without the familiar supports of home. In this episode of KUT’s podcast “Higher Ed,” Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger and KUT’s Jennifer Stayton explore strategies for staying on course when so much is changing. “You’re going to be homesick. You’re going to […]

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August 25, 2019

Best of “Higher Ed:” The Biases We Bring To Information And Learning (They’re Complicated)

This episode was originally posted on Jan. 13, 2019. Many external factors can impact the quality and effectiveness of a learning experience: the teacher; the other students in a class; the school’s resources; even the student’s surroundings and home. But what about the internal factors? In this episode of KUT’s podcast “Higher Ed,” Southwestern University […]

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August 11, 2019

Best of “Higher Ed:” The Well-Read Grown-Up

This episode was originally posted on Nov. 18, 2018. In school, our reading choices are mostly dictated by what is assigned for classes or from reading lists. But once we are out of school, the decisions are up to us.  In this episode of KUT’s podcast “Higher Ed,” Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger and […]

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August 4, 2019

Best of “Higher Ed:” Why The College Major May Matter Less Than We’ve Always Thought

This episode was originally published on Oct. 12, 2018. Choosing a major is a rite of passage for higher education students, and it can feel like a – dare we say it –major decision with lifelong implications. In this episode of KUT’s podcast “Higher Ed,” Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger and KUT’s Jennifer Stayton […]

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