IQ Learn Tutoring tools for virtual learning

Transcription

1 UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI FACULTY OF EDUCATION PÄIVI VIRTANEN IQ Learn Tutoring tools for virtual learning Pedagogica Publications of Faculty of Education no. 8 Helsinki 2002

2 Päivi Virtanen Tutoring tools for virtual learning and teaching The IQ FORM tutoring tools to promote learning via the Web Illustration Anssi Keränen Translation Petra Nuora Copyright The IQ FORM University of Helsinki, Department of Education It is forbidden to reproduce this book in any form in accordance with the law of copyright (404/61) except partial reproduction for educational purposes defined more accurate in the contract with the state of Finland and Kopiosto ry. University of Helsinki Department of Education IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

3 Contents Acknowledgments... 4 Introduction.. 5 Theoretical background of the tutorial package. 6 I LEARNING MOTIVATION Expectation of success.. 13 Self-efficacy and self-confidence Performance anxiety Meaning of studies. 21 II LEARNING STRATEGIES Time management. 23 Self-management.. 25 Persistency. 27 Help-seeking strategies III LEARNING SKILLS Repetition Critical thinking Finding essential points Connecting new and old knowledge.. 36 Keywords and advance organizers. 37 Application of theories.. 38 Self-assessment IV STRENGTHS Linguistic intelligence 41 Logical-mathematical intelligence.. 49 Spatial intelligence. 51 Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence Musical intelligence 54 Interpersonal intelligence Intrapersonal intelligence. 59 References. 60 IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

4 Acknowledgements This tutoring package was born alongside the IQ FORM project 1, a project coordinated by the University of Helsinki for the Finnish Virtual University. The aim of the tutoring package is to bring to light some views of how a student can advance as a learner, and to give support to both students and teachers to develop students learning skills. The brainstorming sessions our research team had regarding the contents of the guidebook, gave support and enthusiasm to the writing which took place in the hot summer of Researchers and research assistants in the IQ FORM project supported the planning and writing of the tutorial package. I want to thank the project director, Professor Hannele Niemi for the support and encouraging comments she gave. This also applies to all the other researchers in the IQ FORM project in the Department of Education at the University of Helsinki, especially Professor Kirsi Tirri, Anne Nevgi, senior researcher, Raija Latva-Karjanmaa, researcher, Riikka Pyysalo, MA (Ed), Outi Raehalme, Ph. D., Docent Erkki Komulainen, Jin He, Ph. D. and Pertti Lähteenmäki, IT assistant. I would also like to thank Petra Nuora, research assistant, for her priceless help with the translation of the tutorial, and Pearl Lönnfors, M.A., Lecturer, Helsinki University Language Centre, for checking the language of the tutorial and giving supportive comments during the translation process. The IQ FORM is a multidisciplinary project, the main partner being the Department of Computer Science of the University of Helsinki. I want to thank Professor Henry Tirri, senior researcher Jaakko Kurhila, researcher and learning technology expert Petri Nokelainen and researcher Miikka Miettinen for their expertise and inspiring discussions. Special acknowledgement goes to researcher Marko Ikonen for his varied technological expertise and support at different stages of the work. Graphic designer Anssi Keränen has also earned praise for drawing the insightful pictures for the tutorial. He also showed flexibility and creativity in fulfilling our visions. We wish you great learning and teaching experiences! Helsinki Päivi Virtanen, MA (Ed) Researcher 1 More information about the IQ FORM project from the page IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

5 Introduction This tutorial package is mainly meant as a support tool for studying in a Web course, but it also contains material which is useful for every student who wants to develop his/her own learning skills. The tutorial package is a part of the tools supporting learning directed at students of the Virtual University of Finland. On the Web, the IQ FORM contains: The tests which are based on self-estimation 1. Learning motivation: My motivation what do I expect from my studies? 2. Learning strategies: How can I succeed better? 3. Learning skills: What ways exist for learning? 4. My strengths: What are my strengths what should I develop? The tutorial package The learning diary where you can record your diary notes and ideas inspired by the tutorial package. The tutorial package consists of four parts. The first part deals with the different areas of strength that people have. In the text, you will find the definitions of each strength area and directions of how you can develop your own strengths. You can use these texts to help you, for example, when interpreting the profiles made on the basis of your test answers. There are also small assignments in the Strengths part. These are aimed at guiding the student to develop him/herself in a multifaceted way. You can write your ideas inspired by the assignments in the learning diary. The other three parts of the package give you footnotes about the phenomena related to the tests, called Learning motivation, Learning strategies and Learning skills. You may take advantage of these three packages when you want to develop as a learner or when you want to have better results in your studies. Also, these parts contain exercises and stimuli for working in a group. Hopefully, you will experience many insights through the tutorial package and you will find your studies more meaningful once you get to know the package. Remember that it takes time and work to learn even learning to learn. To the teacher For the Web course teacher, the tutorial package gives information about how to support the development of students learning skills especially in a Web course. Studying on the Web is a new thing for many students. They need more support than in traditional studies. Encourage your students to do the exercises that are given to them in the tutorial package. The package supports the student s development in learning, consciousness and self-direction and activates the student. At its best, the meaningfulness of learning and teaching increases. IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

6 Theoretical background of the tutorial package The aim of the tutorial package is: to increase the self-knowledge of the student, to increase the self-regulation of the student, to guide the student to reflect and assess his/her learning, to activate the student, to support learning, to promote collaboration among the students, and to offer the teachers a general model and tools for tutoring. The thread running through this tutorial package is self-regulation and the means to support its growth. Good knowledge of one s strengths, not only knowledge of one s learning skills but generally, gives support to the development of a learner s selfregulation. The part called My strengths in this tutorial guides the student to learn more about his/her strengths and to develop them. The texts are mainly based on Howard Gardner s (1993) Multiple Intelligences theory. In this part of the tutorial package, directions are given for the writing process, how to use music to promote learning, how to increase knowledge of oneself in different ways; how to find information from the Internet and what is important to take into account when studying in a web-based group. Teachers are given information about how different strengths can be taken into account when studying via the Web. Teachers are given advice on how to support students with different strength profile. Teachers are also given information directly related to learning via the Web, e.g. how to support students participating in collaborative learning via the Web. The three other parts of the tutorial package concentrate on supporting the growth of the skills related to learning itself. They are based on Barry Zimmerman s (2001) selfregulation theory and on Paul Pintrich s and Pekka Ruohotie s (2000) applications of it. In the chapter called Learning motivation, the students are encouraged to trust their own abilities and to think about the relation between their motivation and the studies. There are concrete directions to get rid of performance anxiety. The teachers are encouraged to act so that the motivation of the students will increase. In the chapter called Learning strategies, the students are given information about resource management strategies: about management of time and study environment, about effort regulation and peer learning and help-seeking. The students get information about how to make a personal study schedule, how to go far in ones studies without becoming exhausted and where can you seek help when studying in a Web course. Teachers get information on how they can make it easier for the students to manage their time during the Web course and how to support the development of the self-regulation of the students. Also, the teachers are told what to take into account when planning a Web course that uses a collaborative learning method. The chapter Learning skills concentrates on introducing cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies. The students get information when practice or use of keywords and advanced organizers is suitable; how to use critical thinking, when the application of theories or the connection of old knowledge to new ideas is fruitful for learning. The importance of evaluating ones actions is also handled in this chapter. Teachers are given information on how to support the development of those strategies that are important to learning. IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

7 Principles for active learning The learner has been studied in laboratory and school settings for more than 20 years. These studies have produced a large body of quantitative and qualitative results about the cognitive processes that occur in learners. Kintsch et al. has used this body of research as a basis for a list of principles for active learning. Kintsch et al. (according to Michael Dillinger 2001, p ) report that the learner s activities have been observed to be most effective when thought of and organized according to the following specifications. These have been paraphrased and adapted to better reflect the point-of-view of the learner. 1. Learning is a learner activity, a process that happens in the learner, thus the intelligence and prior knowledge of the learner need to be engaged and exploited during all of its phases. Independent learners require skills in: setting and developing meaningful goals for themselves (choosing topics and subtopics for study, decomposing complex problems, planning, determining and assigning subtasks, etc.); constructing meaning for themselves; monitoring understanding and progress; repairing breakdowns and errors in learning; and designing and implementing assessment measures. 2. The learner s prior knowledge is the starting point of any learning activity: assessment, use and development of prior knowledge are key components of learning. 3. The goal is for learners to develop more usable knowledge, that is knowledge that can be easily accessed and applied in novel situations. Hence, their processes are directed toward building accurate and detailed mental models in a domain. 4. Learners are most efficient when engaging in activities whose value and purpose are evident to them, activities that are most often, from the learner s standpoint, of moderate difficulty. 5. Learners work best in domains that are realistic and meaningful to them. 6. Social construction of knowledge is an important component of the learner s activity, which requires skills in dialogue, cooperation, organization and dealing with multiple points of view. 7. Learners progress emphasizes conceptual understanding of mechanisms rather than rote learning of observable phenomena. 8. Learners progress is optimized by developing awareness of their own thinking processes and styles and socializing these processes for analysis and assessment. 9. Learners require support for higher level reasoning, such as visualization tools. 10. Cognitive skill development, unlike rote learning, requires flexibility and adaptability of cognitive strategies: transfer of reasoning from one domain to another, comparing, contrasting and synthesizing multiple perspectives on a single topic, exploration of analogies. Iterative processing multiple analyses of the same problem to revise and reconsider one s solutions and those of others is a central component. 11. Learners progress best with qualitative, relevant and timely feedback at optimal frequencies. 12. Identifying and analyzing errors and difficulties are important opportunities for learner development. IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

8 13. Individual differences in interest, motivation, knowledge, point-of-view, abilities and style are essential for generating possible solutions for problems in learner-centered environments. Diverse perceptions, conceptions and solutions provide the basis for discussion of cognitive processes. 14. Assessment of conceptual change is the basis of systematic learner development. These principles, which focus almost exclusively on cognitive processes also play an important role in this tutorial package when the student is given support to learn efficiently and the teacher is given information on how to make the process easier. Furthermore, this tutorial accentuates the meaning of collaboration in the learning process. When learning environments are designed in such a way that one person s learning fosters other s learning and vice-versa, the groundwork is laid for exponential growth of knowledge (Dillinger 2001, 78). An exploratory-learning method could be one way to gain the best learning results. This tutorial includes instructions for using exploratory learning as a study method. Self-regulation Self-regulation refers to the learner s volitional control and factors affecting his/her motivation. Volitional processes involve primarily the learner s ability to manage him/herself and what he/she is doing concerning the goal reaching. The learner can, for example, make some changes in his/her studying environment to increase the meaningfulness and target-orientation of his/her studies, seek help from peers or the teacher or try to differentiate the essential from the unessential. Volitional control involves primarily the learner s ability to manage his/her attention to and engagement with problems to be solved. Motivation is another part of self-regulation and it is related to goal construction. Goal construction is influenced by the beliefs of ones abilities and possibilities. Everyone attempts to self-regulate his/her functioning to gain goals in life. The level of conscious self-regulation may differ a lot from one to another. According to Margaret Anderson (2001, 56), self-regulation seems to be a critical element in understanding what sets superior performers apart from the average. When it concerns university students, self-regulation is commonly considered as one main target of their development. There are many ways to support the development of selfregulation. According to Paul Pintrich and Pekka Ruohotie, it is important to develop a learner s concepts of self-regulation, its possibilities and its conditions. Educational programmes with this goal have produced positive results. Increasing learners perception of personal control has led to the strengthening of intrinsic motivation, the improvement of learning outcomes, and the development of responsibility and a sense of self-efficacy. It also increases the likelihood that adopted skills and strategies will be used in new learning situations. Paul Pintrich (Pintrich & Ruohotie 2000, 24) suggests five objectives that may improve a learner s self-regulation: 1. A learner has to be more conscious of his/her activities, motivation and cognition. 2. A learner has to adopt positive motivational beliefs. 3. Teachers have to present self-regulatory models. 4. Learners should be allowed to practice adapting to different learning strategies. 5. Learning tasks should support the broad use of self-regulation. IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

9 There is a clear connection between learners concepts of their self-regulation possibilities, their self-concept and their approach to learning. Learners who, in their own opinion, are able to control their own learning, are more likely than other learners to use deep information processing approaches. They strive to shape the subject material into a meaningful whole, look for connections between the different parts and strive to analyze and reflect upon the subject material. Respectively, learners who estimate their selfregulation possibilities to be low focus primarily on individual elements of content and attempt to memorize them. (Pintrich & Ruohotie 2000, 11). The process of self-regulation Features of self-regulation can be found in different phases of one s studies: before the actual study process, during the process and after the process while reflecting one s functioning. According to Barry J. Zimmerman (2000,14), self-regulation can be defined as a process. This process is cyclical, the feedback from prior performance is used to make adjustments during current efforts. A learner improves his/her ways of learning on the basis of the feedback. In the next figure, a cyclical model and subprocesses of selfregulation are illustrated (by Zimmerman). FORETHOUGHT Task analysis - goal setting - strategic planning Self-motivation beliefs - self-efficacy - outcome expectations - intrinsic interest/value - goal orientation PERFORMANCE OR VOLITIONAL CONTROL Self-control - self-instruction - imagery - attention focusing - task strategies Self-observation - self-recording - self-experimentation SELF-REFLECTION Self-judgment - self-evaluation - causal attribution Self-reaction - self-satisfaction/affect - adaptive-defensive Figure 1. Cyclical phases and subprocesses of self-regulation (modified from Zimmerman 2000, 16). This model is a good illustration of one event in the course of learning. The learner goes through the subprocesses during the phases of the learning process. But becoming highly self-regulative is a more extensive process than one learning situation with its three phases. The process of becoming highly self-regulative could be described as a spiral where forethought, performance or volitional control and self-reflection follow each other as a continuous action, and the learner makes progress in self-regulation skills. This tutorial package pursues to support the development of learners self-regulation, mainly at the course level and more broadly as a resource for successful learning. The next figure illustrates the model of becoming highly self-regulative. The arrow represents the growth of self-regulation. The spiral represents learners repetitive actions and processes in Zimmerman s cyclical phases. IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

10 Performance Forethought Self-Reflection Figure 2. The spiral of becoming self-regulated. The first phase of self-regulation is forethought, which is divided into two sections: task analysis and self-motivational beliefs. A key form of task analysis involves the setting of goals. A student decides upon specific outcomes of learning performance. The goal system of highly self-regulated individuals is organized hierarchically, with process goals operating as proximal regulators of more distant outcome goals. The second form of task analysis is strategic planning. Learners need methods that are appropriate for the task and the setting to master or perform a skill optimally. Self-regulative strategies are personal processes and actions directed to acquire or display a skill. Appropriate strategies enhance performance by aiding cognition, controlling affect and directing motoric execution (Zimmerman 2000, 16-17). Self-regulatory skills are of little value if a person cannot motivate him/herself to use them. Underlying the forethought process of goal setting and strategic planning are a number of key self-motivational beliefs: self-efficacy, outcome expectations, intrinsic interest or valuing and goal orientation. Self-efficacy refers to personal belief about having the means to learn or perform effectively. Outcome expectations refer to beliefs about the ultimate ends of performance. Self-efficacy is in question when someone believes that s/he can attain a course grade A, and the outcome refers to expectations about the consequences this grade will produce after graduation, such as a desirable job. According to Zimmerman, a person s willingness to engage and sustain his/her self regulatory efforts depends especially on his/her self-regulatory efficacy, which refers to beliefs about the capability to plan and manage specific areas of functioning (Zimmerman 2000, 17-18). Goals can reciprocally affect self-efficacy beliefs. Self-regulated learners feel selfefficacious in part because they have adopted hierarchical process goals for themselves. This progressive mastery provides them with immediate satisfaction rather than requiring them to suspend any sense of success until a final outcome goal is attained. With time process goal seekers begin to see outcome rewards merely as milestones in a lifelong mastery process, such as when musicians see that the ultimate value of their talent lies in performing masterfully rather than in winning a particular competition (Zimmerman 2000, 18). IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

11 The second phase of self-regulation is performance or volitional control. Self-control and self-observation have been studied most. Self-control processes, such as self-instruction, imagery, attention focusing and task strategies help learners to focus on the task and optimize their effort. Self-instruction involves overtly or covertly describing how to produce as one executes a task. It may be verbalization, for example. Imagery, forming mental pictures, is another widely used self-control technique to assist encoding and performance. Many competitors, such as skaters and gymnasts, imagine successful executions of their planned routines in order to enhance their performance (Zimmerman 2000, ) Attention focusing is designed to improve one s concentration. There is a wide variety of techniques to improve one s attentional control, such as environmental structuring to eliminate diversions. Knowing how to concentrate and screen out the covert processes and external events is an essential strategy for effective studying. Task strategies assist learning by reducing a task to its essential parts and reorganizing the parts meaningfully. Task strategies also include study strategies, such as note-taking, test preparation and reading for comprehension, and performance strategies, such as writing techniques, elocution and problem solving (Zimmerman 2000, 19.) Self-observation refers to a person s tracking of specific aspects of their own performance, the conditions that surround it and the effects that it produces. The amount of information involved in complex performances can easily inundate naïve self-observers and typically can lead to disorganized or cursory self-monitoring. Setting hierarchical process goals during forethought facilitates selective self-observation, because these goals focus on specific processes and proximal events. There are at least four important features of selfobservation that can influence its effectiveness: temporal proximity, informativeness of performance feedback, accuracy of self-observations and valence of the behavior. Selfobservation is more effective when self-feedback is not delayed, performance feedback comes from practicing in a standardized or structured setting, self-observation is accurate and the monitored aspects of behavior are positive. Self-recoding is a common selfobservational technique that can have a positive effect on these things. Records can capture personal information at the point it occurs, structure it to be most meaningful, preserve its accuracy without the need for intrusive rehearsal and provide a longer data base for discerning evidence of progress (Zimmerman 2000, ) Self-observation can lead to cycles of self-experimentation. When self-observation of natural variations in behaviour does not provide decisive diagnostic information, people can engage in personal experimentation by systematically varying the aspects of the functioning that are in question. Systematic self-observation can lead to greater personal understanding and to better performance or volitional control (Zimmerman 2000, 21.) The third phase of self-regulation is self-reflection. It is divided into two parts: selfjudgment and self-reaction. Self-judgment involves self-evaluating one s performance and attributing causal significance to the results. Self-evaluation refers to comparing selfmonitored information with a standard or goal, such as a sprinter judging practice runs according to his or her best previous effort. There are four distinctive types of criteria that people use to evaluate themselves: mastery, previous performance, normative and collaborative. Mastery criteria involve the use of a graduated sequence of tests or test scores ranging from novice to expert performance. Previous performance of self-criteria involves comparisons of current performance with earlier levels of one s behaviour, such as baseline or the previous performance. Normative criteria involve social comparisons with the performance of others, such as classmates or a national population that has been tested. A collaborative criterion is used primarily in team endeavours. Success is defined in terms of fulfilling a particular role (Zimmerman 2000, 21-22). IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

12 Self-evaluative judgments are linked to causal attributions about the results, such as whether poor performance is due to one s limited ability or to insufficient effort. Attributions are not automatic outcomes of favourable or unfavourable self-evaluations, but rather depend on cognitive appraisal of extenuating factors (Zimmerman 2000, 22). Self-evaluative and attributional self-judgments are linked closely to two key forms of selfreactions: self-satisfaction and adaptive inferences. Self-satisfaction involves perceptions of satisfaction or dissatisfaction and associated affect regarding one s performance. This is important because people pursue courses of action that result in satisfaction and a positive effect, and avoid those courses that produce dissatisfaction and a negative effect. A person s level of self-satisfaction also depends on the intrinsic value or importance of the task (Zimmerman 2000, 23). Adaptive or defensive inferences are conclusions about how one needs to alter his or her self-regulatory approach during subsequent efforts to learn or perform. Adaptive interferences direct people to new and potentially better forms of performance of selfregulation. Defensive inferences protect the person from future dissatisfaction and aversive affect, but unfortunately they also undermine successful adaptation. These defensive self-reactions include helplessness, procrastination, task avoidance, cognitive disengagement and apathy. These may limit personal growth despite their intended protectiveness (Zimmerman 2000, 23). The meaning of learning strategies and learning skills should not be underestimated. Learning strategies that are meaningful to the learner are usually also affective. It is a teacher s duty to support students to master and use these kinds of strategies in all studying environments: in web-based studies and in more traditional face to face settings. Every teacher hopes that his/her students would apply skills and strategies adopted in one context to new situations. In the light of theories introduced here, it can be said that the transfer of learning skills and learning strategies plays a special role in learners success. Teachers need to support students to become aware of this and guide them towards meaningful and rewarding ways of learning which they themselves can have control over. References: Anderson, Margaret Individual characteristics and Web-based Courses. In Wolfe, C. (ed.) Learning and Teaching on the World Wide Web. Academic Press. Dillinger, Michael L Learning environments: The virtual university and beyond. In Tschang, F. & Senta, T. (eds.) Access to knowledge. New information technologies and the emergence of the virtual university. Elsevier Science. Gardner, Howard. (1993). Frames of mind. The theory of multiple intelligences. (2 nd ed.). London: Fontana Press. Gardner, Howard. (1993). Multiple intelligences. The theory in practice. New York: Basic Books. Pintrich, Paul & Ruohotie, Pekka Conative constructs and self-regulated learning. Research center for vocational education. Hämeenlinna. Zimmerman, Barry J Attaining self-regulation. A social cognitive perspect. In Boekarts, M., Pintrich, P. & Zeidner, M. (eds.) Handbook of self-regulation. Academic Press. IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

13 I LEARNING MOTIVATION Expectations of success Do you trust your ability to succeed in your studies or should you trust yourself more and realize that you can make it? Topics to think about: How well are you trying to succeed in the course you are starting now? How about in general: are you basically satisfied with just passing the courses and doing more work on those courses which you find most interesting? Or is your goal at least to get a good grade in each course? Write your answers to these questions in your learning diary. Why is it important to trust your own abilities? Do you expect to succeed by getting better grades or by increasing your knowledge? They are not always exactly the same thing. Do you usually believe you will succeed in what you do or are you afraid of failing? Try to achieve better results through positive thinking: Try to see yourself as positive and as successful as possible. Create for yourself a positive picture of the future. Unconsciously, individuals live out their self-images. Do not think that you will not succeed. Try to picture your targets in your mind. Imagine positive things about your studies, ways of reading and learning, exams, lecturers and fellow students. You will feel secure and gain the ability to concentrate. (Ringom, Bjørn Opi oppimaan. Helsinki: Innotiimi) IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

14 Self efficacy and self-confidence Do you believe that you succeed in your studies or had you better to believe that you can make it well? Topics to think about: If you want to achieve better grades in your studies now than you achieved earlier, what can you do differently in this course? Write down your plans in your learning diary. Why is it that not everyone manages equally well? Everyone must struggle to learn new things. No one is born a blacksmith. To reach the same result, some may have to struggle more, depending on their level of knowledge and on the effectiveness of their learning strategies. You must believe that you can affect your own results through your own actions. We have some strengths but they can be developed. By studying hard enough anyone can achieve very good results. Students who believe that they can control their own actions and influence their environment often have better study results than students who do not think they can have an effect on such things. Students who believe they can have control over their behaviour and influence their environment usually are also persistent students. IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

15 Performance anxiety Do you become distressed in stressful study situations? You can reduce anxiety by learning to work in a new way. Topics to think about: Plan your schedule so that you have time to do everything you want to do. If you feel that there is not enough time, decide which things are most important in your life at a particular moment. In your learning diary, write your plan about how you are going to act at the beginning of the course so that you do not feel distressed. Do you always put off preparing for an exam and leave assignments to the last minute? Undone work and rescheduling them burn up more energy than doing them. Preparing a study plan and sticking to it reduces anxiety. Time and work management become easier when you are aware of what you must do at a certain time. Sometimes anxiety is attached to the fear of failure and the sense of shame caused by failure. You put off beginning your work so as not to sacrifice time and strength if there is any chance of failing. Failure is much easier to explain to oneself if one has not sacrificed much time and effort in preparation. This is called a defense strategy. Do not be afraid of doing something that could turn out to be a mistake. One mistake can teach you much more than many successful performances. Divide extensive assignments into small parts and try to cope with one part at a time. Advice for exams on the Web: Create a peaceful working environment: Adjust your phones not to ring. Set your alarm clock to ring, for example, 15 minutes before the end of the exam so that you are not disturbed by watching the time. For students with a family: get someone to take care of your children during the exam, and use a terminal in a peaceful place outside your home. IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

16 Some advice to help ease test anxiety: Before the exam Prepare yourself so well for the exam that once you are in the exam situation your concentration is not disturbed by thoughts about what will happen if you do not pass the exam. During the exam, it is useless to exert your brain with unnecessary worrying. Reserve the whole brain capacity to answer the questions in the exam. Eat and drink wholesomely: Four small meals is better than three big ones. Eat lots of roughage, fresh vegetables, berries and fresh fruits. Avoid greasy and heavy meals with meat. Avoid alcohol and products containing lots of sugar. Relax two hours before you go to bed. In other words, do not study until you fall sleep. Arrive in time on the exam day. Choose a place in a peaceful part of the room. Avoid places next to a window or a door. Use the bathroom in time. In the exam situation Things that have a negative influence on concentration are: coffee, tea, chocolate, soft drinks and sweets. Do not take them during an exam or just before an exam. Do not question your knowledge; your attitude is crucial for the final result. A positive exam attitude is important, particularly for an ill-equipped student s success. If you start to become distressed, take a short break and do the following: - Sit upright in a chair with your arms relaxed beside you. - Close your eyes and breath deeply. - Say to yourself several times: I know I can solve the problem. I feel safe and secure. Or do this: - Take an empty piece of paper and do a mind-map of the theme of the assignment. - Do not try to think about the specific assignment text. Think about the theme. - Write down all the associations about the theme that come to your mind. Do not worry even if you feel you have gone beyond the assignment. - After about 10 minutes, read the assignment carefully and try to find an answer. At the beginning of an exam, read through all the assignments before you decide which one you will concentrate on first. Write down key words when reading, but do not go too deeply into the subject at this point. Make a timetable for solving the assignments. Decide which assignment will take the most time and start with the easiest one. Formulate the body of the answer and a mind-map. Plan to get through one unit at a time. Do not think about other assignments or what kind of grade you might get. Write the answer to the assignment: Stay with the theme of the assignment and bring in essential facts. Your answer can be divided into the following parts: introduction, main part and summary or conclusion. Check the answer and make sure that you have completed all the things asked for. If you are uncertain about the correct information, only make changes if you are certain that the change is correct. In most cases the first answer is the right one. After the exam Relax. Do not listen to other students comments about their possible mistakes. Concentrate on the next exam or rest. IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

17 (Ringom, Bjørn Opi oppimaan. Helsinki: Innotiimi) Mind Mapping FAQ What is a mind map? A mind map consists of a central word or concept, around the central word you draw the 5 to 10 main ideas that relate to that word. You then take each of those child words and again draw the 5 to 10 main ideas that relate to each of those words. In this way a large number of related ideas can quickly be produced with virtually no mental effort. The concept of 'writers block' is hard to understand once you have grasped the use of this simple technique! What can you do with a mind map Note taking As a means of note taking Mind Maps have several advantages over other systems: You can place each new idea in the right place, regardless of the order of presentation. It encourages the reduction of each concept to a single word. The resultant mind map can be 'seen' by the eye and memorized by your visual memory which has been shown to be almost perfect. Creative Writing & Report Writing A mind map lets you rapidly produce an almost infinite number of ideas, and at the same time organize them by placing each idea next to what it is related to. This makes a very powerful tool for creative writing or report writing, where it is very important to get down all your ideas first. It is then a trivial matter to read the mind map and write a sentence or paragraph on each 'key word'. Studying the easy way Instead of simply reading a book on some topic, next time try using a mind map while you read. Just draw your central word and then begin reading, every time you read some idea that strikes you as important or interesting, just add it onto your mind map in the appropriate place. When you have finished reading the book you will have a one page Mind Map which summarizes everything of interest in that book. You will probably also have added several things which you thought up yourself during your reading. The act of creating the mind map will have greatly increased how much you absorbed from the book, and if you ever want to review the topic all you need to do is to look at the mind map. If you want to learn the information very solidly then try to redraw the Mind Map from memory a few times. You will find it very easy. Studying as a group (or family) A group of people can work together to produce a single mind map by following these IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

18 steps: 1. Individually draw mind maps on what you already know about the subject. 2. Draw a group mind map combining what you already know. 3. Decide what you need to learn based on this group Mind Map 4. Individually study the material, all covering the same areas for depth of knowledge or all covering different areas for speed as appropriate. Each person completing the mind map by his/her self. 5. Again combine as a group and create a final master group mind map. Families who have started regular weekend study days as a hobby have benefited tremendously. Children typically go from average or below average to second or third from the top in all subjects and the parents also find themselves excelling at work. One Swedish family was besieged by neighborhood children asking if they could join in the fun! Meetings & Think Tanks As soon as you write something up on a white board you have immediately lost the creativity which everyone has. So any creative meeting should always start by people spending a couple of minutes individually mind mapping. Then as a way of running a meeting a master mind map on a white board allows every idea or statement to be recorded and placed in an appropriate place so that it can then be discussed at a sensible time. Also no one feels ignored as all ideas are placed on the mind map. Giving a Talk When giving a talk a set of notes in the form of a single mind map has several advantages over other memory aids: Brief: Only a single page is needed Not reading: As ideas are reduced to single words you will not be 'reading' your speech Flexibility: If someone asks a question you can move instantly to the place on your Mind Map which relates to that question and then return to where you were without loosing yourself in a pile of cards or papers. What can you do with a computer mind map Computer Mind Maps offer several major advances over the original paper mind map. These advantages should combine to make Mind Mapping as popular as it should be: Easy restructuring You can easily restructure your mind map, moving words and trees of words around in seconds. This makes the computer mind map even better for quickly creating new ideas and ordering ideas into a meaningful structure. Highlighting Using the style system you can instantly highlight different features of a complex mind map. E.g. you might make all the 'expensive' options suddenly appear in bright red or all the 'good' ideas appear in bold underlined type. IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

19 Comments Being brief and using single words is the key to a good mind map, but sometimes you need to write sentences of explanation for yourself or others. The computer mind map allows you to do this but to keep the extra information hidden until it is needed. This can also be used for learning information, you should be able to recite the 'comment' information without looking at it, when you can do this you have 'learned' the contents of the mind map and only need the key words to bring it back. Presentation In this day and age it is not really acceptable to present your manager with a crayon drawing of your plans. A computer generated mind map gets past this problem by having the same high quality appearance as any other document. Export With a computer mind map you can instantly export the Mind Map to a plain text file, Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format, a web page, or Powerpoint presentation file. How was it invented Mind Mapping was invented by Tony Buzan following his research into note taking techniques. Note taking Tony Buzan studied the three common techniques for taking notes during a lecture: Writing a complete transcript. Writing a summary. Writing key words only. He then tested each of these and found the following results when testing how much was learned or remembered: Least learned = 1 1. Complete transcript given to student 2. Student writes complete transcript 3. Summary given to student 4. Student writes summary 5. Key words given to student 6. Student writes own key words Most learned = 6 Visual Memory Another seemingly unrelated study on memory was also used in the formation of mind maps. In this study by Ralph Haber 2560 photos were shown to subjects. Then subjects were shown 2560 pairs of photos and asked in each case to say which photo had been in the original group of 2560 and which had not. The success rate at this test averaged between 85% and 95% showing that humans have an almost photographic visual memory. In another study where 10,000 vivid pictures were used a success rate of 99% was recorded. IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

20 Originality If two people all draw mini mind maps around the idea 'shoe'. (A mini mind map is a mind map which only goes one level deep, i.e. it only has words which are directly related to the central idea). If each person comes up with seven related words, how many do you think would be duplicates between the two people? Studies have shown that the average is one word in common, and anything above two is very very unusual. Try this yourself, get a friend to write down the first seven things related to the word "shoe", and do the same yourself, then compare the lists. Result, Mind Maps With these results and other research Tony Buzan came up with a new method for taking notes. His new system was based on the idea of making the notes as brief as possible and also as interesting to the eye as possible. The surprising result was that mind maps can be used in many different ways other than just simple note taking. Reference: Mind Mapping - Basic Rules The rules for producing Mind Maps are very simple and can be adapted to suit your personal preference. Take a piece of paper and draw a rectangle in the centre of the page. Inside the rectangle write the name of the topic that you want to mind map. As each major idea or theme emerges from your brain draw a line radiating from the rectangle. Write the name of the major idea above each line. Don't spend too much time writing neatly or drawing nice straight lines - go for SPEED not NEATNESS. As each idea materialises, quickly check whether the idea is an extension of an existing idea. - If it is, then just continue the line. - If the idea is a variation of an existing idea then draw a branch off of the central line and label it. If the idea is something totally and utterly new, then draw a brand new line from the rectangle in the center of the page. Within a short space of time yout Mind Map will begin to take shape. Don't be too alarmed if it looks as if a spider, with ink on its feet has crawled across the page. Mind Maps are personal records of thought processes and are normally PRIVATE. Once you have finished generating ideas and constructing the Mind Map you can start analysing the information shown on the mind map. Look for linkages - pieces of information at the end of a path that can be linked together in some way. Links can be shown by labelling the common points with letters, figures or by drawing a curve between two points. If the Mind Map is being used as the basis for a talk or for planning purposes, then each major line radiating from the central rectangle could be labelled numerically to show its IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

21 sequence. Reference: To the teacher Start a discussion about tests and performance anxiety in the discussion forum. Two weeks before the course exam ask what worries students may have in regard to the exam coming up. Meaning of studies Do you find your studies quite meaningful or could your study results get better if you would commit yourself better to your studies? Topics to think about: Write down your thoughts about what usually motivates you to study. Did the test result match up with your former picture of yourself being internally or externally motivated? Write down where you think your motivation level is in the motivation trends quadrangle. Is studying important to you? The meaning and importance of studying to a student is generally called learning motivation. Motivation is very often divided into internal and external motivation. If you have a very strong internal motivation: You find it rewarding to learn new things or to become an expert in a particular area. You have insights when reading because your attention is directed by your internal motivation. If you want to develop your internal learning motivation, it pays for you to learn to use diverse learning strategies in studying. More specific information on this will be presented in the learning skills part. If you have strong external motivation: IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki

22 You feel that studies give you some instrumental advantage: e.g., you will get a well-paid job, social status or you will be selected as a member of a particular institution. You can see the value of what you have studied for something practical. High unemployment in a specific study area or a low salary for the job may reduce the external motivation rate. Internal and external motivations are not exclusive of each other. A student might have a weak or strong internal and external motivation. You will get the best study results if both internal and external motivations are high. A student who is only externally motivated generally does not aspire to understand the subject, but hopes to get good results by doing as little work as possible. A student who is only internally motivated may become absorbed in contemplating theories; credits do not accumulate and graduation may be delayed. Figure 3 sketches a quadrangle of motivation trends. A person in the upper right corner has strong internal and external motivations. Those persons whose motivation trends are both weak are placed in the lower left corner. Figure 3. The quadrangle of motivation trends. Weak 1. INTERNAL MOTIVATION Strong Weak 2. EXTERNAL MOTIVATION Strong To the teacher It is difficult to give directions that are internally motivating, regardless of the teaching environment. According to some research, it seems that a Web environment motivates students automatically. The simple reason for this might be that, at its best, the Web environment includes music, sounds, graphics, texts, animations, videos and user-friendly user interface. However, students studying in Web environments become bored by these media elements, and that is why one must always pay attention to motivation, as well as other pedagogical aspects, when teaching on the Web. (Reeves, T. & Reeves P Effective Dimensions of Interactive Learning on the World Wide Web. In B. H. Khan (Ed.), Web-based instruction (pp ). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Education Technology Publications.) Plan how you are going to motivate students during the Web course. IQ FORM Department of Education, University of Helsinki