Author Joan Middendorf to discuss enhancing student learning

The Teaching Academy and Center for Instructional Excellence are hosting a series of workshops with author Joan Middendorf, who with faculty colleagues developed the “Decoding the Disciplines” approach to enhance student learning.

Through a carefully constructed process, faculty identify significant challenges in their classes, and make explicit the tacit knowledge and expert processes. Over the past two decades, scholars around the world have adopted this approach to teaching, resulting in enhanced student learning, as well as numerous scholarly and research projects.

Middendorf will lead four workshops on Monday and Tuesday (April 30 and May 1). Faculty, staff, and students are invited to attend any one or all of the workshops to explore different angles of the decoding process, as well as inclusive teaching. Familiarity with the process or the related book, "Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks," is not required.

The workshops -- all in Wilmeth Active Learning Center, Room B093 -- are:

Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks -- 9-11 a.m. April 30
Workshop attendees will apply an interview protocol to advance joint conversations to deepen student learning. They will use analogies to make the study of the discipline more accessible, and rethink and strategize course experiences.

Bottlenecks in Our Work – 2-3:30 p.m. April 30
Participants will explore bottlenecks in their work. They will talk with Middendorf about the easier and more difficult aspects of decoding, the differences between decoding and threshold concepts, how the theory can generate new teaching methods.

The Models and Disciplinary Differences Across Our Fields – 10-11:30 a.m. May 1
To consider the underpinning intellectual moves of disciplines, this workshop will look at the models used in our fields. What do the models look like? Attendees will compare the mental moves across several courses and discuss the differences. Finally, attendees will discuss where the students struggle to learn in our fields.

Inclusive Teaching -- 3-4:30 p.m. May 1
Participants will explore how they can create atmospheres that promote effort and persistence to motivate students through communicating the development of skills and abilities required to succeed. They also will explore how to make educational use of offensive comments, rather than shutting down conversation.

Registration and detailed descriptions can be found at https://www.purdue.edu/cie/events/decoding/index.html.

For more information, contact Dan Guberman at dguberma@purdue.edu.