ASSIGNMENTS

SPECIALIZEDAREA: HIGHER EDUCATION

MES-102: INSTRUCTION IN HIGHER EDUCATION

a) Explain how a teacher at higher education level can enhance the effectiveness of his/her
lecturing skills. (500 words)

b) Differentiate between cognitive and non-cognitive learning outcomes. Discuss how these
learning outcomes can be assessed. (500 words)

c) Identify a topic of your choice from undergraduate level. Prepare a topic plan on the same
topic. (500 words)

Answers

a) Explain how a teacher at higher education level can enhance the effectiveness of his/her
lecturing skills.

Ans.: Teaching is an act on the part of teacher which intends to bring about change in the
learner. This act exerts influence on the learner and thus modifies hislher behaviour.
Teaching is a variety of actions performed by a teacher with a view to bring positive and
tangible behaviour in students and thus achieve educational objectives.

A lecturer requires skills in imparting them. One can acquire these skills only through
practice. Along with these skills a lot more general skills are required for delivering a lecture.
Some of these skills are discussed below:

Maintain eye and ear contact: Focus on your students as if you were talking to a small
group. One-to-one eye contact will increase students' attentiveness and help you observe their
facial expressions and physical movements for signs that you are speaking too slowly or too
quickly, or need to provide an explanation or. an example. Similarly, maintaining ear contact
is to be able to listen to the sounds made by the students. Especially when students are not
sure about the correctness of their answer, a lecturer who maintains ear contact with the class
is able to hear the murmured answer of a student. A common mistake that lecturers make is to
become so absorbed in the material that they fail to notice whether students are paying
attention or not.

Use movements to hold attenton: A moving object is more compelling than static one.
Occasionally, move about the room as you lecture. Movement also enables a lecturer to vary
the distance between self and a student. Moving towards a student (proximity) shows an
interest in the student and hence is useful in encouraging a student who is answering to a
question. Moving away indicates a disinterest. Proximity could also be used for controlling

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an undesirable behavior in one or a group of students from developing into a larger problem
of classroom management.

Use of body language: A stiff and poker faced teacher will be able to achieve only fewer
output specifications in his students, than one who uses his arms, eyes, facial muscles, etc., to
convey ideas and feelings. Conveying ideas and feelings through the use of gestures, hands,
eyes, etc., is called body language. While executing any activity related to the lecture, body
language can be used to a great extent. But, overdoing -, it may distract the attention of the
students. An example of body language in terms of using the hands is hitting one palm
against the other in the form of a chop, in order to emphasize a point during the delivery of
your lecture. Similarly, this could also be used for extra instructional purposes. For example,
when you spot a trouble maker in the last row of a class of 100, you need to communicate to
him that he has been spotted by you. At the same time, you do not want the whole class to
know about it for fear that it would come in the way of the smooth delivery of the lecture.

Incorporate anecdotes and stories into your lecture: When you are in a narrative or story
telling mode, your voice becomes conversational and your face more expressive, and students
tend to listen more closely. Use anecdotes to illustrate your key points/issues.

Use of Communication boosters: In addition to the body language one can use a variety of
other activities to boost communication, like humour, visual aids like photographs and
cartoons, and thoughtprovoking questions. Inviting probable hypotheses on a problem that
has emerged could also act as a communication booster because it focuses the attention of the
students and demands cognitive participation. Communication boosters become essential for
various reasons.

Varying the stimulus: The purpose of varying the stimulus is more or less similar to that of
including communication boosters in your lecture. Though teacher talk is the predominant
stimulus by.using body language, communication boosters and a variety of teaching aids
including the presenting of the stimulus through hardware. The shiftfrom one' stimulus to
another smoothly during the delivery of a single lecture, isa skill. It needs deliberate planning
and practice on the teacher's part to sharpen his .skills. This can be incorporated into your
regular teaching by making deliberate attempts to plan a variety of activities and 'getting the
students' feedback on the appeal of the various stimuli to them, and their effectiveness from
the point of view of the .learners.

b) Differentiate between cognitive and non-cognitive learning outcomes. Discuss how

Ans.:

According to Benjamin Bloom, the learning outcomes are classified under three domains viz.,
cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Also, learning under each of the three domains is
viewed as hierarchical in nature. The word cognitive is derived from the Latin term 'cogito',

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which means ' I think'. It refers to the intellectual functioning of an individual. As you know,
the human brain is capable of structuring, perceiving patterns, recalling associations, creating
patterns, etc. Cognition involves mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and
reasoning. Specifically stated, the cognitive domain involves working with and processing
facts, procedures, concepts, generalisations and other universals that are used in the
intellectual functioning of an individual. The affective domain is concerned with the manner
in which we deal with things emotionally - our feelings, appreciation, enthusiasm,
motivations, beliefs, attitudes and values. Whereas, the psychomotor domain deals with
physical movement, coordination, and use of motor skills necessary in performing an activity,
task or job.

Cognitive skills are known as formal knowledge, and are the tangible goal of the educational
process. Among the numerous definitions available, Researches define cognitive skills as the
individual capacities to “logically combine, analyze, interpret and apply informational
symbols”. These capacities are stimulated throughout the learning process of the individual,
channeled in schooling and influenced by teaching, curriculum and institutions determining
them.

Traditionally, variables that represent cognitive skills are educational attainment and test
scores. Test scores evaluate curriculum contents and knowledge on certain subjects. They
have been used as the gold standard to characterize educational performance and quality of
schooling. “Scientific” testing goes back one century (testing goes back hundreds of years),
and this history of study is long and deep. Additional cognitive variables or educational
outcomes are comprehension, reading speed, school attainment and graduation or dropout
rates24. The majority of these variables are directly quantifiable. On other occasions, a proxy
can be used to measure them, despite certain difficulties such as measurement errors that
need to be acknowledged.

Non-cognitive skills

Beyond the site where the transmission and acquisition of knowledge and formal conceptual
understanding is facilitated, school is broadly seen as the primary institution for socialization
of individuals. The process of becoming a socialized agent embeds ingredients that are not
represented or that are not directly represented- by cognitive skills or formal conceptual

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understanding. Although sometimes this division is difficult to make, we generally call these
skills non-cognitive skills.

Following are the commonly used techniques:

2. Achievement Tests.

3. Aptitude Tests

4. Personality Test.

5. Test of attitude and behaviour

6. Rating scales.

7. Questionnaires and checklists.

8. Interview.

9. Projected techniques.

While using the variety of evaluation techniques at cognitive and non-cognitive abilities
of the learner, the teacher must remember that:
(a) The choice of the tool depends on the types of ability of the learner sought.

(b) The information secured through informal devices, is as important as that obtained by the
use of formal written tests.

We know that objective is different from another. Each objective implies several behavioural
changes in relation to the different abilities of the learner. Evaluation is an integral part of the
teaching-learning process. New concept of evaluation is likely to have far-reaching changes
in our instructional concepts and methodology.

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c) Identify a topic of your choice from undergraduate level. Prepare a topic plan on the
same topic.

Ans.: Selecting a topic for your dissertation is not easy and is often not the most fun task, but
it is extremely important to choose a current and relevant topic. A well-chosen topic ensures
that you can more easily write a qualitatively good dissertation. This also makes the writing
process more pleasant for you.

Steps in choosing your dissertation topic

Step 1: Check what requirements your study places on the dissertation. Do you have to select
from a list of topics or may you make your own choice? And do you have to meet any special
terms or conditions?

Step 2: Decide what type of research you want to do. Do you just want to compare existing
literature or do you want to carry out practical research yourself, for example, in the form of
field research or experimental research? Do you want to make use of existing data or do you
want to collect the data yourself?

Step 3: Select a global research discipline. Make sure you realize that for some research
disciplines there is more information available than for others.

Step 4: Within your global research discipline, look for current articles and papers. Each field
has a number of top journals and trade or professional journals. At the least, always make
sure that a couple of articles from these top journals have common issues with your area of
research.

Step 5: Select a minor detail or characteristic within your research discipline. Can you
explain your topic in a few words?

Step 6: Make a Top 3 list of topics.

Step 7: Show your shortlist to your classmates. If they are enthusiastic about a topic, then
you know that you have a good one.

Step 8: From the three topics, select the one that you have the best feeling about.

When we plan for a unit, we general ly plan for sub-units which are in that unit. A unit plan
has five sections, namely, introduction, objectives, contents, hints for teachers and evaluation.

Sample of a Unit Plan Overview of the theme of the

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3. Class/Target Group Students of PG Diploma in
Higher Education
4. Entry Behaviour of Students Students know the concept of
instructional inputs. They
carry on transaction of
learning experiences with the
help of such instructional
inputs.
5. Major objectives of the Unit 1) Students will be able to
know the meaning of the
teacher-controlled
instructional input
alternatives.

2) Studehts will be to
understand the significance
of varius kinds of teacher
controlled input lternatives
such as: lecture,
demonstration and team
teaching in the instructional
process at higher education
level.
6. Overview of the theme of the unit Teacher-controlled input
alternatives refer to those
instructional inputs in which
the degree of control of the
instructional environment by
the teacher is more in
comparison to that of the
learner. The popular teacher
controlled instructional
inputs are lecture,
demonstration, team
teaching, etc.