It had been about six years since Professor of Education Patricia Pulver taught EDU 355: Educational Psychology—a requirement for all education majors—when she picked it back up in the 2007 spring semester.

Pulver, who served as associate vice president of academic affairs and director of graduate education before returning to the faculty, discovered that things had changed.  

“The ‘stand and deliver’ method wasn’t working anymore,” said Pulver. “The responsibility for learning should be shared.”

So, she spent the summer revising the course format and utilizing educational technology made possible by the Title III grant the College received in 2005.

This semester, Pulver implemented the changes.

“The class is very informal; we sit in a circle,” said Pulver. “I do very little to no lecturing. I know what I want to get accomplished, but have let go of a lot of control. The whole class discusses the chapter and works together to make sense of the text.”

She also uses Moodle, “a course management system that offers an online component to the class.

“I post the assignments for each week on Moodle,” said Pulver. “I also post weekly journal questions that the students answer individually. I’m the only one who can see their responses since that’s the way I have it set up. I like it because I can immediately read what they have written and they can get my feedback—and their grade—just as quickly.

The class is using Wiki, software that allows users to create and edit Web page content, to create their own Wikipedia of sorts.

“We are using Wiki to post information about learning theories in which the students have been assigned to become ‘experts,’” said Pulver. “This isn’t something for which they get ‘points;’ it’s a place for their classmates to access what they’ve found. The learning community that has developed is beyond my wildest imagination.”

As the ‘experts,’ the students are also responsible for presenting the information in class. Presentations have taken many forms.

“They have performed skits and done role playing, held debates, designed crossword puzzles and study sheets, made movies and YouTube [videos],” said Pulver. “I’ve been very pleased with their creativity and commitment to helping each other understand.”

Since the majority of the students taking the course are juniors and seniors, chances are they’ve learned some of the information Pulver teaches from previous psychology courses.

“What I want them to determine is why [the information] is important for a teacher to know,” said Pulver.

And the teacher is setting an example of what to do should her students find themselves unhappy with the way a particular class is going: change it up.  

“I’m enjoying the class a lot more know,” said Pulver. “Letting go has been hard, but watching them make connections during class discussions [has been rewarding]. I don’t have a hands-off approach; I’m there to let them know if they miss a piece and how that piece is connected to the other pieces.”

 The students are enjoying the class format as well.

“One of the nice aspects of Dr. Pulver using Moodle in our Educational Psychology class is that I am able to receive feedback on the assignments I submit using Moodle,” said Jessica Hazzard, a senior unified childhood/special education major from Fort Plain. “She is able to write us notes on things she liked, where we may need improvement and so on.

“I also like the fact that I have a chance to upload my assignments but still have time to edit them as long as the deadline has not expired,” added Hazzard. “There are many pros to using Moodle in the college classroom and Dr. Pulver does a great job of incorporating this form of technology into her curriculum.”

-- Tanya Cornell-Kestler