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Thriving in Academe
Best Practices

Using Kolb for Improved Learning and Teaching

Create Deep Learning Assignments
Is a typical assignment in your class “Read chapter 12?” If so, you can create deep learning assignments by working the concept, skill or procedure around the four poles of the Kolb LSI and through the four questions that are important to each quadrant. For example, the assignment to write a story might become: Why is the topic important? What are the facts you have to master to write the story? What are the parameters of the story—does it cover a day, a week, or a decade? What will your story look like when you are done—will it be a historical drama, a mystery, or a postmodernist tale? Before you begin writing, sketch out questions you have about the characters, emotions they might experience, life questions they may be pondering, and a basic outline. Hand these in with your story, which can be up to 10 pages long.

Assessing Teachers’ Integration of All Learning Styles
Many of us are required to observe our peers for teacher assessment. The Kolb LSI can serve as a format to guide observers. For example, if a teacher is simply lecturing, does the lecture contain rhetorical questions, clear outlines, time for student reflection through one-minute papers, and visual, real life, or aesthetic support in the form of photos, colors, or references to students’ experiences? If the teacher is leading a discussion, does the discussion address why the topic is important, what the facts are that students need to know, and provide an acceptance of doubters or rejecters and an opportunity for each student to participate or perform?

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