Jeet. INNOVATION ABSTRACTS. xo. 10

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‘a CAN Published by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development
With support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation

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THE INSTRUCTIONAL SKILLS WORKSHOP: A MECHANISM FOR
INSTRUCTIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RENEWAL

The Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) is an intensive four-day workshop conducted by community
college instructors for community college instructors. Normally conducted during four consecutive six-hour
days, each workshop can accommodate from four to eight participants and is usually co-facilitated by two
previously trained college instructors.

Day 1 of the workshop has two goals: One—to start developing a trusting, helping atmosphere through
introductions, a get acquainted exercise and modelling of the giving and receiving of feedback; Two—to lead
the participants through the planning of a ten-minute mini-lesson that they may choose to give on Day 2.

On Days 2, 3 and 4, the instructors teach one another. On each of these days, each participant conducts
a ten-minute mini-lesson and acts as a learner while the other participants give their mini-lessons. The
mini-lessons are videotaped, either by one of the workshop facilitators or by one of the participants. The
instructor receives immediate feedback for 20 minutes following her/his mini-lesson. The first seven minutes
of the 20-minute feedback segment is for reflective writing on guided feedback forms. During the next 13
minutes, the learners share their experiences in the mini-lesson with the instructor. The feedback session
focuses on three questions:

1. What did the instructor do to help you learn?
2. What did the instructor do, if anything, to hinder your learning?
3. What suggestions do you have for more effective instruction?

THE MINI-LESSON CYCLE

Set-up for Mini-Lesson 10 minutes

Mini-Lesson 10 minutes
Written Feedback 7 minutes
Feedback Discussion 13 minutes
TOTAL 40 MINUTES

The Mini-Lesson

Each participant prepares and delivers three ten-minute mini-lessons during the workshop. Mini-lessons
should deal with topics that will provide new learning for the mini-lesson learners and be a complete
instructional segment. The instructors should not ask their learners to play a role (i.e., imagine that you are
in the third month of a class dealing with quantum mechanics).

The mini-lessons are constructed around five lesson basics:

1. The bridge in—explains the value of the lesson to the learner: what's in it for him/her?
2. The objective—what must the learner do? under what conditions? how well?

3. The pre-test—a test determines if the learner can already accomplish the objective.

4. Participatory learning—the learner learns as actively as possible.

5. The post-test—the final test determines if the learner has indeed learned.

It is a real challenge to fit the five lesson basics within the ten minutes allotted for instruction. The onus
is on the instructor to critically edit the lesson plan. It is not uncommon for instructors to labour for three
hours in the preparation of a ten-minute mini-lesson—while those same instructors can prepare a 50-minute
class in about an hour!

Why limit the mini-lesson to ten minutes? After all, classes are normally at least 50 minutes. The ten-
minute time limit forces strict editing and concise planning. Also, there is more than sufficient data

 

‘ : J} Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712