Abstract:

The Spectrum of Teaching Styles (Spectrum) equips teachers with the fundamental knowledge for developing a repertoire of instructional behaviors that embrace the objectives needed to educate students. It is comprised of 11 landmark styles (styles A-K), five within the reproduction cluster where learners reproduce modeled tasks and six within the production cluster where learners discover new knowledge, with each style meeting a unique set of teacher and learner decisions and subsequent educational objectives. In style A (command) the teacher is the primary decision maker while in style K (self-teaching) the learner is the primary decision-maker. Decision-making responsibility shifts from the teacher to the learner in a progressive manner from style A through style K. The Spectrum Institute for Teaching and Learning has created the first Spectrum educational curriculum (MOOC) to offer interested teachers and coaches an opportunity to learn about the 11 teaching styles. It is comprised of 13 modules, one module that introduces the Spectrum, a series of 11 modules that present each landmark teaching style separately, and one module to close/summarize the Spectrum. Each of the modules is composed of a series of sequenced educational activities structured in four parts, PART 1, Warm-up – ENGAGE to trigger motivation to explore, Part 2, Illustration – INTRODUCE to help form a preliminary image, Part 3, Specialization – LEARN the details to expand knowledge, and Part 4, Evaluation – CHECK to examine understanding, all of which lead to WISE teaching and WISE learning. These activities include readings, powerpoint presentations, video recordings of real-life classroom examples of each style, reflection activities, and quizzes.  The Spectrum MOOC (https://spectrumofteachingstyles.online/) is available to individual learners as well as university faculty who wish to incorporate the modules in courses taught. In this presentation a sampling of the educational activities delivered within each module will be presented and discussed.

Keywords:

MOOC, Spectrum, teachers.