Team Teaching, Humor, and Informal Polling Techniques in NECDMC - Based Research Data Management Workshops at Brandeis University

Abstract

Objective: This poster will detail a few pedagogical techniques incorporated into a series of workshops on research data management. These techniques were chosen to better engage workshop participants by making the material more individually relevant and relatable. Methods: For the second semester in which workshops on research data management (derived from the NECDMC modules) were offered through the Brandeis University Library & Technology Services department, the librarian sought to make the sessions more engaging through several pedagogical techniques. A team teaching approach was employed by inviting senior members of the Technology Help Desk and Hardware Repair Shop to collaborate on and co-teach the workshops. Humor was employed strategically through icons, disaster stories, and select xkcd webcomic strips within the lecture and slides. Informal polling and direct encouragement to share personal anecdotes during the workshop sessions promoted active engagement. Results: Workshop participants were visibly more engaged, asked a greater number of questions, and questions were more directly relevant to the presented material than participants of the first semester's workshops, before these pedagogical techniques were employed. Conclusions: Active and engaged learning techniques are difficult to employ in what are essentially one-shot hour-long instruction sessions, particularly when participants are largely unfamiliar with the material at hand. But by integrating some techniques to capture the interest and encourage participants to make connections to their own experiences we observed a deeper understanding and appreciation of the material.