I am pleased to report on a research study currently appearing in College Teaching,* Volume 58, No 1, Jan to March, 2010. College Teaching is a unique, cross-disciplinary journal that focuses on how teachers can improve student learning. The journal focuses on strategies for successful teaching. Authors of the research, Joan M. Nicoll-Senft and Susan Seider report on a study that was in response to Central Connecticut State University’s Center for Teaching Excellence and Leadership Development to participate in a “Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.”

Six university faculty members in diverse disciplines implemented the 4MAT Model in their respective classes during the fall semester of 2007. The disciplines were Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Professional Studies, Engineering and Technology. The students involved numbered 165.  90% were from the state of Connecticut, 80% commuted, 15% were minority. Each faculty member chose a course he or she had taught and redesigned it using the 4MAT Model.

The Study
The professors in this study had substantial successful teaching experience in higher education. They participated in Basic 4MAT training. Their learning styles were assessed and each was paired with another faculty member to provide feedback during the project. They created their assigned courses using the 4MAT instructional design. All six met on a monthly basis to plan, share and trouble shoot.

Data gathered:  
There were four sources: (1) A Likert scale survey for students asking for their comparisons with similar courses. (2) A faculty impressions Likert scale survey.
(3) Focus group interviews conducted by a faculty member familiar with 4MAT but not in the research project and (4) anecdotal student learning results.  
(The authors admit, and the six professors concur, that student learning results need to be measured in further research.)

Results:
The article renders an extensive description of results regarding each of the six professors: their learning styles, their preferred teaching styles and any changes that occurred in their preferred teaching methods during the project. There are also descriptions of the parts of the 4MAT design that were difficult for each of them and how they dealt with those design issues. These descriptions are fascinating, couched as they are in each faculty member’s own learning and teaching preferences.

All four 4MAT learning styles were represented in the persons of the six professors. The 4MAT Style Inventory revealed that all taught in their favorite learning preferences. A four-point, post-then-pre Likert scale survey was used to assess faculty impressions of their greatest growth as a result of the project.
There were six items. It was personally rewarding for me to see included in the faculty growth items was the improvement of their ability to create meaningful student learning experiences, and their understanding of diverse approaches to teaching and learning.

The difficulties they encountered in using the 4MAT Model of instructional design were directly related to the own preferred learning and teaching styles as well as the unique nature of each course.

Here is one example of many given:
A faculty member reported that the required Quadrant One, Right Mode activity (an experiential happening that captures the key concept of the content engaging the students emotionally) would come across as “fluff.” In other words, she was worried that the Connect activity would not be valued by the students. However she went forward. She was gratified to discover her fear was unfounded. She got positive student reactions at the end of each of her class sessions. When some of her students asked if she would continue with the same instructional design into the Spring semester, she asked why they would want to know that. The students replied, “because we really like the way you get us into the learning at the beginning of each class, and we look forward to how you will do this differently next time.”

Another professor worried that the sequence of 4MAT activities took more time than just her lecturing. At the end of one lecture she designed a Quadrant three, Left-Mode practice activity by asking students to select one image from a variety she presented to metaphorically symbolize the concept core of the lecture. As she progressed through the project she decided to continue using multiple verbal and nonverbal strategies and techniques because of her students’ positive reactions.

The Project End Focus Group discussed six questions:

    1.    Whether their thinking about teaching had changed as a result of implementing the
  4MAT Project and if so how?
    1.    What types of pedagogical techniques they had implemented that were different?
    2.    What parts of the 4MAT Instructional Model stood out in terms of fostering student learning?
    3.    How they had developed activities to anchor course concepts?
    4.    How they had viewed their students as a result of using the model?
    5.    How they had assessed the impact of 4MAT design in terms of knowledge and dispositions for themselves and their students?

Discussion: Difficulties and Positives

Difficulties
Finding time to be trained in 4MAT,
Rethinking how to teach course concepts using 4MAT,
Meeting with colleagues for sharing and critiquing,
Finding appropriate activities and materials to implement the opening experiential “Connect” elements of 4MAT and
Reflecting on on the impact of expanding their own well-entrenched thought processes.

Positives

The article states that “Faculty participants stressed that 4MAT served as a reminder to them that students should be able to use their knowledge and skills in the real world, to think in new and different ways and especially to recognize that their 4MAT instructional experiences were practice for real life. Finally there was consensus that faculty who engaged in future 4MAT work and research needed to carefully pre-identify those areas they felt were most key to assess in terms of impact on student learning results.”

This blog will report research on the impact of 4MAT as it becomes available as we need to improve our understanding of how the natural cycle of learning represented by the model works in any and all areas of teaching and training. 

* College Teaching focuses on articles on classroom research, student assessment, diversity, student-centered instruction, and accountability.  The journal brings inspiration to teachers and administrators determined to enliven the teaching/learning process, Quarterly; ISSN 8756-755

This link will take  you to the article abstract with instructions as to how to purchase the article.
http://heldref.metapress.com/app/home/issue.asp?referrer=parent&backto=journal,1,52;linkingpublicationresults,1:119919