TILTing my perspective (guest post by Kayla Davidson)

Kayla Davidson is a Teaching and Learning (T&L) Librarian at Eastern Kentucky University. She is the library liaison to the College of Business and the Department of History. Prior to her position in T&L, Kayla worked in the Learning Resources Center at EKU Libraries. She received her BA in History Teaching from EKU, her MSLS from the University of Kentucky, and is finishing up an MS in Instructional Design and Learning Technologies, also from EKU. In her spare time she works on the family farm, cooks and bakes, does all things crafty, and attempts to keep up with a toddler.  

Recently, I completed a semester-long professional development course offered through my campus faculty development program that was focused on the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) method created and popularized by Mary Ann Winkelmes (tilthighered.com). This professional development was helpful and eye-opening, mainly for the huge impact TILT can have on teaching and learning with small, manageable, low stakes changes. In just a couple of semesters, this philosophy has helped to shape my teaching and my approach to all things learning for the better. 

What is TILT?

TILT focuses on making teaching and learning transparent to the learner. It prompts the instructor to ensure all aspects of their teaching are purposeful, align with their goals, and that these goals and connections are made transparent to the students. Using the TILT methods helps students to understand the why and how behind not only the content they are learning, but the way the content is presented and any activities and lessons the learner completes. The goal of TILT is to reduce inequalities in higher ed and create more equitable teaching and learning by helping students become more conscious of how they learn.  I won’t go into the specifics of applying TILT in this post: check out the Transparency in Learning and Teaching Project for more information and examples of TILTed lessons and assignments. I want instead to focus on how using TILT has made me a more thoughtful teacher, a better planner, and a more conscientious colleague. 

Benefits of TILTing My Teaching

One of my biggest struggles in teaching was in balancing quality vs. quantity. As the majority of my library instruction is in the form of one-shots, I felt like I had to tell the students all of the things they would ever need to know in fifty minutes (an hour and fifteen minutes if I was lucky). Long story short, I don’t need to do that, and it actually made my instruction less effective. There is only so much information anyone can retain in working memory, and many students are already in unfamiliar territory when they come in for library instruction. By using TILT to reexamine lesson plans, I could focus on what the students actually needed to know and why they needed to know it. I was able to slow down and pare down my lessons, so that students had more quality information and a deeper understanding. They didn’t need me to spout off a list of every database I could think of; they needed to understand the process of searching and how to evaluate what they found. This “tilt” in my perspective on teaching allowed the students to experience deep learning and internalize the information. For me, one of the most fulfilling aspects of making teaching transparent is the reduction in glazed eyes and back-row snoozing. Students know why I’m standing in front of them talking, why I am asking them to participate in activities, and how this session is going to help them, both in their class and (most importantly) making connections to the rest of their college experience and their future careers. When students can see the benefits of the instruction both to their current grade and to impressing a future employer, they become more invested. Triple win: I improve my teaching, the students improve their learning, and transferable employability skills are cemented. 

TILT has been great in streamlining another aspect of my instruction life. In addition to Business, I also liaise to History, and these academic worlds are rather different from one another. The students in each discipline need to know different strategies for searching and evaluating, and each has a unique language and jargon. (Example: “primary source” is a whole different ball game from business to history!) It is a kind of code switching from one discipline to another, and using TILT has helped me to focus on what each needs. What do I need students in this discipline to know? How do I need to present the material for best understanding to this group? The research completed by business students tends to be more data focused, and needs more current information and more focus on evaluating what is found for bias, whereas history students need more of a focus on search strategies and how to manipulate keywords and databases to find information. I need to have my lessons transparent for my own sake, and if I need more transparency, then so do the students. The history students need to know why I am recommending certain databases and demonstrating how to manipulate them, and that these searching skills will carry over into historical research as grad students/doctoral candidates/ working professionals. By the same token, the business students need to know why I am not necessarily showing them a ton of databases, but focusing on searching skills and heavily focusing on evaluating information. 

Having these transparent lessons will help not only current and future me, and my students, but will serve as a great guide should I ever need a substitute instructor. There is very little to decode in a TILTed lesson, making it easier for a colleague to drive into unfamiliar waters. One day, I may move on from this role, and having intentional and transparent lessons is a gift I can leave for the next liaison. 

The best part of TILT? It emphasizes small, meaningful changes over radically upending the way you teach. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel or start from scratch. Take the lessons you already have, and then make changes over time. You can do one lesson at a time, or even one portion of a lesson at a time. It will be an upfront time investment, but with more transparent lessons you will save time and stress in the long run. Teaching will be easier, reflection will be easier, and future prep will be easier. If students better understand their learning and are more engaged in a lesson, they will have less trouble, and you will have less re-teaching. 

Thoughts Moving Forward

TILT has been immeasurably helpful to myself and my colleagues. We tell others about it at every opportunity. I feel better prepared as I walk into a classroom, have any easier time identifying areas for growth in post-teaching reflections, and am seeing significant gains in student learning from the interactions I have with them. I haven’t TILTed all of my lesson plans; it is a project for this summer. As many of us are winding towards the end of instruction for the semester, it’s a great time to pull out those lesson plans, sit down with a nice snack, and do some TILTing. Have you used the TILT method in planning lessons and/or activities? How have you used it, and what benefits have you seen (or not)? Do you plan on trying TILT now? Please share in the comments!!!