Dear colleagues:
In the hope of stimulating additional thought, discussion, and dialogue
about effective teaching, I have copied below the syllabus from a short
course on teaching that is offered each Fall semester for new Graduate
Teaching Assistants in the Biological Sciences at KU. This course is
currently required of all new GTAs in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
and is optional for new GTAs in Molecular Biosciences, our sister
department. In Fall 2009, the class size was 16 GTAs, evenly split
between EEB and MB. This course was originally created by EEB Chair Dr.
Chris Haufler, and it has been offered for an number of years; the
requested feedback (*see below*) that I received this past semester was
particularly positive and constructive.
In addition to the McKeachie text mentioned below, I have found value in
reading the following NAS publication as well: /NAS. 1997. Adviser,
teacher, role model, friend: On being a mentor to students in science
and engineering. National Academy Press, 84 p./
Best wishes,
Val Smith
*Undergraduate Biology Teaching Assistants*
* BIOL 701, Seminar in Laboratory Teaching Effectiveness*
*Fall, 2009***
*Coordinator:* Val Smith, Professor, Department of Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology
Office: 6007 Haworth, phone: 864-4565, e-mail: [email protected]
*Purpose:* Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) are essential to
undergraduate teaching in the Biological Sciences. GTAs interact closely
with our students to help them understand and appreciate the science of
Biology through experiments, direct observations, and thoughtful
reflection/integration of ideas: this is "/learning by doing/." Most
undergraduates typically view their professors as impersonal talking
heads who have few direct connections to their lives, education, or
future. In contrast, GTAs are perceived as being much closer to peers,
and in many cases GTAs can be more effective in helping students to form
critically important links between the concepts and facts presented in
course lectures, and the organisms and processes that form the core of
biology.
*Goals: *
· To provide GTAs with a forum for discussing key issues and concerns
about teaching.
· To introduce GTAs to resources, opportunities, and perspectives in
teaching.
· To share experiences, challenges, expectations, and needs about
teaching and students.
· To support and cultivate the best possible teaching experiences for
our undergraduates.
· To help create a culture of sharing and communication about teaching,
rather than maintaining teaching as only a self-directed, individualized
enterprise.
*Mechanisms: *
· We will talk about resources that may be helpful as you engage in
teaching during the year.
· We will consider teaching-related topics drawn from a number of
assigned readings.
· You will hear from experienced professors and experienced GTAs about
their views on teaching, and their recommendations for teaching well.
· Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we will provide opportunities
to share experiences, problems, or concerns that GTAs have, and will
talk about them as a group.
*Philosophy:*
Although this course is required for EEB GTAs, it is YOUR course. Our
desire is to help you do the best job that you can for KU Undergraduate
Biology students. We hope that you will find this course to be a
valuable, enlightening, and enjoyable part of your GTAship at KU.
*Format: ** *
There will be no exams, papers, or other assignments. Your grade,
therefore, will be based entirely upon your attendance and
participation. Unless you have a reasonable excuse, you must attend all
sessions to get full credit. Each participant will also need to have
read and thought seriously about the topics that we will cover during
the semester, to participate actively in class discussions, and to
participate actively in group discussions. *For your only required
deliverable of the semester, please send me by **15 October 2009** your
e-mail answers to these four questions:** * 1. Which classes/topics do
you think were the most successful and enjoyable this semester? Why? 2.
Were there any classes/topics that were unsuccessful and un-enjoyable
this semester? Why? 3. Do you have any suggestions for topics or
experiences that could be used in future iterations of this course? 4.
Was the course length sufficient, or would having more class meetings
and more topics be desirable?
*
*
*Class meetings and topics covered**:*
24 August -- Introduction to the course and to each other. In 2009, we
used this date to discuss the use of the Blackboard educational software
and clickers (an in-class electronic student response system); access to
teaching resources and technology on campus; tips about the content and
construction of syllabi; the critical importance of "*First Day of
Class"* activities; and general lecturing advice.
31 August -- No class meeting in 2009 (VS was out of town). In 2010, we
will have a discussion of what constitutes, and how to deal with,
cheating and plagiarism; we will also cover key topics requested in Fall
2009 student feedback, as well as any other critically important topics
that can be identified.
7 September -- No class meeting (holiday).
14 September -- Discussion of chapter 11 from "Teaching Tips," by
Wilbert J. McKeachie: "Problem Students (There's almost always at least
one!)." (pages 148-160) (11^th edition, Copyright 2002). Undoubtedly,
you will have some challenging students in one or more of your lab
sections. In 2009 we considered the advice in this chapter to help GTAs
develop thoughts for making their classes effective for *all* students.
21 September -- Discussion of chapter 6 from "Teaching Tips," by Wilbert
J. McKeachie: "Assessing, Testing, and Evaluating: Grading is not the
most important function." (pages 70-96) (11^th edition, Copyright 2002).
Nobody likes to receive grades or impose them, but we need to be able to
assess what our students have learned. In 2009 we used this chapter to
address the general topic of tests and testing, grading practices, grade
distributions and curving, and how to make assessments of student
learning a positive experience.
28 September -- A panel discussion with past GTAs, providing insights,
advice, and stories (horror and otherwise) from the laboratory and
classroom in multiple courses from the Biological Sciences curricula,
involving the participation of experienced graduate students from both
MB and EEB. In 2009 we had a panel of 4 graduate students with past
teaching experience.
6 October -- Learning about teaching from the best: advice from, and
discussions with, a panel of two outstanding faculty teachers from each
of EEB and MB. In 2009, both faculty members were award-winning
teachers at KU.
Val H. Smith
Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045 USA
785-864-4565
FAX: 785-864-5321
e-mail: [email protected]
On 1/26/2010 2:07 AM, Wayne Tyson wrote:
Hi Y'all!
It IS admirable that a "thread" about learning and teaching styles has
persisted so long. From all the comments, the drift I get is that
there is a diversity of method, a diversity of opinion about whether
or not the good ol' days (whenever they were) are as good as the
current state of the art, and whether or not students are of a
deserving mind or unworthy, but not much in the way of conclusions or
agreement about where the future (aka the cutting edge) is or should be.
I suspect that most teachers will go on being pretty much as they
are--some sloggers, some dedicated, and students will continue to
vary from the bored to the enthused, from the rich to the poor, from
the mediocre to the exceptional. What I have no inkling of is in what
proportions they will do so. Where are the long-term data, assembled
into a summary that will knock their eyeballs out on a PowerPoint(R)
frame? What else do we need to know to "set" education policy for the
rest of what's left of the 21st century?
Jon Stewart, perhaps today's greatest philosopher-without-portfolio,
has just (2010 Jan 25) told Bill Gates that "education is the most
intractable" [institution], and Gates responded with profundities
about magnet schools and measuring teachers. O mah lawd! Thar is a
gawd! I think he should change is name to "Pearly." Or can we rest
assured that advanced technology (aka control by oligarchy) will save
us from our unanointed ways?
Let's face it--any true challenge to any entrenched habit always will
be firmly resisted. Certainly, merely challenging authority does not
mean that the challenger is right, but it sure doesn't prove that any
challenger is wrong. Posts, for example, to this or any other
equivalent of the village kiosk, that are strongly unfamiliar or
"excessively" challenging are the most likely to be ignored or
banished. But I must say that there are more open and active minds on
this list than any other one that I know of. (In the Renaissance,
critics had to creep about in the dark of night to leave uncomfortably
critical notes and piles of excrement in village squares in protest of
the status quo. Let us preserve the tradition if not the symbolism.)
So let us hear more from those lurkers out there, and let us hear more
strong challenges to control-obsessed hierarchies. Let us hear from
the minorities, the ones who are silent because they know their
minority challenges will be resisted. Man up and woman up! Step
forward and invigorate the discussion about the cutting edge of what
may be the most important (and ironically the most vulnerable) work in
the world, facilitating and accelerating learning.
The job is getting done, but is that more true because of the
institutional framework or in spite of it?
WT
PS: And let's be grateful to David for giving 10,000-plus subscribers
the most accessible listserv on the Internet!
"'Tis friction's brisk, rough rub that provides the vital spark!"
--Alexander Reid Martin
----- Original Message ----- From: "Amanda Arner" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 6:01 PM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] decline in education, comment on active learning
Hi all!
Long time reader, first time poster. I find it absolutely
admirable that a thread about learning and teaching styles has
made it this long! I work in a natural history museum as an
informal science educator, and my personal goal for my
professional career is to basically take all of the information
all of you have portrayed and make it available to everyone else.
Too many lecturers and professors miss the importance of "active
learning", while too many enthusiastic graduate assistants miss
the importance of a great lecture. As a student, I thoroughly
enjoyed the lectures that were informative and explanatory via
conversation-esque methods, with PowerPoint being used as a guide
and visual aide, not as a catch-all for notes. I use this sort of
lecture-style with the classes I teach, and it truly does work for
all age levels. Involving students in your lecture can often
times be enough active learning. Of course, it always helps to
know your audience. A room of upper level honor students will
always be fully engaged and do the prereading, while a room of
pre-med students just want to know what they need to memorize for
the test. I think the most important part is being able to convey
your enthusiasm and interest in the topic; if it's interesting to
you, and you're excited about it, then it's got to be at least a
little bit interesting, right? I had a physics teacher once who
got so excited about formulas that she would jump up and down. I
really hated the subject, but I felt compelled to learn the
information because if she was excited about it, then hey, why
couldn't I be?
In short, keep talking about what works and what doesn't....
because in the end, that's the only way we educators are ever
going to learn!
Thanks for reading!
Amanda Arner
Florida Museum of Natural History
[email protected]
