TIPSters: Thanks to all who posted responses to my query about philosophies of teaching intro psych. I am pleased, actually, to see that different instructors of intro do different things during class times and have multiple views about the use (or misuse) of technology in the classroom. What I've learned from the discussion is that just as there is no one way to learn, there is no one way to teach (insert a "duh..." response here -- I can only say that having not taught for the past 4 yrs., some aspects of teaching have to be rediscovered). The discussions on the philosophy of teaching, and on what is important to have students come away with from an intro class, makes me all the more excited about teaching introductory psych this fall. But now I have a different question. The department that I'll be joining in the fall (Whitman College) is considering, among other things, having introductory psychology courses be taught by multiple instructors throughout the semester, rather than just one. With the multiple-instructor approach, the resident social psychologist would be the instructor for the section on social psychology, the clinical psychologist would lecture on the abnormal psych bits, etc. This is similar to the intro classes that I've observed here at Stanford -- resident experts deliver an introductory lecture on those aspects of the field that they know best. At first glance, it seems that this approach makes sense -- each section is taught by an expert in the field. And all faculty share in the teaching of psych 1. The downsides of this approach, as I can foresee, are that (1) such an approach would involve more planning and coordination among faculty members than if just one person taught the course during the semester/quarter, and (2) perhaps the picture of psychology that is communicated to students would be less coherent, because different instructors will no doubt bring different psychological perspectives to the classroom. There are likely to be others, I'm sure. Nevertheless, I'd like to hear what the members of TIPS have to say about this aspect of an introductory psych course: should it, throughout the semester or quarter, be taught by one person or by many? Cheers, Matthew Prull -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matthew Prull Phone: (650) 725-0797 Department of Psychology Fax: (650) 725-5699 Jordan Hall, Bldg. 420 Stanford University Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Stanford, CA 94305-2130 Web: http://matia.stanford.edu/~prullm/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------
