This week's readings were part 5 (Skills for Use in Other Teaching Situations) in McKeachie's Teaching Tips and chapter 9 (Feedback from Students) in First Day to Final Grade. There were several interesting topics in this week's readings.
I thought the chapter on active learning in large classes was helpful. I agree with McKeachie that active learning is important for the retention of information and the ability to think about information critically. The course I am teaching in the Spring will have approximately 70 students. I feel that this qualifies as a large class and I do anticipate some difficulties with incorporating active learning in this class. Ideally I would like to incorporate group work into class time, although I am unsure whether or not this is feasible. For example, if I instructed students to work in groups of five, there would be approximately 14 groups. Allowing 14 groups to share their ideas with the rest of the class following the class activity could take much of the class time. If I were to instruct students to work in groups of 10 instead, there would only be seven groups. Although this would make sharing ideas with the class easier, individual students in such large groups may play less of a role.
There was also an interesting section in this chapter about communicating with large classes (pg. 262-263). McKeachie suggests using technology to help manage student appointments (e.g., electronic appointment scheduler). I think this is a really good idea. As an undergraduate, I was the type of student to just stop by instructors' offices when I was in the area. Although I'm sure some instructors didn't mind this, some probably did. As a TA, I now know that it can be fairly annoying when you are working hard on a manuscript or other work and a student just shows up expecting you to be available. I will probably look into using an electronic appointment scheduler (perhaps through blackboard if one is available).
The section on teaching by distance education was informative. I have never taken a distance education course, so it was nice reading about the similarities and differences between distance education courses and normal courses.
Curzan and Damour presented an informative discussion about feedback from students. The most important point I took from this section was that even the best instructors sometimes get a bad rating or two from their students. I think it is important that instructors consider these ratings when they are constructive; however, they should also be considered alongside the average rating.
Additional Resources:
Distance Education and Training Council Website
Tips for Teaching Large Classes
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Glad to hear that you found the chapter on teaching large classes helpful. One technique you might consider, if you want to incorporate group work in your class but worry about the logistics or time commitment involved with letting everyone speak, is to have students work in groups, then randomly select certain groups to share their findings with the class (making sure to vary the group selection each class period). This approach will also help you to keep the groups of manageable size.
ReplyDeleteYour teaching blog has shown considerable improvement when it comes to discussing why these ideas are useful to you personally, and how you could implement them in the class you will be teaching. For the remaining entries, focus on including a more detail from the reading. You can do this by explaining concepts (and the rationale behind them) a bit more.