Resources: Concerns about student evaluations: TEP has resources for you on their web site.
Backward design: Fink, L. (2013). Creating significant learning experiences : An integrated approach to designing college courses (Revised and updated ed., Jossey-Bass higher and adult education series). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Online library copy.
Think of the story arc for the course. Big picture, also the details, with some flexibility. Different learning styles in the classroom – lecture, calling out, turn to your neighbor, group work, whole class discussion. Have some narrative closure and also keep things current.
Tiny tools for studio based classes and for other kinds of classes too. The class is a journey, they have to go somewhere, need to check in where they are in regards to the subject matter. Mark the beginning by sharing their narrative. Use a memo, send it anytime, mark if it’s ok to share or keep private. How the course is landing, showing up in your own life. Around mid-term, but not Mid-term: stop-start-continue. What stop doing? Start: What not doing but could be doing? Continue:What’s working?
Towards the end of the course: draw a time line on the board, showing speakers, assignments, etc. Use guided meditation/journaling. Think about 1st day of class and think forward to now – who are you now? Identify 2 points of transformation. Share in small groups. Giving tools to students while they are learning.
Teaching methods: group work – tension between have each person understand everything and having a split of some people do all the work and others who slide by; have a self evaluation – group grade on project, individual paper responding to group stuff, but is an individual grade. Have students reflect on what they did and turn that in. They don’t like group projects, but teaching real world skills. Tell them that at the beginning.
Have a group communicator who can report to the instructor.
Look in the literature: biggest take home, don’t give them a project they could do on their own!
TEP has a handout; Sierra has something from a MOOC to share.
Peer evaluations: what are those like? See more here: http://academicaffairs.uoregon.edu/content/peer-evaluation-teaching
Including tools, same link as above, observation rubric – research based, meet beforehand, talk about the syllabus, goals, connect to have you
Make a commitment to do them systematically. Easier, you know what you’re trying to do, clear organized process.
Ask TEP to come and do confidential observations, loose notes, not official evaluation process.
Strategies for dealing with bias in student evaluations:
Fix the all caps emails or the Miss Gash or first name emails; introduce self as Professor Gash, all emails/communication must be addressed as Prof. —-. This gives you a moment to remember who I am and the things you might say to Professor Gash, and it might be different than what you’d say to Alison. Hoping that if you think about this as you start you won’t say things you might later regret.
Mike Urbancic found this awesome flowchart from Andrea Eidinger to use as a slide for his class.
Puts them on notice about a lot of explicit things.
Find positive ways to share intellectual journey, research identity. Follow a question to its conclusion. Librarians are interested in teaching these (and more): Scholarship is a conversation and Research as Inquiry!
Teaching a 400/500 level class: have some ideas, but would love tips.
Didn’t work to teach both, taught toward the undergrads, thoughts for grad students, more work for me, research paper. Never successful the other way around.
Resented that had to teach 2 classes for the price of 1. Have grad students be mentors to undergrads. Depends on the mix too. Have grad students share what they discuss with undergrads.
Invite them to use the course for their own insight. Have them observe the arc of the discussion, instead of participate and report back.
Being careful not to use them as unpaid GEs!
Help them figure out their goals and design syllabus for their own interests.
Sierra Dawson’s blog for teaching large classes.[mentioned after formal panel]
TEP handout for mid-term evaluations and upcoming TEP events.