Teaching Margo Seltzer Harvard Univ D an Grossman Univ Washington February 22 2016 Introduction Us Two experienced faculty who passionately love teaching Have improved methodically over time ID: 477467
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Slide1
2016 CRA Mentoring Workshop
Teaching
Margo Seltzer, Harvard Univ.
D
an Grossman, Univ. Washington
February 22, 2016Slide2
Introduction
Us: Two experienced faculty who passionately love teaching
Have improved methodically over timeYou: A range of experience and passionFrom deeply apprehensive to exuberantly eagerWorkshop aimed at all of youFocus and approach:Assume “conventional” undergraduate courses, but much applies more broadly“Practice what we preach”Activities and interaction -- not lectureExplicit learning objectives…
February 22, 2016
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2016 CRA Mentoring Workshop: TeachingSlide3
Objectives
After this workshop, you should be able to:
Identify the learning objectives for any courses you teachTeach according to the rules established
by your university
Experiment with techniques to increase student
interaction
Prepare for “
teaching challenges” and discuss trade-offs with colleaguesAlas, 45 minutes is laughably short: Also motivate you to spend a lifetime improving
February 22, 2016
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2016 CRA Mentoring Workshop: TeachingSlide4
Warm-up #1
Rules governing teaching at your institution?
February 22, 201642016 CRA Mentoring Workshop: TeachingSlide5
Take-
aways
There are rules: Violating them creates unnecessary crisesGo learn what they are and why they existFebruary 22, 201652016 CRA Mentoring Workshop: TeachingSlide6
Warm-up #2
How are your students different than you?
Background, interests, abilities, goals, …February 22, 201662016 CRA Mentoring Workshop: TeachingSlide7
Take-
aways
Essential to know “where your students are coming from”Technically and personallyLikely < 1 / year will follow the career path you have50% are going to receive the median grade or lowerFebruary 22, 20167
2016 CRA Mentoring Workshop: TeachingSlide8
Group-exercise #1
Logistics:
Groups of 5-8: organize quickly8-10 minutes of discussion5 minutes of full-group scribed synthesisTopic: From each group member:3 things you’ve seen a teacher do you want to emulate3 things you’ve seen a teacher do you want to avoidObjective: A
concrete list of tactics and pitfallsAbout any aspect of a course (classroom,
homeworks, grading, office hours, …)
February 22, 2016
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Take-
aways
(We will make the list available)Learn from your experience – and others!A lot of simple tactics go a long wayMargo’s #1 tactic: __________Dan’s #1 tactic: Never give a homework/exam problem you do not already have a written solution forFebruary 22, 2016
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2016 CRA Mentoring Workshop: TeachingSlide10
Lead-in to group-exercise #2
Have you written a
syllabus?How do you describe the course?February 22, 2016102016 CRA Mentoring Workshop: TeachingSlide11
Example: Sorting
Topics:
Learn insertionsort, quicksort, mergesort, …Study the algorithms and complexities and trade-offsLearning objectives:Distinguish between O(n2) and O(n log n) sorting algorithmsImplement an efficient sort routineUse the libc
qsort
functionFebruary 22, 2016
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Why learning objectives?
Outcome-oriented
Makes clear to you and students what to assessDoes your homework help achieve your objectives?February 22, 201612
2016 CRA Mentoring Workshop: TeachingSlide13
Your turn:
In your small group, create sample learning objectives for 2-3 of these topics
Hash tablesFinite automataDynamic memory allocationClasses/ObjectsBig O notationTuring machinesFebruary 22, 2016
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2016 CRA Mentoring Workshop: TeachingSlide14
Take-
aways
No “right” answer: depends on the course and your goalsLearning objectives are about what students can doAnd can be evaluatedFebruary 22, 201614
2016 CRA Mentoring Workshop: TeachingSlide15
Group-exercise #3
Teaching involves
challenges you need to manageDifficult situations with no perfect outcomeOut of time, so discuss 1-2 of these over lunch and enter your ideas on our Google Poll http://tinyurl.com/teaching-challenges(Responses available to all)
February 22, 2016
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Challenges:
http://tinyurl.com/teaching-challenges
It’s week 8 of a 14-week course and based on the last homework it seems clear 25% of the class is totally lost (can’t do stuff from week 2) and 25% of the class is bored because they’re finding everything easy. Group-project break-down: 4-person team in your office screaming at each other about who caused the failure and everyone worrying they’ll fail
Students fomenting a ‘mutiny’ to insist you start teaching the course the way it was taught last year before you arrived without all the “modern ideas” you insist on injecting
Student doesn’t show up to final exam and resurfaces 3 days later to say they need to pass to graduate
One-third of your class collaborated on the last assignment and essentially turned in the same work.
A student comes to your office hours and breaks down in tears because he feels he is
failing all his classes.February 22, 2016
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Wrap-up
Much you
need to learn that we didn’t discuss:Designing a course scheduleHolding effective office hoursAssigning grades…Find good mentors for this stuff !We focused on bigger-picture ideas…February 22, 2016
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High-level points
Know your
context: what are the rules, who are your studentsObjectives: What do want students to learn? Have explicit plans and goals.Skills
matter: What to emulate and avoid?
Be prepared for the hard stuff and do your best
Always
room for
improvementScribed notes will be at: http://tinyurl.com/teaching-session-notesFebruary 22, 2016
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2016 CRA Mentoring Workshop: Teaching