CTL Teaching and Learning Series

On December 13, 2010, in Being a GA/TA, Workshops/Courses, by Candace Nast

The Centre for Teaching and Learning sponsors and facilitates an ongoing series of workshops focussing on the teaching and learning issues that impact on student engagement and the student experience at the University of Windsor. These free events are open to the whole University community and facilitate discussion about strategically important teaching and learning issues for the University.

Check out upcoming workshops on eAssessment, using CLEW, and the Intensive Skills Workshop (ISW).

via CTL Registration: CTL Teaching and Learning Series.

 

Understanding

On December 10, 2010, in Laughs, Think About It, UWindsor, by Candace Nast

Just because you’ve explained something doesn’t mean the student has learned. Take this comic for instance:

After explaining to a student through various lessons and examples that the limit as x approaches 8 of 1 over x minus 8 equals infinity, I tried to check if she really understood that, so I gave her a different example. This was the result: the limit as x approaches 5 of 1 over x minus 5 equals sideways five.

I mean, makes sense, right? Learning is a complex beast.

 

Dilemma: Nobody wants to talk

On December 8, 2010, in Being a GA/TA, Dilemmas, by Candace Nast

Lots of TAs lead discussions, tutorials, or labs — all types of classroom activities designed to get students into smaller groups, to get them talking, interacting with material, learning from each other and from you.
A heated discussionphoto © 2007 Kathleen Conklin | more info (via: Wylio)

However, it can be difficult to get students to begin. They might be unprepared, shy, afraid, confused…but it’s part of your job to get them started.

What tips would you give to a new teaching assistant who is about to lead for the first time? What has worked for you?

 

Practice

On December 7, 2010, in Being a GA/TA, Teaching Tips, by Candace Nast

Like any new skill, it takes time to become a good teacher. As a teaching assistant, any opportunity you can find to practice your skill helps you get better.

Table Footballphoto © 2008 Jon Mitchell | more info (via: Wylio)

Look for opportunities in the classes where you’re assisting: offer to guest lecture, help grade, hold office hours — whatever you think might help you and your students learn what you need to learn . The Centre for Teaching and Learning offers workshops and mini-courses that combine learning with practice. These make a great rehearsal space. You can also put together your own opportunities on and off-campus: get involved with a student or community group and offer to teach something. The participants get to learn from you and you get to work on your skills.

The more you practice, the more you’ll learn, the better you’ll be.

 

Today’s post is written by guest blogger Michael K. Potter, teaching and learning specialist in the UWindsor Centre for Teaching and Learning. Michael blogs regularly at Better Living Through Pedagogy.

The 2010 UWindsor campus December 6th memorial will begin at 4pm in the CAW Student Centre Commons, move to the memorial outdoors, and end in Ambassador Auditorium.

December 6th has been designated our National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women. It’s meant to honour the memories of the 14 women killed in the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique Massacre. They were killed by a misogynistic man for simply being women.

group of people standing outdoors in winter

photo by Elaine Weeks, Walkerville Publishing, elaine@walkerville.com, 519-255-9898. Location Drouillard Road south of Tecumseh Road opposite Chrysler Plant, Windsor

While this occasion is inescapably a somber event, it also provides an opportunity for all members of the broader university community across Canada to think and talk about how what we can do to prevent acts of violence – against women, certainly, but also against men and children as well. But thought is useless until discharged in action, as William James taught us a century ago. We need to move from contemplation to the more difficult, and more important, task of changing behaviour.

Most people now think of universities as institutions that exist to teach students facts, beliefs, theories, and skills they need to become productive in their careers, to function as educated members of society, or to contribute to the broader social good. While there’s important truth in such conceptions, they leave out something very important: cognitive and performative learning is useless, even counterproductive, unless integrated with affective learning.

One of the purposes of a university, I believe, is to help students develop their affective knowledge, that is, to learn the values and attitudes that will motivate them to use their other knowledge in ways that benefit themselves and others. There is a moral dimension to a complete education that we cannot, as responsible teachers, ignore.

Although there is a lot of diversity in attitudes and values between people, cultures, and nations, we all have more in common than we realize. Very few people in the world who are not noticeably impaired will eschew such pro-social values as honesty, beneficence (doing good for others), non-maleficence (not harming others), and responsibility (fulfilling our obligations). These values, and some others, are universal, though people may quarrel about which particular decisions and behaviours are implied by them in some circumstances.

A society that tolerates violence against women – or any group of persons – is not a society that could be acceptable to even a slim majority of the population. There are no desirable ends associated with it. No defensible arguments can be created in its favour. So, accepting that, how do our classes, our programs, all of the activities that comprise our teaching contribute to the development of students whose values and attitudes prohibit violence? How are we – all of us – contributing to the development of a society that refuses to accept violence, whose members work actively against it?

I believe every university program, every course, and every teacher can contribute to a more pro-social world in some way. So: why not share your ideas below? What have you done to help students learn pro-social values? What could you do? How could you play a role in creating a society in which an event like the Ecole Polytechnique Massacre would be inconceivable?

 

Who makes fun of Grad Students?

On December 3, 2010, in Being a GA/TA, Laughs, UWindsor, Video, by Candace Nast

Turns out the answer to that question is a big resounding everybody!

Choosing to go to graduate school means staying in school much longer than most people. It means more reading and writing than your six-year-old self could ever have imagined. It also means access to a brilliant community of people passionate about research and teaching — just like you. It means an opportunity to study something you care about and make a meaningful contribution to the world through research and through your interactions with students.

So don’t let Bart Simpson et al. get you down. Have a good weekend and hope see you back on Monday!

 

Dilemma: Trigger Warnings

On December 1, 2010, in Dilemmas, Scenarios, UWindsor, by Candace Nast

Warningphoto © 2007 ashleigh290 | more info (via: Wylio)

When I teach (particularly) in Women’s Studies, sometimes the class discussions turn to sensitive, strong and/or controversial topics. I’m aware that the subject matter has the potential to trigger flashbacks and other negative emotions for the participants. When I know ahead of time that readings (for example) could trigger these reactions I’ll post a trigger warning with the reading list, but I feel like this is not enough. (See below for an example.) And when discussion in class shifts in this direction I’m unable to warn ahead of time.

While I am willing to accommodate, I don’t think it’s fair to ask students to identify themselves as survivors of abuse, or sexual assault and I’m not sure what forms of accommodation would be appropriate in these cases. I want to be sensitive to student needs for self-care without putting anyone through the disclosure process. I’m unsure what I can and should do in this case.

Any suggestions? What do you in your own classes where difficult topics appear?

TRIGGER WARNING This article or section, or pages it links to, contain information about sexual assault and/or violence against women which may be triggering to survivors.

An example of a trigger warning from the Geek Feminism Wiki. Links to information on use of trigger warnings.