BLC Wisdom (cont.)
When you began teaching – What did you
think you needed to succeed?
How have your ideas changed?
• More focus on student learning.
• Not as concerned abut covering as much material.
Focus on key concepts and big ideas.
• I now invest more time into helping students develop a
coherent framework for understanding biology.
• It’s not about how I teach; it’s about how students
learn.
• I now care if students are engaged more than if they
are happy.
• No, my ideas haven’t changed much.
As you began teaching what were your
biggest concerns?
Which concerns actually occurred and
how did you deal with them?
• All of them .. Accept that teaching and learning is a
process and ever changing…
• I got things wrong a lot. Learned from them. Didn’t
make a big deal of them.
• I learned by making mistakes and getting tips from
senior instructors.
• I learned I don’t have to know it all. I just need to be
willing to find it out.
• My emphasis now is on student engagement and
development of skills and understanding of key
concepts.
• Still struggling finding great activities.
What are your top 3 goals for your students?
• 1) to be excited about/love biology. 2) to think critically, 3) to relate
what they are learning about biology to the real world. 4) Be
prepared for upper level courses.
• Students should be able to apply information acquired in the course
to solve new/novel problems. Students should be able to see the
relevance of the information learned to their everyday lives.
Student should integrate the process of learning in the classroom
into an appreciation for the process of life-long learning.
• To become critical thinkers, to be able to effectively problem solve,
to appreciate the scientific method.
• Understand the unity and diversity of life on Earth and how
evolution is the mechanism of both. Get students to understand the
“big picture” and how concepts relate to each other.
How do you communicate your goals to your
students?
• I tell them in just those words. Seems the best way.
• I repeat the goals or some version thereof over and over during the
course.
• I try to model curiosity, relaying my own questions and wonder as I
learn. I encourage students to ask questions and am willing to
“diverge” from the plan when they get excited about something… I
don’t go for quantity regarding material covered, rather strive for
quality.
• Constant practice, coaching and feedback.
• For all assignments I try to include the goal of the assignment.
What kind of learning environment have you
developed in your Intro Bio class?
Has your idea of a positive learning environment
changed over time?
• More student centered.
• At the beginning I most focused on what I was
doing. Now I focus on what my students do.
This includes emphasis on how to learn, active
learning methods, etc.
When you made mistakes how did you handle
them as a new instructor vs now?
Mistakes?
Then
Now
Acknowledge and correct right then or next
class
Try to make the mistake make sense or cover
it up – reluctant to admit or we’ll come back
to that
Encourage and thank students for catching the
mistake or asks the class for help
Make a teachable moment out of mistakes
Recognize mistake and talk with other faculty
27
31
12
5
6
6
2
How did/do you respond when you
don’t know?
Then
• That’s a good question: I’ll look up the answer
and get back to you
30
• Enlist the class in a learning opportunity
4
• Indicate I don’t know but come up with a
hypothetical answer or model how to answer
or best guess; turn it back on the students
as Socratic question
8
• I revised the question into one I did know the
answer to or made something up; or redirected
the student to see me after class.
6
Now
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21
7
How do you know if you are doing a good job?
• Feedback from students.
• I want data. I want help determining what data and how to get it.
• With clickers I can quickly check to see if they are really understanding what
I have just taught and make adjustments based on the instant feedback.
• A number of things play into this:
How comfortable are students
How well are they doing on formative assessments and summative
assessments
What feedback am I getting
What is the tone of student emails, etc.
How does the class do on pre vs post concept inventory that I use for
evaluation.
• Still haven’t figured this out yet.
• Currently tracking learning outcomes success with student success in upper
division courses.
What do you think motivates students to learn?
• In the past students learned for the sake of learning. .. Today’s
students strive to learn just enough to make the grade, to get the
job to make the money. I have no idea how to motivate today’s
students.
• I think that many students equate points/grades with learning and
points/grades is their initial motivation. Once they actually see the
products of their learning, I believe their motivation switches t one
where they want to understand what is happening around them (or
in their cells, or systems).
• Grades, career goals, intrinsic thirst for knowledge, faculty
enthusiasm, curiosity for the subject, relevance to their life.
• This is very personal and varies a lot. In my large classes I try to
keep tabs on students I know are struggling and encourage them.
Sometimes that helps. This is something I struggle with all the
time.
What is most rewarding about
teaching?
• The “aha” moments. Seeing knowledge and
understanding dawn in a student’s eyes.
• I guess the best is hearing that something about the
class sparked a new direction in their studies, major or
career.
• Watching students succeed especially when they aren’t
sure they will.
• Giving students opportunities they never imagined.
• Helping students learn and learning myself.
• Essentially sharing what I love with others.
What is least rewarding about
teaching?
• Grading. Students who want a good grade but are genuinely
not interested in learning. The fact that not all students are
going to master the material regardless of what we do.
• It is disheartening to me when students give up without
trying.
• When students don’t take responsibility for their own
learning.
• You can’t please everyone. I often get evaluations that are on
opposite ends of the scale.
• Noone realizes how many hours of prep went into that 1 hour
of lecture.
• Dealing with other faculty who are resistant to change.
• Dealing with politicians and administrators.
Discussion
Given these data – how do we want our
colleagues to answer these questions in 5 to 10
years?
1) As a new faculty member, what mentoring
and/or resources would you have liked?
2) As an experienced faculty member, if you
were in charge, how would you design an
effective mentoring program for new faculty?
Outcomes -> Process -> Content
1,054+ years
1,054+ years
# of students influenced?
1,054+ years
# of students influenced?
mastered?
1,054+ years
# of students influenced?
mastered?
still learning
1,054 years
# of students influenced?
mastered?
still learning
thank you
What types of resources would you like to have to help
you in your teaching?
Diagnostic quizzing that gives students an assessment of how well they have mastered
the material. 2) Active learning exercises that develop critical thinking skills. 3)
Animated interactive tutorials that foster understanding of complex biological
concepts.
It seems like there are more resources available from textbook publishers and on the
internet (e.g. UTube) than can possibly be used.
Perhaps one area that would be helpful would be a clinic on preparing new courses.
More help analyzing the effectiveness of our teaching strategies.
Funding!
Instruction and guidance for non-traditional teaching (lickers, online, flipped
classrooms, etc.)
A central place where good exercises/resources/assessments could be more easily
searched so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel.