January 2008
Bridges
Volume 6, No. 2
Reflecting the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning at the
University of Saskatchewan
Reflecting the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning
at the University of Saskatchewan
In this issue...
Communicating Science in
Exciting Ways:
A Model for All Teaching
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Training Programs
Practices in Faculty Peer
Evaluation
The Teachers Write About Millennials
We Built it, They’re
Coming - Now Why
Won’t They Stay
Virtual Environments,
Teaching and Learning:
Welcome to the SLUG
ULC updates: PAL
Program, Writing Help,
Math Help, Community
Service-Learning, and
Learning Communities
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
Welcome, and Happy New Year!
Jim Greer, Director ULC
It is hard to believe
that the first full year
of operation of the
University Learning
Centre has come to a
conclusion. We scaled up
learning opportunities for
students, initiated a very
successful Peer Assisted
Learning program, and
developed a wide array of web resources.
There has been a good deal of synergy
developed between the student-focused
and the instructor-focused activities of the
ULC / GMCTE, including a very successful
Academic Integrity Week. At The Gwenna
Moss Centre, we expanded our array of
workshops and presentations for faculty,
instructors and graduate students. 2007
has been a full and productive year.
build partnerships with us. In addition, we see
many opportunities to form partnerships not
yet anticipated where we can assist other units
in achieving their goals. There is much interest
in service learning across the campus and the
ULC can certainly help with this. In addition,
we can assist in fostering student retention by
better preparing students to seek out learning
supports and by providing direct assistance
for first-year students at risk. We see
opportunities to work with faculty in exploring
best practices in learner engagement and
student retention. We see new ways to bring
technology innovations and infrastructure into
teaching to enhance the student experience.
We encourage faculty, staff and students across
the University to keep in mind the many
opportunities and supports we offer.
Finally, I want to announce that the Centre for
Distributed Learning is being revived under
We are now in the midst of our construction the management of the University Learning
renovation project as the ULC/Library
Centre. The CDL was initially created to
Transformation project moves forward. In
support research collaborations in online
the next few weeks, Gina Koehn and her
and blended learning. A new structure and
ULC student-programs staff will be moving
mandate for the CDL will be developed
up to the first floor of the Murray Building
over the next few months, and research
into offices behind the current circulation
partnerships will be sought with various
desk. After their move, construction begins
researchers across the Campus and, through
on the ground floor to build phase two of
the COHERE research consortium, across the
the new Learning Commons. There might
country.
be some small disruptions in our services
As usual, we welcome you to visit us at the
during the moves, but we will endeavour to
Centre. Please remember that every Tuesday
keep our main activities operating as usual.
or Wednesday at 3:30, we welcome guests
Integrated planning across the campus will
to drop in for an informal TEA (Teaching
have an impact on the future directions of
Effectiveness Afternoons). Also, please visit us
the ULC. We have analysed all the plans of
online at www.usask.ca/gmcte or www.usask.
the Colleges and Administrative units and
ca/ulc.
see many places where1others intend to
www.usask.ca/gmcte
January 2008
Vol. 6 No. 2
The Gwenna Moss Centre for
Teaching Effectiveness
University of Saskatchewan
Room 50 Murray Building
3 Campus Drive
Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A4
Phone (306) 966-2231
Fax (306) 966-2242
Web site: www.usask.ca/gmcte
Bridges is distributed to every
teacher at the University of
Saskatchewan and to all the
Teaching Centres in Canada, and
some beyond.
It is freely available on the world
wide web through our web site.
Your contributions to Bridges will
reach a wide local, national, and
international audience.
Please consider submitting an
article or opinion piece to Bridges.
Contact any one of the following
people; we’d be delighted to hear
from you!
Jim Greer
Director
Phone (306)966-2234
Jim.Greer@usask.ca
Kathy Schwarz
Program Director
Phone (306)966-1804
kathy.schwarz@usask.ca
Christine Anderson Obach
Program Manager
Phone (306) 966-1950
christine.anderson@usask.ca
Corinne Fasthuber
Assistant
Phone (306) 966-2231
corinne.fasthuber@usask.ca
Views expressed in Bridges are
those of the individual authors and
are not necessarily those of the
staff at the GMCTE.
GMCTE Services and Programs
Happy New Year from All of Us at The
Gwenna Moss Centre!
As we begin a new year and a new term, there are many
exciting upcoming events happening at the Centre. Our
programming includes regular workshops on varied topics, TEAs, group events, and a book club hosted by John
Thompson, a retired faculty member from St. Thomas
More College. For details, check our website, www.
usask.ca/gmcte/drupal/?q=node/4.
The weekly TEAs (Teaching Effectiveness Afternoons) have proven to be successful get-togethers for casual rounds of discussion and sharing of ideas on topics
of interest to the various instructors on campus. I encourage you, whether you
are faculty, sessional, or a graduate student, to participate in this activity. Some
of the TEAs have a predetermined theme and special guest, and are also listed on
our website above. These one hour sessions (3:30 to 4:30) are held here at the
Centre, Room 50 Murray Building, on odd-numbered Tuesdays and Wednesdays
with the first one on January 9th.
Dr. Mel Hosain will continue to host monthly one hour group discussions around
Teaching in Canada, beginning on January 22nd, at the Centre, from 3:30 to 4:30.
Come join him for a cup of coffee, and treats. If you are new to Canada and are
having challenges with your teaching at the U of S, he is the person to talk to.
Dr. Ron Marken and Martha Crealock invite all graduate students who teach to
join them for drop-in brown bag lunches, beginning February 7th. Bring your
lunch to the table as well as your particular trials and tribulations with your
teaching. Share your experiences and your wisdom with others.
Also, note that the deadline date for nominations for the Master Teacher Award is
mid February. If you have not begun collecting the necessary data for the nomination package, it is definitely time to do so now. This award recognizes a faculty
member who’s teaching on campus is outstanding. Details supporting this award
can be found on www.usask.ca/gmcte/drupal/?q=master_teacher.
Please feel free to drop into The Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness
anytime. Our coffee pot is always on.
Corinne Fasthuber
ULC and GMCTE Assistant
“The function of education is to teach one to think
intensively and to think critically... Intelligence plus
character - that is the goal of true education”
Martin Luther King Jr.
2
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
Communicating Science in Exciting Ways:
A Model for All Teaching By Jerry Haigh, WCVM
“You’re writing about science. You should
look at the Banff Centre Website because
there’s a new Science Communications
program there.” So said one of our
group as we sat around over a pre-dinner
beer at the Moose Jaw Festival of Words.
We had been discussing writing, and I
had expressed an interest in improving
my skills as I was in the midst of writing
a second book about my experiences
as a wildlife vet in Africa. I also wanted
to learn more about storytelling, as I
enjoy sharing folk tales and personal
experiences.
So, it was off to the web, and Google.
The search was easy, but getting into the
program not quite as simple. My first
application missed, although I was invited
as a last-minute replacement. In 2007 I
tried again and in August, I participated
in a remarkable two-week program that
exceeded my expectations.  The key
messages of this Science Communication
Program were: the story is
the centre; science stories
are like other stories; and
the story is told in several
mediums, of which one is
the spoken word.  However
we communicate, we are
telling a story. What is
teaching but storytelling,
whatever the subject?
As soon as we arrived,
we were handed a 3-ring
binder, and before I headed
down to the Sunday evening
social, I had read that our
faculty came from very
diverse backgrounds, all to
do with communication.
From the broadcast world
came the chair of the entire
course, current host of
the Discovery Channel’s
Daily Planet, Jay Ingram, who
also has wide experience
with writing and radio.
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
Two others came out of the television
world: Jane Mingay, who also has a wide
background with media, most recently
as senior producer with CBC’s Test The
Nation, and Henry Kowalski, who has a
long history with both CBC and CTV and
headed up CTV’s news programs, making
them the most watched news in Canada.
From academe came Mary Anne Moser,
currently director of communications
for the Schulich School of Engineering
at the University of Calgary and Mark
Winston from Simon Fraser University,
who has received numerous awards for
his progressive work in bridging science
and communications. From the world of
museums and the visual arts came Susan
Schwartzenberg who works as a senior
artist at San Francisco’s Exploratorium.
Two more Canadians filled out the group.
Ivan Semeniuk hails from the University of
Toronto and is currently on a scholarship
in Boston. He is the US bureau chief for
New Scientist. Writer Tom Hayden is a
Saskatoon boy. He is an alumnus of Holy
Cross and the U of S (BSc Ag ’91) and son
of Emeritus Professor Michael Hayden,
who received a Master Teacher Award in
2000. After a stint as an oceanographer,
Tom spent time as a staff writer for
Newsweek and a teacher at Johns Hopkins
before going freelance. His work has
appeared in several major publications,
including National Geographic, Smithsonian,
The Washington Post and The Globe and Mail.
You can find out more about the 2007
faculty on the web.
The class came from even more diverse
science backgrounds: molecular genetics,
TV presentation, agency writing, school
and university teaching; we had an
inventor, an actor, PhD students and
professors. With one exception, we also
came from about as wide a geographic
spectrum in Canada as you can imagine, all
the way from New Brunswick to the small
community of Metchosin, west of Victoria.
The exception was Canadian
Elie Dolgin, the youngest
member of the group, who
flew in from Edinburgh.
Moulding clay into something useful but not yet invented. After three minutes, we
moved to another table to continue the construction of that piece without knowing
what it was supposed to be. After four moves…. Elie Dolgin, Jerry Haigh and Jay
Ingram share a laugh. Photo by Nicole Stamp, TV presenter, actor and Banff student.
3
Within 48 hours, we had
been through a series
of exercises designed
to show us new ways
of communicating while
breaking down our
inhibitions as strangers.
These included impromptu
dances on the lawn that
were supposed to represent
something tangible, and
translating gobbledegook
radio interviews to others
members of the group. In a
ceramics class, we moulded
clay after hearing a single
word and then worked in
small groups to build a useful
item that had not yet been
invented. The clever thing in
each of these sessions was
www.usask.ca/gmcte
that the faculty and students intermingled One of the most important early
freely and looked equally stupid, happy and sessions was on audiences. Each of us
adventurous.
was challenged to prepare (in the space
of 10 minutes) the ideas for a talk about
We played the fool in various skits,
global warming to a specified audience.
including one about nanotechnology (I
The “easier” audiences ranged from grade
dressed up an octegenarian granny, with a 4 kids to residents of a seniors home. I
pair of boxers as a head scarf - no photos, was happy not to draw the assignment to
please). We listened to top science
present to a group of senior government
researchers present their current material policy makers and bureaucrats.
and then had to write a 700-word piece
about what we had heard as if for a
In the second week, we created media
Navigation
• Boiling Point
• Simmering Science
• In The Oven
• Back Burner
• Stir The Pot
• Compost Bin
• About Us
The Hotstove.com logo and home page
navigation, courtesy of Stacey Hay,
Robyn MacPherson, Rhonda Normore,
James Paterson and The Banff Centre.
national newspaper. This was our major
writing assignment, and it was critiqued
twice: first, for scientific accuracy by
the researcher who had presented the
material, and second, by two of the faculty
for style and impact. In my first draft,
I struggled to marry accurate science
and eye-catching reportage and ended
up writing two pieces: one a dry factual
account, the other as if for a supermarket
tabloid­—more whimsical, and with some
imagination of where the science might
take one. When I mentioned this to Mark
Winston over a breakfast of pancakes and
scrambled eggs in the Centre canteen,
he challenged me to combine the two
versions and still keep to the 700-word
limit. The key question in the faculty
critique was “What is going to get me
into the tent?” From the two disparate
sets of faculty comments, I forged a final
version, again using the double technique,
writing in response to each, and then
merging them.
events with TV trailers, podcasts and
functioning web pages, assisted by steady
input from faculty and brilliant ideas from
the Banff Centre technical staff, who
were basically at our beck and call for
four days. For the group I was in, the
animation crew at the Centre created
a 90-second clip of the life cycle of the
mountain pine beetle - in the space of 48
hours! A different group, who had to
create a science communication web site,
used humour all the way through. Their
web site was called Hotstove.com with the
header “Warming you up to Science.” In
fact, every item or link had something to
do with food or cooking. Among the most
memorable was the header Windfarms: Do
they create bird sushi?
Throughout this challenge, when we
worked a seemingly impossible number of
hours, the faculty were on hand to guide,
suggest and share, but never to impose.
Then came the presentations, which were
judged critically, but constructively, by
Henry Kowalski and Irene Mikawoz of
NSERC, who flew in from Winnipeg for
the occasion.
4
We were taking traditional story-telling
away beyond words, something that could
so easily be transferred to almost any
form of teaching. As I was writing this
paragraph, I listened to an As It Happens
interview with a teacher in Virginia who
sings his lessons to grade school children.
This reminded me of my own days trying
to learn the basic tenets of biochemistry,
which was really hard for me until I
found about the amazing lecturer at the
University of London who took it upon
himself each year to compose a song
about one of the many complicated cycles
that drive our body functions. Each song
was composed while he journeyed to the
annual Christmas party on a red doubledecker bus, and was set to a Gilbert
and Sullivan tune. Magic! I have a hazy
memory that the entire song-suite was
issued on vinyl, but it was all over 40
years ago, and so has been lost in the
sands of time or the decaying gray matter.
While words create powerful images
that differ for each listener, appropriate
pictures, sounds and actions add an
interesting dimension. For example, the
Chauvet rock and cave art of 35,000 years
ago: www.donsmaps.com/chauvetcave.
html. I believe that the artists who drew
these amazing images were telling stories.
Imagine flares being used to make the
legs of the multi-legged bison appear and
disappear as if it was running. A Cavebased PowerPoint!
Jay Ingram told me that a few years ago
he did an interview with a man who
claimed that the design of some of these
caves acoustically enhanced sounds to
simulate hoof beats etc. Is that special
effects, or what? Imagine you are a
child in the Chauvet audience. In the halfdark, listen to bison hooves pounding
behind you; listen to a lion grunting some
distance away. Are the hairs on the back
of your neck standing up? Are you clinging
to your dad’s leg? Believe me, a lion
roaring across the river as you lie in your
tent will squeeze your adrenal glands like
no other sound.
Storytelling about my work, I also use
pictures. My somewhat unusual career
has taken me to quite a variety of spots.
I have worked in the High Arctic, the
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
Mongolian mountains, Australia, New
Zealand, Pacific Ocean Islands, the African
deserts and rain forests. Some would
deny that this has been work, and if
one goes by James Barrie’s dictum from
the convocation address at Scotland’s
University of St. Andrews in 1922, they
might be right. Barrie said, “It is not real
work unless you would rather be doing
something else.” This makes storytelling
easy for me, as most students, especially
veterinary students, can quickly be
captivated by wildlife pictures, and one
can deliver the harder messages about
things like rhino conservation or the
bushmeat trade with pretty graphic
material.
Other teaching techniques that seem to
work well take one back to the inner
child, just as we had done in Banff. I have
found that students really get turned on
by role-playing assignments, and one ends
up as the director of an unscripted drama.
The drama can have its lighter moments.
One year, as students gathered in a
“Town Hall Meeting” and pretended to be
struggling with the very complex issue of
tuberculosis in Michigan deer, one student
dressed up in her power outfit and took
the role of a senator. She managed, with
great skill, to say almost nothing except
clichés and platitudes in three minutes. As
she wound up, another student stood up
at the back of the room and called out, “Is
it true that you are having an affair with
Bill Clinton?” Of course the entire room
collapsed, but the buy-in was complete,
and the class reacted with very positive
feedback about what they had learned.
On the final day in Banff, after the media
presentations, but before the entertaining
social and wonderful meal laid on by the
Centre, we de-briefed for an hour or
so. We tried to shorten up a long list,
and apart from one wag, who threw in
“Eschew obfuscation” as a goal (actually
a very good one), we came up with
one major goal, subdivided into eight
methods, and one great quotation for
communicating science. The major goal
was Answer the Why? of the five-year old for
everyone. The methods were: Keep high
standards; Build trust; Engage all the senses;
Entertain the imagination; Lighten up – hit
the ‘wow’ factor and engage the inner child;
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
Use humour when you can; Remember that
science is about people; and Pay attention to
style.
The quotation came from James Burke:
Remember you can understand anything as
long as it is explained well.
You may be asking, “What did it all
cost?” The answer is that the quote on
the web page was over $5000. However,
financial support from eleven financial
sponsors, led by The Alberta Heritage
Foundation for Medical Research, Alberta
Ingenuity and The Canada Foundation
for Innovation soon brought that down
and the University of Saskatchewan’s
Professional Expense allowance took care
of the rest (except for the beer money).
I would very highly recommend this
course, which will be held again next year,
to anyone thinking of expanding their
teaching horizons. Our group ranged
in age from 25 to 66, so there really
are no limits. Except maybe your own
imagination.
w
Essential Elements: Prepare,
Design, and Teach Your
Online Course
Atwood Publishing, 2002
Authors: Bonnie Elbaum, Cynthis McIntyre
Alese Smith
Essential Elements is a concise, practical, howto book. Each of the three sections provides
sage advice that many experienced online instructors have learned through trial and error.
Written for faculty, not techies, the focus is
on designing instruction that meets the needs
of students and achieves the learning goals.
The authors present pre-development
questionnaires about goals, instructor
training and requirements, as well as
technical requirements and administrative
support. These are designed to raise issues
about course design and delivery prior to beginning work on a course.
Nine characteristics of e-learning are outlined: asynchronous collaboration, explicit
schedules, expert facilitation, inquiry pedagogy, high-quality materials, community
building, limited enrollment, purposeful virtual spaces and ongoing assessment.
Throughout the book, a series of tips assists readers to incorporate guided
inquiry, collaboration, community building and formative assessment into their
online course.
This is a great book for faculty who are considering developing an online course for
the first time. Drop by our library located in Room 50 Murray if you are interested
in borrowing this book.
5
Kathy Schwarz, Program Director, GMCTE
www.usask.ca/gmcte
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Training Programs
By Kim West, Program Coordinator, GMCTE
Although graduate teaching assistants
typically instruct between 30-40%
of undergraduates in introductory
laboratories and discussion sections
in a majority of North American
universities, the degree of TA training
varies dramatically across institutions
of higher education (Nyquist et al.
1991). In some places, the training and
supervision of TAs varies from orientation
programs to workshops, courses, brown
bag discussions, teaching squares, peer
consultation programs, informal/formal
mentoring programs, resources, and/or
ongoing supervision by a faculty mentor.
Still, in a number of places TAs receive
little to no training or supervisory support.
In many cases, graduate student teaching
is unsupervised, there are no formalized
TA training programs or professional
development services, and there is no
dialogue concerning teaching between
faculty and graduate students and amongst
graduate students themselves.
“Faculty development
must begin in graduate
school.”
Slevin 1992
project, and a week later disseminating
the results to a national audience, but
this is what we do when we prepare
graduate students to teach. In this model,
the quality of undergraduate learning is
seriously at stake. To effectively train
graduate students to teach, departments
and universities must model teaching
as a scholarly activity akin to research
(Boyer 1990). One way to do this is for
institutions, colleges, and departments to
value teacher training as much as research
training; for example, supervision of
teaching should be as rigorous as that of
research, and graduate students should be
encouraged to attend teaching seminars
In many universities, TAs feel
or courses akin to research seminars
underprepared to teach because teaching
or courses. The University of New
is viewed as a secondary activity compared Hampshire Cognate in College Teaching
to research (Gaia et al. 2003), particularly
is a step in this direction (http://www.
in science (Luft et al. 2004). Even with
gradschool.unh.edu/catalog/programs/coll_
the increased emphasis on professional
teach.html). Even in institutions where
development of graduate teaching
the overall emphasis is research, a first
assistants as teachers in the past two
step might be increasing current programs
decades (Luft et al. 2004; Gaia et al. 2003;
from one-shot orientation programs and
Prieto and Meyers 2001; Marincovich,
TA training seminars offered throughout
Prostko, and Stout 1998), many TAs still
the year to more rigorous programs
feel they are thrown into the deep end of that involve long-term support for TAs
the pool (Bartlett 2003, McManus 2002).
including mentoring, certificate programs,
This sink-or-swim mentality reinforces
or series of courses.
attitudes, and deeply entrenched reward
systems, that value research over teaching. Secondly, we must think about the way
For example, in a national survey prepared that we educate graduate students.
by Gray and Buerkel-Rothfuss (1991), 88% Graduate students should be considered
of TAs were prepared for their teaching
potential professoriate, and those
responsibilities in less than a week. It is
responsible for their education should
nearly impossible to fathom a graduate
therefore find ways to support their
student undertaking a research
professional development as teachers,
6
and as researchers and administrators. A
notable movement with this particular goal
is the Preparing Future Faculty program,
developed in the early 1990’s in the United
States (http://www.preparing-faculty.
org/). At one time, teaching assistantships
were based on an apprenticeship model
whereby a graduate student teacher
directly assisted professors with courses,
but were seldom responsible for teaching
courses, or even parts of courses (labs,
tutorials, etc) by themselves (Lewis 1997).
In our current structure, we have lost
much of the apprenticeship and mentoring
that was once associated with the original
model.
We also tend to focus on one central
aspect of a graduate student’s education:
subject-matter competence. As Gaff and
Lambert (1996) point out,
The traditional way a graduate
student is prepared for a faculty
position is to become steeped in
the subject matter of his or her
chosen field- the relevant current
knowledge, methodologies to
generate new knowledge, and
research skills. The assumptions
underlying this practice are that
a) once a person acquires
knowledge, she/he can teach it, and
b) teaching a subject is unaffected
by the type of institution or
qualities of the student body.
For example, just because a graduate
student knows the insides out of
molecular biology does not mean he/
she can teach that subject well. Effective
teaching requires competence in three
areas: subject matter, pedagogy, and
curricular design. Becoming an effective
teacher requires time, investment, and
commitment. To acquire pedagogical
competence, graduate teaching assistants
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
need to demonstrate an understanding
of what they are doing in the classroom,
why it is working, and how it affects
student learning. They must be able to
make sense of a package of information,
organize and deliver it in a motivating,
relevant and appropriate way, and reflect
on what they might do to improve
learning. As graduate students progress
further in their academic careers, they
must be able to design learning outcomes
and to make their learning objectives
clear to their students. As Palmer
(1998) argues, good teaching involves a
much deeper dialogue, involving these
questions:
• What subjects shall we teach?
• How do we teach? What methods
and techniques are required to teach
well?
• For what purpose and to what ends
do we teach?
• Who is the self that teaches?
To foster pedagogical and curricular
competence, graduate student teachers
must first learn principles of effective
instructional design and pedagogy
and the methodologies to implement
those principles (design, teaching, and
assessment strategies). They must be
given opportunities to practice what they
have learned (ideally through ongoing
supervision of teaching duties), and to
analyze or discuss challenging situations
that they may encounter as TAs (Meyer
2001). Perhaps most importantly,
graduate students must become aware
of how and why they are teaching as
much as what they are teaching. They
must consciously reflect on what they
have learned, apply it to their teaching
practice, solicit and receive feedback
(from students, peers, and mentors),
and start the cycle anew each time they
begin teaching. At all points in the cycle,
graduate student teachers need to be
actively engaged in the process of learning
to become an effective teachers (Meyer
2001).
Lastly, we need to teach graduate teaching
assistants to swim, rather than simply
throwing them into the deep end of the
swimming pool. If new graduate student
teachers were mentored by other more
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
experienced TAs and faculty members,
if a dialogue could be encouraged
between new TAs, and if the culture of
the institution, college, and department
changed to support and reward good
teaching, then TAs would truly be the
apprentices the original model intended
them to be. Svinicki (1995) lists eight
reasons why institutions of higher learning
should prepare graduate students to teach;
the most notable efforts among these
are an improved quality of undergraduate
learning (which enhances the reputation
of graduates, the institution, and the
department, and increases retention
rates) and the increased confidence of
TAs (which helps to alleviate anxiety
and preparation times associated with
inexperience) which leads to more
efficient support for faculty. Svinicki’s last,
and most compelling point is “Because it is
the right thing to do.”
References
Luft, J.A., Kurdziel, J.P., Roehrig, G.H., and
Turner, J. 2004. Growing a garden without
water: Graduate teaching assistants in
introductory science laboratories at a
doctoral/research university. Journal of
Research in Science Teaching, 41(3): 211-233.
Marincovich, M., Prostko, J. and Stout,
F. 1998. The professional development of
graduate teaching assistants. Bolton, MA:
Anker Publishing.
McManus, D.A. 2002. Developing a
teaching assistant preparation program
in the school of oceanography, University
of Washington. Journal of Geoscience
Education, 50(2): 158-168.
Meyers, S.A. 2001. Conceptualizing and
promoting effective TA training. In The
teaching assistant training handbook: How to
prepare TAs for their responsibilities. Edited
by L.R. Prieto and S.A. Meyers (pp.3-23).
Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.
Bartlett, T. 2003. The first thing about
teaching. The Chronicle of Higher Education,
50(5): A10.
Nyquist, J.D., Abbott, R.D., Wulff, D.H. and
Sprague, J. 1991. Preparing the professoriate
of tomorrow to teach. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/
Hunt Publishing Company.
Boyer, E.L. 1990. Scholarship reconsidered:
Priorities of the professoriate. Princeton,
NJ: The Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching.
Palmer, P. 1998. The courage to teach:
Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s
life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Gaff, J.G. and Lambert, L.M. 1996.
Socializing future faculty to the values of
undergraduate education. Change, 28(4):
38-45.
Prieto, L.R. and Meyers, S.A. 2001. The
teaching assistant training handbook: How
to prepare TAs for their responsibilities.
Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.
Gaia, A.C., Corts, D.P., Tatum, H.E. and Allen, Slevin, J.F. 1992. The next generation:
Preparing graduate students for the
J. 2003. The GTA mentoring program.
professional responsibilities of college teachers.
College Teaching, 51(2): 61-65.
Washington, DC: Association of American
Gray, P.L. and Buerkel-Rothfuss, N.L. 1991. Colleges.
Teaching assistant training: The view from
the trenches. In Preparing the professoriate
of tomorrow to teach (pp.40-51). Edited by
J.D. Nyquist, R.D. Abbott, D.H. Wulff, and
J. Sprague. Dubeque, IA: Kendall/Hunt
Publishing Company.
Lewis, K.G. 1997. Training focused on
postgraduate teaching assistants: the
North American model. Seminar Report-CVCP, 1 May 1997. Retrieved November
1, 2007 from http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/
bib/lewis.htm.
7
Svinicki, M. 1995. A dozen reasons why
we should prepare graduate students to
teach. Journal of Graduate Teaching Assistant
Development, 3(1): 5-8.
w
www.usask.ca/gmcte
Practices in Faculty Peer Evaluation
Jim Greer, Director, University Learning Centre
In recent weeks, I have been asked to
assist three different campus faculty
groups with improving their faculty
peer evaluation processes. Even
though in 2003 a “Framework for Peer
Evaluation of Teaching at the University
of Saskatchewan”1 was developed and
approved by Council, this framework has
not been implemented anywhere on the
Campus as far as I know. The Framework
calls for a fairly comprehensive peer
evaluation effort and, frankly, the
workload associated with this approach
is too high to be embraced. Meanwhile,
tenure and promotion committees, most
notably the University Review Committee,
is pressing academic departments to do a
By students
Formative evaluations are not meant
to be placed in a faculty member’s
personnel file. They constitute informal
feedback on areas of teaching that could
be improved and frequently include a
good deal of friendly advice. Sometimes
faculty members include formative
evaluations in their teaching portfolios,
and sometimes these even find their way
into a candidate’s self-assessment portion
of tenure or promotion case files. This is
appropriate, provided this is done by the
candidate him or herself. Department
heads should never use formative
assessments as part of the evidence for
satisfactory or unsatisfactory
teaching. While on this point of formative
By peers
Informal
Formative evaluation questionnaires
Informal peer
consultations
Summative evaluation Student course
(formal judgments of evaluations
teaching performance) (e.g. SEEQ)
Formal peer
evaluations
better job of peer evaluations. Given this
context, I offer this short article to help
faculty, departments and colleges improve
their practices in this area.
By supervisors
Not for faculty –
normally this is for
graduate students
or sessionals
Consider the two dimensions of teaching
evaluation: 1) “who performs the
evaluation?” and 2) “what is the type of
evaluation?” Evaluations of teaching are
performed by our students, our peers,
and, in some instances, our supervisors.
Evaluations may be formative, leading
to constructive criticism to improve
practices, or summative, resulting in a
comprehensive formal assessment.
evaluation, I also wish to mention that
The Gwenna Moss Centre offers a peer
consultation service for any faculty
member who wishes to partake. In this
service, faculty teachers of proven quality
will visit you, attend a couple of classes,
and present you with a confidential
assessment. We would like more people
to take advantage of this service. The
fact that a peer consultation has been
conducted is evidence that a faculty
member is striving to improve his or
her teaching, and as such is evidence
in support of meeting the standard for
tenure or promotion.
1. http://www.usask.ca/university_
council/idcc/reports/06-19-03.shtml
Summative evaluations of teaching are
supposed to be comprehensive formal
evaluations of teaching ability and
8
performance based on evidence obtained
from a comprehensive set of sources.
Here arises the problem we face with our
evaluations of teaching at the University
of Saskatchewan. The peer evaluations
performed here are rarely summative.
By the way, the student evaluations we
conduct are not particularly summative
either. In fact, the use of the term
“summative” is likely inappropriate to
describe even our best processes of
formal evaluation of faculty teaching. So
from here on, I shall mostly refrain from
using the term summative and instead
refer to this as “formal peer judgments
of teaching ability and performance” or
“formal peer evaluations.”
The Framework for Peer Evaluation of
Teaching describes a comprehensive (and
summative) formal assessment of teaching,
where at least two peers visit at least two
different classes for each course in which
the faculty member is being evaluated.
The peers review course materials,
discuss intended pedagogy, and examine
syllabi, student examinations and grading
practices. This is a very substantial task
and demands many more hours than most
units are willing to provide to evaluating
teaching.
A more common (and still acceptable)
practice is for pre-tenure or prepromotion faculty members to be
visited by a peer for at least one class
period in each course they teach. These
classroom visits would constitute formal
observations of teaching and a formal
report would be prepared. We are bound
to make such visits on mutually agreeable
dates and with adequate advance notice.
The visit should be made on a day when
“normal teaching” is going to occur (i.e.,
not on a day when only students are
making presentations). The visit should
be preceded by a brief interview where
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
a discussion about teaching materials,
exams, syllabi and pedagogy may take
place. During the classroom visit, the
peer evaluator should remain uninvolved
with the class activities and should
observe teaching and student reactions.
Sometimes a checklist is used to guide
observation. After the classroom
visit, the evaluator should complete a
written narrative report commenting on
strengths and weaknesses observed. The
report should be thought of as a formal
assessment of the teaching observed, and
claims should be based on evidence.
A tenure or promotion case file should
have several such formal peer evaluations
– ideally one for each course ever taught.
The University Review Committee is
particularly concerned when there are
very few formal peer evaluations or
when the evaluations are not based on
evidence or observations. Evaluations
that were clearly thought of as informal
formative assessments should never be
used as a substitute for formal evaluations.
Finally, completed checklists do not serve
as an adequate formal peer evaluation
– a written narrative is much better.
Checklists are useful to jog the memory
of the evaluator during and after the
classroom visit, but do not belong in the
formal evaluation per se.
There are some units on campus where
peer evaluation of teaching takes on quite
a different flavour, because teaching itself
is quite different there. For example, I
recently worked with the Department of
Family Medicine on developing better peer
evaluation processes. In that Department,
teaching is almost always done one-to-one
with a faculty member in Socratic dialogue
with a resident or intern. It is difficult in
this circumstance for a peer to observe,
let alone conduct, a peer evaluation of the
teaching. Yet even in this circumstance,
formal peer evaluations of teaching are
needed and can be performed.
The Framework speaks to the importance
of peer evaluation of teaching for all
faculty members, including those who
have passed the hurdles of tenure and
promotion. While these evaluations of
senior faculty are a good idea, the extra
work associated with doing them is
seen as prohibitive in most departments.
Yet this is something that especially
the younger faculty feel is important. I
would urge departments to open this
conversation at a future departmental
meeting.
Overall, formal peer evaluations of
teaching need not be too onerous. It
should be possible to get by with a single
representative classroom visit in each
course taught by a pre-tenure or prepromotion candidate. This evaluation
process should not be threatening or
triggered at the last minute. But it does
need to result in a formal report that
differs substantially from the creative
criticism and advice one might see in an
informal peer consultation.
If units wish to have more personalized
advice, or a workshop specifically targeted
to their needs in this area, please get in
contact with us at The Gwenna Moss
Centre.
w
Course
Design/Redesign Workshop
May 26 – 30, 2008
The Gwenna Moss Centre is pleased to provide a one-week, intensive course design/redesign
workshop for faculty.
In this workshop participants will:
• Use course design principles to design or re-design one of their courses
• Apply instructional principles in their teaching
The workshop integrates large and small group activities with opportunities for individuals to design a course in their subject
area. Large group activities include presentations of major concepts and cases illustrating their application to actual courses.
Small multi-disciplinary groups focus on course design and micro-teaching. A principled approach to course design is supported
by recorded teaching episodes, self-critique and peer feedback. These activities provide the opportunity to learn about
different strategies for teaching, and to experiment with them in a non-threatening and supportive environment.
It is essential that you bring to the workshop a course that you intend to design or re-design, and that you are able to attend
all workshop sessions. Readings and other preparation activities are expected in the evenings.
We are planning to engage a team of instructional designers to provide a good deal of personal attention to participants. We
also hope to bring in an expert facilitator who has led several such workshops across Canada.
There will be a $100 fee for this workshop. For more information, please e-mail Kathy Schwarz at (kathy.schwarz@usask.ca) or
phone (966-1804) by April 30, 2008. Please note that registration is limited and availability is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
9
www.usask.ca/gmcte
The Teachers Write –
About Millennials
by Martha Crealock, Program Coordinator, GMCTE
“The Teachers Write,” an ongoing column
in Bridges, is a space to hear “from the
trenches” about professors’ experiences
with teaching in higher education. Every
new crop of young adults needs to
define itself, and there can be cultural
and generational disconnects between
professors from one generation teaching
students from another generation.
This issue’s topic is the Millennials. There
has been a lot of talk about ‘Millennials,’
or “Generation Y”: young people born
between 1982 - 2000.  What differences
do you see between how your students
learn and how you and your generation
learned?  What challenges and gifts does
this generation bring to university learning?
Generalizations are, of course, often
oversimplifications; Millennials are not
all like this, to be sure. From what I
have observed though, this is not a bad
assessment.  There is much to be admired
about this generation: their desire to
put happiness over career (hence their
willingness to shop around for the right
fit rather than stay committed to an
employer or an educational program);
their straightforwardness; their seamless
use of technology in their day-to-day
lives; their acceptance of diversity in all
its forms; and, compared to their parents,
their ambivalence about materialism
(though, of course, the middle-class kids
from this generation wanted for nothing).
Generation Y (Millennial Generation)
was born after 1982; most students
entering first year were born in 1989.
Characteristics and Values of Generation Y
as described in the literature:
• tend to be self-confident and optimistic, (but sometimes have unrealistic
expectations)
• work hard but on their own terms; feel
pressure to achieve (goal-oriented)
• like feedback and tangible rewards
(entrepreneurial)
• place value on affiliations and networks
(team-oriented)
• indifferent to structures of authority;
do not like to be told what to do
(independent)
• frustrated by bureaucracy and perceived
lack of competence (not afraid to
complain)
• come from smaller families with older
parents; most are first/only born and
have been sheltered by protective,
“helicopter” parents
• comfortable with technology in every
aspect of lives (multi-taskers)
• growing health problems (obesity, -asthma, repetitive stress injuries,
ADD, etc.)
• most “diverse” generation in history.
Russ Isinger, Student Enrollment and
Retention Division
the internet as the font of all knowledge,
but a lack of interest in actually reading
anything in-depth or difficult.  Finally, the
involvement of their parents in their daily
lives makes them seem “protected” or
“coddled.”  They may not appreciate that
There is another side to the coin though,
education IS life, not a preparation for it
which you can see manifestations of in
somehow.  Hence, they have a burning
class: an attitude of entitlement about
desire to know what they are going to
rewards (grades); a challenging of authority
get for pursuing a course, a discipline, a
without necessarily seeing authority as
degree, and so on.
having a valid point, especially if authority
stands between them and what they want
Russ Isinger,
(grades again); a knowledge of the world
SESD, Political Science
which seems to be a mile wide but an inch
think; a fondness for
10
In a nutshell, they’re more shrewd, thank
goodness, but also over-evaluated and
overworked.
Dr. Theresa Zolner
Psychology
Students today learn more from how they
can relate what is being learned to the real
world. There is still some discussion about
theories and concepts; these are now
applied to the process and content with
increased emphasis on critical thinking.
From when I was in school, I went to
lectures, read the book and wrote the
exam, I was told, in this situation you do
this.” Critical thinking was based on facts
and not the process.
The challenge this group of students
brings to the classroom is the expectation
that things will be given to them. As this
generation tends to take for granted
certain things, we as professors need
to instill more responsibility for their
learning than in the past. The gifts they
bring include the challenge of the level of
questioning, which was not done in the
past. They are more curious as to the
“why,” “how” and “what.” In the past, we
just listened like sponges and learned from
that. This generation is more vocal than
before, and this is a gift considering nurses
in the future need to advocate more for
their patients than in the past. This I see as
due to societal changes.
Velna Clarke, Nursing
I believe that the students currently in our
programs and courses expect a teaching
and learning environment that encourages
interaction, collaboration, and connectivity.
As educators, we have an incredible
opportunity to learn from students who
have grown up using the tools from this
electronic and technical world. For me, the
challenge is to create and use instructional
strategies that reflect, to a greater extent,
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
necessarily how all students learn best in
class. For some, superficial concentration
during class is a preferred learning style
that works for them. To compete with
these alternative stimuli, I feel motivated
Dr. Sandra L. Bassendowski
College of Nursing, University of to make the class so interesting,
so valuable that most students will
Saskatchewan (Regina site)
voluntarily turn off other information
sources. The days of teaching to a
The millennials I have seem to be much
more vocal. Much less literate (i.e. texting captive audience are over. While we
always needed to earn student attention,
is the new talking), aware of what’s going
on around them, but are less aware of the the pressure to do so is much greater,
especially in large classes.
underlying social and political processes
which culminate in the events around
them. Eager to learn new things, but many This change in students is not necessarily
don’t seem inspired to do “good, altruistic a bad thing, but it has pushed me to
design my courses differently. For
things/good work,” only inspired to do
example, I require students to engage
what needs to be done to pass the class/
in metacognition by writing weekly in a
get a good job.
learning journal which provides evidence
for persuasive essays about their
Nancy Poon, Sociology
learning. To respect students’ value for
technology and to respect their multiple
Generally speaking, then, I find current
responsibilities as employees and/or
students believe that science and
technology have more value than arts and parents and students, I have designed
their group assignments to be completed
humanities. They prefer the first grouping
on-line through Blackboard’s Learning
over the second even though, sometimes,
this preference goes against the grain. That Management System.
is, they believe that they ought to be more
I do not know if my efforts are more
interested in science even if they are not.
effective in supporting students’ learning.
I also find that students are unaware of
cultural markers that were once taken for I do know that I am having fun trying to
reach them in different ways.
granted. I can no longer count on them
at least having heard the names Aristotle,
Gail Stevens,
Freud or Marx. On the positive side, I
Edwards School of Business
think students are more patient about
details and recognize that the big picture
You are invited to contribute your two
would be nothing without them.
cents to the next issue’s question for
“The Teachers Write.” What you do in
Rhonda Anderson, English
the classroom to engage students? How
do you energize, motivate, captivate, and/
I find that my students differ in several
or inspire your students?
ways from those I taught 10 years ago
and 20 years ago. One notable difference
This will also be the theme for our
with these students is the number of
visual and auditory stimuli that they invite Intensive Spring Teaching Workshops,
from May 5th to 9th, 2008. This week
simultaneously into their brains. Even in
will feature morning and afternoon
class, I have some students who leave to
workshops that equip you to engage
answer cell phones, or text people, or
students, as you plan your September
have their laptops open to screens that
classes.
are unrelated to the course. I used to
feel offended by this behaviour, but I took
In the interest of space and hearing from
a lesson from my own kids, who insisted
many people, please limit your thoughts
on having their music blaring while they
to 100 words. Email your insights to
studied.
martha.crealock@usask.ca by
February 1st.
My value of focused concentration is not
the capabilities of technology and the
Internet rather than those of the printing
press.
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
11
Virtual
Teaching
Discussions
Virtual Teaching Discussions
The greatest resource teachers on
campus have is one another! We’ve
created two distinct virtual coffee
shops where faculty and sessional
lecturers can discuss teaching issues with their colleagues.
In ihelp, we have created a “Teaching Forum.” Within this forum, you
will find the following two “coffee
shops”:
• In “What Did You Do When...?,”
you have the opportunity, in a safe
environment, to ask those burning
questions that have come up for
you in your teaching. Ask your colleagues what they did when they
encountered similar classroom
challenges.
• In “What I’ve Learned (So Far),”
you have the opportunity to share
your teaching experiences and
innovations with other instructors
from across the campus.
As these discussions develop, we
will be asking participants for
permission to publish some of the
questions, answers, and tips on
our website, to benefit the larger
teaching community.
These discussion areas are accessible only to faculty members and
sessional lecturers.You will require
an NSID to access these discussion
forums. If you have difficulty accessing the forums, please contact
Tereigh Ewert-Bauer at 966-6321.
www.usask.ca/gmcte
We Built It, They’re Coming—
Now Why Won’t They Stay?
By Tereigh Ewert-Bauer, Program Coordinator, GMCTE
As our university collectively works
toward creating institutional foundational
documents and implementing an integrated
plan, student “recruitment” and “retention”
emerge as urgent themes. “How do we
get students to enroll at the University of
Saskatchewan?” the university asks, “And
once they’re here, how do we get them to
stay?”
In the summer of 2007, the Student
Enrolment and Services Division (SESD)
delivered a presentation at the New
Employee Orientation. While the
presentation was highly informative about
our students, and identifies many of their
needs, for me, the most intriguing data
appeared under the category “Retention
is the key!” SESD reports that the firstyear retention rate is 72.5%, and that 85%
of student attrition happens in the first
year of a student’s experience. Further,
75% of those students who do discontinue
their studies are academically eligible to
continue. These students are not leaving
our institution because they lack the ability
to succeed. Moreover, SESD reports
that those who are academically eligible
to continue, but who choose not to, are
not leaving for financial reasons either.
Rather, one of their key reasons for leaving
is because they felt a lack of “fit” in the
university.
students” highly problematic (2). Several
years ago, the Human Resource Division
hosted a “Diversity Day,” bringing in
Trevor Wilson as a keynote speaker. In
speaking about student, staff, and faculty
retention, Wilson employed a magnificent
metaphor. He compared the university to
a car with an oil leak. The university can
put tremendous resources and effort into
“topping up the oil” (i.e. recruitment), but
as long as the cause of the “leak” remains
unaddressed, the university can expect to
continue to lose its most valuable asset—
its people.
Particularly in recent years, the University
of Saskatchewan has created and
expanded existing academic, career, and
personal support programs essential to
student success. Support and transition
programs walk a tenuous line. On the
one hand, it is crucial that students’ needs
be met. On the other hand, however,
these programs need to ensure that
they do not communicate (or for many
students, reaffirm what they have been
told in prior educational or work settings)
that they are somehow deficient. Tinto
cautions, “Students, especially those who
have been historically excluded from
higher education, are affected by the
campus expectational climate and by
their perceptions of the expectations of
faculty and staff hold for their individual
performance” (2).
young, brilliant, woman, left the university
after successfully completing two years
of course work. Curious, I asked her
why she left. She explained that while
the course material was often interesting,
it had no (apparent) relevance to her
“real” life, to her future, and that accruing
student loans for what felt like a luxury
or indulgence, rather than a practicality,
seemed simply indefensible. Very few
students can afford to pursue an education
simply for the joy of learning. Thus, one
factor in students’ “lack of fit” may occur
when they are unable to make practical
connections between the classroom and
their lives off campus.
Our campus is also described,
affectionately, as a microcosm of
our society. While the “microcosm”
perspective does positively reflect our
campus diversity, many problems of the
greater society are also reproduced
here. Students (faculty and staff) who
experience isolation, discrimination,
unfair representation, and inequality
in mainstream society do not escape
these experiences when they come to
the university. In addition to being a
community perceived as distinct from
the city, the university itself is subdivided
into many visible and less visible (and
often, “gated”) communities. On a highly
visible level, the university is divided into
colleges and departments that often work
Much of the literature addressing student
in isolation, making connections among
retention issues focuses on “helping
Beyond providing support (but not
subjects difficult for students to see.
the students” fit or transition into the
Within these colleges and departments,
university culture. What this tactic implies, remediation), the university also needs
to cast a critical gaze on the “conditions
“glass ceilings,” course content that
though, is that there is something wrong
in which [it] places its students,” and
reflects the dominant hegemony, hidden
with the students that must be remedied,
the campus culture. Our campus is
curricula, heterosexism, insufficient
and that they must undergo a “forced
resources for students with disabilities,
assimilation and acculturation process” so often described, and experienced, as a
city unto itself. This conceptualization is
traditional, Western teaching methods
that they might succeed (Landry, quoted
problematic, because the University is seen and other factors can all communicate,
in Seidman, 17).Vincent Tinto, whose
as distinct from the greater community.
however unintentionally, that a student
work on diverse student retention is
does not “fit” within any given campus
canonical, finds focusing on “the attributes Many students (and staff) experience
their lives on campus as separate from
community. In our recruitment materials
of students themselves” rather than on
“the conditions in which institutions place “the real world.” A good friend of mine, a and approaches, like many other
12
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
institutions, we make efforts to depict
our diverse community. L. W. Watson, et
al, in “How Minority Students Experience
College,” found that
cannot actively recruit people into an
environment that requires people to
somehow “fit” themselves into the
existing, and yes, often flawed, structure.
First, teachers need to communicate to
their students high expectations, since
this simultaneously communicates a belief
in the students’ ability to achieve the
course goals. Second, “support,” while
many students expressed their
Second, I draw on this body of literature
largely provided on an institutional level
enthusiasm concerning their
in particular, because it emphasizes that
via the University Learning Centre, SESD,
institution’s initial display of
teaching and learning methods that are
Student Health, Student Counseling,
diversity and multiculturalism
adjusted to “meet the needs of a very wide student clubs, organizations, and sports
in the recruitment process,
range of students—including mature and
groups, can also emerge within a single
but then their subsequent
disabled [sic] students—in practice benefit class, via an instructor’s efforts to be
disappointment with the reality of
all students” (Powney, 5). While a shift in
accessible to the students, and employing
the monocultural campuses they
campus culture must in some ways come
inclusive teaching methods and materials.
found after enrolling.
from an administrative and/or institutional Third, students require early and frequent
(quoted in Seidman, 19)
level, nearly all the literature on student
feedback (3). Students need to know
retention I surveyed emphasizes that
how they are doing, early on, so that
Our campus is not monocultural in terms students who feel they “fit,” belong, or
they can adjust their learning strategies.
of the students, staff, and faculty, but the
are part of a cohesive community, are
Frequent opportunities to practice new
institution itself still has great strides to
more likely to complete their program
concepts, and to receive correction and
make to reflect, honour, and benefit from
of study. It is on this point where the
encouragement, empower the student
this diversity.
roles of faculty, sessionals, and staff are
to take charge of their own learning (3).
critical. Although there are many services, Fourth, students need to feel that they
programs, and organizations on campus to are “valued members of the institution.”
SESD reports that the
support students, for countless reasons
They must have ways to become involved
first-year retention rate
many students are unable to make full use in the campus community. This point
of these offerings. The common factor
is closely tied with the final point, that
is 72.5%, and that 85%
among all students, however, is that each
students need to be learning to have a
of student attrition
and every one has at least one teacher,
good chance of completing their program
and at least one class. This is the point of
(3). Both the fourth and fifth points
happens in the first
contact that is most crucial in the life of, in can be achieved in the class by creating
year of a student’s
particular, a first- or second- year student. community within the classroom, and
experience. Further, 75%
giving the students opportunities to
In
my
years
working
for
The
Gwenna
work, meaningfully, with one another to
of those students who do
Moss Centre, I have had the privilege of
solve problems. Even the student who
discontinue their studies
asking countless graduate students how
is unable to join campus teams, politics,
they came to choose their field of study.
or social clubs, can become involved
are academically eligible to
Overwhelmingly, it was the students’
within their own classrooms, connecting
continue! These students
experience in one class, with one teacher, with other students, the content, the
are not leaving our
that sparked their imagination and passion, instructor, and, in some cases, even with
that encouraged and motivated them to
the outside community. Through the use
institution because they
pursue their studies, and that revealed
of teaching strategies such as (community)
lack the ability to succeed.
to them their niche in the university.
service-learning, problem-based learning,
You, dear reader, may already be that
case-based learning, cooperative and/or
I do not draw upon the literature
one teacher, or perhaps you aspire to
collaborative learning, students become
pertaining to student diversity as it
become that one teacher. Fortunately,
involved and they experience deeper
relates to retention because I believe
the literature is very clear about what a
learning (Tinto, 4, 6). Further, teaching
that the students most likely to leave
teacher can do differently to help students practices that acknowledge students’ prior
prematurely are those who come from
define their own place in the university.
learning and experiences will also increase
typically underrepresented groups. Rather, How empowering, to know that profound the likelihood of students feeling a sense
I draw on this literature first, because our cultural change can occur on an individual of belonging within the learning group
university is targeting underrepresented
level, in a single classroom or lab!
(Powney, 22).
groups, such as Aboriginal and international
students, and in some disciplines,
Tinto identifies five conditions that
To be candid, adapting one’s teaching to
women, for recruitment (University of
“are known to promote persistence,”
include more interactive, communitySaskatchewan Enrolment Plan: Bridging
all five of which can be created within
building learning opportunities will require
to 2010, 2, 5; “Who are Our Students?”,
a classroom: “expectations, support,
an investment of time, creativity, and
slide 5). In good conscience, we simply
feedback, involvement and learning” (2).
patience. Fortunately, on an institutional
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
13
www.usask.ca/gmcte
level, our new foundational documents
reflect an understanding of Tinto’s model.
The University Learning Centre has
brought many student resources together
while at the same time, making space
for learning communities, expanding
student-to-student support, and creating
community service- learning opportunities.
These developments should greatly
bolster faculty efforts to create learning
experiences where more students feel
they “fit.” As further encouragement,
research findings indicate that job
satisfaction strongly correlates
with employee engagement in the
workplace. The more actively
engaged college staff are . . . the
more likely they are to attain a
sense of responsibility, recognition,
achievement, contribution, and
value, which in turn, leads to
an increase in job satisfaction.
(Fishman and Decandia, 1)
Finally, The Gwenna Moss Centre is
working within the University Learning
Centre to develop resources, support, and
working groups for faculty members who
are interested in exploring communitybuilding, or connection-forming teaching
strategies in their courses. If you have
ideas, suggestions, or strategies that you
would like to share with your colleagues,
or if you would like to join in a working
group dedicated to “promoting student
retention through classroom practice,”
please send me an email at tereigh.
ewert-bauer@usask.ca, or give me a call at
966.6321.
For a detailed report and collection
of case studies, pertaining to student
retention—one that looks closely at all
the stakeholders in a post-secondary
institution—I highly recommend reading
“Successful Student Diversity: Case Studies
of Practice in Learning and Teaching and
Widening Participation,” edited by Janet
Powney.
Works Cited and Consulted
Bowden, Rachel. “Institutional Approaches
to Improving Student Success at the
University of Brighton.” Proc. Of
Enhancing Student Retention: Using International Research to Improve Policy
and Practice, Nov. 2003. Amsterdam. Available http://www.staffs.ac.uk/institutes/
access/research/res19.html. 23 pages.
Creighton, Linda M. “Factor Affecting the
Graduation Rates of University Students
from Underprivileged Populations.
International Electronic Journal for Leadership
in Learning, 11, 7, 2007. Available http://
www.ucalgary.ca/~iejll/volume11/creighton.
htm, November 9, 2007. 19 pages.
Fishman, Steve, and Lisa Decandia.
“SUCCESS@Seneca: Facilitating Student
and Staff Success. College Quarterly,9, 2
(2006). Available http://www.senecac.
on.ca/quarterly/2006-vol09-num02-spring/
fishman_decandia.html. 6 pages.
Powney, Janet, ed. Successful Student
Diversity: Case Studies in Learning and Teaching and Widening Participation.
England: HEFCE, 2002.
Seidman, Alan. “Monitoring Student
Retention: Resources for Practitioners.”
New Directions for Institutional Research,
125 (2005). Available http://www3.
interscience.wiley.com/journal/110433479/
issue on November 9th, 2007. 18 pages.
Szelenyi, Katalin. “Minority Student
Retention and Academic Achievement in Community Colleges.” Eric Digest
(2001). Accessedhttp://www.ericdigests.
org/2001-4/minority.html on November 9,
2007. 5 pages.
Tinto,Vincent. “Promoting Student
Retention Through Classroom Practice.”
Proc. Of Enhancing Student Retention: Using
International Research to Improve Policy and Practice, Nov. 2003. Amsterdam.
Available http://www.staffs.ac.uk/institutes/
access/research/res19.html. 7 pages.
“Who Are Our Students? How Can
We Help Them Succeed?” An SESD
presentation to the New Employee
Orientation, August 2007, University
of Saskatchewan. Powerpoint slides
available at http://www.usask.ca/gmcte/
drupal/?q=gmcte_presentations.
w
Master Teacher Award
There are exemplary teachers in every
department that go above and beyond
in teaching their students. They focus
their time and effort on providing the
best possible teaching and support to
their students that is possible, often
using innovative tactics. It is imperative
that they be acknowledged for their
efforts.
As our website declares, the University
of Saskatchewan recognizes teaching
as one of its primary functions, and it
expects its faculty members to strive
for excellence in teaching and learning.
Faculty invest in their teaching so our
students can receive a rich and satisfying educational experience in an academically vibrant learning environment.
The University wishes to encourage
outstanding teaching and the Master
Teacher Award provides one tangible
acknowledgement of exceptional pedagogy at the U of S.
The deadline for nominations for this
award is Thursday, February 15, 2008.
Additional information regarding the
roles of the nominator, and what is required for the nomination package can
be found on the following website:
www.usask.ca/gmcte/drupal/?q=node/6
Please do not hesitate to drop in at The
Gwenna Moss Centre to discuss the
award. Feel free to look at the dossiers
of the past winners. You can also call
Corinne at 966-2231 for information if
you so wish.
University of Saskatchewan Enrolment
Plan: Bridging to 2010. University of Saskatchewan Foundational Document.
(2003).
14
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
Virtual
Enviroments,
Teaching &
Learning:
Welcome to
the SLUG!
Suppose you were immersed in a 3D
virtual world with your students. How
would that affect your teaching? Could you
help your students learn using a virtual
environment in ways that you couldn’t
otherwise? While this is not an entirely
a new concept, Second Life is a popular
virtual environment that has attracted
over 150 universities and post-secondary
institutions around the world.
On the surface, Second Life may be
considered trivial and game-like; however,
it provides tremendous potential for
education. Universities across North
America and beyond have ventured into
this new territory to explore options for
teaching and learning that are enhanced
through a virtual experience. Many
professors are using this environment as
a more engaging way of continuing with
their current practice of meeting with
students in chat-room environments.
Others are venturing further and
conducting much of their course in this
online world: not necessarily to recreate
the classroom but rather to reinvent it.
While benefits for distance education
opportunities are obvious, the true benefit
of using SL in education is dependent
on the underlying purpose and the way
in which the experience is structured.
Given appropriate circumstances, the
experience can be meaningful and valuable
to professors, but especially to students.
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
The University of Saskatchewan has
recently established its presence in Second
Life by leasing part of an island from the
New Media Consortium, of which we
are a member institution. We now own
one-quarter of the island named “Teaching
6.” Furthermore, we have established
a user group of interested individuals
to lead the way. The Second Life User
Group, or SLUG, is made up of faculty,
staff and students at the U of S, with
current representation from the College
of Education, the College of Medicine, the
Department of Computer Science, EMAP,
the Library, ITS, the Digital Media Research
Centre and the ULC. The group keeps in
contact and shares resources through the
use of a wiki, and holds regular, in-person
monthly meetings, and in-world meetings
as inspiration arises.
Plans for development and use of our
island are stewarded by the SLUG via
EMAP (Educational Media Access and
Production) and the University Learning
Centre. Our first initiative is to establish
the Gordon Snelgrove virtual gallery to
showcase student art. If you have an idea
of how you might make use of this new
campus resource, or if you are simply
interested in learning more and would like
to join the user group, please
email uofs_slug@usask.ca or visit
www.usask.ca/ulc/slug.
15
Stephanie Frost, ULC
Frank Bulk,
EMAP & GMCTE
www.usask.ca/gmcte
PAL Program Update
Gina Koehn,
ULC, Program Director
Donna van de Velde,
ULC Assistant, and
Program Support
Contributing to the exciting student support
initiatives (and large set of creative acronyms on
campus), the ULC introduced the Peer Assisted
Learning program (PAL) in September 2007.
Term one has been busy, but successful, and it
has been an honour for the ULC staff to work
with a talented group of 20 U of S undergraduate
students. Here is a brief update of the PAL
program during its first term in operation.
Recruitment began in April 2007 for academically
strong, outgoing students who were interested
in providing academic/learning support to
other U of S students. A group of twenty
students joined the program in September
and immediately underwent extensive training
in topics including teaching techniques, group
facilitation, active listening, and student support
and services on campus with invited talks given
by the International Student Office, Student
Counselling Services, Disability Student Services
and the USSU Pride Centre. Weekly meetings and
ongoing training occurs throughout the year to
ensure that regular communication, coordinated
teamwork, and high quality programs are offered,
and that PAL Peer Mentors’ challenges and
personal goals are addressed. PAL student leaders
also keep weekly office hours in a shared office
space within the ULC, carrying out independent
research, preparing presentations, and developing
PAL resources.
PAL Peer Mentors participated in various support
initiatives during term one:
• The ULC Help Desk, deployed in January of
2007 on the first floor of the Murray Library,
is staffed by PAL Peer Mentors and gives U of
S students an opportunity to approach fellow
students with questions about ULC programming,
learning support, and life on campus.
• Communication Café, a joint initiative with
the International Student Office, provides a safe
and fun atmosphere for students to practice
spoken English. It was led by three Peer Mentors
in term one. Communication Café ran weekly
16
throughout the term on Tuesdays 4:30-6:30 p.m. and
Wednesdays 7:00-9:00 p.m.
• Three Peer Mentors helped our regular tutors
provide Math & Stats help to students dropping
by the ULC Math & Stats Help room (144 Murray
Library) with questions.
• Four Peer Mentors established themselves as the
coaches of Structured Study Sessions during term
one, leading study sessions 2-3 times per week in
challenging first year subjects. Structured Study
Sessions, sometimes known in other universities as
Supplemental Instruction, is a new initiative at the
U of S and has shown much success. Working in
this highly coordinated program, PAL Peer Mentors
planned exercises, created practice midterm exams,
coordinated group discussions and problemsolving activities, and answered questions about
university life. Student attendance at study sessions
is optional, and the help provided is anything
but remedial. Sessions offer students a great
opportunity to meet and work with other students,
to interact and consider course material from a
new perspective, and is an efficient use of students’
study time. Structured Study Session coaches
will have previously taken the course they coach,
and their role is not to be confused with T.A.’s or
tutors. Coaches focus on collaborative learning
and encouraging students to answer each other’s
questions, rather than teaching of course material.
In the fall of September 2007, subjects offering
Structured Study Sessions included MATH121.3
(with Edwards School of Business), CMPT111.3 and
PHIL110.6.
• Term one saw the pilot of a Science Learning
Community (SLC), a joint initiative between the
ULC and the College of Arts and Science. Students
registered in the SLC consisted of a small cohort
of students registered by the College of Arts
and Science in a common set of three large firstyear science courses (BIOL120.3, CHEM112.3,
GEOG130.3) and were mentored by two PAL
senior science students. Weekly gatherings of the
community featured a guest lecture by Monique
Dubé; a one-day community service-learning event
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
with Habitat for Humanity, allowing
students to help support our local
community and connect their experience
with learning in their GEOG course;
an academic advising session tailored
to meet the particular needs of SLC
students; and study skills and study
sessions. Many friendships formed, and
a sense of community was successfully
established among the students attending
the weekly gatherings.
Lots of exciting activities and initiatives
are planned for term two; drop by our
website (www.usask.ca/ulc) to learn
more! Please contact us if you have
ideas for cooperative projects and
programming.
w
ULC Math/Stats
Help Update
Holly Fraser,
Coordinator,
Math Help
In term 1, ULC Math/Stats Help was open to help
students primarily on a drop-in basis Sunday to Friday.
Staff also conducted help sessions for certain firstyear courses (Math 101, 110 and 121) outside our
regular hours of operation. In term 2, in addition to
its drop-in services, ULCMath/Stats Help will continue to put
on workshops and help sessions on various topics, mainly for
students in first-year courses. Please visit our web page at
www.usask.ca/ulc/math for Math/Stats Help hours of operation
and for information on workshop topics.
Writing Help Update
Thank you to all faculty, instructors, and graduate supervisors for recommending ULC Writing
Help services in 2007. We had a busy first term last fall, including
Liv Marken,
Coordinator,
Writing Help
• excellent registrations for Grammar-to-Go workshops and a series of graduate writing and
presenting workshops taught by Liv Marken, Ron Cooley, English; Jeanie Wills, Engineering;
and Stephen Urquhart, Chemistry.
• a bustling Murray 142, with students from all years and colleges dropping in to discuss their writing with a tutor.
• a steady increase in the number of students submitting questions or papers to the online
Writing Help service www.usask.ca/ulc/onlinewritinghelp, with over 200 submissions from
September to November.
• regular on-site tutoring at the Royal West Arts and Science transition program. • the delivery of writing and grammar workshops in the colleges of Law and Engineering.
Next term, we will continue to offer free Grammar-to-Go and graduate writing workshops, and we’re hard at work planning a more intensive, discipline-specific tutor-training program.
While our focus is on student writing support, we can offer assistance to professors who assign and mark written work in their classes. Please come by The Gwenna Moss Centre to discuss the challenges and successes you face
in assigning and marking written work; Liv Marken (Writing Help Coordinator and Department of English Sessional
Lecturer) will lead the January 15th TEA (Teaching Effectiveness Afternoon) from 3:30-4:30 p.m. No registration is
required.
Contact Liv (liv.marken@usask.ca or 966-2771) if you have any questions or comments about writing support
on campus.
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
17
www.usask.ca/gmcte
Community
Service-Learning
Update
Phaedra Hitchings, ULC Community Service-Learning
Coordinator
What’s new in the Community ServiceLearning Office at the ULC? We’re
gearing up for term two and inviting your
participation and ideas.
Our Series for Curricular Community
Service-Learning for faculty and instructors has had a good start. On October
31st, at a Teaching Effectiveness Afternoon (TEA), we began a conversation on
community service-learning and why we
choose to work with this model. This
discussion continued on December 5th
when we explored learning outcomes and
CSL, and shared examples of how we seek
to achieve these goals.
18 students and staff from the Science
Learning Community, a collaboration between the College of Arts and Science and
the ULC, for a CSL activity that enhanced
their human geography course. The
instructor for that course and her
colleague teaching the other section of
Geography 130, and through the Department of Geography, will be including an
optional CSL component in each of those
150 capacity first-year course sections for
Term 2 of this academic year.
Community service-learning is suitable for
a wide range of students and programming. An Agricultural Economics 400.3
mandatory course project focused on the
Everyone is still welcome to attend any or challenges of non-profit organizations and
all of the sessions. This series will continue their leadership stories, linking these to
challenges and successes of entrepreneurthrough to mid-March, exploring internaship. The twenty students in the class
tional CSL; how and why to incorporate
began this project by working with these
co-curricular CSL program components
organizations on a September weekend.
into curricula; and syllabus design and assessment.Visit the series website for more
Our students are seeking these opportuinformation and details as they are availnities, our community is looking for new
able www.usask.ca/ulc/csl/instructors.
ways to collaborate and to involve our
younger generations, and CSL practitioAs awareness of CSL grows on our camners on this campus are working hard, inpus, so it does in our wider community.
Project Serve, a one-day event based on a dividually and together. Our CSL Office is
model from the University of Guelph, was honoured to be a part of this and excited
piloted this past September through part- to invite your participation.
nership with the ULC, St. Thomas More
There are many examples of CSL on our
College, the College of Kinesiology, and
campus, and, if you would like to share
Volunteer Saskatoon. Focusing on firstyear students, this program introduced 22 one with which you are familiar, please
let us know. If you would like to explore
students to our community and opportunities available to get involved both on and opportunities for a CSL component, on a
large or small scale, please feel welcome
off campus.
to email service-learning@usask.ca. We
would love to hear from you.
In addition to other activities, the CSL
office works to support our partnerships
and others who wish to include CSL in
their program. In November, Habitat for
Humanity Saskatoon’s build site welcomed
w
18
Students
Respond
to Practice
Exam
Opportunity
by Stephanie
Frost, ULC
Online Support
Coordinator
On an October
evening in the
Thorvaldson
building, thirtyfive students
gathered to
work through an advertised “Practice Midterm” for CMPT 111, offered through the
University Learning Centre’s Structured
Study Session program with the support of
the Department of Computer Science and
the course instructors.
After a couple of minutes of silence as
each student tackled an exam question on
their own, the students were divided into
groups where they shared their solutions
and approaches for answering the question. A lively class discussion about the
question and solution followed the group
interaction, coordinated by ULC PAL Peer
Mentor Kristofor Amundson. The goals of
the session were to provide an opportunity for students to interact with each other,
and to help students focus their study for
the real midterm.
This Practice Midterm was held during
one of the Structured Study Sessions for
the course; study sessions were offered
twice per week throughout the term. This
program was piloted in three courses in
Term 1 of the 2007-2008 academic year:
CMPT 111.3, MATH 121.3, and PHIL 110.6,
which continues into term 2. PAL Peer
Mentor Joel Sparks, who is completing an
English degree in the College of Arts and
Science, facilitates the Philosophy sessions,
while Kyle Chriest and Paul Lepage, both
completing Accounting degrees in the
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
Edwards School of Business, facilitate the
Math study sessions. Kristofor is completing a degree in Computer Science in the
College of Arts and Science.
Structured Study Sessions (SSS) follow
the model of Supplemental Instruction
(SI), based on extensive research from
The University of Missouri-Kansas City.
The purpose of the model is to encourage
student-to-student interaction, collaborative problem solving, and exploration of
academic material during regularly-scheduled sessions. The sessions are facilitated
by PAL Peer Mentors, academically strong
undergraduate student leaders and “model
students” who have been through the
training program at the University Learning Centre and have previously taken the
courses in which they facilitate SSSs. If you
are interested in piloting Structured Study
Sessions in your course, please contact
Gina Koehn (966-2738, gina.koehn@
usask.ca), or read more about the course
instructor’s role in this program at www.
usask.ca/ulc/sss/. Kristofor, Joel, Kyle and
Paul work with ULC staff Erin Delathouwer, Holly Fraser, Stephanie Frost and
Phaedra Hitchings. Meet all of this year’s
Peer Mentors at www.usask.ca/ulc/pals/.
wLearning
Communities
Initiative at
the U of S
by Erin
DeLathouwer,
ULC Program
Coordinator
This year the
College of Arts
and Science and
the University
Learning Centre
introduced a
new initiative
that brings
first-year students together into a smaller
community in an effort to forge strong
bonds between a subset of students,
faculty, and peer mentors from the greater
U of S community. Learning Communities
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2
have been established at many other
Universities with the aim of making the
transition from high school to university
run smoothly, fostering interdisciplinary
learning and networking opportunities,
and instantiating the idea that learning is a
social process.
In the fall term we piloted a Science
Learning Community (SLC) with 26
students enrolled in Biology 120,
Chemistry 112, and Geography 130. This
group of students met weekly, along with
two senior science students working
with the ULC PAL Program, for study
and study skills sessions, community
service-learning events, and guest lectures
on interdisciplinary aspects of scientific
research. Through these various activities,
this group of students has formed what
can truly be described as a community.
The interpersonal bonds between the
SLC students, peer mentors, and faculty
shaped the community, lending credence
to the social dimension of the learning
process. An over-arching goal for this
learning community has been to develop
and facilitate an environment for learning
opportunities that reach beyond the
classroom, and in so doing, provide a way
of making course content more relevant,
more meaningful, and better understood.
One way we’ve seen success in achieving
this goal was through a Community
Service-Learning (CSL) event that had
our SLC students participate in a day of
building homes for Habitat for Humanity.
Experiential learning opportunities tend to
provide a means for students to enhance
their knowledge of the content learned
in the classroom. In this case, some of the
content from the Geography 130 course
was augmented through the students’
experience of getting to know about the
importance of the Habitat for Humanity
projects in the light of the housing crises
our city is facing. The SLC students
were challenged to consider the value
of housing, and its impact on the wider
community of Saskatoon. Additionally, this
CSL event served as a way for students to
connect with their Geography Professor,
Lisa Christmas, outside of the classroom,
providing an opportunity for establishing
mentoring relationships early on in the
students’ academic careers.
19
Another part of the programming offered
to and by the Science Learning Community
last term, was to host an academic talk
given by Dr. Monique Dubé, Canada
Research Chair in Aquatic Ecosystem
Health Diagnosis and Associate Professor
in the Toxicology Centre at the University
of Saskatchewan. This talk was aimed at all
first year Arts and Science students, and as
such, Monique gave an impressively relevant
presentation that touched on issues
broad enough to capture the attention
of a diverse set of students. Professor
Dubé’s emphasis on the importance of
interdisciplinary science as the key to
finding solutions to the problems our
world now faces (including the crucial issue
of sustainable water systems) brought
to light precisely the long term goals of
learning communities to bring about strong
interdisciplinary partnerships, and a means
of communication that spans a wide set
of interests focused on a common goal
(here, sustainability). The profound insight
Professor Dubé’s talk highlighted is that
we have all of the technology needed to
solve many of the problems our world now
faces, but we need to create better access
to and use of information in ways that
reveal solutions. She also stressed that the
balance between the industries we’ve come
to rely on and environmental sustainability
is possible, so long as the scientists of the
future can find a common language through
which to innovate and communicate.
Our hope is that the SLC students
have laid the foundation for continued
communication with a wide group
of scientists, and that the principles
and benefits of establishing learning
communities help facilitate solutions to
the environmental and social problems our
future scientists will be faced with.
We’ve seen great success in achieving our
broad goal to make course content more
meaningful to students in the SLC. Also,
we’ve seen how the benefits of fostering
strong bonds between a small group of
first year students has helped ease some of
the perceived intimidation of entering into
academic life. We hope to expand on what
we’ve learned through this pilot by offering
the structure and support needed to foster
new learning communities in partnership
with a variety of units in the coming years.
w
www.usask.ca/gmcte
People at the GMCTE
By Christine Anderson Obach, Program Manager, GMCTE
Kim West has
been part of
the GMCTE
team since
2001. She
recently
completed
her Ph.D. in
Earth Sciences
from Carleton
University in
Ottawa, Ontario. This short interview
with her is, in part, to acknowledge
all her hard work and congratulate
her on this achievement, and also is a
good opportunity to let the campus
community learn a little more about Kim
and the work she does at the Centre.
At some level, I always knew I wanted to
be a teacher. At a young age, I decided I
would get my PhD in geology and teach.
I didn’t realize until I was in graduate
school that the roles and responsibilities
of a faculty member were different than
what I perceived them to be. I think it’s
important to be a good researcher, but
I wanted to be authentic to myself by
focusing on what I value most: students
and learning. I consider myself fortunate
to have found my niche at The Gwenna
Moss Centre where I can collaborate with
colleagues and inspire students to learn
more about geology and teaching.
Q. Dr. West, what inspired you to
choose Geology?
I think new instructors tend to be too
hard on themselves. It takes three years
before one of your courses is in the place
you want it to be when you first start!
Teaching is a process, and I think it takes
time and practice to get really good at it.
It’s funny but I’ve learned the most about
teaching from people whose classrooms
I’ve never set foot in. I believe the most
effective teachers teach about life as
much as their subject, model how to be
successful practitioners of their discipline,
and are willing to open themselves up to
students, taking risks, and most of all, to
reflecting and continually improving upon
their teaching practice.
I’ve always been a geologist at heart.
When I was six years old, I read a story
about Mary Anning. 1 I thought she was
clever, and I admired her because she
was a young girl who loved geology too.
Eventually she became a very
well-respected professional in our field.
Q. Do you have any advice for other
women doing graduate work in the
Sciences?
It’s a tough road. Of course, every
individual’s experience is different. For
me, there were a lot of stereotypes I still
had to confront. What helped me most
was reaching out to mentors along the
way. My advice is to work hard, believe
in yourself, and as Dr. Jane Goodall
would say, never give up. If you follow
these guidelines, I think you will be
successful no matter what you choose
to do.
Q. When did you realize that the field
of instructional development was the
direction you wanted to take?
Endnote
1. Mary Anning (1799 - 1847) lived through
a life of privation and hardship to become
what one source called “the greatest fossilist
the world ever knew.” Anning is credited with
finding the first specimen of Ichthyosaurus
acknowledged by the Geological Society in
London. She also discovered the first nearly
complete example of the Plesiosaurus; the
first British Pterodactylus macronyx, a fossil
flying reptile; the Squaloraja fossil fish, a
transitional link between sharks and rays; and
finally the Plesiosaurus macrocephalus
Credit: http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/
anning.html
Q. What teaching tips for new instructors
have you found most useful?
w
Kim teaches GSR 989 - Introduction to
Teaching at the University and also team
teaches two courses in the Geology
Department: Geol 108: Earth and How It
Works and Geol 121: Earth Processes. In
addition to her teaching responsibilities, she
coordinates teaching workshops at the GMC,
facilitates workshops on the Teaching Portfolio,
and is developing resources for the Centre on
teaching in the sciences.
20
Anning’s Plesiosaur
Credit: http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/
anning.html
“Teaching, like any truly human activity,
emerges from one’s inwardness, for better
or worse. As I teach I project the
condition of my soul onto my students, my
subject, and our way of being together. The
entanglements I experience in the classroom are often no more or less than the
convolutions of my inner life.Viewed from
this angle, teaching holds a mirror to the
soul. If I am willing to look in that
mirror and not run from what I see, I
have a chance to gain self-knowledge-and knowing myself is as crucial to good
teaching as knowing my students and my
subject.”
Parker Palmer from The Courage to Teach,
Jossey-Bass 1998, p. 2.
Bridges,Vol. 6, No. 2