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4.6 |
I feel the course was valuable. |
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How has this class change your thinking about teaching and learning in higher education?
- I have realized hat there are so many elements that can contribute to successful teaching. I used discussion subjects to really reflect on what worked for me as a student and realized that my style as a teacher can be shaped from incorporating my learning style in a teaching style.
- It reiterated a lot of messages from a previous class I took, which actually was reassuring. It also made me want to be more involved in teaching (my own & others).
- This class has shown me how to quasi-methodically improve my teaching (and my learning!) I've also come to better appreciate qualitative studies in general, and how even without hard data in the form of numbers, very meaningful conclusions can be reached.
- Broader and deeper!
- Not a whole lot, and I'm glad that I'm not far off in the beginning.
- Helped organize/categorize many areas: e.g. data sources for assessment, chapters in a portfolio, etc.
- It introduced me to many resources, as well as the scholarly framework of teaching and learning that I was previously ignorant of!
- By this class, I came to think about why I should be a good professor in my future and why I need to consider better teaching and learning.
- I think it has helped enhance what I have been learning about how to teach in the future as well as forcing me to get some of those ideas written on paper (hence, less stress later on!)
- I have a better feel for trends/priorities in teaching these days. I also think I have a better understanding of the purpose of different approaches in teaching.
- 1) discovered immense support & resources for us
2) felt instructors & CIDR will be there for us for many years to come, not just during this quarter.
- Start to think about how to collect the evident of my teaching, and to plan for the future years on preparing to be a college faculty.
- I gained a lot of exposure to the different issues/topics in teaching/learning but I most appreciated having the time and impetus given to me to reflect on my own experiences.
- I feel like I'm more likely to actively work on my teaching now.
- Effective teaching should be focused on students' active learning.
- It has made me aware of some of the issues being discussed in the field of pedagogy.
- I realized how many more opportunities are available, how much work teaching is and most importantly it has helped me realize how much I really do want to teach (from just interested to most definitely).
- It has helped me to think about how I will organize my teaching portfolio, has helped me to think of my teaching as a schooling enterprise in of itself (but I would mention this earlier), and introduced me to more teaching techniques.
- The class has helped to improve my understanding of "what to expect" and "how to get started."
- Helped to think of teaching as a philosophy organized field. Rather than simple presentation of information.
- Looked at many techniques I was not aware of that made me think a lot about my teaching style.
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Class activities in discussion ... |
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... helped me learn |
4.5 |
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... had clear and explicitly stated expectations |
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...were useful in the development of my teaching statement and/or portfolio |
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... made good use of class time |
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What was most helpful to you about class activities and discussions?
- 1) Verbalizing my own views and opinions helped me to galvanize my teaching philosophy.
2) Listening to other people's experiences and questions was always enlightening.
- I really liked small group - big group discussions because different info as gained from each (all was helpful).
- Hearing comments and experiences from students in other fields. Fascinating and simultaneously humbling.
- I enjoyed the variety of activity formats - every week class was interesting and engaging.
- Jennie & Wayne's facilitation skills - helping contributers feel acknowledged… jumpstarting activities on occasion.
- The variety of them helped me experience in what ways they might work or not.
- Seeing how far I am outside the majority in opinions and practices surrounding time usage & writing style in the scientific community. Perhaps an unintentional help!
- Just hearing other students' perspectives and insights about teaching & learning that they had gained through their own experience -especially those who had a lot of experience. The teaching brief was very useful, as was hearing the instructors speak of their experience and perceptions both in class and one-on-one.
- Teaching statement, in particular my teaching goals.
- I really enjoyed being exposed to new types of "learning formats" and more importantly being made aware of them when they wre implemented in class. My favorite was the "Round Robin" discussion about our teaching briefs.
- I enjoyed interacting with other students and getting their feedback.
- Hearing others' ideas, stating my own ideas which were helpful in really knowing it.
- To learn from other classmate's opinions and thoughts.
- It was helpful to engage with other students through activities. I really appreciated the facilitation of discussion, it didn't feel forced or like we were "put on the spot" to contribute.
- I liked the variety of activities and the energetic pace of the class. I appreciated the care given to structuring group work so that everyone had a clear role. I like the practical relevance of most activities to my teaching.
- Sharing of practical teaching project through e-mails. Feedbacks from peers about my work.
- Feedback on my statement & portfolio was good. I learned from giving presentations.
- Working together with the students and instructors on developing a teaching statement by expanding upon the different avenues available in constructing it.
visual aids and hand-outs, being able to discuss topics in small groups
- The feedback from peers was helpful. Everyone was very serious about the tasks.
groupwork and active participation
- Learning new techniques & interacting with other students.
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What suggestions do you have for improving class activities and discussions?
- Build in more time for group interactions. I learned best when we were given more time for discourse. I understand structure is necessary, but often discussions would go in interesting directions that we didn't have time to explore.
- I thought they were fine as is.
- Most recent project - groups preparing a presentation - I struggled with - our group. I found a strange emotional reaction in myself in the group-work situations.. From years of being a dominant member in classes, a leader (or, a director), I am accustomed to taking the lead in groups. I found that I had a powerful reluctance to take that kind of lead here, in this class, where all/most of us have similar leadership background. In fact, I found I would overcompensate and become strangely passive, at least initially, in new groups -refusing to lead us to begin even when it was clear that kind of leadership was needed. Why? still don't know..How to address it? Don't know. Worth addressing? I think yes, absolutely.
- May try to link different activities with weekly different topics, so some activities are experienced and the effects being discussed.
- Less is more. Spend more time trying to accomplish slightly less, especially when discussing each other's writing.
- More randomization of group formation so the inexperienced get bundled with the experienced sometimes, so disciplines are crossed more often.
- More detail study about the amount of HW and the reader. Because most students do not want a lot of HWs and readings. But generally, a professor want to give too much information to students.
- A lot of information is crammed into the session and sometimes I felt discussions took away from the "personal development" activities of the course. I.e. in particular the teaching portfolio is a nice "conclusion" to the class and having fifteen minutes to go through two sections of the portfolio/person was not a lot of time. Same with the teaching projects that were implemented. Not enough class time was devoted to the amount of energy and focus that was put into the project.
- Maybe devote a little more time here and there for the discussion to veer toward an area of interest for the class. In other words, if a topic seems to spark the class' interest, maybe allow some discussion time -more loosely structured and organically infolding.
- It would be nice to continue to frequently move around out of our seats, be "forced" to engage with those across the room.
- I thought the last 3 classes or so involved much less interactivity. I didn't find the group presentations of practical teaching projects particularly helpful & it was exhausting to sit through 2 hours of presentations. I mostly reiterated things we had already talked about in prior classes. I didn't learn anything new from these.
- I have difficulty absorbing material presented at me by small groups & group presentations.
I felt that in time of reading & feedback of classmates' work (statement, teaching project) time flew by a little too fast. More time with this feedback exchange among groups & less time presenting a summary of this feedback to the class may work better (can summarize to class through written summary.)
- Instead of having students just form groups freely, which can become confusing, have students count of by 3 or 4.
- More written notes and teaching portfolio samples.
- Fewer classes focused on portfolio. Some were very useful and examples were great but could have been done in fewer sessions.
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Class activities in discussion ... |
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... helped me learn |
4.7 |
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... had clear and explicitly stated expectations |
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...were useful in the development of my teaching statement and/or portfolio |
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... made good use of class time |
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What was most helpful to you about assignments for this class?
- They worked well to force you to write about experiences which is useful because I tend to be lazy about information gathering. I thought all assignments were useful in developing teaching philosophy.
- Actually putting together a working draft was great, but it also made me realize how much more work I need to do on it.
- The thoughtful approach of giving assignments that result in practical tools (e.g. portfolio materials) and greater understanding (e.g. practical teaching project.)
- Practical, real world. Could have required more wok -but since I (and others) didn't always follow through, perhaps it's just realistic as it is.
- They helped me actually come away from this class with some products, and knowing that a lot need to be improved and throw in.
- Getting me started with finite, reasonable goals. Starting to think and to write about teaching and my portfolio while still doing my research was a big help and reason enough for me to recommend this class highly to peers.
- Working on the teaching philosophy statement, the teaching brief were very practically useful exercises and because we were well-guided as we approach them, they didn't feel like an overwhelming amount of work.
- Teaching statement
- They definitely provided the excuse to follow up on some goals that I have for future teaching.
- Linking assignments to their application in the "real world."
- 1) nice to have link to everything
2) good readings
- To have more clear ideas about what will be going on in the class, and to put things we discuss in class together.
- It was great to be assigned the time to reflect on my teaching/learning and establish my portfolio.
- That they are practical & relevant to my teaching.
- The process of writing teaching philosophy statement.
- Writing & revising the teaching statement was probably the most valuable part of the class as a whole.
- Just getting started on a statement & portfolio ahead of time was valuable.
- Writing the teaching statement, working on another section of the portfolio to include.
- The assignments were all functional.
- Help to interact more with the course.
- Made me put together a portfolio.
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What suggetions do you have for improving assignments for this class?
- Actually, I thought the assignments were good. I liked that assignments were used to learn the material instead of as an evaluation of what we learned. As grad students it can be assumed that we well learn by the activity and no pressure for greatness.
- I found the teaching assignments very interesting and could have liked emails of those (just like the teaching brief was emailed.)
- (Maybe) Have second draft of teaching statement and second part of teaching portfolio due on different weeks? Not entirely sure about this..
- With the practical teaching project if would've been nice to have a clearer understanding of how that was going to be discussed & presented earlier in the quarter. Some of the presentations were good and useful, while others weren't; largely because it wasn't clear what they should look like earlier on. More time with our group.
- Those projects do take a lot of time and energy to complete (even if they are still works in progress) More time for audience feedback on the projects during class in definitely needed.
- Maybe having more of them -it was strange to have the bar be set so low in terms of standards & quality.
- Maybe have a revised teaching statement due in middle of quarter so that you end up with two revisions.
- More reading.
- The jigsaw activity was a bit chaotic for me, and I can't take in so much information all at once. I also felt overwhelmed by all the information presented in the teaching project presentations.
- More explanation about the practical teaching project would have been helpful. It is must a broad project that a little more direction may have been helpful.
- Making specific projects rather than giving student the change to choose a project.
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As a result of this course, I have a better understanding of ... |
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... how to more effectively help students learn |
4.3 |
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... how to consider student backgrounds and preparation for learning |
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... how to reflect on and systematically document my teaching |
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... what to do next to continue developing as a teacher |
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The next time we offer this course, what should we keep?
- Assignments were fine.
- Everything.
- The portfolio-related assignments; in fact all the assignments. The flexibility in assignment fulfillment (e.g. I could have focused on Newcomer or Assessment or …)
- It's good!
1) Portfolio & statement writing
2) practical teaching project
3) Method of discussing teaching brief
4) Nametags in early weeks
5) One-on-one teaching consultation
6) website and links
- The assignments were very useful and helped us to learn the material by working through teaching exercises and philosophy.
- In-depth discussion.
1) The time discusson over each topic seemed to be short.
2) Be a group with similar fields (Architecture & Art)
- 1) the round robin "teaching brief" activity
2)touching on all aspects of the teaching portfolio (along with explicit reminders that that is what those discussions are trying to promote)
- I loved the practical teaching project. The group activities were fun, and I really liked interacting with other grad. students from so many different disciplines.
- teaching portfolio work (everything)
- I think how to develop a teaching portfolio is really useful.
- I liked the diversity discussion -must stay!
- reflective writing in class assignments
- teaching statement & portfolio
- I like the speed interviews. Listening to both Jennie & Wayne talk, most exchanges between groups (especially when it came to statement & portfolio feedback.)
- I liked the set-up: 1 hour of discussion, 1 hour of topic.
- Everything -portfolio, group discussion, presentations.
- Discussion topics on teaching styles & techniques & learning outside classroom, practical teaching project, teaching statement development.
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The next time we offer this course, what should we change?
- I really enjoyed the readings. More teaching-articles would be appreciated.
- Feedback on portfolios was very helpful, maybe have another chance to revise before turning in (either mid-quarter or last class & turn in during finals week). [I realize this isn't meant to be a final draft.]
- Would like to see more on diversity. Felt like we just started to scratch the surface.
- On days when we discuss each others work in small groups, make that the first thing we do and save announcements, etc. for the end.
- Can't think of anything else.
- As an international student, it could be interesting to compare American education system with another country's system.
- 1) more class time to talk about the assignments. They tended to feel rushed
2) perhaps instead of reviewing assigned readings during class to make some brain storming sessions on how other people have encountered those problems and what they did in other words, utilizing this group of teacher's/aspiring teacher's to the best that I can!
- The topics on diversity are inherently going to spark some controversy, as far as having the class believe the arguments presented. The articles (Berkley, etc.) given to the class were pretty weak, I thought -not scientific, mostly anecdotal. Maybe at least provide links to more rigorous studies. Also, balancing the advocation of accomodation with the argument for consistent, high standards would be good.
- Final assignment -the distillation was too broad & vague to incorporate in our own teaching. But did enjoy/learn from individual projects.
- Perhaps focus on the "teaching" more.
- I still feel like the teaching philosophy statement is ambiguous! More examples earlier? Additional structure?
- Skip group presentation of practical teaching projects. Make a reader, perhaps online, to organize the numerous handouts. I didn't think use of projector/internet in class added much. It seemed to be show & tell. I never remember what I've been shown in these situations.
- I was hoping more specifics about teaching techniques and scholarly evaluation of their efficacy -maybe more reading assignments with data.
- Less student presentations to the class as a whole (maybe substituted by a simple summary of ideas discussed within groups that can be electronically sent to the class.)
- I would have liked the opportunity to turn in 2 drafts of a section of my teaching portfolio other than just my teaching statement. I have a good understanding of the sections as separate entities, but I still don't quite see how all the sections will come together in my portfolio. I also didn't find the presentation of the teaching projects as helpful. I think it is important to do them, but maybe we could just share with the small group. Then we could have more time for how to integrate different sections in the portfolio.
- Maybe have an additional portion of the portfolio as an assignment.
- 1) practical teaching project
2) giving students a longer time to present. So their presentation ability could be assessed.
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Any other comments?
- Well done!
- Only wish I would have taken it sooner.
- I can tell that a lot of effort goes into this class and I really appreciate it.
- Thank You!
- It was the great class for me. However, personally I do not have any teaching experience in the U.S. So, sometimes, I did not understand American students' demands and suggestions for the class or toward a faculty.
- Overall, this class was helpful. I feel very prepared to collect evidence of my teaching and putting together a teaching portfolio. However, the class was strange in that I felt there was almost no content (if that makes sense) and so little expected. I appreciated having the light load in terms of my life/schedule, but there is something a little patronizing (maybe that's too strong) about being given so little to do. You're doing a great service to UW, I think.
- Thank you for a wonderful and valuable course. Your attitude, knowledge, & genuiness were strongly noted and appreciated. Your modeling of effective teaching was very helpful (availability, warmth, clarity, voice tone/rhythm/pace, etc.) It's not often you feel you've learned something greatly valuable and immensely enjoyed yourself in the process. Thank you again!
- Thank you for making the content very personally relevant & for taking the time to discuss with each of us individually.
- Thanks!
- As a whole I think this class was very useful for learning how to present myself as a teacher (which I consider very important information i.e. not a dis) but maybe less useful in actually becoming a better teacher.
This course was very valuable to me. Thank you many times over. And sorry for my messy writing on this feedback form. P.s. website is great!
- Great instructor enthusiasm!
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