Part of my continuing faculty development course I took last year involved watching Fr. Guido Sarducci’s Five Minute University. He distilled everything you learn and retain in college to five minutes. That’s uncomfortably close to the truth. But I did find the five-minute summary of my faculty development course, which is useful as I think about developing my new courses. The Five-Minute UCITE
- Less is more; change what you’re doing every 8-10 minutes
- Have them talk to each other
- Fish is fish. Whatever you say, students will filter it through their prior experiences
- Whatever your learning style, it is different than ¾ of your students
- Prior experience is key—they learn by starting with what they already know
- Students have to be emotionally engaged to learn—it’s your job to make that happen
- Draw a concept map and use it for each of your courses (if you can’t figure out what the most important three things are and show they’re related, neither will your students)
- Align your goals, your teaching methods, and your assessments
- Use grading rubrics, especially for writing assignments
- Make your feedback clear, frequent, and helpful
- The first five minutes are critical. Lean forward and smile, be enthusiastic
- Get to know them—learn their names
- Groups are good—let them figure out the grading and discuss the ground rules
- Allow them choice if possible
- Start with them—it’s really about their learning, not your teaching
Excellent points. This is something that is difficult to explain to the teachers, who claim, “I taught them. It’s their responsibility to learn.”
Comment by Rogue Medic — Tuesday, 22, July, 2008 @ 12:29 |