Book Summary

 

Teaching Tips for College and University Professors

Royse, David (2001). Teaching tips for college and university instructors: a practical guide.  Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

CHAPTER ONE:  THE MENTAL GROUNDWORK

Spend some time thinking about how you view yourself as an educator.  What is your persona?  How do you want to be viewed by students?

Develop a philosophy of teaching.  Are you a motivator?  A dispenser of information?  A facilitator?  Recognize that faculty tend to teach as they themselves were taught.  a good exercise is to ride out your teaching philosophy-- it helps make unconscious assumptions explicit.

For example, the following emerged as the author's list of important elements:

bullet Creating a sense of community
bullet Giving education as a two way, interactive process
bullet Respect for the individual
bullet Accountability
bullet Humor
bullet Timeliness
bullet Continuing my own education

What research says about effective teaching

Chickering & Gamson (1987) identified seven broad principles of good teaching practice:

  1. Frequent student faculty contact
  2. The encouragement of cooperation among students
  3. Active learning techniques
  4. Prompt feedback
  5. Imprecise time on task
  6. Communicating high expectations
  7. Respecting diverse talents and ways of learning

In another experiment, Perlman & McCann (1988) listed the following as students' pet peeves about faculty:

·         Poor organization and planning

·         Poor teaching mechanics (e.g., poor use of the board)

·         Lecture style and technique

·         Testing procedures and exams

·         Poor use of class time

·         Monotone voice

Respecting differences: diversity in the classroom

·         Instructors who are not themselves members of a minority group need to be alert to demonstrating subtle forms of discrimination (e.g., boyfriend or girlfriend instead of partner).

·         Don't permit students to use "loaded" terms.

·         Don't single out minority students to represent "their" perspective.

·         Try to create an open environment where even strong feelings can be expressed.

·         Faculty should be sensitive to invisible disabilities like dyslexia.

·         If a student scapegoats you, try to listen non-judgmentally to their complaint.

Suggestions for inclusive teaching

bullet Don't assume that your students are Christian or heterosexual.
bullet View students as individuals instead of representatives of separate and distinct groups.
bullet Cultivate a climate that is accepting and respecting of diverse viewpoints.
bullet Don't allow ridicule, defamatory, or hurtful remarks.
bullet Encourage everyone to participate.
bullet Be alert to showing favoritism.
bullet Provide students with a variety of ways to learn.

Graduate vs. undergraduate teaching

bullet People who obtain graduate degrees are not representative of most undergraduate students.
bullet Keep in mind that undergraduates are not graduate students.

Common anxieties of beginning instructors

How to combat first day jitters:

bullet Be prepared
bullet Arrive early and engage students in conversation
bullet Don't try to be perfect
bullet Talk with colleagues
bullet Take your time to consider a response before speaking
bullet Wear a watch to pace yourself
bullet Avoid unrealistic expectations
bullet Visualize yourself doing a great job

 

CHAPTER TWO: BASIC COURSE COMPONENTS

Constructing the syllabus

The syllabus is a compass that guides and keeps students and faculty on the right path. 

Tips:

bullet Collect syllabi from colleagues
bullet Give a copy of the syllabus to every student on the first day of class. 
bullet Include intended learning outcomes on your syllabus
bullet The syllabus should include: course title & identifier, location of room, meeting times and days, your contact information, a course description, course objectives, required readings, grading policies, grading scale, schedule of topics, texts, explanations of assignments, due dates, scheduled tests, policies on attendance/tardiness/participation/late work, and miscellaneous information.

Departing from the syllabus

Your syllabus is a contract, so depart from it with care.  It's a bad idea to ADD requirements later, though asking them to do less is usually accepted.

Selecting a Text

Computers are an increasingly popular way of providing instructional material. another possibility is to symbol a collection of readings and turn them into a coursepack.  however, there's a lot to be said for sticking with a commercial text.  Keep in mind, though, that a third of the students in your plans may not purchase their own copy of the text. Students are most likely to buy a text if it's not expensive, appears interesting, and is perceived as necessary in order to get a good grade.

(information on evaluating texts)

Problems to avoid

Before you send your syllabus to be duplicated, check it one last time for errors and ambiguities.  Close possible loopholes.

Weighting tests, assignments, and participation/attendance

bullet The most fair way to assess students is to use a mixture of assessment approaches. 
bullet It also helps to use a "soft touch" when grading student papers and assignments.
bullet Assignments can be structured so that subjectivity is minimized.
bullet Take care to distinguish between individual versus collaborative work.
bullet Built in an expectation of attendance (e. g, 10% of grade).  It not only boosts attendance, but also helps weaker students.
bullet Ask questions on every test that come from lecture.

Assignments as pedagogical tools

bullet Most of us can recall receiving "busy work".  Make sure every assignment is instructive.
bullet Consider Bloom's taxonomy (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation).
bullet Considered the timing of assignments.
bullet Consider mastery learning, which involves multiple submission of work until a criteria is reached.

Critical thinking

The teaching of critical thinking should be a fundamental goal of education. Critical thinking involves teaching students to analyze data and solve problems by examining, evaluating, and challenging the assumptions, premises, interpretations, and evidence that others take for granted. 

It is "higher order" thinking and is exemplified last three categories in Bloom's taxonomy.

Tip: ask questions regarding

bullet Interpretation
bullet Point of view
bullet Assumptions
bullet Implications
bullet Relevance
bullet Accuracy
bullet Logic
bullet Evidence

Techniques:

bullet Graphical diagrams
bullet Mock trials or debates
bullet Critiques, rebuttals, or rejoinders
bullet Minute papers, reflection logs, journals, or learning portfolios
bullet Abstracts, reviews, outlines, commentaries
bullet Taxonomy or categorizations
bullet Brainstorming
bullet Group decision-making
bullet Case studies
bullet Analogies

Assignments:  how much is too much, too little?

bullet There is real value inrequesting that students turn in some of their own handiwork at least once a week.  weekly assignments send a message that you care, and they also help prevent procrastination.
bullet Take care, however, not to overload students. Students have occasionally mutinied when faced with unreasonable demands.  
bullet Recognize that while most colleges expect two hours of outside class involvement per week per credit hour, students actually spend less than one hour per week per credit hour.  Accordingly, shoot for at least three hours a week's worth of homework.

Grading---Do I have to read every sentence?

bullet Totally new load, consider peer review.
bullet Another option is to great simply for completion.
bullet You can also take up homework randomly.  However, if the student has invested a lot of time in an assignment, he/she tends to get miffed if you don't collect it!

  

Hopefully, that’s enough to give you an idea of what the book is like.  It’s a very practical book for the novice teacher.  Here are the rest of the chapters:

 

bullet Chapter three:  classroom strategies
bullet Chapter four:  small groups, peer learning, and role playing
bullet Chapter five:  teaching the large lecture class
bullet Chapter six:  teaching students how to learn
bullet Chapter seven:  experiential learning
bullet Chapter eight:  use of instructional technology
bullet Chapter nine:  examinations
bullet Chapter ten:  Grading
bullet Chapter eleven:  managing problem situations
bullet Chapter twelve:  cheating-- what you need to know
bullet Chapter thirteen:  humor in the classroom
bullet Chapter fourteen:  improving teaching performance
bullet Chapter fifteen:  teaching and the tenure track
bullet Chapter sixteen: values and ethics
bullet Chapter seventeen:  have you chosen the right career?

 

 

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