Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with university and teaching

I thought this was university, not highschool...

lizbunny — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:21:59 -0800

How far am I supposed to be willing to go to help my students with their term reports? This is my first term as a sessional lecturer for a 3rd year petrochemical engineering class. The course lecture material has been just peachy, they had 2 midterm exams and everyone did reasonably well. They only have one assignment this term, and it's a 20-30 page report all about a petrochemical of their choosing (like toluene, isopropanol, styrene...).

But, this being their first term of 3rd year, they haven't had to do much in the way of researching and doing formal university-quality papers yet. I had them write up memos on their petrochemical of choice, to give them a feel of the magnitude of the project and also provide some guidance on writing style and proper formatting. I've been providing feedback on how it should be written, trying to make sure they're understanding what information I'm looking for. And I've offered to do go over their reports before they hand them in officially (if they hand them in to me by this Wednesday), so I can help prevent the epic fails ahead of time.

A few of the students have been coming to me for help on where to find some of their information, and this is the point where I'm having some difficulty on how to handle this. There have already been some good references provided as a starting point. Of course it's not entirely easy to find info on proprietary processes and market data, but after having helped a few students who have come to me, I've figured out that some of them just suck at google-fu and library searches. Many of the other students have managed to track down the same resources without my help, I found out in class this morning. After today, I can't help but feel like there should be a definite limit to the amount of assistance I provide.

How far should I go to help my students out then?

Help my American girlfriend become a Mrs. McCluskey (UK teacher)!

almostwitty — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:52:36 -0800

My (American) girlfriend is looking to come over to London to study to become a teacher. She already has a certificate substitute teacher licence ... but that's not much use in the UK. Or is it ... ?

Anyway, are there any recommendations for good/cheap universities that offer a teacher training course? Or any way of doing it?

Looking for Good Writing about Comics

gerryblog — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:05:32 -0800

Favorite philosophical, historical, analytic, or lit-critical essays about comic books? I'm putting together a syllabus for an undergraduate "Comics as Literature" course and I'm looking for new pieces to supplement some of the more well-known analytical pieces I'll be using: McCloud's Understanding Comics, one or two of Wolk's essays from Reading Comics, Umberto Eco's Myth of Superman, and so on. Do any suggestions spring to mind? Thanks in advance for the recommendations.

So what do academics interviews consist of?

Mutant — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:37:40 -0800

What to expect at an interview for an academic teaching post? As a follow up to this question regarding changing my CV to pursue another teaching post (I already have a part time slot teaching at the Masters level), I've got my first interview tomorrow. The specific job is Lecturer in Econometrics at a UK University.

Great news, but I don't know what to expect. Corporate interviews are no problem, done hundreds of them in my time, from both sides of the desk.

But academic? I have no idea. A clue is they'd like me to bring along and present a lecture of my choise suitable at the Masters level, and that's fine. It's a one hour interview and they expect the presentation to take up twenty minutes, and I plan to approach this part of the interview as an actual lecture, complete with me asking the "students" (interviewers) questions, peppering the presentation with historical market anecdotes relevant to the topic we're discussing, etc.

Before and after that? I'm sure pleasantries, brief review of my CV, a cuppa & some biscuits, discussion of my previous lecturing experience (two years, four terms in front of the class), talking about my current academic assignment, some bitching about the rotten English weather and what else can I / should I expect?

I never get nervous at these things, regard them more as an opp to meet some (hopefully) interesting people, score some free eats and nothing more. But the more I know about what to expect the better things will go. TIA for any help!

Learning to Teach

pywacket — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:38:34 -0800

I need a good overview in recent Secondary Educational theory. Whatever is currently in fashion in Academia. Any books to recommend? Any journals that are especially helpful? I'm new to this field and not sure where to start. I'm taking a senior level pre requisite class for a Master's in Teaching. This could be my second career. I wanted to teach High School English when I was (much) younger (before my many years detour into Systems Engineering). I do have a Master's in English. I haven't been in school in over 14 years. I can't actually start in freshman classes--it's a money thing at the very least. I also have a family to care for and a step parent in hospice--so four or five years in school isn't a go. But school is something for me, something I really want to do and I have already put it off a couple of years. I need to find out finally if this is what I want to do.

I've been tossed into the deep end of the pool and need to spend some of my off hours reading about this "scholar practitioner" model and other assorted buzzwords I'm unfamiliar with. Any guidance on the praxis II English Subject tests would rock too, but hey I'll take anything I can get.

Grading papers and apologizing when I'm way behind the power curve

notcomputersavvy06 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:35:11 -0800

Help! How do I face my employer and students when I've really f*cked up! A friend recommended me as a distance learning coordinator (read, elevated grader) for an online MBA course at a large university in another state. I thought it was a great idea although I didn't realize exactly what would be involved. As it turns out, although I've taught at the graduate level before and LOVED it, when I'm not actually teaching, merely grading, and I'm not in front of a live classroom, I HATE it! As a result, I've completely procrastinated and haven't done much of anything for 3 weeks. Suffice to say, the students are not happy (understandably) and have complained to my employer. I readily agree, I suck! I definitely need to rectify the situation but I'm soooo behind, it's hard to even begin.
So, first, any suggestions on how to force myself to tackle my backload of grading? Second, what is the best way to eat crow to my employer? Third, should I send an email to my students apologizing for the delay in my grading and responses to them?

Tips for university teaching

onoclea — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:25:09 -0800

Teaching a university course for the first time: any tips or suggestions? A friend of mine is preparing to teach his first university course, calculus for non-math majors. He has given single lectures and many seminars before on other more advanced topics, but this is the first time he will be carrying a whole course, on calculus, and with an audience of this size. He's a quiet guy, works really hard, takes this commitment very seriously, wants to continue in academia, and obviously wants to do a good job! Any tips, suggestions, warnings, recommendations, revelations, wake-up calls, etc. would be very much appreciated! Thanks.

Teach like an Egyptian...?

miss lynnster — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 19:49:46 -0800

I've been encouraged to apply as a possible guest lecturer/temporary teacher at the American University in Cairo. Basically, I guess they're developing a brand new campus with a state of the art media/art department and starting up new programs, and because I have a strong background in American media the faculty department there feels I may have something to offer. Thing is, although I'm a total travel addict, I've never lived overseas & have never even considered anything like this before. I'll be honest, I'm feeling pathetically clueless about this idea. I am just not sure yet how serious to take this. Aaaggghh! I also don't know much about graphic design in Egypt, but I have heard it's a pretty good international university and they're really trying to become cutting edge with the creation of this new campus. Because I've had a decent 15-year design career, I've been invited to speak at various design classes (high school & college) over the years & I've taught Photoshop & other programs as a consultant in LA & SF. I have no official teaching credentials though (I don't even have a degree myself, which admittedly is something I battle with massive insecurity about), so I don't know if I'm really qualified to present myself for something like this or where to even start. Or even if I SHOULD.*

I'm trying to learn Arabic so it would be good to be temporarily immersed in the language (although I'd obviously be teaching in English), and it would be fun to visit my friends there. But I honestly don't know. I don't even know how much they pay (ie, if I could afford it), although I hear they treat visiting staff very well. I do know that I would only consider a short term assignment though because I definitely would not want to live in Egypt on a permanent basis.

So please tell me, dear Hive Mind... what do you, in all of your glorious wisdom and vast experiences of the world, think about this? Talk to me! Have you ever done anything like this? Should I try? Or is it a totally stupid/sillly idea? And if I was to consider it, do you have any advice/tips/warnings? If it's something I shouldn't consider or if I'm truly not qualified enough, well then I'd rather not waste my energy on it any further. So helllp!

As they say in Egypt, thanks oodles. ;)

*My dog is really trying to talk me out of it. She hates falafel. (Although that said, I'm not sure if I would even be able to bring her.)

Are teachers tougher than students?

Ambrosia Voyeur — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 08:37:03 -0800

When is it appropriate as a teacher to cancel a class due to pain or injury? I am teaching a Student Directed Seminar (though I'm an alumna at this point, not a student, long story.) and I am in a lot of pain today resulting from a bike accident. I think I sprained my elbow(s) going over my handlebars. I can't move my left arm much at all without intolerable pain. I can type, talk and walk, but getting dressed, if I can do it, is going to kill.

Details: I'm not paid for this work, it's a class I designed as a senior thesis project, it's a very small class, and I could surely make up for this time.

I've emailed my faculty advisor asking his opinion, but don't expect a response until just before classtime (2:30 pm) so if any of you have experience in academia, can you tell me: should I push myself to make the lecture or just cancel class today and chill with some vicodin and a trip to a doctor?

Help me be a better college instructor

printchick — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 13:38:47 -0800

They say good teachers beg, borrow and steal from one another, so I'm asking you for ideas. I'm teaching a college-level reporting and editorial writing class this spring. I've taught it before, but I'm looking for new and creative ideas to make things interesting. I'm also looking for some techniques to ward off/prevent bad habits--I've had problems in the past with students pushing the attendance policy, and problems of the "but I e-mailed my paper to you! You didn't get it?" variety. We've done some fun stuff in the past--tours of the local newspaper building and newsroom, tours of a local tv news station. I've found a breaking news simulator/CD rom that's also pretty cool. I'm looking for new ways to approach lessons on finding story ideas, leads, interviewing techniques, piecing stories together, etc. I'm also looking specifically for editorial-writing lesson ideas.

My solution to the "but I e-mailed my paper to you!" problem has been that unless they get a confirmation from me that I got their assignment, they can assume I didn't get it. That's seemed to work. Any other ideas?

I'm not sure what to do about the attendance issue--the school's policy is that if you miss more than three sessions of a class that meets weekly, you get an F. I've had to fail one student in the past because she absolutely pushed it. Any ways to help avoid this? I suppose I can make the class so awesome that nobody would ever want to miss it, but I also suppose I could grab them by the backpacks before class and force them to come as well. Frankly, I've been pretty taken aback by the lax attitude some students have had.

I can have the local paper delivered to school so we can use that for a weekly tool. I try to keep things interesting with a healthy dose of humor and stories from my own experiences. Any other ideas? For those who took such classes in the past, what kind of assingments/exercises were memorable and what actually stuck with you and worked?

Teaching studio art at a university.

ontic — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 14:08:27 -0800

How does one get a tenure-track job as a studio art professor? My brother recently got his MFA (the terminal degree in the field) but it doesn't look like his graduate institution has much in the way of guidance. He also didn't get much experience teaching, but I know he'd be a natural teacher. How in general does one learn about the jobs teaching studio art, get a tenure-track one, and so on? What would application reviewers/interviewers be looking for? What do you do if you haven't had much teaching experience after the MFA? Are letters as important as in other academic jobs relative to teaching/slides/etc? What is the most important factor, usually? How important is breadth in what you can teach? Is anything particularly scary to committees interviewing candidates for studio art jobs?

Sorry for the massive number of sub-questions under the fold. I'm in philosophy, and I mostly know the ins and out of getting a job in that field -- there's a unified publication of jobs in addition to a big convention where the interviews happen. I also know what qualifications will get you so good of a job, what interviewers are generally looking for and so on. So I'm familiar with getting jobs generally in higher education, but I'd like to be able to help him more specifically.

How do you get to be their favourite teacher?

szechuan — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 16:10:22 -0800

Calling all academics: What advice can you offer a first-time university lecturer in terms of preparation, presentation, and holding student interest? I'm starting as a part-time lecturer teaching a class to final year undergraduates next year. I'm a professional, and the class is directly within my area of expertise. That said, I've never lectured before, and I'm wondering what people have found works when you're first starting out (and don't have years worth of prepared lectures, handouts and experience!). Is it worth the effort to create powerpoint presentations (shudder), or is it easier to hold attention with a few key statements written on the whiteboard? Do you favour full lecture notes, or simple handouts with lists of key points, or do you give them nothing and let them fend for themselves? Socractic method? Assigned seating? Bueller?
I realise every class and every lecturer is different, but I'd be interested in MeFite views.

What should I use for a blog in my classroom, and why?

fionab — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 15:53:47 -0800

Blogging in the classroom. I've decided to set-up a blog for my students this semester. This will be the place for their response papers, writing exercises and a few other tidbits. It needs to have access for 5-10 members, a very easy set-up, free-to-near-free pricing (although I would pay or find the dollars to fund if it was warranted), and very clear posting/linking instructions for the students. Advice on selecting a blogging system needed. What should I use?
- Blogger has a free version, with "team blog" as an option, and it looks like a Microsoft Word plug-in or something. This looks pretty attractive. What is the downside of Blogger? Privacy? Ads? The searchbar? Support?

- Moveable Type has educational pricing at $40 for my needs, but is it rather difficult to install, customize, set-up, etc.? I don't know anything beyond very basic HTML; I'm pretty techno-savvy [as in, I can do lots of stuff on computers and other gadgets but no programming] so I could follow instructions, but as the semester has already started, I don't want to put oodles of time into this. Is there a way to have it ready-to-go for me instead?

- I use TypePad for my (currently neglected) blog, so I'm familiar with their process and keys, but don't see how it would work for our class right now. Could it? With 5+ members?

- What about Drupal?

- What else should I consider? I found this old thread, but I know that the last year-and-a-half has been busy in the blogging industry and educational blogging. What do I need to know about blogging with my class? Dangers? Advice? Good grades for all who respond!