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I’ve Bought In
by our experienced yet anonymous “Points of View” professor
It’s an exciting time—and a challenging one—to be a teacher at the University of Cincinnati. Many of us are a bit nervous as we face semester conversion, collegiate restructuring, and the One University initiative. I’ve spent years honing my skills to deliver effective didactic lectures coupled with readings, assignments, and exams, and now I’m being asked to rework my ten week-long courses into a fifteen week-long format.
Personally, I’m using this period of change as an opportunity to dramatically rethink my pedagogical approach. I’ve bought-in to General Education (GenEd). I believe that UC provides students with more than advanced job training. Our educational model emphasizes competency through a depth of discipline-specific knowledge and is balanced with the trademark breadth expected of a college graduate. I’ve embraced Integrated Core Learning (ICL) because it’s clear to me that students “get it” when they have solid introductions to a field, multiple touch points throughout their studies, and a culminating experience that launches their careers. What I’m struggling with right now are the “newer” ways of teaching: asynchronous instruction, distance learning, problem-based learning, experiential learning, service learning, study abroad, and an apparent alphabet soup of other approaches. Let me share a little about my experience of the past five years as I modified a didactic lecture and its accompanying “cook-book” laboratory course into a team-taught, project-based, service-learning abroad opportunity for dual-level Honors and non-Honors students… whew! My course planning began as many of my classes are initially designed—by sitting in my office and reflecting on what I felt the students needed to learn. I reviewed potential texts, chatted with colleagues, and used the web to explore similar courses at other institutions. I developed the syllabus to teach basics of engineered water quality using a straightforward, didactic approach accompanied by a laboratory experience that could be characterized as “cook-book.” My major pedagogical innovation was posting PowerPoint slides on Blackboard. I tested the course for two years and made incremental improvements based upon student comments. Then I noticed an opportunity to apply for $10,000 from the US EPA to teach courses in sustainability. Although the amount of money was small, it was an opportunity to expand the laboratory portion of my existing course. To improve my chances of winning the funding, I recruited a team of my peers to collaborate. Three of us worked together to teach the course the following year. I was also fortunate to receive TA support from my department, and together our team made significant improvements to the course. Major pedagogical improvements included student teams working on open-ended lab exercises and delivering oral presentations as a regular part of the lecture series. We tested the course for two years in this format and made incremental improvements based upon student comments and feedback from the US EPA. My proudest moment came when I watched students answer challenging questions from the National Academy of Sciences judges as the judges reviewed our lab results on the National Mall in Washington, DC. At this point, I was approached by students in the College of Engineering with a request to develop a course focused on appropriate technology for developing countries. The US EPA funding was finished, and I was happy to modify the course once again. Sixty percent of the material on engineered water and sustainability could be reused, and the additional material on international engineering was borrowed from similar courses at other institutions. The “hands-on” laboratory was dropped in favor of engineering design, and the course was used to supplement the extracurricular activities of the UC Chapter of Engineers Without Borders. For two years, the course was successful, and I even accompanied some of the EWB students on a trip abroad to assess water quality in a developing country. But after two years, it was clear to me that I would probably settle into a rut and begin to teach the same material over and over with only incremental improvements based upon students’ comments. Fortunately, I was approached with an opportunity to participate in the Honors program. Again, we formed a team of faculty peers to co-teach the course. The syllabus was modified to allow students more time to work together as teams. And we identified an international partner that needed our help. Because we had selected an open-ended approach, we required much greater flexibility in the lecture series. Honestly, if I hadn’t already been working on the course for the previous five years using different pedagogical approaches, it likely would have failed. It took lots of organization and hard work to keep ahead of these students. Dual-level, Honors and non-Honors students participating in a course with a requirement for international travel—these are some of the best and most highly motivated students at our university. It’s thrilling to teach a course with these students, but it’s also scary because they have such high expectations of themselves and of their instructors. The course was offered in the autumn term of 2008, and we were scheduled for international travel over the winter-holiday break. Just before Thanksgiving, a major terrorist action took place at our international destination. The students and their parents were concerned. Rightly so. UC International did a fantastic job of putting all the necessary safeguards in place. The Honors program provided their full support. Despite our apprehension, the trip went off without a hitch, and my proudest moment came near the end of the trip when the students decided to enter into a contract committing to continue the work with the international partner. At this point, I feel that my course has matured into something about which I can be proud. The foundation was laid in a strong lecture-discussion format in which I learned how to convey effectively the course content to the students. The modifications sponsored by US EPA provided interdisciplinary involvement and shifted the course toward open-ended problems. Recasting the course to meet the needs of an extracurricular-student group provided the benefit of international exposure and planted the seeds for service learning. Finally, in December of 2008, I had the pleasure of watching a group of highly motivated students take charge of their own learning. It took more than five years to perfect this offering, and it would never have been possible to undertake such a pedagogical transformation had I not first received support from my department and wonderful collaborators in other programs. Second, financial support from external sources such as the US EPA was critical. Third, connecting to students’ interest was important to help the self-paced team exercises stand on their own. My take-home lessons are simple: (1) pedagogical innovation—even challenging innovation such as service learning and study abroad—can be accomplished at UC because we have exceptional students and faculty support systems (e.g., the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, UC International, UC Honors, the Center for Community Engagement, and others); (2) trying something new with a course can take extra time, but in the long run the investment can pay big dividends; (3)performance-based budgeting and competition between programs for funding worries me because it may make faculty collaboration in the classroom more difficult; and (4) scale is still an issue— all of the efforts documented here is aimed at a class of perhaps only thirty students. While it’s fun to travel overseas with fifteen of our best students, it’s a different situation to teach a service class of 250+ students. I’d be very interested to learn how others have successfully incorporated advanced pedagogical approaches into these large classes. Anonymous Tags: "cook book" laboratory, collaborative projects, coures redesign, experiential learning, General Education, Integrated Core Learning, lecture, lectures, One University, Semester Conversion, service learning Leave a Reply |
