Your articles are always great. I am behind on my first semester of a PhD journey and I have a question regarding college teaching and multiple choice quizzes and exams. At this point, because i am teaching and actually love doing it, I am required to use the curriculum of another professor. that professor includes multiple choice quizzes and exams to gauge learning, though I am not convinced that actually gauges anything except memorization unless structured well. My philosophy is also that education should be a leaning experience, not a punishing experience (You probably already understand how I actually feel about grades...). I really apologize for flooding your page. If you could, I am curious about your opinion on all of this and how you handle it in a college atmosphere or classroom. NB: I am teaching undergrad right now and so that is what this question is geared towards, but I suppose it can apply to a grad level class as I am going to have to design a syllabus for my dream class for my pedagogy class that is due next week.
Happy to discuss this! I'm currently part of a teaching hub at my university that teaches faculty how to teach so this is right up my alley. f you are still a PhD student, unfortunately the answer is you don't have much flexibility in terms of the content or formal assessment of that content. I would try to innovate in the classroom more than the exams. For example, include active learning (eg think-pair-share) and formative assessments (non-graded feedback what they are confused on eg muddiest points). These two alone will put you ahead of most faculty in terms of quality of teaching. I'm also a big fan of including psychology in the classroom to build community with the students things like learning their names (you'd be surprised at how few faculty do this), ice breakers, and "liking" exercises whereby you find things you have in common with the students will change the atmosphere tremendously. Once you are a faculty member, you have more flexibility to alter the assessment type. Though I'll warn you that even that must be done gingerly until tenure (when they can't fire you). I would focus on delivery and ensuring the students learn the most as possible. Hope that is helpful!
Thank you. I appreciate this, and it is extremely helpful. I saw your post over at twitter. I am sure students will miss you, but your new adventure will be just as more amazing.
Great article! In my opinion all of the arts are underrated of the value they not only children but the whole world. Please keep up your wonderful work.
Your articles are always great. I am behind on my first semester of a PhD journey and I have a question regarding college teaching and multiple choice quizzes and exams. At this point, because i am teaching and actually love doing it, I am required to use the curriculum of another professor. that professor includes multiple choice quizzes and exams to gauge learning, though I am not convinced that actually gauges anything except memorization unless structured well. My philosophy is also that education should be a leaning experience, not a punishing experience (You probably already understand how I actually feel about grades...). I really apologize for flooding your page. If you could, I am curious about your opinion on all of this and how you handle it in a college atmosphere or classroom. NB: I am teaching undergrad right now and so that is what this question is geared towards, but I suppose it can apply to a grad level class as I am going to have to design a syllabus for my dream class for my pedagogy class that is due next week.
I really appreciate what you do.
Michael
Happy to discuss this! I'm currently part of a teaching hub at my university that teaches faculty how to teach so this is right up my alley. f you are still a PhD student, unfortunately the answer is you don't have much flexibility in terms of the content or formal assessment of that content. I would try to innovate in the classroom more than the exams. For example, include active learning (eg think-pair-share) and formative assessments (non-graded feedback what they are confused on eg muddiest points). These two alone will put you ahead of most faculty in terms of quality of teaching. I'm also a big fan of including psychology in the classroom to build community with the students things like learning their names (you'd be surprised at how few faculty do this), ice breakers, and "liking" exercises whereby you find things you have in common with the students will change the atmosphere tremendously. Once you are a faculty member, you have more flexibility to alter the assessment type. Though I'll warn you that even that must be done gingerly until tenure (when they can't fire you). I would focus on delivery and ensuring the students learn the most as possible. Hope that is helpful!
Thank you. I appreciate this, and it is extremely helpful. I saw your post over at twitter. I am sure students will miss you, but your new adventure will be just as more amazing.
Great article! In my opinion all of the arts are underrated of the value they not only children but the whole world. Please keep up your wonderful work.