Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!amdcad!ames!umd5!uvaarpa!mcnc!ece-csc!uvacs!hsd
From: hsd@uvacs.CS.VIRGINIA.EDU (Harry S. Delugach)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Ph.D.'s and Teaching
Message-ID: <2144@uvacs.CS.VIRGINIA.EDU>
Date: 7 Jan 88 15:52:05 GMT
Organization: U.Va. CS Department, Charlottesville, VA
Lines: 37

As a future Ph.D. who has had extensive experience in teaching, I have been
following the recent discussion about the lack of preparation given 
future teachers. I am encouraged by some universities which seem to care about
this enough to offer special instruction in teaching methods, etc.

I took the entire undergraduate education curriculum 10-15 years ago. Some of
it did seem akin to "basket weaving", as one person has put it, not just
because the purpose of most education schools was to produce elementary and
secondary school teachers, but also because of the low respect (and low
salaries) given the teaching profession in general. 

The curriculim did provide three courses which I found then (and since)
to be of great value, and not just in a supposedly academic setting.
I think these courses would also be of value for anyone who expects to
give presentations in industry or government as well.

1. Educational psychology - How do listeners learn? What do they learn?
   Some professors feel that students are merely the cups being filled
   up at the font of facts, without acknowledging factors such as students' 
   self-image, motivation and sense of accomplishment.

2. Classroom methods - What are some practical ideas and techniques that one
   can use in a presentation to catch listeners' interest and increase their 
   understanding? Learn alternatives to the chalk-board lecture, such as small 
   group projects, audio/video equipment, live demonstrations, mock 
   competitions, etc. This perks up not only the listeners' interest, but 
   the teacher's as well!

3. Student teaching/presenting - Get some months teaching experience! Get
   a chance to see teaching as an ongoing job, not just a few minutes' speech
   every now and then. Before my student teaching, I had conducted
   a few class sessions in high school and college and thought I knew it all.
   But in a week or two of student teaching, I used up all my material! That 
   left WEEKS of new material to develop. That's when I found out how much
   effort the (good) full-time teacher must exert.

Enough for now..