Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bbn!gatech!mcnc!ecsvax!hes
From: hes@ecsvax.UUCP (Henry Schaffer)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Ph.D.'s and Teaching
Message-ID: <4406@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: 10 Jan 88 20:04:27 GMT
References: <2144@uvacs.CS.VIRGINIA.EDU>
Organization: NC State Univ.
Lines: 35
Summary: teaching is a complex activity - let's not oversimplify


Why the fuss about whether faculty have had "FORMAL TRAINING" in educational
techniques?  I thought we were interested in good teaching, not formal
credentials.  If much teaching is mediocre, would it be a sufficient defense
to say that the teachers had had n credit hours in the Education Dept.?  I do
believe that there is a background of information and techniques which can
be learned by the teacher (prospective or current) which can improve the
quality of his/her teaching.  My university offers a teaching improvement
workshop every fall which covers some such topics.  It is particularly
aimed at new faculty and TA's, but is advertised and is open to all current
faculty and TA's.  I have attended many such workshops - does this count as
"formal training"?

I always opened my undergraduate courses (when I taught) with a statement
that I couldn't *teach* the students anything -  all I could do was to help
them *learn*.  I certainly was doing a bit of playing with words, but I
do believe (as some of the articles in this group have stated) that the
learning process is an active process on the part of the student - that is
it will be if the learning is to be retained.  However, there were many
important things which I had to do in the classroom to "help them learn."
I could organize knowledge, give the big picture, motivate the students
(that is a big category - it includes demonstrating a personal interest,
indicating how the knowledge gained can help the students in the future,
tieing in the subject to other areas the student already finds interesting,
...,) answer questions ...  all the while remembering that my large
classroom contained a diversity of students.  

Much of what is done by a teacher overlaps what is done in 
the entertainment industry - speaking clearly, making sure that 
the entire "audience" can see the "stage", ...  and of course one
can go overboard and treat teaching as entertainment - by emphasizing
that over content.  However, I believe, that many teachers neglect the
presentation aspects and therefore decrease their own effectiveness.

--henry schaffer  n c state univ