Teaching Skills II. Modern Course Management
| Code | Completion | Credits | Range | Language Instruction | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 940TS2 | exam | 6 | 6 seminar hours (45 min) of instruction per academic year, 146 to 176 hours of self-study | English | academic year |
Subject guarantor
Name of lecturer(s)
Jindřiška BLÁHOVÁ, Richard Andrew NOWELL
Contents
This series of six workshops introduces Ph.D. students to key facets of a well-managed course, inspired by student-centered learning approaches preeminent in Anglophone academia. A well-managed course is widely accepted to provide the infrastructure around which successful learning and teaching experiences are built. Accordingly, students will focus on its six key facets: 1) Communication, 2) Environment Management, 3) Teaching Philosophy, 4) Student Connection, 5) Adaptive Teaching, and 6) Feedback Composition. They will develop their competencies in these areas by compiling a “Teaching Journal” in which they explore personalized solutions to these facets. In so doing, the course aims to furnish doctoral candidates with the practical skills needed to deliver world-leading content.
Six x Seminars: 04.04; 11.04; 18.04; 25.04; 02.05; 09.05
Time: Thursdays, 17:30–20:00 (including break)
Location: Seminar Room 412, AMU, Dům U Bílého jelena, Tržiště 20, Praha 1 (entry via Hartig palác)
SESSION BREAKDOWN
Please note that this structure is a guide. All topics will be covered, but individual sessions may bleed into one another if fruitful discussions and exercises end up “over-running”.
TOPIC 1 TEACHING PHILOSOPHY THURSDAY 4 APRIL
Top-draw teachers derive their conduct and persona from a set of pedagogical values or a “Teaching Philosophy”; doing so helps them to develop teaching practice and teaching personae that motivate students. Accordingly, this session invites students to consider how best to draw from their own Teaching Philosophy in order to maximize student experience and outcomes.
Preparation
•Start your Teaching Journal with an entry about a) your pedagogical values, and b) how they influence your teaching practice and teaching personae.
Targeted Learning Outcomes
•To appreciate how building teaching practice and persona on pedagogical values facilitates student engagement and learning, and course delivery.
•To appreciate their teaching philosophy independently.
TOPIC 2 COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE THURSDAY 11 APRIL
Top-draw teachers appreciate that courses happen outside student-teacher sessions; doing so enables them to maximize student focus beyond face-to-face interaction. Accordingly, this session invites students to consider how to implement a communication infrastructure that promotes student engagement, rapport, and empowerment.
Preparation:
•Add an entry to your Teaching Journal in which you draft a) a short welcome message to your students, and b) an end-of-course message to them.
Targeted Learning Outcomes
•To appreciate why consistent and composed communication facilitates student engagement, learning, and confidence.
•To develop such communication independently.
TOPIC 3 ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT THURSDAY 18 APRIL
Top-draw teachers focus on their students during sessions; doing so requires they create a physical environment supportive of the needs of students and themselves. Accordingly, this session invites students to consider how best to organize their teaching spaces and indeed themselves so they can concentrate on being the best teachers they can be.
Preparation
•Add a Teaching Journal entry about a) how best to create a physical teaching environment for your classes, and b) the things in-class that help you teach effectively.
Targeted Learning Outcomes
•To appreciate how organizing teaching spaces, and teacher-comfort, facilitate engagement, learning, and confidence.
•To manage their teaching environment independently.
TOPIC 4 STUDENT CONNECTION THURSDAY 25 APRIL
Top-draw teachers recognize an optimal learning environment is derived from respect, fondness, and comradery; doing so not only builds student trust and motivation, but also increases the chance of a course running smoothly. Accordingly, this session invites students to consider how to develop effective ways of interacting with their own students, from those who embrace their teaching to folks resistant to it.
Preparation
•Add a Teaching Journal entry about a) ways of building rapport with engaged students, and b) ways of connecting with disengaged students.
Targeted Learning Outcomes
•To appreciate how connecting with students facilitates student engagement and learning, and course delivery.
•To develop rapport-building strategies independently.
TOPIC 5 ADAPTIVE TEACHING THURSDAY 2 MAY
Top-draw teachers implement adaptive teaching; doing so allows them covertly to refocus their sessions in response to variables like weak student preparation, absenteeism, and tech issues. Accordingly, this session invites students to consider how best to organize sessions that permit flexibility amid challenging circumstances.
Preparation
•Add a Teaching Journal entry about a) things beyond your control that complicate your teaching practice, and b) what you can do to preempt or counter them.
Targeted Learning Outcomes
•To appreciate how adaptive teaching facilitates student engagement and learning, and course delivery.
•To develop adaptive teaching independently.
TOPIC 6 FEEDBACK COMPOSITION THURSDAY 9 MAY
Top-draw teachers provide inspiring responses to student work; doing so allows them to rationalize their evaluations and enables students to elevate their work independently. Accordingly, this session invites students to consider how best to draft student feedback that celebrates achievement, highlights shortcomings, and offers pathways to self-improvement.
Preparation
•Add a Teaching Journal entry drafting feedback for a) a student who excelled in an assessment, and b) a student who has failed to score a passing grade.
Targeted Learning Outcomes
•To appreciate why encouraging assessment feedback facilitates student engagement and learning, and course delivery.
•To design assessment feedback independently.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course, students are expected to demonstrate competencies in:
•Supportive Communication Strategies
•Practical Environment Management
•Pragmatic Teaching Philosophy
•Meaningful Student Connection
•Seamless Adaptive Teaching
•Constructive Feedback Composition
Prerequisites and other requirements
None.
Literature
NA.
Evaluation methods and criteria
This course comprises six biweekly workshops conducted in the English language. Each one includes a small but necessary amount of instructor-driven content, outlining the topics in a manner geared to maximizing practical application and lifelong learning. Sessions will, however, mainly consist of student-oriented learning: discussions, self-reflection, and peer-to-peer evaluation. Great effort will be made to synthesize the weekly topics with students’ career development in teaching. Accordingly, students will work toward maximizing their performances as teachers, by employing key strategies to support successful course delivery.
- Participation (50 percent)
Given the practical nature, and the student-oriented approaches promoted on this course, it is essential all students are actively involved. Accordingly, the breadth, depth, and relevance of their in-class contributions will be taken in to account, as will be their willingness to engage in and receive constructive peer-to-peer evaluation.
Attendance: Students must attend at least four full sessions to pass this course.
- Teaching Journal (50 percent)
At the end of the course, students will submit a Teaching Journal, containing the short reflections, approaches, and strategies they wrote across the semester. This is graded on the extent to which it reflects the qualities introduced on the course (see “Learning Outcomes” above).
Due Date: 24 May 2024
Submission: This manuscript is to be emailed in PDF or Word format to the instructor.
Extensions: Available from the instructor on medical, humanitarian, and other grounds.
Further information
This course is an elective for all AMU students
Schedule for academic year 2023/24:
The schedule has not yet been prepared