Tomorrow's Graduate Students and Postdocs: Preparing Professors to Teach

Graduate education's supporters and critics alike have long called for doctoral students who are better trained to teach, as tenure-track positions become increasingly scarce and the competition for those jobs intensifies. Efforts by universities to focus on the teaching skills of the would-be professors they turn out have developed in fits and starts over the last 15 years.

But in recent years a flurry of new programs at leading universities -- in some cases overflowing with grad students -- suggests that institutions and doctoral candidates are recognizing a need for future faculty who can not only conduct research at top-tier universities, but also be effective in the classroom at a liberal arts or community college.

Teaching certificate programs are filling that need at dozens of public and private institutions across the country, and the programs continue to expand. Administrators say the certificates not only give students an edge in the job market, but also teach the skills Ph.D. candidates need to be effective teachers ? and faculty need to be lifelong learners.

The trend is visible across the country: Year-to-year, more graduate students are opting to seek the voluntary teaching certificates, says Linda von Hoene, director of the Graduate Student Instructor Teaching and Resource Center at the University of California at Berkeley. As Berkeley plans its own program, von Hoene is in the midst of conducting a survey of the 70 or so institutions that already offer one. She also plans to present her research in November at the annual conference of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education.

Von Hoene says a preliminary analysis of the 30 programs that had responded to her survey as of last week indicated that, at those colleges alone, the number of students poised to obtain teaching certificates will increase by about 10 percent this year, from 946 to 1,044.

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the most recent institutions to move in this direction, the Teaching and Learning Laboratory offers graduate students teaching certificates. The lab's director, Lori Breslow, says she was ?totally floored? to see 90 doctoral students register for the program when it began in 2008, and enrollment jumped to 140 this year.

?We were getting vibes that the graduate students did want some sort of training, at least an introduction to higher education,? Breslow says. ?We did it just to give it a try and see what would happen. We had no idea whether we would have two people or 200 people. We thought it would be a good way to provide information to potential teachers.?

Some certificate programs began in the late 1980s and 1990s, von Hoene says, but the majority were created over the past decade. ?These programs are not static in the sense that they continually are assessed and also revised and then informed by a lot of the research on teaching and learning,? she says.

?While I think, in general, the emergence of these certificate programs shows an increased commitment to preparing graduate students for teaching, that commitment actually predates in most cases the formal adoption of a certificate program,? von Hoene says. Training processes may have been in place in the 1980s, but in the 1990s, the focus shifted from preparing graduate students exclusively to their work as TAs to the responsibilities they would bear as future faculty members. ?We need to keep in mind that some of the schools that have very rigorous programs and long traditions in this area may not necessarily have a formal certificate program, e.g., Ohio State, Indiana, Berkeley. The bottom line is that a tremendous amount of progress has been made in graduate student professional development over the past three decades, something which is not always as visible to the public as it should be.?

But certificates are particularly beneficial because they are often formally recognized or denoted on a student?s transcript, providing a better documentation of the steps a student has gone through to become a better instructor.

MIT students who have obtained the certificate say it was enormously helpful. Mark Zachary Taylor, an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology international affairs school who earned a political science Ph.D. from MIT in 2006, was less concerned with securing a job than he was with being able to teach effectively once he got one.

?We don?t learn how to teach.... Our stereotype is that a teacher gets up there and hands you a lot of knowledge. You?re the empty glass, they?re the pitcher of water and they pour their knowledge into you. But that?s not how it works,? Taylor says. He strives to engage students in classes, pose interesting questions and draw them in, maybe by connecting the issue at hand to politics or their personal lives. ?All those techniques I learned through the teaching certificate,? he says. ?I really believe in this form of education, these programs.?

MIT is a relative late-comer to the teaching certificate movement, and as such its program continues to evolve. Depending on the institution, training requirements for the certificate vary. At MIT, students participate in eight workshops that include readings and assignments. They formulate teaching philosophy statements (a staple among such programs), learn how to design courses, plan lectures and create syllabuses, among other things. Students have two years to complete the program.

Meanwhile, institutions such as Brown University, which began its program in 1989, have far more elaborate tracks. At Brown, students can earn four certificates. Each program takes a year to complete, and comprises four to seven workshops. The programs are modeled around different themes that build the components of a ?reflective teaching practice?: an understanding that effective teaching requires careful planning; knowledge of one?s audience and the ability to engage different learning styles; a recognition of the importance of establishing learning goals (and means to determine if such goals have been achieved); and a willingness to be innovative.

Brown requires some of the same tasks as MIT, such as the philosophy statement and syllabus construction, but it also stresses heavily the importance of student-faculty collaboration, and creating a community that emphasizes reflection on and scholarship of teaching. This year, the program expects to award 196 certificates, about 50 more than last year. ?We?ve actually seen a significant increase in participation, particularly this year,? says Kathy M. Takayama, director of Brown?s Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning.

Takayama points to the job market and the program's recent revisions and improvement as reasons for the consistently higher enrollment from year to year. She also noted that about 13 of the participants this year are faculty and postdocs looking to continue their professional development; they, along with the graduate students, seem to recognize that the program has long-term impact, she says.

Takayama says the program unites participants into a community of peers, regardless of discipline or stature. It trains them to think about learning contextually, beyond the course materials. What exactly is learning? How do you assess students? How do you make teaching accessible and effective? Certificate programs ?really are important not just for students, but also for faculty members and postdocs,? Takayama says. ?The faculty are looking for thinking about their teaching in a scholarly way. They became faculty because they got degrees in their discipline, but they never thought about their process of teaching in a formal way.? And, of course, the programs teach graduate students these skills before they have the chance to realize they never learned them.

Although she doesn?t necessarily see a faculty appointment in her future, Nicole DiLello got her teaching certificate from MIT and is in her sixth year of working on her Ph.D. in electrical engineering. She says the program helped her develop presentation skills and target her work, be it a lecture or a lesson, toward a specific audience. ?I?m still not sure if I actually want to go into teaching, but I thought it would be good background if I did,? she said. ?I just think that people often don?t think about the sorts of things the program teaches.?

For the most part, students who obtained certificates from the University of Michigan ? whose program is also on the younger end of the spectrum ? reported satisfaction with their training. They generally said they feel more prepared to teach and, to a lesser extent, demonstrate that when looking for a job.

?It is a difficult job market for Ph.D.s right now, and candidates with evidence of good preparation for teaching and interest in teaching are more attractive to search committees,? Constance E. Cook, executive director for Michigan?s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, wrote in an e-mail. She said Michigan started its teacher certificate program because ?we thought it would not only improve grad student teaching, but also help them on the job market.?

Since Michigan?s program began in October 2007, 386 students have enrolled and 98 have received certificates. In a survey of recipients (with a 98 percent response rate), 93 percent of students said they gained the skills and knowledge to enhance their teaching practice, 94 percent said they felt more confident to teach at the college level, and 85 percent reported an increased confidence in their ability to discuss teaching and learning during job interviews.

And even though students contacted by Inside Higher Ed said the job market was either a small factor or did not play at all into their decision to pursue a certificate, Robert Sowell, vice president for programs and operations at the Council of Graduate Schools, says the programs are indeed helpful. ?I think it is definitely making them more competitive,? Sowell said. ?They can go in with a teaching portfolio, with a formal certification or a notation on their transcript that they have participated in this sort of training.? It?s a ?win-win-win situation? for the student, the institution where the student is a TA, and the institution where the student will go on to work, he said.
http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/postings.php

Von Hoene says certificate programs are bringing the discussion of teaching and learning to "a whole new level."

"Most important," she says, "it's to show there's a false dichotomy between teaching and research."

?A lot of research universities care most about the quality and quantity of your research, but I do think there?s a growing trend in some places that teaching matters,? Taylor, the 2006 MIT graduate, says. ?I?m really happy at Georgia Tech because teaching matters. A lot of universities say that, but when it comes to promotion and tenure, it?s not always the case."

Tomorrow's Graduate Students and Postdocs: Preparing Professors to Teach

Tomorrow's Teaching and Learning: Introduction: Bridging Learning Research and Teaching Practice

http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/postings.php

WHAT IS LEARNING?

Any set of learning principles is predicated on a definition of learning. In this book, we define learning as a process that leads to change, which occurs as a result of experience and increases the potential for improved performance and future learning (adapted from Mayer, 2002). There are three critical components to this definition:

1. Learning is a process, not a product. However, because this process takes place in the mind, we can only infer that it has occurred from students' products or performances.

2. Learning involves change in knowledge, beliefs, behaviors, or attitudes. This change unfolds over time; it is not fleeting but rather has a lasting impact on how students think and act.

3. Learning is not something done to students, but rather something students themselves do. It is the direct result of how students interpret and respond to their experiences -- conscious and unconscious, past and present.

OUR PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING

Our seven principles of learning come from a perspective that is developmental and holistic. In other words, we begin with the recognition that (a) learning is a developmental process that intersects with other developmental processes in a student's life, and (b) students enter our classrooms not only with skills, knowledge, and abilities, but also with social and emotional experiences that influence what they value, how they perceive themselves and others, and how they will engage in the learning process. Consistent with this holistic perspective, readers should understand that, although we address each principle individually to highlight particular issues pertaining to student learning, they are all at work in real learning situations, and are functionally inseparable.

In the paragraphs below, we briefly summarize each of the principles in the order in which they are discussed in the book.

(1) Student's prior knowledge can help or hinder learning.

Students come into our courses with knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes gained in other courses and through daily life. As students bring this knowledge to bear in our classrooms, it influences how they filter and interpret what they are learning. If students' prior knowledge is robust and accurate and activated at the appropriate time, it provides a strong foundation for building new knowledge.

However, when knowledge is inert, insufficient for the task, activated inappropriately, or inaccurate, it can interfere with or impede new learning.

(2) How students organize knowledge influences how they learn and apply what they know.

Students naturally make connections between pieces of knowledge. When those connections form knowledge structures that are accurately and meaningfully organized, students are better able to retrieve and apply their knowledge effectively and efficiently. In contrast, when knowledge is connected in inaccurate or random ways, students can fail to retrieve or apply it appropriately.

(3) Students' motivation determines, directs, and sustains what they do to learn.

As students enter college and gain greater autonomy over what, when, and how they study and learn, motivation plays a critical role in guiding the direction, intensity, persistence, and quality of the learning behaviors in which they engage. When students find positive value in a learning goal or activity, expect to successfully achieve a desired learning outcome, and perceive support from their environment, they are likely to be strongly motivated to learn.


(4) To develop mastery, students must acquire component skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply what they have learned.

Students must develop not only the component skills and knowledge necessary to perform complex tasks, they must also practice combining and integrating them to develop greater fluency and automaticity. Finally, students must learn when and how to apply the skills and knowledge they learn. As instructors, it is important that we develop conscious awareness of these elements of mastery so as to help our students learn more effectively.

(5) Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback enhances the quality of students' learning.

Learning and performance are best fostered when students engage in practice that focuses on a specific goal or criterion, target an appropriate level of challenge, and is of sufficient quantity and frequency to meet the performance criteria. Practice must be coupled with feedback that explicitly communicates about some aspect(s) of students' performance relative to specific target criteria, provides information to help students progress in meeting those criteria, and is given at a time and frequency that allows it to be useful.

(6) Students' current level of development interacts with the social, emotional, and intellectual climate of the course to impact learning.

Students are not only intellectual but also social and emotional beings, and they are still developing the full range of intellectual, social, and emotional skills. While we cannot control the developmental process, we can shape the intellectual, social, emotional, and physical aspects of the classroom climate in developmentally appropriate ways. In fact, many studies have shown that the climate we create has implications for our students. A negative climate may impede learning and performance, but a positive climate can energize students' learning.

(7) To become self-directed learners, students must learn to monitor and adjust their approaches to learning.

Learners may engage in a variety of metacognitive processes to monitor and control their learning--assessing the task at hand, evaluating their own strengths and weaknesses, planning their approach, applying and monitoring various strategies, and reflecting on the degree to which their current approach is working. Unfortunately, students tend not to engage in these processes naturally. When students tend not to engage in these processes naturally. When students develop the skills to engage these processes, they gain intellectual habits that not only improve their performance but also their effectiveness as learners.

WHAT MAKES THESE PRINCIPLES POWERFUL?

The principle strength of these seven principles is that they are based directly on research, drawing on literature from cognitive, developmental, and social psychology, anthropology, education, and diversity studies, and research targeting not only higher education but also K-12 education. Although, of course, this is not an exhaustive review and any summary of research necessarily simplifies a host of complexities for the sake of accessibility, we believe that our discussions of the research underlying each principle are faithful to the scholarship and describe features of learning about which there is widespread agreement. Indeed, several of our principles converge with those that others have delineated (Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center, 2009; American Psychological Society, 2008), a convergence that we believe attests to their salience.

Not only are these principles research-based, but as we have shared them with colleagues over the years, we have found that they are Domain-independent: They apply equally well across all subject areas, from biology to design to history to robotics; the fundamental factors that impact the way students learn transcend disciplinary differences.
Experience-independent: The principles apply to all educational levels and pedagogical situations. In other words, although the pedagogical implications of a principle will be somewhat different for first-year undergraduate students in a lab environment as opposed to graduate students in a studio environment, the principle still applies.

Cross-culturally relevant: Although the research we identified has been conducted primarily in the Western world, faculty colleagues in other countries have resonated with the principles, finding them relevant to their own classes and students. However, it is important to bear in mind that culture can and dose influence how the principles should be applied as instructors design and teach their courses.
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INTENDED AUDIENCES

This book is intended for anyone interested in understanding more about how students learn and in applying that information to improve instruction. This includes--but is not limited to--faculty members, graduate students, faculty developers, instructional designers, and librarians. It also includes K-12 educators. In addition, the principles outlined here are valuable for instructors at all experience levels. They can help new and inexperienced instructors understand the components of effective course design and classroom pedagogy. They can help experienced instructors troubleshoot problems or adapt effective strategies to suit new courses or student populations. They can also help highly successful and experienced instructors reflect on what makes their approaches and methods effective. Finally, the principles can enable faculty members to better support student learning without having to rely on outside experts (a benefit that is particularly valuable for faculty at campus without teaching and learning centers).

Tomorrow's Teaching and Learning: Introduction: Bridging Learning Research and Teaching Practice

Diverse Issues in Higher Education: Promoting Racial and Cultural Awareness in the Classroom: Creating a Plan for Evaluation

September 15, 2010 by Dr. Pamela Felder
http://diverseeducation.com/blogpost/300/

“The specter of color is apparent even when it goes unmentioned, and it is all too often the unseen force that influences public policy as well as private relationships. There is nothing more remarkable than the ingenuity that the various demarcations of the color line reflect. If only the same creative energy could be used to eradicate the color line; then its days would indeed be numbered.” -- Dr. John Hope Franklin
In teaching graduate students I like to use methods that encourage self-identification about race and culture through interpretation and constructive analysis of behavior. Interpretation speaks to one’s individual perceptions, and constructive analysis serves to examine students’ meaning-making of these issues (Abes, Jones & McEwen, 2007).
This is consistent with Dr. Cyrus Ellis’ (2004) work “I Shall Not Be Moved: Teaching Race in a Multiethnic Classroom.” Ellis sees an individual’s paradigm or personal method of operating in the classroom as a way of extrapolating meaning from various layers of the world. In the world of higher education, racial and cultural awareness are significant underlying factors in understanding how colleges and universities promote diversity. I see racial and cultural competence as an essential component in this development. As such, addressing these issues is a priority in every subject I teach. And, the meaning-making process regarding these issues from semester to semester is critically important to the evaluation of my teaching.
So what’s my plan for evaluating the promotion of racial and cultural awareness in my teaching?
First, I present concepts of racial and/or cultural awareness as learning artifacts critical to developing professional competence in graduate student development. Graduate students in higher education often seek to become specialists within one functional area of the college/university environment. Case study activities focused on race and culture engage students in analysis of the relevance of these issues as they might be presented behaviorally within college and university environments. Introducing seminal racial and cultural concepts used in scholarly research tend to enhance their practical applicability.
Second, I incorporate principles designed for building Intellectual Community (IC) in classroom discussion like the Critical Friends Protocol (CF). Recently, scholars in graduate education have discussed how this protocol serves to facilitate critical thinking among students in the classroom. In my class the CF Protocol introduces a specific structure for classroom discussion, especially when issues of racial and cultural awareness are being explored. Adhering to this protocol serves to facilitate the note-taking of my observations and the racial and cultural artifacts being discussed. Later, these notes can be reviewed for follow-up observations and evaluation.
Third, I commit to using the Critical Friends (CF) protocol for at least three sessions during a 15-week semester for classes meeting once a week. Research on classroom management strategies often suggests that a mixture of lecture, small group discussion, and one-on-one student discussion enhance classroom discussions. Therefore, I don’t recommend using the CF protocol for every class; rather, it should be introduced as a special class feature of the course.
Finally, instructor notes of the case study discussions can be developed into themes according to the learning artifacts presented. These notes can be examined using scholarly literature on the topic and developed into a teaching narrative that is highly individualized and self-evaluative. Subsequently, narratives could be discussed within group formats with other faculty members, particularly with colleagues who are passionate and dedicated to promoting racial and cultural awareness.
The teaching narrative is not the only way to evaluate the use of racial and cultural concepts in one’s classroom. Perhaps this commentary will encourage others to think about how they are planning to evaluate their racial and cultural awareness in the classroom on a consistent basis.
Dr. Pamela Felder is a lecturer in the higher education division of the graduate school of education at the University of Pennsylvania. Her professional background includes teaching experience at Teachers College, Columbia University and Camden County College, Camden City Campus.

Diverse Issues in Higher Education: Promoting Racial and Cultural Awareness in the Classroom: Creating a Plan for Evaluation

Curriculum Mapping Templates and Resources

http://sde.state.ok.us/Curriculum/CurriculumDiv/CurrilumMap/default.html

Curriculum Mapping Templates and Resources

Online Classroom: How to Engage Students with Interactive Online Lectures

Featured Higher Education Presenter: John Orlando, Ph.D.
http://www.magnapubs.com/catalog/engage-students-with-online-lectures/?track=email

Date: Thursday, 01/20/11
Time: 1:00-2:15 CST
Cost: $239 ($264 after 01/13/11)

Of all the technological innovations that have found their way into the classroom in recent years, few are as exciting as VoiceThread. It’s a remarkably effective tool for facilitating collaboration and interaction–between students and faculty, and also among students themselves–in both face-to-face and online classrooms.

Fundamentally, VoiceThread allows faculty to create and post presentations based on slideshows, video, text and/or other media; students can then respond, comment and append things (using the same variety of media) to share with both the instructor and fellow students.

Want to know more about VoiceThread? Here’s your chance to get up to speed fast … join us for a special online seminar coming January 20!

During this fact-filled, 75-minute audio presentation, you’ll hear from John Orlando, Ph.D., longtime education-technology veteran and currently program director for two online master’s programs at Norwich University.

Dr. Orlando will explain:
• The innovative ways VoiceThread facilitates participation.
• The wealth of feedback tools VoiceThread supports–video, text, phone, “doodling” and more.
• How VoiceThread builds a strong sense of community among students and faculty.
• How students can use VoiceThread to actively help build and support lecture content.
• How student contributions can be used as legacies, for future classes to build on.
• How related technologies, including Video Ant and Windows Movie Maker, can further enhance the students’ learning experiences.
• How to set up and deliver in-class polls using smartphones.
• And much more.

Your input encouraged!

You can submit questions throughout the seminar, for discussion during a dedicated Q & A session. It’s your chance to fine-tune your understanding of the material, share your thoughts, and hear what’s on the minds of other attendees on campuses nationwide.

Who should attend
• Faculty members
• Department chairs
• Instructional technologists
• Adjunct instructors
• Distance learning staff

Technology can be transformational in the classroom, and VoiceThread is an excellent example. Learn how to use this latest “cool tool for school”; register today!
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Online Classroom: How to Engage Students with Interactive Online Lectures

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Faculty Focus: Teaching Strategies That Help Students Learn How to Learn

November 15, 2010
By: Sara Coffman in Effective Teaching Strategies
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/teaching-strategies-that-help-students-learn-how-to-learn/?c=FF&t=F101115a

What skills do you wish your students had prior to taking your course? Reading comprehension, time management, listening, note-taking, critical thinking, test-taking? Let’s face it, most students could benefit from taking a course in learning how to learn. But who wants to take a study skills class?

My solution: sneak study skills into your class along with the content.

Course structure:

•Select a textbook that has learning aids (study guides, online materials, and/or audio files) and encourage your students to use them.
•Craft your syllabus carefully. By setting the right tone, you can motivate students.
•Design clear, meaningful assignments that enable students to accomplish course objectives.
•Space the workload out evenly throughout the semester.
•If students don’t master an assignment the first time, give them constructive feedback, and the chance to redo it. You may not want to do this for every assignment, but doing it for one early in the course "sets the bar" and encourages them to do quality work.
The first week:

•If your class is small, set up interviews with students individually or in pairs to find out why they’re taking the course and what they want to get out of it. Not only will you learn about who’s in the class, but you’ll increase students’ commitment to work hard and communicate with you. If the class is large, use email to collect information about students and to establish connections.
•Talk to students about how to study for your course. Give them a list of study techniques recommended by students who’ve taken the course and earned A’s.
•Early in the course, have students use their textbooks in class. By using class time, you acknowledge the book’s value. If you can’t afford class time, have students do a homework assignment that they can’t complete without using the book.
•Offer students time management suggestions. Let them know approximately how much time they should spend on the course each week. Talk about how daily study keeps the information fresh and helps avoid cramming. Show how longer assignments can be broken into small pieces.
Techniques for teaching:

•Start class with something that gets their attention and then quickly review what was covered in the previous class.
•Show students "tricks of the trade," or how you learned the material. Talk aloud when you solve a problem. Show students what you do when you get stuck.
•Provide a partial outline and have your students fill in the missing material during the lecture.
•Leave five minutes at the end of each class for students to check their notes with those of their neighbor, review major ideas, and indicate what they thought was important and why.
Testing tips:

•Assign study groups prior to the first exam, have them exchange contact information, and require a one-hour study session outside of class. Help them be more productive by providing a study guide and/or sample test questions they can submit for bonus points.
•Give students frequent tests and constructive feedback throughout the course.
•Give a practice test before the actual exam so students get a feel for the types of questions you ask. If you use essay questions, share an example of an A, C, and F answer.
•Take class time to go over the first exam. Talk in detail about the questions most often missed.
•Have students analyze the first exam, or quiz, by writing you a memo that responds to questions like these: Was it harder than expected? Were any of the questions a complete surprise? If so, which ones? Were there any questions you didn’t understand or found confusing? If so, rewrite them using your own words. What one change are you going to make when studying for the next quiz? What study strategy did you use that worked well?
These simple strategies teach students learning skills that will make them better students in every course.

Excerpted from “Teaching Strategies That Help Students Learn,” The Teaching Professor, 23.7 (2009): 1,8.

Sara J. Coffman, Center for Instructional Excellence, Purdue University.

Faculty Focus: Teaching Strategies That Help Students Learn How to Learn