Master Teacher Initiative

How would you introduce your course to your students? What are the policies that students need to observe to succeed in your class? What do you expect from your students and what can they expect from you? A complete syllabus opens with the basic course information, course name, course and section numbers, meeting location and time, and the instructor contact information. After that, you can organize your syllabus in a variety of ways. Typically, you will want to include the following components:

Course Description - provide the description from the department, college, or university catalog and/or your vision of the course.

Course Text(s) - Include the entire citation for the course text in the following order: title, edition, author, year, publisher, ISBN.

Course Goals and Learning Outcomes

Other Materials - List all suitable ancillary student materials, such as Web sites, CD ROMs, or study guides that accompany textbooks.

Course Topics and/or Subtopics - Topics, Assignments, and due dates can be provided in a syllabus or in a separate schedule document.

Key Assignments and Due Dates - indicate any library research required

Additional Recommended Resources - List any other resources that will be used, and include complete citation information where appropriate. Indicate that these are suggested resources, but that they are not required.

Class Policies

Class Etiquette - this is particularly important for an online class

Grading Policies

Plagiarism and Cheating Policies and Consequences and any other applicable University Policies

This summer Dr. Erica Suchman in the MIP Department at CSU attended the AAAS Visions and Change, Transforming Undergraduate Education in Biology Conference in Washington DC July 15-17. The goals of this conference were:

“The 2009 Transforming Undergraduate Education in Biology: Mobilizing the Community for Change Conference serves to mobilize people to focus on undergraduate biology education by engaging them in shared, directed, provocative, and ongoing discussions that lead to action in the immediate future. Participants will include innovators and leaders in biology research and education and representatives of professional societies, funding agencies, and research and educational centers. Together, we will develop a blueprint for change in biology education and, critically, an action plan. The conference will serve as a catalyst for ongoing, shared activities and will highlight new and existing resources for effecting change.”
All participants selected and participated in working groups based on interest. There were 9 working groups, 8 made up of faculty and 1 made up of students. I will use the outcomes of these working groups to prepare the next 9 teaching tips. I will begin with the student working group.
Student Perceptions: Undergraduate students were invited to attend the conference and they formed a working group and answered a series of questions posed to them by the planning committee. Their answers will be summarized below.
Q1: What are the most important things in your development as a life scientist (or other professional goal)?

Students Answer Q1:
Critical Thinking Skills: How to select/identify relevant issues and apply the fundamentals of the scientific method to real-life situations. “Having a broad base of knowledge without knowing how to apply it doesn’t go very far.
Research experiences and/or designing your own experiments: Engaging in some level of research experiences is important for all students to build critical skills and explore their interest in science.
Analytical Skills: All students should have an understanding of how to analyze data, interpret findings, and use statistics appropriately.
Communication Skills: Strong communication skills, including both writing skills and public speaking skills, are critical. Students should be able to communicate science to both scientists and non-scientists. “It doesn’t matter what you know if you can’t express it to someone else, either in your field or someone who isn’t familiar with it at all.”
Q2: What excites you most in a learning environment?

Students Answer Q2:
                • Being challenged
                • Two-way conversations between faculty and students
                • Tie what I’m learning into the Big Picture:
                • Why is this important?
                • Where did this come from? (original literature)
                • Where does this fit into real life?
                • How does this relate to things I’m learning in other classes?
                • Analogies, NOT Jargon
                • Getting to apply what you learned
Q3:  What excites you LEAST in a learning environment?

Professors who…

              • Use bad PowerPoints
              • Give lectures in a monotone voice or use jargon/unknown terms to explain something
                • Give endless lists (“This leads to this leads to this…”)
                • Give you lists of facts without connecting them
                • Don’t respond, put you off, or are inaccessible
                • Are clearly not into teaching
                • Use small group discussions as an excuse not to teach anything
                • Don’t communicate clearly (language, style, writing)
                • Don’t give exams back, give exams back late, give no explanation of what the right answer was, or re-use tests that don’t relate to what was done in class
                • Teach the same course number as another colleague but with entirely different requirements
                • Use assignments that have already been disseminated on the Internet.
Fellow students who…

                • Allow cut-throat competition to take away from learning (emphasis on grades)