Learning from Each Other

I love to attend teaching conferences where I have the opportunity to talk to other faculty members from across the country. My favorites are conferences with workshops attendees from other Minority Serving Institutions or smaller colleges and universities. We all have something to talk about and inevitably end up sharing and comparing notes on administrative decisions and student behavior.  It feels great to know that there are comrades out there enduring the same struggles that I do on a daily basis; cell phones are an issue everywhere, and so is plagiarism, attendance, literacy - the list is endless. It feels good to know that we are in the same boat and I am always astonished at how much I have to learn from others. Workshops at Lincoln often have the same effect: whenever a group of faculty get together, lively discussions about student behavior and successes, classroom management, and pedagogy erupts. I regularly hear the comment “we need more opportunities for this type of discussion”.

 This semester, CETL is offering multiple opportunities for faculty to interact and learn from each other; next week holds a Tuesday afternoon webinar titled Unpacking Relationships: Instruction and Student Outcomes. On Wednesday, we are kicking off classroom visitations for the semester. This will be an informal discussion to talk about how and why peer classroom visitations can be both helpful and intimidating. The emphasis will be on the peer aspect. Classroom visitations is a great opportunity to learn from each other because you can choose to observe another instructor who you may or may not know for a certain skill. If you are experiencing a particular difficulty in the classroom, you can ask for somebody to come to your class to help you figure out what you can do differently.

Last spring, I visited another science professor’s classroom and re-discovered the power of stories in teaching. It also gave me an appreciation for how different our individual teaching styles are and what our students must learn to adapt to as they transition from classroom to classroom and department to department every day. This realization in turn made me much more conscious about making my classroom expectations clear to my students.

Here’s what another former participant said about her classroom visitation experience:

“The observation experience was both informative and thought-provoking.  After observing Dr. X’s three-hour class, I found myself amazed at how well she held everyone's attention with just well-structured whole-class discussion, and I began to rethink my assumption that I needed to break students into smaller groups to keep them involved during our longer classes. “

 Peer classroom visitations are meant to be relaxed and informal. This is not a time to show off to your colleagues how well you know your subject area, but rather an opportunity to receive honest feedback on your teaching. In addition to discussing the peer-visitation concept in general, on Wednesday we will generate a list of interested faculty and their availability to be a visitor or be visited. CETL will then help match instructors based on interest and availability and the classroom visitations will take place in February and early March. We have a few examples of rubrics that a classroom visitor may choose to use during a visitation – but there is no required form that has to be filled or record generated. However, if you would like to have a peer visitation report included in your tenure and promotion or similar application, this is a great opportunity to ask your visitor for written documentation. One recommended best practice is to make sure that you have time to talk to your visitor immediately after the class, when the experience is fresh in both participants’ minds. In the middle of March, we will have a follow-up meeting to report back and discuss improvements for next year’s visitation program. I warmly welcome all faculty members to participate and I guarantee that you will either learn something new or learn more about yourself – or both – as you participate in the classroom visitation program.

How have your interactions with colleagues from Lincoln or other institutions changed your teaching?