The countdown for this year's Roosevelt/Harvard
seminar on excellent teaching has begun. Next week, senior teachers
from Dutch universities will gather in Middelburg for a 4 day
training given by didactic experts from Harvard's Derek Bok Center.
ScienceGuide had the chance to talk to Deirdre Klein Bog, Head of Studies and
Curriculum Manager at the Amsterdam University College (AUC). Klein Bog
participated in last year's workshop and explains how Harvard's
micro-teaching technique found its way into the AUC.
What was the key thing that you learnt in last
year's workshop on excellent teaching?
A key concept which emerged from the workshop was the importance
of taking the time to set up a 'community' with the students in
your course. Often teachers proceed immediately to the
content of the course but it is essential to take the time to
discuss the course manual, make sure the learning objectives are
clear and to lay out the ground rules for the course.
How did this change the way you think about teaching
students? Are you doing anything differently now?
The importance of feedback was also emphasized, not only
feedback from the teacher to the student, but the importance of the
feedback from the student to the teacher. A number of our
teachers are now actively using this technique in their
courses.
Did you manage to bring this insight to the AUC?
E.g. did you discuss what you learnt with other lecturers
there?
At AUC we held our own seminar at the beginning of this year
with Prof. Rene Diekstra, in order to spread this good practice
among our own teachers. We are also incorporating
micro-teaching into our Faculty Development Programme. This
is where a teacher gives a short sample lecture to a group of his
peers and receives constructive feedback on their classroom
technique.
What did you miss that wasn't talked about at the
workshop?
I think it is important to make a distinction between the
different kinds of higher education - professional universities,
traditional universities and university colleges all have different
contexts for their teaching. However good teaching is good
teaching and most important aspects were covered.
As a workshop alumni, do you have any tip for the
upcoming participants how they can get the most of this year's
program?
Participate fully - in the micro-teaching, in the role-play
sessions, in the discussions and make sure your specific questions
are addressed. There is a lot of expertise available so make
full use of it.
The next International Summit on the Teaching
Profession will take place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. What
is your main message to the world regarding what excellent teaching
looks like?
Excellent teachers are engaged with their students and are
sensitive to their feedback and experiences.
This week, ScienceGuide will publish a series of articles on
the Roosevelt Academy's workshop on teaching excellence. Follow our
reports on this event via Twitter or www.ScienceGuide.eu.
To stay up-to-date with latest developments in teaching,
click here.