Enhancing Teaching

We believe that the role of Faculty is to provide the richest learning environment.

Rather than continue in the same format that has been used for far too many years, we attempted to do something that incorporated that best of many styles of teaching based on assessment of previous courses.

Thus the information gathering skills learned in inquiry courses, the presentation skills learned in seminar courses, the professional skills learned in small groups were incorporated into time and space constraints.

We were also faced with constraints on human resources and to address these we looked at the behavior of students around assessment.

In the case of presentations, we did not see the need for formal assessment. This was based on the observation that whenever students spoke in class, they were clear, informed and articulate or did not speak at all. Thus all we needed to do was to provide a forum to speak. We also believe that students require freedom to take risks in order to develop innovation skills. Students take the opportunity to try new forms of discussion, interaction and test hypotheses in the environment that is not evaluated. Based on the positive or negative reinforcement during these sessions, they proceed to use the new strategies in more formal situations. At that time, they have had the opportunity to refine their approach in a non-threatening environment.

We used assessment in two ways. In one case there was the opportunity to take risks, to try new approaches to problems and to explore the relevance of new knowledge to the problems at hand.

In the second case, we had a rigorous assessment with formal criticism of presentations in order to evaluate student performance. In situations where individual performance was measured, we considered the sources of information and the possibility of plagiarism. Since all of the presentations were written on-line and with editorial suggestions from other students, it was unlikely that plagiarism would occur. As an additional control, the presentations were in an electronic format and we had the opportunity to use a computer system designed to detect blocks of information that were identical, but from different sources (Turnitin.com).

For classroom presentations, we felt that students would do well without formal assessment. This would free time to clarify or further challenge presentations. Students could incorporate suggestions into their final presentation.

In the laboratory, we chose not to use assessment because it inhibited the teaching opportunity. Students would either just want to know the answer or not speak up in fear of being wrong.

In contrast, during the triple jumps, we did assess the information and problem-solving process that students learned in the laboratory.

Thus by moving the time and nature of assessment, we increased laboratory learning while still having an opinion concerning the student's progress.

The addition of an assessment technique was used to develop clinical reasoning skill. Conventionally, we would have such an examination and then, review what the faculty opinion of the answer should be and defend that position or based on a students persuasion add marks to their score.

Since the mark was already determined, students had little interest in the faculty position. Furthermore, if a student did persuade us to change his score, this was done in isolation and only that one student benefited.

This seemed unfair to us.

Finally, we noticed in the corridor after almost any form of test students would gather and engage in heated discussions. This seemed like a very rich learning environment.

We incorporated these observations into the modifications we described for the clinical reasoning exercise. This has made this area much more efficient to teach.

We strongly encourage criticism and feedback and incorporate this into teaching. We have encouraged looking at the larger picture and again suggesting that no request is unreasonable. We have proven to students that they do have a voice in this process.

We have also noted that students value those aspects of the course that benefit students, while issues of staff development and administration problems are secondary.

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

متحف الكفيل يباشر صيانة منسوجات تراثية تابعة للعتبة العسكرية المقدسة

العتبة العباسية المقدسة تستذكر مظلومية الإمام الكاظم (عليه السلام) عبر مجلس عزاء

قسم العلاقات العامة يناقش مع منتدى شباب الإسكان إقامة مهرجان تكريم طالبات المدارس المرتديات العباءة في القادسية

سماحة السيد الصافي يدعو إلى توحيد الجهود في تحقيق التراث لضمان الرصانة والدقة وخدمة الساحة العلمية

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

6 فواكة تساعدك على الشعور بتحسّن عند المرض

حفاظا على صحة العين.. هذا أفضل وقت لتناول فيتامين أ

الاستخدام اليومي لسماعات الأذن.. أخطر مما تتصور !

هل توقيت نشاطك اليومي يؤثر على صحة دماغك؟.. العلماء يجيبون

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

ابتكار ألماني قد يغيّر مستقبل صناعة البلاستيك

تحديثات وأرباح عبر المشاهدات.. ما الذي تخطط له "لينكد إن"؟

"الكوكايين الوردي".. مخدر جديد يثير قلق السلطات الأميركية

دراسة: تغيّرات في أسلوب القيادة قد تكشف مبكرا عن الخرف !

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Parents with Learning Disabilities CONCLUSION

PROVISION OF SUPPORT

CARING FOR CHILDREN

EUGENICS AND ETHICAL ISSUES

PARENTING

DISCRIMINATION AND DIVERSITY

THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Parents with Learning Disabilities

Legislation and Learning Disabilities CONCLUSION

LEGAL SAFEGUARDS

MENTAL CAPACITY ACT 2005

THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACT 1998