Category — Facilitating

Hi all,

About two weeks ago I attended a workshop at the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology during which we discussed “What do you wish you had known as a new instructor or student at University?”

I attended this session as a means of gaining insight from the brains of wise veteran instructors.

The group was small, but I was very much enlightened by the end of the session. We explored both the realms of students and instructors – what we’d like to be equipped with when new to the (either) scene, and what resources we should provide to new folks, as veterans.

In answering these questions, we constructed maps with clustered post-it notes that summarized themes, pivotal questions, and solutions. The maps for students and instructors ended up being virtually identical. It seems that, in being a “new” anything, our biggest issue is fear of the unknown and how to be confident and succeed in new and unfamiliar environments. As veterans, it seems that providing support in a number of ways – paper resources, directing to campus services, reading groups, one-on-one guidance – could do the trick.

What really struck me was that the (self-declared) lack of the “newbies” could be easily remedied by what the veterans could provide – mentorship. I suppose I use the term “veteran” to mean “expert”, implying that there is an understanding of the field, the content, and likely of the cogs that make the whole machine work. This is why I say they could “easily” support those facing the unknown, I refer to the inherent knowledge base of a veteran.

When I began my engagement with teaching and learning, my dad (an emeritus professor) sent me a book he’s had for years, titled Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend: On Being a Mentor to Students in Sciences and Engineering by the National Academy Press. This book starts by broadly defining a mentor as “someone who takes a special interest in helping another person develop into a successful professional”. It mentions that in academia, mentor is often used synonymously with faculty advisor or lab supervisor, which isn’t always the case. Mentoring fosters a relationship that is personal in addition to professional; “an effective mentoring relationship is characterized by mutual trust, understanding, and empathy. Good mentors are able to share life experiences and wisdom, as well as technical expertise”.

Since this cartoon lightbulb has gone off at the CTLT workshop and continues to float above my head as I go through this nice little book, I have been thinking a great deal about mentoring and ways to improve work environments via this avenue.

I encourage you all to think about issues you may have run into as a “newbie”, problems you may be facing in the workplace, and consider what place, if any, mentoring has in the solution. Feel free to leave a comment and start a discussion too! I would be happy to discuss – this is my own personal “Hot Topic” right now!

I am currently working on my Teaching Philosophy for my Teaching (e-) Portfolio, which I am preparing for opportunities on the horizon – both during and after I graduate.

I have been working on my portfolio since the fall, and I have found it so rewarding. Yes, I intend to use it as a tool to obtain employment, but in my organizational work, drafting, and writing up some of the smaller sections of this document, I have identified the major pillars of what I believe in, and how this is reflected in my teaching. Coming to recognize the pillars of my teaching practice has basically written my Teaching Philosophy for me, short of my actually sitting down to write it out.

The main two pillars are Community and Connections.

I believe so strongly in forging a tight knit community. One of the major vehicles in doing so is volunteering, something I am also very passionate about. I just googled “volunteerism” and found this wonderful sentence:

Volunteering is the most fundamental act of citizenship and philanthropy in our society. -Volunteer Canada

That’s so beautifully said. One may not give impressive checks to an organization, but their time is just as, if not more, valuable. Spending time for a cause is a wonderful act of citizenship!

While Community is a word I use to illustrate what I value, Connections is a word I use to illustrate my primary goal as a teacher. If I foster a connection between students, between myself and a student, or between students and course content, I should feel like I’ve done well. This is how I aim to honour what I value in the classroom, as I envision a community as a beautiful web of connections.

Wow…thanks, blog, for facilitating a really easy Teaching Philosophy drafting session.

Earlier today I returned from a weekend-long retreat on Bowen Island, more specifically the Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) Fall Institute. At this institute, we focus on celebrating and developing our skills as facilitators of ISWs.

My attitude during this retreat was interesting, consuming. Whenever I attend workshops for facilitators, I can get a little hypersensitive. I’m a “beginner” at facilitating (and feel like a novice among all the facilitators I sit with at the ISW Fall Institute) and worry about all sorts of stuff. I worry that my comments are too “novicey”, too uneducated in terms of teaching and learning (which I actually don’t feel too bad about since this is not my current academic endeavour), or somehow too offensive or rude, which I never intend (I just overanalyze everything that comes out of my mouth afterwards). My confidence level is shot after one unintended flub. It can be fairly draining.

Despite my harsh self-criticizing, I actually enjoy going to the Institute. I went last year and had a trying time, but overall I would say that the time is so valuable. Just because I feel self-consious doesn’t mean I don’t learn, gain new ideas, or engage with the themes we discuss and try on. Now, I’ll share a point form list of tidbits I have walked away with this year, though I won’t flush them out tonight. I am mentally drained, and have a lab meeting presentation to prepare.

-I came across this wonderful quote, “until further notice, celebrate everything!” (Unknown). I try to maintain a joyful state in life – which I can’t deny is challenging at times – and so I resonate with this quote as it sums up my most positive state perfectly.

-I connected with some old, and new friends. I was able to reconnect with some people I haven’t seen since last year’s Institute, and got to know the new participants. In some cases I didn’t interact much with some of last year’s participants (the size of last year’s group was more than double this year’s), and so I was able to build my relationship with them this time around, which was great. I had some very special moments with some of the participants; some seemed to read my (most sensitive) mind and help me work through challenges, and I connected in teaching philosophies and ideas with others.

-Does expert vs. novice mean the same thing as teacher vs. student? In general, I think many students (and teachers) would say yes. I discovered through reflection this weekend, with the help of some very excellent facilitators, that one of my major pedagogical goals is to correct this, as I disagree with that view. It was a very wonderful realization, and not only that, but I received some ideas and guidance from these excellent facilitators!

-I challenged ideas. Sometimes I felt like the only person speaking to one perspective (well…at least one time that I remember specifically). In another moment, I was actually offended by the task at hand. It ended up being a very wonderful moment, as I was able to work through my upset with someone I admire, and she seemed to read my mind. She honed in on things that I hadn’t even realized about myself.

-I gained a number of little tips and tricks I plan to apply to my own practice. I also gained a list of ideas to consider in teaching/learning/facilitating. I wish to build a teaching portfolio in the next few months, so it was great to get the wheels turning on some issues.

Alright…time to science.

Hi all (everyone and no one?),

I have created this blog with the intention of writing reflections on what it’s like to be a M.Sc., or more specifically, a M.Sc. student who is pursuing a decent load of extracurriculars, and has already realized her ideal career aligns better with a different subject than that of her thesis.

Let me fill this out with a little more detail.

I’m working towards my M.Sc. in Biological Oceanography in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences. I love Oceanography and I love the fieldwork; I’ve been lucky enough to go on 2 research expeditions to the Arctic Ocean (more specifically, the Beaufort Sea)  and the North Pacific. I’m less enthusiastic about the lab work and intimidated by the reading, but it’s going okay. I hope to finish in a little while – but I won’t jinx myself by saying when.

I volunteer at the Vancouver Aquarium, which is a wonderful experience. This came about by my desire to get a little teaching experience. In my first semester as a M.Sc., I took a course called Teaching and Learning in the Earth and Ocean Sciences (EOSC516) which I fell in love with. I knew quite quickly my ideal career path involved pedagogy, but I didn’t know if I was into teaching kids, teens, adults….or simply discussing the theory, more “behind the scenes”. What I do at the Aquarium is volunteer with a School Program that brings in 2 classes from grades 5 to 12 weekly. I’ve been volunteering with this program since October 2009, and have gained experience teaching this wide range of ages. I have since concluded that although I love interacting with these students and seeing their excitement over the animals, I am more interested in teaching/”behind the scenes” work in higher education.

For the past 2 fall semesters, I have T.A.ed the course I mentioned above. Not only this, but I also did a T.A.ship for EOSC516 this past summer, in which I got to organize the course for the upcoming semester, including design a Vista site and design assignments. The course is finishing up this Friday, and I’m nervous for some of the feedback on that…but I’ll write a reflection on that later! I routinely write reflections about my facilitating successes/challenges after course sessions, so I’ll post some up on this blog soon.

Finally, I keep myself busy with EOS Grad Council, I fairly-regularly take teaching & learning professional development sessions/workshops at the Centre for Teaching and Learning Technology on campus, and I try to keep active, but fail miserably.