Teaching and learning treasures
An insider's guide to modern teaching practices at university
by Alice Cassidy
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| Teaching, Learning, Assessing: A Guide for Effective Teaching at College and University by Kara Smith (editor) |
"The old way is no more." That quote from this new book could also be the subtitle for Teaching, Learning, Assessing: A Guide for Effective Teaching at College and University, edited by Kara Smith, professor of education at the University of Windsor.
Dr. Smith brought together the ideas, experiences and suggestions of 15 colleagues, representing a wide variety of disciplines, to demonstrate her belief that "learning is not a spectator sport" and to encourage teachers, especially new faculty, not to be swayed by the argument from more senior faculty that "we always did it that way." Not that all senior faculty are painted with this same brush: one of the book's contributors has taught more than 20,000 students in his career, while others have 10 to 20 years of teaching experience.
The book has an insider's feel to it, as it explores what to do, why to do it and how to do it (and sometimes what not to do), all from individual teachers' perspectives and experiences. Many chapters begin with interesting narratives about the authors, their contexts and backgrounds. This sets the stage for very personalized approaches to good teaching, but with plenty of detail so you can decide which techniques and approaches might work for you. Some techniques are capped with the warning that "this might not work for you," as well as suggestions for what to do instead. For example, in the very fine chapter, "Nurturing Discussion in the Classroom", Donald Laing offers tips on how to get students to answer questions that you pose in class, and what not to do if they don't do so initially (Answer: don't leave too little time for responses and don't answer the question yourself.)
Read this book to discover how to learn students' names, how to make your class seem smaller and how to set classroom tone. Find tips on group work (including marking it and helping the quieter students), creative writing, inclusivity, reflective journalling, in-class assignments, community-building, case studies, concept maps, flexible assignments and much more.
Organized into three main sections (Before we teach, How we teach and How we assess), the book is very practical. It follows the way teachers think and work. Often, references to carefully chosen scholarly literature on teaching and learning make it clear that teaching well goes hand in hand with researching well. But in places, the reader is left hanging, for example, when she writes that "research has shown the benefits of providing instructional objectives to students" but does not provide a reference to that valuable work.
The chapters on assessing learning are very practical, with many examples. In other chapters, as well, you will find links to websites and a focus on Canadian experience and resources (including references to the popular Green Guide series sold through the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education).
The book could benefit from another round of editing. Some sloppy typos, inconsistencies (such as various versions of Ph.D. and et al.), needless repetition across chapters and outright errors - things that we, as teachers, point out in our students' work - take away from an otherwise extremely useful publication. The cover photo and long general title don't do much to show the pure gold that's on the inside.
Also, I found that some of the best ideas were hidden in cumbersome prose. The frequent use of the antiquated pedagogical terms "covering material" and "presenting material" is a mystery, since overall this book has a welcome emphasis on the importance of respecting students and an up-to-date focus on varied student- and learning-centred approaches (the philosophy that teachers need to continually assess and use feedback to enhance our teaching practice).
The introduction states that this book is for new faculty. I disagree. It's for everyone who teaches. Who, at any stage in their career, doesn't want to borrow or adapt good ideas from others to make their teaching practice more efficient and effective? Who doesn't want to help their students learn optimally? Teaching, Learning, Assessing offers the experiences of dedicated teachers, a plethora of examples to choose from, relevant literature to explore and much more. It's like sitting down for coffee with a trusted colleague and hearing it like it really is. It might have been better called Teaching for Effective Learning: The Insider's Guide. Read it; use it. Your students will thank you.
Teaching, Learning, Assessing: A Guide for Effective Teaching at College and University
by Kara Smith (editor), Mosaic Press, 2007, 200 pages, $25.00, paperback.
Alice Cassidy is associate director of the Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth and a part-time faculty member in zoology at the University of British Columbia.
