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Date: 21 April 2010 (Wednesday)
Time: 6.00pm to 7.30pm
Venue: FASS Faculty Lounge
- At this gathering, NUS Teaching Academy (TA) chair, Lakshminarayanan Samavedham, introduced the Teaching Academy and its projects. Outreach subcommittee members, Andy Hor and Kenneth Paul Tan, explained the rationale for setting up the TLC and offered suggestions for activities. CDTL Director, Chng Huang Hoon, explained the relationship between CDTL and the Teaching academy: they have separate identities and functionalities but their core values to enhance teaching and learning at NUS are the same. The gathering then dispersed into “buzz groups” to discuss ideas for activities and to surface issues and common concerns that TLC can find suitable ways to address.
The following were identified:
Activities for TLC
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Regular meetings
We should initiate regular meetings, preferably face-to-face meetings with a regular venue, time slot and day. The FASS faculty lounge is a suitable venue. We can invite ideas for the agenda of meetings that we can schedule during the semester and announce ahead of time, allowing members to decide on which events they wish to participate in.
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Department “open house” meetings
We should organize a cycle of visits to NUS departments. We can invite departments to showcase their educational innovations or initiate discussion of “micro” and “macro” topics related to education. These open house meetings can help to build social capital among the university-wide teaching community as well as be a platform for sharing good practices.
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Fieldtrips
We should organize fieldtrips to external institutions (universities, polytechnics, ITEs, private sector organizations, etc) where education is approached in unique or innovative ways. An example of such a place is Singapore Management University.
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Mentoring
Junior faculty can greatly benefit from mentorship by more experienced faculty. In this regard, TLC and CDTL are producing multi-media case studies of NUS academic success stories, which can be the basis of various mentorship activities including seminars, workshops (role play, etc), and small-group discussions.
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TLC Website
Members have been registered to the website, where notices, minutes of meetings, and online discussion can be posted. Videos and blogs are also effective media for sharing ideas and practices.
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Issues and Concerns
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The teaching track
The teaching track is instituted differently in different departments. It would be useful to clarify the possibilities and prospects of this track. Related questions:
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Balancing teaching, research, and service
How can faculty achieve this balance productively and without experiencing undue stress?
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A heavy research bias in the tenure system
Assistant Professors are now placed on what is effectively a 6-year tenure track, where there seems to be a heavy bias towards research. The perception is that faculty (who typically have minimal teaching experience) need only perform to a minimal standard of teaching and focus on producing high-quality and high-impact publications to get past the tenure hurdle. - How can the quality of teaching at NUS be improved?
- How can faculty be encouraged to think of teaching and research excellence
- as being of equal importance?
- as being integral to the role of a professor?
- as being in a synergetic relationship?
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Peer review
Aside from the formal mechanism of peer review, different departments have adopted other instruments for more formative approaches to peer review.
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The lecture/tutorial format
- In what situations is this format still relevant and effective? ,li>How do we ensure that this format, in such situations, is used effectively?
- What are the different ways that faculty have adapted and innovated this basic format?
- What are the alternatives to this format?
- How do we make the best use of classroom time? Case studies, technology, interactive modes, etc?
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Student well-being
Students often seem to be exhausted and under stress. Even during the mid-semester break, students seem to be burdened with assignments and make-up classes. - Are there administrative solutions to this problem (e.g. scheduling classes, length of class period, etc)?
- How can faculty ensure that their syllabus, assignments, and teaching practice maximize learning while minimizing unnecessary workload, anxiety, and unhealthy competition?
- Are faculty aware of the other modules and curricular requirements that their students have to deal with? Can there be better coordination among faculty based on the student’s experience?
- What academic support do the different departments provide?
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“Critical thinking”: going beyond the rhetoric
- What does critical thinking really mean?
- What are the different approaches to teaching or nurturing it?
- How do we value it (or assess it) in our students performance?
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Assessment
- How do we ensure that the assignments we set actually assess what we are looking for in our students’ performance?
- How can we ensure that the assessments are fair?
- How can we ensure that the assessments encouraging learning?
- How should we understand and respond to “grading on the curve”?
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Teaching assistants (TA)
- What are the policies that different departments have with regard to availability and use of TAs?
- How have different faculty members managed their TAs?
- What training should TAs receive?
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Teaching “dry” subjects to “uninterested” students
- How have different faculty confronted this challenge?
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Use of technology
- What are some of the good and bad uses of technology?
Next Steps
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On 5 May 2010, a TLC gathering will be organized for its student members.
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Details of the next TLC meeting for faculty members will be announced after the student gathering.
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A "sign-up sheet” will be sent out soon inviting departments to host “open-house” meetings and propose topics.
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