Teaching
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Figured I would post this question here after looking for a more appropriate area to place it... I was just called yesterday by some people I know at a local University to teach a class in their night program now that I have received my Masters degree. It's something that I have been looking forward too for a long time now and was really glad to get the call. I have done tons (years) of corporate training 'stuff' and love doing this, and I have done some traditional classroom stuff before as a 'guest' so the entire aspect of public speaking, curriculum development, delivery, etc... has no effect on me. I like it and am really looking forward to this entire new thing, teaching in a 'school'. My question is this... Any hints out there from people that may have done this in this same setting? I know that the 'school' atmosphere is going to through in some 'things' and I think I am ready for that. Just wondering if I could get some 'from the trenches' hints, tips or tricks that may help me along the way. Anyone?
The teaching part is fun and easy. As mentioned have a syllabus, set how much time will be spent on each section, and stick to it. Designing problems and exams can be fun but very time consuming to get the right balance. Give yourself plenty of lead-time. Marking is neither fun nor easy. There were students that were so far off base I'd give them a mark if they got their name right ... not all did. Knowing your problem set/exam is balanced/fair really helps here. Expect a wide range of students. I had some that had used every language and platform under the sun except what I was teaching, and others that thought using Excel counted as programming experience. As a result, also expect a wide range of comments from "best class ever" to "you shouldn't be allowed to teach". Try not to sleep with any students.
...cmk The idea that I can be presented with a problem, set out to logically solve it with the tools at hand, and wind up with a program that could not be legally used because someone else followed the same logical steps some years ago and filed for a patent on it is horrifying. - John Carmack
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Figured I would post this question here after looking for a more appropriate area to place it... I was just called yesterday by some people I know at a local University to teach a class in their night program now that I have received my Masters degree. It's something that I have been looking forward too for a long time now and was really glad to get the call. I have done tons (years) of corporate training 'stuff' and love doing this, and I have done some traditional classroom stuff before as a 'guest' so the entire aspect of public speaking, curriculum development, delivery, etc... has no effect on me. I like it and am really looking forward to this entire new thing, teaching in a 'school'. My question is this... Any hints out there from people that may have done this in this same setting? I know that the 'school' atmosphere is going to through in some 'things' and I think I am ready for that. Just wondering if I could get some 'from the trenches' hints, tips or tricks that may help me along the way. Anyone?
I have been teaching C# and C#II for 2 years now at a college. Anything in particular you need to know?
Everything makes sense in someone's mind
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Figured I would post this question here after looking for a more appropriate area to place it... I was just called yesterday by some people I know at a local University to teach a class in their night program now that I have received my Masters degree. It's something that I have been looking forward too for a long time now and was really glad to get the call. I have done tons (years) of corporate training 'stuff' and love doing this, and I have done some traditional classroom stuff before as a 'guest' so the entire aspect of public speaking, curriculum development, delivery, etc... has no effect on me. I like it and am really looking forward to this entire new thing, teaching in a 'school'. My question is this... Any hints out there from people that may have done this in this same setting? I know that the 'school' atmosphere is going to through in some 'things' and I think I am ready for that. Just wondering if I could get some 'from the trenches' hints, tips or tricks that may help me along the way. Anyone?
Ray Cassick wrote:
I know that the 'school' atmosphere is going to through in some 'things' and I think I am ready for that.
What are you trying to say?
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
Ray Cassick wrote:
I know that the 'school' atmosphere is going to through in some 'things' and I think I am ready for that.
What are you trying to say?
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopesI think he meant "throw in some things".
WE ARE DYSLEXIC OF BORG. Refutance is systile. Your a$$ will be laminated. There are 10 kinds of people in the world: People who know binary and people who don't.
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Figured I would post this question here after looking for a more appropriate area to place it... I was just called yesterday by some people I know at a local University to teach a class in their night program now that I have received my Masters degree. It's something that I have been looking forward too for a long time now and was really glad to get the call. I have done tons (years) of corporate training 'stuff' and love doing this, and I have done some traditional classroom stuff before as a 'guest' so the entire aspect of public speaking, curriculum development, delivery, etc... has no effect on me. I like it and am really looking forward to this entire new thing, teaching in a 'school'. My question is this... Any hints out there from people that may have done this in this same setting? I know that the 'school' atmosphere is going to through in some 'things' and I think I am ready for that. Just wondering if I could get some 'from the trenches' hints, tips or tricks that may help me along the way. Anyone?
I taught at the local college for years and loved the teaching. But in the end I couldn't tolerate the arrogance and general uselessness of the administrative staff. I quit. That said, the advice so far has been good. Begin with a syllabus - the school's is probably fine, though you can fudge it if you want to. I always did, because some academic moron usually included some content that was totally irrelevant and intellectually insulting to the students. If the subject is anything 'real' (not the fuzzy subjects), make sure you give lots of homework, frequent quizzes, and two major tests. The assignments shouldn't be too time consuming, as your class is not the only one the students are taking. English teachers usually assume that students have nothing else to do but their class - don't be like them. Also, since it's night classes you can assume that your students work a real job, and maybe raise a family as well. Be flexible about deadlines, but not too flexible. I had a due date for every assignment, but if it got turned in via email a day or two late I didn't mark it down. The students who wait until the last week to turn in anything deserve to fail, but those who genuinely try deserve a break. Good luck, and have fun! :-D
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
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Figured I would post this question here after looking for a more appropriate area to place it... I was just called yesterday by some people I know at a local University to teach a class in their night program now that I have received my Masters degree. It's something that I have been looking forward too for a long time now and was really glad to get the call. I have done tons (years) of corporate training 'stuff' and love doing this, and I have done some traditional classroom stuff before as a 'guest' so the entire aspect of public speaking, curriculum development, delivery, etc... has no effect on me. I like it and am really looking forward to this entire new thing, teaching in a 'school'. My question is this... Any hints out there from people that may have done this in this same setting? I know that the 'school' atmosphere is going to through in some 'things' and I think I am ready for that. Just wondering if I could get some 'from the trenches' hints, tips or tricks that may help me along the way. Anyone?
A friend of mine did a lot of this and we chatted about it at length. He used to do two things consistently. 1. Base the training around a final project. The project had to be bigger than the students were likely to complete within the time they had and part of what he wanted to convey had to do with decisions as to what got done and what didn't. Usually in corporate training you only have people for a very short time and you don't get to develop a project as you could in a collegial setting. Make the project the same for everyone, such as a C# version of the boardgame Clue. 2. Stories that were illustrative of programming concepts. I think he called these 'tales from uncle grumpy' or some such silliness. You can, if this fits your style, set it to your own characterization. You could use this for almost anything, such as ethics or a sorting algorithm, or really anything that can be recast with a story. Anyway, that's the sort of stuff he did. Take it for what its worth given how many hands it went through before it got to you.
_____________________________ _____________________________ It is better to hack the code than to curse the darkness.
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The teaching part is fun and easy. As mentioned have a syllabus, set how much time will be spent on each section, and stick to it. Designing problems and exams can be fun but very time consuming to get the right balance. Give yourself plenty of lead-time. Marking is neither fun nor easy. There were students that were so far off base I'd give them a mark if they got their name right ... not all did. Knowing your problem set/exam is balanced/fair really helps here. Expect a wide range of students. I had some that had used every language and platform under the sun except what I was teaching, and others that thought using Excel counted as programming experience. As a result, also expect a wide range of comments from "best class ever" to "you shouldn't be allowed to teach". Try not to sleep with any students.
...cmk The idea that I can be presented with a problem, set out to logically solve it with the tools at hand, and wind up with a program that could not be legally used because someone else followed the same logical steps some years ago and filed for a patent on it is horrifying. - John Carmack
This advice is right on the mark. I taught several semesters in the continuing education program of a highly rated university. Here are some things that I discovered in the process. If you can get access to one, a projector that connects to your laptop is very helpful. (Seems to be pretty common in newer university classrooms. YMMV.) I made slides for my lectures in PowerPoint, and could switch quickly into documents or other programs to make a point, walk through an assignment, demonstrate, etc. Best case scenario: projecting directly onto a chalkboard or whiteboard. You can edit on the computer, but also annotate directly as you talk. Think up short in-class assignments engage the students and demonstrate/illustrate the topic you're covering in a concrete manner. Something that can be done in 10 minutes or less is ideal. Then go over it quickly to make sure everyone understands what they were supposed to do. Take home assignments are great, but you need to keep two things in mind: (1) how much time do you want to spend evaluating and commenting them? You can give the students valuable feedback in the grading process, but consider the value of your time. Think about this up-front when creating the assignment. (2) Make sure the assignment can be done in a reasonable amount of time. Are your students working professionals? Be kind. Focus the work the students need to do on the concept you're trying to teach them. (This is important for in-class work, too.) Consider your weaker students. You can always provide extra credit or additional work for your better students. Keep everything create for the class and reuse it next time, tweaking in response to how you feel it worked or feedback you get from students. But you know this already from doing training. As my class wasn't part of a degree program, I chose to give credit for attendance/in-class work and handing in the assignments. Then I could focus exclusively on providing useful feedback on the work rather than trying to assign a grade. Streamlined the process a lot so I could focus on other aspects of teaching. Pretty much everyone got an A (all work done) or B (most work done -- don't remember my criteria exactly). Pretty much everyone made a reasonable effort, so no drama there. A very few stopped showing up and they got failed. Ooops. Best part of the class was being able to up-close evaluate potential new hires. Very useful recruiting tool. A very few top students got job offers from my team or strong recommendations elsewhe
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I have been teaching C# and C#II for 2 years now at a college. Anything in particular you need to know?
Everything makes sense in someone's mind
Just really looking for helpful tips and tricks to manage the classroom more than the curriculum. I know many of the people here already and from what I have seen the materials are pretty good, I have just never been a teacher in a traditional 'school' type setting much before. My larger background is corporate training for companies like MS and Intel. I'm really excited about this and don't want to mess it up. I enjoy teaching and think I can offer some good stuff. Really, my biggest worry is how I am going to handle the first 'sm*rt *ss' in the class :) I have already worked here as a guest speaker for specific subjects (one was the new ides behind Unified Messaging) where I delivered a config and use demo, that seemed to get some good reviews. I am going to have to get used to 'following' material that I didn't write though, that may be the hard part, but I still figured that I have some leeway to put my own spin on things as long as I stick close to the material that needs to be covered for their accreditation status.
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This advice is right on the mark. I taught several semesters in the continuing education program of a highly rated university. Here are some things that I discovered in the process. If you can get access to one, a projector that connects to your laptop is very helpful. (Seems to be pretty common in newer university classrooms. YMMV.) I made slides for my lectures in PowerPoint, and could switch quickly into documents or other programs to make a point, walk through an assignment, demonstrate, etc. Best case scenario: projecting directly onto a chalkboard or whiteboard. You can edit on the computer, but also annotate directly as you talk. Think up short in-class assignments engage the students and demonstrate/illustrate the topic you're covering in a concrete manner. Something that can be done in 10 minutes or less is ideal. Then go over it quickly to make sure everyone understands what they were supposed to do. Take home assignments are great, but you need to keep two things in mind: (1) how much time do you want to spend evaluating and commenting them? You can give the students valuable feedback in the grading process, but consider the value of your time. Think about this up-front when creating the assignment. (2) Make sure the assignment can be done in a reasonable amount of time. Are your students working professionals? Be kind. Focus the work the students need to do on the concept you're trying to teach them. (This is important for in-class work, too.) Consider your weaker students. You can always provide extra credit or additional work for your better students. Keep everything create for the class and reuse it next time, tweaking in response to how you feel it worked or feedback you get from students. But you know this already from doing training. As my class wasn't part of a degree program, I chose to give credit for attendance/in-class work and handing in the assignments. Then I could focus exclusively on providing useful feedback on the work rather than trying to assign a grade. Streamlined the process a lot so I could focus on other aspects of teaching. Pretty much everyone got an A (all work done) or B (most work done -- don't remember my criteria exactly). Pretty much everyone made a reasonable effort, so no drama there. A very few stopped showing up and they got failed. Ooops. Best part of the class was being able to up-close evaluate potential new hires. Very useful recruiting tool. A very few top students got job offers from my team or strong recommendations elsewhe
Some great suggestions there. Thanks. The school tends to have some decent equipment in the classrooms so I think I will be set there. They do most of their work on remote desktop VMs to make things recoverable in case of problems, and have some pretty decent lab setups. I go in tomorrow to get the details, and I know the dean and the one professor that recommended me so things are looking good and I think they are looking for me to take the reigns a bit. I am looking forward to this being fun actually so that should help too. Thanks for the good advice. All noted.
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Figured I would post this question here after looking for a more appropriate area to place it... I was just called yesterday by some people I know at a local University to teach a class in their night program now that I have received my Masters degree. It's something that I have been looking forward too for a long time now and was really glad to get the call. I have done tons (years) of corporate training 'stuff' and love doing this, and I have done some traditional classroom stuff before as a 'guest' so the entire aspect of public speaking, curriculum development, delivery, etc... has no effect on me. I like it and am really looking forward to this entire new thing, teaching in a 'school'. My question is this... Any hints out there from people that may have done this in this same setting? I know that the 'school' atmosphere is going to through in some 'things' and I think I am ready for that. Just wondering if I could get some 'from the trenches' hints, tips or tricks that may help me along the way. Anyone?
You will be great. I liked this school because the students were there for a reason. Your first class is a level 200 class. The freshman have already been thinned out, and the remainder are getting close to the end of their program. I took the class that you are going to teach over three years ago, and the lab classes were better than lecture classes. Plus you will not have General Education students, the class will only have IT students. So you will have a more focused audience. Have fun with it. There have been a lot of great suggestions here. Let's hope on thing, you do not get a student just like you!!! The same person who loved to play 'Stump the teacher' whenever in any class. :rose:
Joanne M. Cassick Director of Finance
Albert Einstein "The important thing is not to stop questioning."
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You've never really been to California have you? Or maybe I'm just in the worse parts...
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Just really looking for helpful tips and tricks to manage the classroom more than the curriculum. I know many of the people here already and from what I have seen the materials are pretty good, I have just never been a teacher in a traditional 'school' type setting much before. My larger background is corporate training for companies like MS and Intel. I'm really excited about this and don't want to mess it up. I enjoy teaching and think I can offer some good stuff. Really, my biggest worry is how I am going to handle the first 'sm*rt *ss' in the class :) I have already worked here as a guest speaker for specific subjects (one was the new ides behind Unified Messaging) where I delivered a config and use demo, that seemed to get some good reviews. I am going to have to get used to 'following' material that I didn't write though, that may be the hard part, but I still figured that I have some leeway to put my own spin on things as long as I stick close to the material that needs to be covered for their accreditation status.
In my two years of teaching I never really had a person who was a jerk. There is always the person who doesn't like you or your teaching style, but you can't get around that. When you do get someone who is a smart *ss, you can handle it a number of ways. I like starting with a passive approach, like pulling them aside and speaking to them about it, to aggressive, such as confronting them in class. That approach depends on the class. What I did for my class was create a real-world application for them to create. Then I led them through it step by step. All through it I keep emphasizing "This is how it's done in real world applications". The students really liked it because it wasn't "Hello World". The side affect is that the students will have a higher level of respect for you because they will see your experience.
Everything makes sense in someone's mind