Comments from Former Fellows (2003-2004)

Fellows, together with their Mentors:

Lawrie Balfour, Politics
Richard Handler, Anthropology
Hilary Bart-Smith, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Don Jordan, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Ira Bashkow, Anthropology
Michael Smith, Politics
Paolo D'Odorico, Environmental Sciences
Claire Cronmiller, Biology
Louis P. Nelson, Architectural History
Stephen Cushman, English
Roseanna M. Neupauer, Civil Engineering
Milton Adams, Biomedical Engineering
Kevin Skadron, Computer Science
Sherwood Frey, Darden

Each paragraph indicates a comments from an individual Fellow. Comments are organized into the following categories:

Reflections on teaching
Interdisciplinary discussions
Intellectual community
Workshops and the retreat
Value of Mentors
Teaching strategies and techniques learned
Value of feedback
Overview of the program

NB: Fellows were told that we expect to learn the following information from their reports:

• how you changed or confirmed your teaching approach, philosophy, methods, strategies
• what impact the mentor/protégé relationship had on you
• what workshops or aspects of the program you found most effective
• anything else you gained from participation in the program
• your suggestions for improving the program in the future
• your plans for continued engagement with your teaching

Reflections on teaching:

In some senses, I think the most valuable aspect of the workshops was simply the occasion they provided for reflection about teaching. (In fact, there were a few times when I found myself jotting down notes for new or changed courses that were not really on-topic but that were sparked by the presentations we heard.) To that end, the conversations we had as a group, either after workshops or during the retreat, were as important as the workshops themselves.

Another part of the fellowship program which I found to be particularly valuable was the improvised round of visits several of us in the cohort made to classes taught by celebrated UVA lecturers. These visits not only enabled me to see in practice, as it were, techniques that experienced lecturers use; they also gave me a comparative perspective in which to view my own lecturing style, and they helped me understand how my own courses might look from the perspective of undergraduate students who take them as just one part of a schedule of courses in diverse fields.

Interdisciplinary discussions:

One of the most instructive aspects of this program has been the opportunity to interact with faculty from the College as well as my School. Discussions with these colleagues have highlighted general differences in the lecture format compared to my own. However, their expectations of the outcomes of the lectures parallel closely with my own. We want to equip our students with strategies that will help them solve open-ended problems or questions, now and into the future, and not just teach them to focus on the "correct" answer.

To be honest, I was doubtful of being able to benefit very much from my interactions with my fellow colleagues because none one of them works in a department like mine. In retrospect, I now realize that I was wrong: some of the new methods that I have tried in my classes and that I thought were quite successful were suggested by colleagues working in the humanities or social sciences . . . . For example, the idea of structuring part of a course more as a seminar than as a lecture came from the interactions with the other fellows and I found it to be quite successful in creating interactions with the students and stimulating active learning.

The UTF experience was incredibly rewarding for me and a real affirmation, reinforcement and boost for my enthusiasm for teaching. The most valuable component of the experience was simply the opportunity to discuss teaching in small groups with the other fellows and occasionally some mentors . . . . Perspectives from other departments were eye-opening, invigorating, and inspirational, and gave me a variety of new ideas on how to approach specific teaching and student problems. It was also reassuring to hear that many of the problems and questions I found myself facing were common across all disciplines.

Intellectual community:

The UTF program provided ample opportunity for both formal and informal discussion, beginning with the weekend retreat in the fall and continuing with post-workshop discussions (over dinner, which was very nice) with other fellows and mentors. It gave us an opportunity to learn about our colleagues' teaching experiences. I especially liked hearing the other fellows' and mentors' suggestions about how I can address my personal areas of concern. It was a non-threatening environment where I could admit my weaknesses without any concern that it would negatively affect promotion and tenure decisions. Having other mentors present at the discussion enhanced the discussions because they provided the perspective of experienced and successful teachers.

Workshops and the retreat:

All the workshops have influenced my philosophy towards teaching. As a new professor applying for this fellowship, I was looking to gain more practical advice on being a more effective teacher. Therefore, I found the more applied workshops to be the most enlightening.

The highlight of the fellowship was the overnight retreat in the fall, when we fellows first met and coalesced into a "cohort." Our discussions at the retreat were uniquely intensive. In general, I feel that our most productive and interesting discussions of the year were those directed (facilitated) by Marva Barnett, whether alone or joined by other university faculty.

Calder's presentation gave me the opportunity to focus on the very issue at the center of my large lecture class: how to move my students from memorizing the dates of important buildings toward thinking like an architectural historian. Although I was already headed in this direction, Calder's presentation cemented in me a greater commitment to writing and critical analysis and a loosed grip on coverage. The final product was a more flexible relationship with the canon, which for many reasons I cannot simply discard in the general 100-level survey, and a greater responsibility on the part of the student to think critically and write clearly.

Value of Mentors:

The idea of selecting mentors that are neither directly associated with the fellow's department, nor experts in their subjects and discipline has undoubtedly some important advantages: this fellowship aims at offering the opportunity to think about teaching approaches and to help us to develop methods that enhance the effectiveness of our teaching style. Thus, an "out-of-field" mentor is able to keep the focus on methods and approaches, leaving almost completely aside the contents. In this sense the feedback and comments I received from my mentor after her class visitations were extremely useful and new to me.

Of the many ways in which I am grateful for the year as a UTF fellow, the mentoring program is probably the most significant. This was entirely due to my mentor's willingness to jump into his responsibilities with both feet, offering advice about both teaching and research with a rare mixture of generosity and critique. First, it was terrific to have an extended opportunity for conversation with a colleague who shares my interests but whose disciplinary training is so different.

The mentor/protégé relationship has greatly influenced my attitude and approach to teaching. I learned that my mentor's most successful experiences in the classroom were a result of making the connections between theory and real world examples. He attended several of my lectures and was able to give excellent practical advice to help me improve my teaching. It is particularly helpful and reassuring to have a mentor who had a similar outlook towards teaching. I also found that our discussions on teaching complemented those that took place between the participants of the program.

I really liked [my mentor's] deep criticisms: even when I thought that a discussion session was great and students were engaged and actively taking part to it, my mentor-who attended that particular session-had some important comments to make. I like this approach of always seeking for possible improvement and things that might be changed. I will definitely keep in touch with her to discuss new ideas, problems and creative ways to engage the students in class activities.

Teaching strategies and techniques learned:

One of my main goals for the fellowship was to improve my skills as a lecturer, and I learned many practical techniques that I have been trying out, e.g., for organizing and pacing lectures, interacting with students' note-taking, making my speech audible in a big room, making material memorable, and preparing students to think about issues by posing questions for short in-class written assignments. The workshop by Jon Haidt inspired me to emphasize moral issues in some lectures, and to try to connect learning with a sense of the good.

The workshop on Classroom Assessment Techniques proved to be particularly useful. Based on the discussion generated between the fellows, I was encouraged to apply two of these techniques in my classroom-Background Knowledge Probe and Muddiest Point. These have proven to be very useful to me in determining how well the students understand the material and what topics are proving prohibitive in the learning process, thereby allowing me to assess my own teaching performance. Using these techniques, I have been able to make adjustments to my lecture to help improve the learning experience. My students' reaction to these methods has also been positive. In addition to gauging their own level of competence of the theory-allowing them to take some proactive measures to improve their understanding-they are encouraged by the fact that the professor is trying to improve the learning experience. I will continue to apply these techniques in the future.

In addition to this more vigorous and enthusiastic way of presenting myself to the class I elaborated a different way of preparing my lectures. Until recently I used to be too concerned about all the possible different details that I should fit into a class session. Because of this focus on details I was missing the opportunity of providing the students with a "big picture". My visit to my mentor's class was very refreshing . . . . Now I am trying to change the structure of my lectures by adding overviews at the beginning, and making time for student-driven syntheses at the end of each class session.

The main thing I learned was to not be afraid of being creative when I try something new. . . . In fact as teachers we need to be able to take some moderate risks when we experiment a new technique for the first time. Of course each experiment should be planned with care, thinking about what could go wrong, how students could react, how as an instructor I could assess the impact of the new method, etc. But this planning and thinking should not prevent me from trying new methods.

The first important tool came from our Classroom Assessment Techniques exercise. I introduced in my class the Concept Map as a useful tool for organizing information from lectures and preparing for essay questions on the exams . . . . In later conversations and in the class evaluations, many students thanked me for offering this tool as a way of ordering information. For many it became a life raft in what seemed to them an ocean of information.

Many of these formative events and conversations happened during or shortly after the Fall semester, so the ideas were realized most clearly in my Spring 300-level lecture class . . . . In a moment of enthusiasm, I was this summer describing the course to Ed Ayers, who requested a copy of the syllabus. With great pleasure, I'd like to quote a portion of his email response: "Boy, is this impressive! I'm going to study these and see what I can steal-I mean incorporate-into my class this fall. I've been working on the class quite a bit, already catalyzed by the ideas you expressed to me." I cannot think of a greater compliment.

The most significant change I will make to my teaching as a result of my experience as a University Teaching Fellow is in course design. I will design my courses by first deciding what I want the students to know when they complete my course. Then, I will determine the content that needs to be covered to bring them to that point. Although this seems like an obvious approach, I had never thought of approaching a course like that before.

One positive result of my participation in the UTF program, that most likely could not have been gained elsewhere, is the understanding of the different methods that are used in teaching. I was intrigued to hear about the teaching mechanisms used in courses outside of engineering and science, and also about the expectations of the students in these courses . . . . [I]t does help me to realize that students may be learning in different ways and may not know my expectations when they come into my class.

The classroom assessment techniques we studied turned out to be valuable, particularly the muddiest point papers at the end of each class. I was also occasionally able to use the concept map, "what is the principle?" and problem recognition techniques to good effect.

Value of feedback:

The video-watching session with a TRC consultant was a little stomach-churning but extremely helpful. I really had no idea what I looked and sounded like in the large lecture hall, and my consultant's observations, coupled with the experience of seeing/hearing myself from the vantage of the audience, gave me a context in which to think about changes that might make the lecture more engaging.

Watching my videotaped lecture was both eye opening and painful, but there is no doubt that this is the most effective way to highlight what is good and not so good about your classroom techniques. Reviewing my performance has helped me understand the dynamics in my classroom and how I interact with my students. Through consultation with the Teaching Resource Center I was given advice to help increase student participation in the class. It also allowed me to recognize what I need to do to improve the learning experience for my students. By implementing these suggestions, I was able to see an immediate increase in the participation of the students. This learning experience will stick with me for as long as I teach. This process should be mandatory for all professors, both new and old.

Overview of the program:

For me the great gift of the mentoring program, the monthly meetings, and the related programs is that, cumulatively, they provide a powerful counter-weight to that sense of aloneness that accompanies a teacher into her classroom.

I am very appreciative of the fact that I have had this opportunity so early in my career. The Fellows program has given me both intellectual and financial support to help me improve my teaching capabilities.

The Teaching Resource Center is an asset to the University of Virginia and must be one of the first ports of call for all new faculty entering this institution. One of the most difficult aspects for new faculty is balancing ones commitments between teaching, research and service and the TRC and the Fellows program supported me in this process. I would also like to mention the staff at the TRC. In particular, Marva Barnett has been a great support to me throughout this year and has passed along great, practical advice on many aspects of teaching. I hope that support for this program continues and allows for increased participation throughout the University.

The fellowship was valuable to more than my work as a teacher: I also found it nurturing and encouraging of my scholarly career generally. In the relationships I formed with other fellows in my cohort, I found a junior faculty peer group and a network of contacts. And in greatly expanding my knowledge of the university beyond my own department, the fellowship has given me a much broader vision of UVA as a whole.

As a junior faculty member in this university, I have greatly benefited also from discussions on general academic issues: it was interesting to learn about the similar and different challenges that we have to face in different departments. In general in their first years at UVA junior faculty members do not have many chances to interact with people outside their departments. From this perspective this fellowship year has offered a number of opportunities to become university "citizens" more aware of important issues that the Faculty and the University as a whole are facing. Some of our dinners at the TRC offered a friendly and informal forum for discussions both on teaching and on being faculty members at University of Virginia.

I cannot think of developing this career without continuously trying to enhance the effectiveness of my teaching style. To this end, I need to have a group of persons with whom I can share ideas, consult, seek for advice and new inputs, and possibly provide my own advice to other colleagues. Keeping in touch with my mentor is definitely a good idea because she already knows several aspects of my teaching style and she can give me a feedback as to how I am making progress as a teacher.

As a University Teaching Fellow, I became introduced to a community of faculty who are deliberate about the excellence of their teaching. One of the greatest pleasures was engaging new and senior faculty from across the University on the topic of teaching. Under the careful shepherding of our director and my mentor, I am a better and more confident teacher and, by extension, a more satisfied scholar. Through their enthusiasm, encouragement, and sage advice shared during both informal and scheduled conversations, these two individuals have helped me transition from an anxious post-graduate to a more self-assured colleague.

My year as a University Teaching Fellow has kept my enthusiasm for teaching alive, has offered me new challenges in my teaching, and has filled me with new ideas for improving my teaching.

For both courses, pursing my agenda in conjunction with the UTF was incredibly valuable in helping me appreciate potential pitfalls and solutions, and generally helping me become much better tuned in to how my teaching style and specific classroom techniques affected various types of students.