Comments from Former Fellows (2004-2005)

Fellows, together with their Mentors:

Aniko Bodroghkozy, Media Studies/English
    Brian Balogh, History
Bob Hirosky, Physics
    John Bean, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Slava Krushkal, Mathematics
    Kevin McCrimmon, Mathematics
Hsin-hsin Liang, Asian & Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures
    Cheryl Krueger, French
Nancy S. Weinfield, Psychology
    Louis Bloomfield, Physics
Caroline Y. Westort, Landscape Architecture
    Kirk Martini, Architecture & Civil Engineering

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
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:

The program helped confirm me in my teaching philosophy that the most effective teaching is to inspire students to think, to do, to learn by themselves. Telling them what something is is not as effective as helping them and leading them to find out what it is. Consonant with this idea, raising innovative and critical questions seems to play an even more important role than pure lecturing. I have learned a great deal from Sherwood [Frey] about how to pose questions in a lecture, how to mobilize everyone in a group, and how to utilize case studies for learning.

Interdisciplinary discussions:

I really enjoyed the interactions with faculty in diverse departments!

Finally, I think a very beneficial aspect of the program was the opportunity to meet other junior professors from different schools and departments. The program brings together motivated and talented faculty members, and interacting and exchanging ideas with them was a rewarding experience, both professionally and personally. I hope that these connections will continue over the years.

I was able to explore to a wider circle of faculty in the University community.  I was happy to discover that some of my thoughts on teaching were shared with colleagues in different disciplines and was inspired by some aspects of teaching which I had never thought of before.  Listening to the Fellows on different occasions allowed me to learn more than just a specific topic.

Too much of my time is spent isolated in my department . . . . It was refreshing to meet the diverse group of people who were this year’s fellows, and to hear about how life in other departments converges with and diverges from my own experiences.

Intellectual community:

I particularly appreciated the time that the fellows spent together in informal settings . . . . It was in these discussions that I found myself thinking more deeply about our workshops and sessions, and the teaching and learning strategies we were exploring.

Perhaps the most beneficial aspect of the UTF program was the opportunity to interact with other fellows and mentors. It was very helpful to share teaching problems and solutions. This was particularly interesting due to the diversity of backgrounds and disciplines of the participants.

Workshops and the retreat:

 A number of our sessions, especially the one with Dee Fink, about integrated course design, helped me think through how to redesign my course.  His work in particular confirmed that the teaching and course design innovations I have been exploring are sound and result in an effective learning environment for my students.

Two workshops stand out most in my mind.  The Sherwood Frey workshop where he demonstrated an example of a discussion-based class and then went through a breakdown of how the session was designed. These classes are very different from the highly technical classes that  I usually teach, but this did prompt me to think a lot about how I might change certain classes to make them more centered on discussions. I also liked the "Improving Student Involvement" workshop w/ Lisa Reilly. I found the examples of using simple, homemade props very interesting.  And this led me to rethink over a number of illustrations I use in my lectures.

Professor Sherwood Frey’s workshops were the most effective demonstration of what inspiriting and creative teaching could be.  The way he excited all the faculty participants in his workshop on “How to Lead a Discussion” was living evidence of how to lead a discussion.

I feel privileged to have had direct conversation with the Provost and Vice Provost, conversations which I know that I wouldn’t otherwise have had were I not a UTF.

Value of Mentors:

I found that the mentor/protégé relationship helped me think more about what I want to do or try in my classes.

I am glad that I had the opportunity to get to know my Mentor. She gave me some very useful and practical tips on how to manage time in order to write and to do research, and on how to connect preparing for teaching with doing research. By following her suggestions, I realize that many individual tasks in my professional life can be designed in such a way as to serve more than one purpose.

Teaching strategies and techniques learned:

One of the main changes I have noted in my teaching approach is a stronger sense of confidence.  Having now spent a significant amount of time thinking and talking about teaching, trying out different teaching/learning strategies, talking with colleagues about teaching, I have developed a stronger sense of myself as a teacher.  I also have a clearer philosophy of teaching and have a better vocabulary for talking about teaching.

I think the workshops this year have helped to make me more aware . . . .  For one, I more consciously try to help the students bring out ideas when we have discussions in class rather than jumping quickly to the points I'm trying to illustrate.  Basically, I'm trying to slow down my classes at times and am trying to make it easier for students to participate when I can identify good places to do this in my lectures.  I think my interests in creating more dialog in my classes has been strengthened.  Mixing this with covering technical material will be a continuing challenge, but I think the efforts will be well worth while.

I used to have an opinion that I have to present in class all the material the students are required to know. But while participating in several workshops I came to the conclusion that it is often beneficial to assign some of the material as reading outside the class, and to spend more time in class on discussion rather than lecturing.

Overview of the program:

The overall experience of the fellowship was quite valuable. I'd heard the University statements before about the value of top-quality teaching, but they always seemed to conflict with what I heard about the greater value placed on research. This year opened up the possibility for me that great teaching can be achieved through more effective use of available resources and techniques, rather than through shifting valuable research time toward teaching. I feel like I have a better grasp now on how to balance teaching and research.

The TRC Fellowship has been one of my most positive experiences at UVA, and the skills will certainly continue to transfer, if not immediately.