I have been discouraged from attending the Instructional Excellence
Retreat in recent years by the format (aside from the fellowship) which is
basically the "gimmick" of the year (humor, writing, group learning,
technology, etc.)  The evaluation forms always ask how we are going to use
that year's topic in our teaching.  The presumption, a false one in my
opinion, is that we will (and *ought*) to use that year's method.

I have always considered good teaching to be mostly a matter of
fundamentals and paying attention to details (e.g. speaking clearly,
controlling the pace of the class and assignments, preparing tests
carefully).  Good teaching styles may vary widely but be effective if they
get the basics right.

I think each UTC Instructional Excellence Retreat should include time
specifically devoted to problems of teaching at UTC such as poorly
prepared students, poor homework performance, short attention spans (no
commercial breaks in class), students rushing off to jobs, or coming to
class after having worked all night.  (Is this why we are concerned about
learning styles?)  These, and methods of coping with them, could be
addressed in formal sessions via open discussion or panels, for example.
They need not dominate the Retreat but at least one session time block
ought to be devoted to this.

We probably complain to other faculty in our own areas about such
problems but rarely do we discuss what to do about them and almost never
with faculty in other disciplines.  Let's learn from each other.

Jim Hiestand
Engineering


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