If you’ve taught report writing, you may have found it difficult to explain how to weigh the importance of one solution criterion against another. Filippo A. Salustri, a professor of mechanical engineering at Ryerson, has devised a straightforward pairwise comparison problem-solving method that you could introduce to your students. Thanks to Richard McMaster for drawing my attention to this tool.
You may also want to look at Professor Salustri’s engineering design site. His uncompromising policy on grade bumping requests, entitled “don’t bother begging for marks,” is eye-opening.
Assignment #1: Participation – Your Most Important First Impression
Students are often unsure about how to decide if they will do well in a course. Chances are they have consulted anyone with any knowledge of the course and, importantly, the professor; so it is imperative to be both clear and up front about how the class will run.
The first day is critical, with students assessing how much they like an instructor, and, increasingly, if they will “have fun”. It is the second of these two that worries me enough to ensure “what you see is what you get” in the first assignment, which is typically given before the drop date.
I have found that spelling out clearly exactly how a grade is achieved, with a generalized rubric if possible, helps students know both how to do their best, and why the grade is justified. Complaints are reduced in direct proportion to how clearly the numbers add up.
Here is one version of my participation grade for a skills-based introductory level communication course: Participation
Impromptu speaking is something our texting students will increasingly lose the ability to master. When asked a simple question by a colleague face-to-face, eyes drop and incomplete phrases emerge.
This skill is increasingly important for both job interviews and networking in a live situation. A fun assignment, or even just a new ice breaker for the first day, “One Minute at the Dollar Store” has proven successful in both an introductory communication course, and an advanced professional presentation course (where more is demanded from participants).
Any collection of objects will do. The Dollar Store is used since the assignment originated for a Retail course when this new retailer emerged; but the increasing success of the store and its familiarity for students allows it to be a convenient source of objects. Instructors can even request students bring in an object of their own, without telling them why.
If used as an ice breaker, some object on hand, or even a photo on a phone, can serve as inspiration for self-introduction on the first day. The important part is the shape of the presentation, as outlined in the assignment.
As instructors, we’ve probably heard many tips on teaching and studying throughout our careers. How many of these prescriptions actually hold up in the research? You might be wondering: Should we tailor teaching to different learning styles? What’s the best way for students to review materials for an exam? Do left-brained and right-brained people learn differently?
Extensive psychology research has shed light on these questions. Take this short quiz yourself (below) to see if you still subscribe to any learning myths!
At this time of year, with mountains of assignments to mark and job applications to face, it’s natural to feel snarly. Soon the union will be surveying us about our working conditions and hopes for the new contract, and at that point we can channel our frustrations productively.
Still, it’s difficult to deal with the work ahead of us this month and beyond, if we keep awareness of the drawbacks of our situation at the top of our minds, so at this point I offer a few happy thoughts about what is good about our jobs here at Procom in an effort to make this time of year a little easier…
Great colleagues
It’s rare to find a workplace where your colleagues are a pleasure to know. We’re a fun, mutually supportive, committed, innovative group, and it’s easy to take for granted that we go to work without feeling stressed about one another.
Unpretentious, Creative, Energetic Students
The above traits distinguish Ryerson students from other university students I’ve taught. On average, I don’t think our cohort sizes us up for worthiness or tries cynically to impress us in order to garner a better mark. Most are quite adept team members who try sincerely to produce quality work.
Flexible Work Conditions
Many people who work in conventional offices would kill for the flexibility we have: two study breaks and staggered schedules. Not only do we have the freedom to do most of our work when we choose, we can also weave freelance or other employment into our schedule without penalty.
Autonomy
Despite the strictures of multi-section courses, we still can put our own stamp on our classrooms and approach teaching as we see fit. Many of our courses also compel us to draw on our creative impulses and so realize some of the aptitudes and interests that drew us to higher education.
Work Environment
Of course it’s not ideal to try to do our jobs in shared offices or one big room with dividers. However, the rooms aren’t old and depressing or housed in a building with questionable air quality (think VIC). We also have new computers and software and access to a Cloud system.
Rewards of Working at Ryerson University
We are no longer working at “Rye High.” Ryerson is a diverse and striving place which hasn’t stagnated because of complacency. It’s still possible to feel a part of the forward motion of the institution even as a sessional. We contribute to curricula, conference presentations and, in Procom’s case, the vision of the School.
Additional benefits are access to free courses and tuition for family members, new facilities, opportunities for collaboration with faculty in other programs and quick access to the subway.
Pay and Benefits
Granted, we work hard for what we earn. Nevertheless, because we are unionized, we can hope to gradually move toward a comfortable salary and some job security. The benefits package is also better than for many other organizations.
Effective Union
Our executive has managed to secure a measure of job security for 60 members and is working hard to increase that number. This isn’t a union that goes through the motions. I’ve seen senior members handle the delicate relationship with management with skill, and we’d be in a very different situation if we didn’t have CUPE bargaining for our rights
Final Thoughts
As a superstitious person and habitual contrarian, I have to end with “knock on wood.” Still, I think we can take comfort in the consolations of our jobs in April, 2017.
Catherine Jenkins has a post on her blog about her experience with MOOCs. Her testimonial may finally spur me to bite the bullet and enroll in courses I’ve been intending to take. Not only do I want to broaden my knowledge of subjects I didn’t have time to cover as an undergraduate, but I’m curious to see what “star” lecturers are like.
On a side note, if you hadn’t realized already, Catherine is a woman of many talents, as her blog attests.
Catherine Jenkins alerted me to a recent article about biases female sessional instructors encounter in teaching evaluations. Because Ryerson allows instructors to keep the written comments to themselves, we don’t have to reveal the sometimes embarrassing remarks to the department. In my advancing age I haven’t received personal comments about my appearance for awhile, though I often get complaints like “I don’t get her, [sic] she seems nice, but then she is really picky about your writing.” My schoolmarm thought is that I wouldn’t have been “nice” if I hadn’t been picky about their writing.
Some of you may already be aware of Duolingo, the free language-learning program. I’m currently learning Turkish with it. Since I’m not involved in any of the gamified courses at Procom, Duolingo has helped me understand, from the user’s perspective, how this particular mode of delivery works. One effective service is the reminder bot, which badgers students every day to keep up. This disembodied pesterer throws the responsibility for learning squarely on the student without the presence of an easily dismissed human educator.
Duolingo has another relevance to our discipline, particularly on the topic of participatory culture and crowdsourced content. In a 2011 TED talk, Luis von Ahn, the computer scientist behind Duolingo, explains how his first project, CAPTCHA, was used to digitize unreadable texts through crowdsourcing. He then explains how Duolingo uses massive-scale online collaboration to translate Wikipedia entries into multiple languages. Apparently we unpaid translator/learners somehow help to keep the whole project afloat.
For those of you who use anecdotes to justify learning punctuation conventions, here’s a report on how the lack of a comma had an impact on the interpretation of Maine’s law on overtime.
At this point in the semester, there are usually a few tired and teary eyes in class, in offices, and in hallways. While I have come to expect this – first as a TA, then as an instructor – I have remained reluctant to ever normalize this period of high stress, high anxiety, high emotional student life. I try to take a few minutes in class to point out the importance of taking care of oneself, particularly one’s mental health, but as I am not trained to diagnose mental distress or distinguish amongst degrees of intensity, I feel highly inadequate as I do so.
This term, I have also decided to send an email to my students (see below), offering reminders of support and resources (though without referring to course obligations, extensions, or accommodations).
I share it with you, unedited and imperfect, in case you would like to speak to the ways you have addressed this in your own class or in communications with your students.
The email below would have the subject line “CMN279: End of Term and Mental Health.”
