Faculty of Science Tutor Training - Feedback 2008 Semester 2

UniServe Connections, The University of Sydney
Serving Australian Science and Technology

Tutor and Demonstrator Training

Management of Small Group Teaching and Learning

The Good and the Bad of Small Group Teaching and Learning
The Good	The Bad
Confidence Interactive Comfortable environment Clarity in explanation Pose interesting questions but not spoon feeding Approachable Check understanding - feed back loop Enthusiastic Good humoured Diagrams/pictures Set expectations/boundaries Covers syllabus Knowledgeable Respectful Sets up consequences	Environment not conducive - inflexible Disorganised Intimidating Spoon feeding Not engaged with students Reading from notes/powerpoints -> use for diagrams only ->too many words (bad) Monotone voice Making assumptions about students' level of understanding Inadequate knowledge of what students need to know Drunk

See what was said at previous workshops

What's different about lab teaching?

Time constraints (students hate being late/thinking students take much longer than you)
Need to teach how to use equipment
Students often not prepared
Multiple small groups/stations
Issues with noise, be flexible
SAFETY!
Eating and drinking limitations
Checking student understanding ? ask students questions
Have signs with information
Waste disposal is very important
Dealing with unexpected results (try not to give the answer) find answers
Setting the expectations -> what we will be doing and why. Try to think why it did not work, let us analyse this problem - machine problem?
preparation is essential
- know who to ask
- know the methods for example with calculations
- know when to use the formula
- know how to use equipment and computer
- don't waste time

See what was said at previous workshops

Tutorial vignettes
General issues faced in tutorials
Pacing On your own Limited time Disruptive students Understanding Teaching by example
You are tutoring an evening class of 22 students, most of whom are part-time, mature age students. As a result you are younger than most of your class. In a particular tutorial you have finished showing a video, and are trying to inspire a discussion when one of the students claims to 'have worked in a job just like this, and this is not what we did'. The student proceeds to tell the class exactly what they think about the issue, is hard to interrupt, and argues quite viciously every time you or another student tries to interject. At the end of the class the student asks to have a word with you and says that they are dissatisfied with the way the class is being taught and they intend to complain if you do not change your teaching style.
Issues disruptive student	Actions Use knowledge of students in class -> make them feel it is worthwhile Balance - talking and listening Respect - include all students
During one of your first tutorials you notice a student holding an English-Chinese dictionary struggling to keep up. At first the student very obviously asks a colleague to translate what you are saying to them, but when this becomes too disruptive, the student interrupts and ask you to explain almost everything again. Moans are heard from several other members of the class.
Issue Language barrier	Action Refer to co-ordinator Can be hard to pick up on -> get all students to talk in class Student needs to do additional preparation
A student with a degenerative illness comes to you for help in preparing an assignment that is due the following week. You already know that he has major difficulties working sufficiently fast to keep up with the class. He explains that he has only had the energy to work through two of the set problems and he still does not understand the principles
Issues Chronic illness	Actions Special consideration -> do course over longer time -> extensions Refer to co-ordinator Direct them to people who can help them ? disabilities services Talk to them
Laboratory vignettes
During the first session, you ask students to work on a problem with their neighbour. There is a pause, then a few students start mumbling to one another, not about the problem. When you ask them what is going on, they say fairly aggressively that they just want you to give them the answers and let them go home. When you suggest they would learn more by working on the problems in groups, they complain that no?one had told them that this course would involve compulsory group?work. Another group of students complain that it isn't fair that you will not tell them how the problems are solved as they paid for this course and they consider this part of the service they can expect. The rest of the students either look out of the window, just stare into their problem sheets or are occupied playing web games.
Issues Problem with group work, shyness Dealing with students' attitudes, do this early	Actions set expectations
Issues university is preparation for real life	Actions Behaviour issues Want to be spoon-fed Work on problems individually Manage groups Disinterested students Change students' expectations Being aware of our goals Set your expectations in first lab session Have an intro talk for each lab
Issues misrepresentation of university mismatch of expectations vs objectives mismatch of student abilities	Actions help students to learn stress the importance on peer to peer learning
Issues misrepresentation of university mismatch of expectations vs objectives mismatch of student abilities	Actions talk to students, find out their expectations, early intervention, determine student ability and problems, guide them through the problems or task collaborative learning
Presumably this dry exercise has some assessment task that is attached or necessary for an experiment students will do in the future. The incentive of being able to understand the work for this task will spur some students on to do greater things!! Perhaps the exercise is bit hard for the students. If the whole group is having trouble, some complaining and some just staring out the window, it seems like you may need to give them some strategies for how to get startsed. It is important to monitor the "feeling" of the group and to pick up on resentment early before it gets too set-in. The group work strategy can work but it can also go horribly wrong with the wrong mix of students ot too many students in the group. The task has to be appropriate for group work also.
You are a demonstrator in a large laboratory class. Students work in groups of 6. This is week 5 of semester. You have introduced the objectives of the experiment and highlighted some of the experimental techniques. You notice one particular group of 6 students that are working together. While all members of the group appear to be working, you notice that two of the group seem to be particularly involved while the other four are just following their instructions. Soon the experiment is complete. You check the work and find it has been done competently. As the students are leaving you hear one of the four remark "Even though you don't learn anything, at least you get out of the lab early"
Issues student who are not learning can get bored	Actions Change the groups change the prac redirect early on in the prac ask questions so they do not just coast along get them to notice what they don't know
Issues missed the point of laboratory work	Actions next week, chat to students introduce individual assessment of practical skills check before leaving split the group up, after consultation with coordinator use your age advantage to relate to students
Issues follow recipe wanting to get out early	Actions motivate students, put in context, assessment identify lazy students, talk to students, highlight importance, swap roles split group up give strugging students confidence, assign tasks emphasise preparation e.g. flowcharts
Some sort of assessment of the lab work should be built into the course to ensure individual responsibility for learning. This needs to bemade clear to all students at the beginning of the course. One strategy is to split the group up the next week; maybe rearrange all the groups. This may be met twith some hostility and may in the end be counter-productive to learning. If the group-of-6 are getting the lab exercises done completely then people in the group obviously do know how to do it all. Rather than disrupting the group try to get the ones that do know to help the others; i.e. swap roles within the group. A quiet chat, pointing out that you all have to be able to do the tasks, might gently get the group to function better. I guess I wouldn't come down to heavy too early as the group is getting the exercise done.
A student with a degenerative illness comes to you for help in preparing an assignment that is due the following week. You already know that he has major difficulties working sufficiently fast to keep up with the class. He explains that he has only had the energy to work through two of the set problems and he still does not understand the principles
Issues Chronic illness	Actions extra tutoring What level of help should you provide? Advise about extra help available
Issues not understanding main principles time constraints mininal interaction special conditions	Actions organise special consideration explain basic principles combine group and individual work see course coordinator
Issues students have other issues that can slow them down	Actions provide help see course coordinator
This is definitely an issue for the course coordinator and he/she needs to take it up with disabilities also. Extra tuition could be arranged to help this student; perhaps suggesting that they only do one subject a semester, extensions for some work although extensions often don't help in the end as work builds up. ALl this would be done by the course coordinator in consultation with yoy and disabilities. If all these strategies fail, perhaps the student needs to be conseled on whether they can manage the course.
A group of students asks you for help with a piece of equipment? It's clear that they haven't done the preparation exercises designed to explain how it works, and you realise you're not too sure about demonstrating it to them either. What do you do?
Issues What are you expecting?	Actions know who to get help from model "problem solving" with students create a safe/happy environment for them to learn "how to think, how to find the answer"
Issues safety students need to be prepared	Actions don't try to fake it depend on your background and the equipment know who to approach set the group some meaningful work while you learn what to do, read their notes get another demonstrator or technical staff to show you and the students how to use the equipment
Issues not necessarily wrong all need to learn skills	Actions get them to share tasks chat about learning skills for the discipline Do you think it is right? Why do you think it is right?
The class carries out an experiment and shares results at the end of the lab. Your students groups seem to have results very different to the rest of the class. How do you discuss these with the group, and what will you recommend they discuss in their lab report?
Issues what we were expecting what their results mean in the context where there enough controls in place	Actions sort out if it was operator error, problems with solutions e.g. enzymes not working or equipment interesting results can lead to good labs with unexpected results, go through the scientific process develop more controls and variables

See what was said about the vignettes at previous workshops

Vignettes Semester 1 2008
Vignette 1
Vignette 2
Vignette 3

For further information contact
Kaye Placing

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Last Update: Wednesday, 06-Aug-2008 11:43:24 EST
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