Tutoring and Demonstrating Ch. 3

Chapter 3. GETTING STARTED

Learning to teach and the concerns of beginning teachers

If you haven't taught before, you might be anxious about a few things, such as coping in your first class. Teaching and learning in higher education involve a complex social interaction between teachers and students. There is much learning entailed in becoming an effective teacher, and often there is little time in which to do it. It is not possible or desirable for this guide to offer foolproof guidelines for practice. Teachers who are truly effective build up their knowledge over considerable time, and most make plenty of mistakes along the way.

New teachers often worry about appearing nervous when they meet a group of students for the first time. This is understandable - even experienced teachers can be nervous when they meet a new class. Often tutors and demonstrators are also concerned about the adequacy of their knowledge-base. It may relieve your anxiety a little to remember that you probably know a good deal more than your students. Anyway, as discussed in the next section, you are not expected to know everything.

While an appropriate level of subject knowledge is a necessary condition for good teaching, it is not sufficient. Good teachers must also be well-prepared in other ways. Tutors who will be leading discussion-type tutorials face the challenge of devising strategies for stimulating an effective discussion. Often they are worried that students will not actively participate, and concerned about falling into the trap of giving mini-lectures if they are unable to initiate or sustain a discussion. It is good to recognise this problem and to learn how it can be minimised.

Tutors who will be teaching 'problem-solving' classes, such as in mathematics and other disciplines where it's vital for students to learn problem-solving techniques, have different concerns: they are worried that students will be inadequately prepared (meaning that students won't have attempted or completed the expected sets of problems, which in many cases are distributed in lectures) and that they will be forced to work through solutions in front of a largely passive audience. These tutors also pose the question 'What if I don't get through all the questions that were set?', and are usually interested in exploring ways of actively involving students in problem-solving during class.

As a beginning tutor or demonstrator it is most important that you know 'where you fit' in the curriculum. Your department will probably provide you with a clear statement that outlines what is expected of you and the limits to your responsibilities. As someone new to teaching, you will also benefit from ongoing support and guidance as you acquire skills, and you should seek as much support as you can find.

Many departments conduct pre-semester training and information sessions. Some departments also run 'debriefing' sessions three or four weeks into the semester to provide the opportunity to discuss what is working well and what is not. Other departments are able to run weekly meetings. Having a senior academic staff member available for consultation is useful. Finally, don't forget that fellow tutors and demonstrators can help considerably and can be a valuable sounding board for concerns and ideas, especially if they have past experience of teaching.

Knowing your subject

Naturally you need to know a good deal about the subject you are teaching. As you prepare, you will find yourself revisiting texts and past notes, and generally checking over your understanding. There is seldom, if ever, justification for not refamiliarising yourself with the subject you are teaching; nevertheless, tutors and demonstrators are not expected to know everything about their subjects.

There will be times in class when you find you have entered territory on which you are not sure-footed. Perhaps a student has asked a probing question. That's fine, and to be expected and welcomed. What is important, from your point of view, is the way in which you handle this situation. Make sure to reward an insightful question. If you don't feel confident of dealing with it satisfactorily, undertake to clarify the matter in the following session or ask the students themselves to do so. Alternatively, you may decide that the question or issue is too peripheral to the subject as a whole to warrant the further attention of the group - but you might offer to spend time discussing it with interested students outside of class.

It is natural to wish to appear knowledgeable. But it is also appropriate to acknowledge your fallibility from time to time. Students will not be perturbed if you admit limits to your knowledge and experience, and they will probably appreciate your candour if you do. It also models for them a desirable approach to intellectual pursuits: an attitude of openness and awareness of personal limitations, and a recognition of the limits to what is known and knowable. Don't overdo it, though: you may create insecurity.

Preparing to teach

Of course preparing to teach involves much more than being familiar or very competent with the subject matter. Adequate preparation begins with a clear plan of what students are expected to learn. It also involves careful attention to the way in which the class time is expected to unfold, to what you intend to do, and to what students will be expected to do. Good teachers are very well organised. Their classes are not delivered off-the-cuff. They prepare by thinking about the process of teaching and learning as well as subject content. Tutorials and practical classes differ significantly across the disciplines, and the way in which you prepare for them differs accordingly. Nevertheless, there are some general principles.

In determining what you aim to achieve in a given session, you need to be clear about the place of the tutorial or practical class in the course as a whole. This involves consideration of how each session builds on previous work and leads on to other topics. It can be very useful to students if you explain these relationships regularly. You need to determine the significance of different aspects of a topic, so that you can plan time allocations appropriately, concentrating on central issues and concepts rather than marginal details. It is also important to think about how the tutorial or practical work will be integrated with, and develop from, material covered in lectures. Lectures and small group sessions are designed to complement each other, so you should try to be aware of what the lectures are dealing with, and the approach taken by lecturers, even if you can't attend. A brief discussion with lecturers is often enough for this purpose, but some departments may require you to attend lectures.

In thinking about what students should learn in a given tutorial or practical class, it is important to think about the full range of understandings, skills and attitudes the course is aiming to develop. If, for instance, the course aims to develop oral communication skills or the capacity to work in teams, this development can only occur in the small group setting. It must be planned for systematically, through specific activities designed for this purpose.

Preparing for tutorials

When asking students to prepare for tutorials, focus the reading or task carefully, particularly at first. If students are presented with very long reading lists, they may be overwhelmed and not start at all. Sometimes it is helpful to allocate different readings to different students. You can assist and motivate students with reading by asking them to think about particular aspects or questions as they read. It does not take very long to develop questions for every week of the semester and, if given at the start of the course, these can benefit students in planning their own work.

Don't underestimate the influence of room layout on the dynamics of the group's interaction. The shape of rooms and the seating arrangements send powerful messages about the anticipated nature of the interaction. Think about how you can adjust the furniture layout, if this is possible, to suit the purposes of your group. People find it very awkward to speak to someone who is behind them or even directly beside them.

Finally, plan carefully but don't be rigid in sticking to your plan. If tutorials work well, it is likely that the students will take control of the discussion, to some extent. It is a fine art to keep steering lively discussion in productive directions without imposing your agenda in an authoritarian way. Good tutors are open to developments which they hadn't anticipated and can make quick decisions to pursue points even at the expense of something planned. To do this requires frequent judgements about the responsibilities of 'coverage', judgements which remain a challenge even to very experienced teachers.

The imperatives of 'coverage' can become a form of tyranny. Many a tutorial has turned into a lecture because the tutor feels it is the only way to cover all the material: if one is thinking in these terms, discussion becomes a luxury to be dispensed with under pressure of time. One of the worst mistakes is to cram too much into a session. Students who are inundated with information will struggle to understand much of it. As knowledge in all fields keeps expanding at a very rapid rate, it becomes increasingly difficult - indeed impossible - to cover all material in the sense of actually explaining it in class. On the other hand, tutors have a responsibility to ensure that students have the opportunity to explore and understand all the central concepts and issues of the course. Students may be rightly critical if they believe these aspects of the content have not been adequately covered.

In achieving an appropriate balance, it is crucial to be selective, to think carefully about priorities and significance, distinguishing wood from trees. It is also important to convince students that they are developing the skills to pursue many aspects of the course independently. Some students may have to be weaned away from the idea that they can't deal with something unless it has been 'done' in class, but, as in most matters, they usually respond well if they receive an explanation of the reasons for your approach and the assumptions about teaching and learning on which you are operating.

For more information about preparing for tutorials, see Leading discussions

Preparing for practical classes

Preparing for a practical class is much the same as getting ready to tutor, but there are some specific issues to bear in mind. Clearly you must be thoroughly familiar with the procedures that students will follow and the learning objectives of the session.

In the first instance, you must ensure that you can smoothly guide students through the set tasks in the available time. Give some thought to the sequence of events and the likely time that each stage will take - this will help you to keep students focused. Learn to spot possible blockages and warn students of them, for even tried-and-true experiments might have steps that students find difficult to understand or execute. Ensure that you are totally confident about explaining equipment usage. This may mean testing equipment beforehand to check that you are able to explain the key features quickly, clearly and without any fumbling around. Watch out for any areas in which there are risks and point these out to students.

A major part of the demonstrator's role is to engage students with the theory and the assumptions that are relevant to each exercise. To prepare for this, give some thought to how you will introduce the session, if this is your role. In particular, think about how you can make connections with previous activities or the associated lecture series. It is also a good idea to think about the type of probing questions that you can ask students during the session to prompt their thinking and to help them explore the principles underlying the tasks for the day. There is more advice on your role as 'questioner' elsewhere in the guide.

Getting the first session right

Don't underestimate the importance of the first session. It is the time during which the group dynamic is forming - roles and responsibilities are being clarified, and the group norms for interaction are beginning to be established. The shared purpose of the group and what is acceptable and what isn't are being sorted out.

The first session is the best opportunity to influence the way in which the student group will operate in the future. It is an opportunity to lay down some 'ground rules'. This doesn't mean that you adopt an authoritarian stance. Rather, it requires talking to students about your role and how you believe you can help them in achieving their objectives. Probably you should also talk to students about how the class or lab can be most effective and what they can expect of you and what you expect of them. Students should be encouraged to raise issues that bother them. It is also worthwhile to devote time to talking about the subject itself and its theoretical and methodological foundations and assumptions.

Getting to know student names is a vital starting point. It is not an easy task to remember new names, particularly if you teach a number of student groups and you only meet perhaps once a week. But it is not impossible if you work hard at it. Addressing students by their preferred names sends powerful messages about your concern for their progress and provides you with a means of influencing the classroom dynamics, particularly if you are leading class discussions. Some people find name tags useful, some use photographs, others draw maps of the room layout and the spots where particular students regularly sit.

It is a good idea to give students an early opportunity to introduce themselves to you and others. You can have a brief 'name game' exercise at the start of classes for the first few weeks, when you test yourself on names and invite students to do the same - it is also important for students to learn and use each others' names. It is helpful to ask experienced colleagues how they deal with this matter, but you need to devise a strategy that works for you.

In many cases, tutors and demonstrators are expected to inform students about a number of administrative arrangements, such as attendance requirements, assessment provisions, rules on plagiarism, arrangements for consultation, and so on. Most of these matters will probably be dealt with in a course handbook, but it is wise to draw students' attention to what is covered in the handbook and perhaps reinforce some of the information. It can be destructive, however, to launch into a stern lecture on, say, cheating in the first class. If you focus on matters of immediate importance in the first few weeks, other points can be touched on in subsequent sessions.

Don't forget practical details. It is wise for tutors to visit tutorial rooms beforehand, to check any equipment that will be used, and to think about the placement of furniture. Arrive early for the first - and subsequent - classes, and organise your teaching materials.

Finally, don't be hesitant about conveying to students the impression that these sessions are going to be enjoyable. Enjoyment does wonders for student attendance, participation and motivation. It is not an irrelevant factor, but one that directly and significantly affects student learning.

Finding out what the learner knows

One of the fundamental principles of effective teaching is that it must start 'where the students are'. It follows that it is very important to investigate what your students bring to the course. The first few weeks are crucial in the process of establishing levels of knowledge and skills that form the foundation for subsequent learning. This is particularly important in first year subjects, when students are likely to have a wide range of prior educational experiences.

There are various ways of ascertaining the knowledge and skills with which students start. You can begin by asking them to talk about their previous experience in this discipline (unless, of course, this can be assumed because of pre-requisites established for the course). Some tutors ask students to put information on paper and analyse this after class. Demonstrators might ask students directly about whether they have operated particular items of equipment or performed certain techniques.

Less directly, you can operate in diagnostic mode for the first few weeks of the course, probing to see how students are placed in terms of background knowledge and understanding. If major gaps are discovered, you may need to suggest some intensive catch-up work for individual students. If the problem is very serious, you should inform the subject coordinator as soon as you have picked it up. In some cases, the coordinator may advise the student to transfer to another subject, if it is early enough in the semester.

One further strategy is to familiarise yourself, in general terms, with the curricula of the relevant subjects likely to have been studied by your students. Again this is particularly important for first year students. Curricula and teaching methods at the senior secondary level have changed dramatically in recent years and if first year teachers are not familiar with the broad outlines of these changes they can be ill-prepared to assist school-leavers with the transition to university study.

The first session: what you might cover

Checklists can be useful guides in your reflections on teaching. They are, however, only guides, to be used selectively and critically. The following checklist suggests a number of matters which may be covered in the first tutorial or practical session.

You might cover:

• names (don't forget your own, students need to know how to address you);
• tutorial/practical class program for the semester;
• administrative arrangements, such as your availability and attendance requirements;
• the nature and purpose of tutorials/practical sessions (particularly for first year students);
• ground rules for sessions:
  1. the importance and responsibility of participation;
  2. permission to be wrong, outrageous, to speak 'off the top of the head';
  3. respect for others' views;
  4. respect for others' gender, ethnicity, religion, etc.;
  5. guidelines about such matters as interrupting, order of speaking, length of speaking;
  6. importance of preparation;
  7. the nature of the course: its aims and objectives, assumptions, methodologies;
  8. your own interests and values and, in those disciplines characterised by conflicting theories and approaches, your ideological positions;
  9. the characteristic procedures, assumptions and foci of the discipline (particularly for first year students). This area will, of course, be elaborated throughout the course, but it can be useful to give a brief, preliminary overview.

To cover all or most of these issues could involve a good deal of talking by the tutor, so it makes sense to touch on them lightly at this stage: they can always be re-visited. Some of the points invite student participation; it is desirable to involve them in setting the ground rules, for instance. Some departments are happy to devote the whole first session to establishing these understandings; others would prefer that you leave enough time to introduce students briefly to some substantive issues from the course.

Welcome to teaching in Australia: advice for tutors and demonstrators

Next chapter: Chapter 4 Specific skills

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