Effective Teaching – Fundamentals (March 21st + April 25th-26th + June 6th, 2024)

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A common opinion is, that you are either a born teacher or you are not. But effective teaching can be learned. This course supports participants in gaining positive teaching experiences.

Objectives: Participants…

  • are able to design courses according to recent findings in cognitive sciences
  • are able to motivate students and to prompt active learning
  • can provide supportive feedback to students
  • can deal with different levels of students’ prior knowledge
  • have a greater repertoire of how to react in challenging moments in teaching
  • reflect and expand their view of their role as teachers

Contents and course structure:

Asynchronous self-study preparation (30 minutes): Your expectations and views on good teaching

Face-to-Face 1:

In this part of this workshop, we use recent findings in psychology and cognitive sciences for planning courses. In trying new teaching methods and techniques, we will widen the range of possibilities on how to plan and teach courses.

  • Criteria of good teaching
  • Starting off a course
  • Psychology of teaching and learning
  • Student engagement techniques

Asynchronous self-study unit (app. 3,5 hours): Course Design

Face-to-Face 2 (online):

This part is devoted to creating a stimulating learning atmosphere. We will discuss your course designs and further improve them.

Providing feedback for students is also an important ingredient to successful learning and professional teaching. We will reflect on and practice how to give feedback in a constructive way.

  • Course design
  • Providing feedback for students
  • Participants‘ issues

Asynchronous self-study unit (app. 2,5 hours): Motivating students, heterogeneous background knowledge, diversity

Face-to-Face 3:

This part explores ways to gain more confidence in interacting with students and as a teacher. We collect specific ideas for our courses to motivate students. We then reflect on the function of course evaluation and how this can help to improve our teaching continuously. Finally, we either develop strategies for challenging moments in teaching or reflect on good examples of your teaching practice.

  • Evaluation: learning about the effects of your teaching
  • Motivating students
  • Challenging teaching situations or examples of teaching practice

Practical Phase after the workshop (optional):

Linked to this workshop, there is a practical phase that includes peer feedback on your own courses and peer group consultation (2 sessions of 3 hours each, dates will be announced in the seminar). This practical phase is obligatory if you wish to obtain the Higher Education Teaching Certificate (wird in neuem Tab geöffnet). Please note, this course can be recognized for your Higher Education Teaching Certificate – Basic Competences, as 36 work units.

Technical Preparation:

Face-to-face 2 will be held online. For this unit you need an internet-enabled device with both a camera and a microphone. In addition, you must be registered in Moodle at the Technical University of Darmstadt for working on the self-study units.

Target group: Doctoral candidates and postdocs from all disciplines. Initial teaching experience is an advantage, but not a prerequisite.

Trainers:

  • Dr. Ulrike Homann | Department of Biology and Center for Education Development and Technology, TU Darmstadt
  • Dr. Ira Gawlitzek | University of Mannheim

Language: English

Date/Time:

  • Thursday, March 21st, 2024 | 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
  • Thursday, April 25th, 2024 | 9:00 am – 1:00 pm (online)
  • Friday, April 26th, 2024 | 9:00 am – 1:00 pm (online)
  • Thursday, June 6th, 2024 | 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
  • + asynchronous self-study units (Moodle)

Location:

  • S1|03 Old Main University Building (Hochschulstr. 1) Room 212
  • + Online via Zoom Pro. You will receive the link to log in to the virtual room via email by your trainers.

Registration: Please fill in the Ingenium registration form (wird in neuem Tab geöffnet).

Ira Gawlitzek (wird in neuem Tab geöffnet) studied German and English language and literature in Würzburg and Tübingen. She is a qualified trainer in adult education. She teaches English linguistics at the University of Mannheim, and was awarded the Baden-Württemberg Teaching Award in 2002. She has many years of experience as a trainer in the field of higher education didactics.

Her motto: Few things are more inspiring for a teacher, than seeing students discover their enthusiasm for their discipline and grow in their academic work.

Ulrike Homann (wird in neuem Tab geöffnet) studied Biology in Kaiserslautern und Göttingen. After completing her doctorate in Göttingen, she went to London and Cambridge for postdoctoral research. She has been a private lecturer at the Department of Biology of TU Darmstadt since 2003 and has worked at Hochschuldidaktischen Arbeitsstelle since 2012. She has 10 years of experience in concepting and implementing workshops for the supervision of student theses and offers subject-specific training and consulting for scientists.

You would like to participate in Ingenium events but do not have child care during that time? Here you can find more information about short-term child care at TU Darmstadt (wird in neuem Tab geöffnet).