Quick Hits for New Faculty: Successful Strategies by Award-Winning Teachers

Introduction

vii Welcome to Quick Hits 3, edited and authored by award-winning faculty, and sponsored by the Indiana University Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching (FACET). While the first two volumes of Quick Hits focused on teaching in general, this volume is aimed primarily at helping new faculty. The articles and strategies range from planning for that first day in the classroom to evaluating student learning to documenting teaching to understanding the politics of teaching and learning in your department and institution. The title, Quick Hits, bears scrutiny. The phrase was coined during the 1991 FACET retreat, when several members of FACET offered some truly engaging but quick strategies for involving students in their learning – a “quick hit” to capture the students’ attention. These ideas were gathered together into a volume which captured national attention, and led to the publication of a second volume of “quick hits.” While these were successful and useful volumes, we all acknowledge that teaching is much more than a series of “quick hits,” and that teachinglearning interactions are ongoing, built on the establishment of credibility and trust, and very much context-dependent. In this third volume, while retaining the notion of engaging students in their learning, we have tried to expand our “quick hits” with additional background information, rationale, and resources. They are, in a sense, not-quite-so-quick hits, but rather ideas that will engage us and our students more deeply. We have organized this volume in the order that we believe new faculty will need to address teaching and learning issues and decisions. “Chapter 1: Getting Started” discusses the development of a course syllabus, course requirements, and scheduling your own time. “Chapter 2: Grading & Feedback” has ideas on evaluation, assessment, and feedback that are well considered early in your first semester, preferably as you develop course syllabi and assignments. “Chapter 3: First Day” contains ideas for getting the semester off to a good start. “Chapter 4: Are You Out There?” addresses encouraging and managing student participation. “Chapter 5: Getting Support” offers insight into the many ways in which you can find support for improving teaching and navigating through academia. “Chapter 6: Lessons From the Disciplines” contains teaching tips that, at first glance, seem quite subject-specific, but actually contain ideas that can be adapted to other subject areas. “Chapter 7: Keeping Track” reminds us all that we not only need to do good work, but we also need to document it in ways that will be reflective of the progress and changes we make throughout our careers. As a new teacher, you may find education to be a daunting task, one that can easily overwhelm. If such is your experience, you are not alone! Teaching is not a simple task and this book is not a “Teaching for Dummies.” Quite the contrary, this volume is filled with the wisdom of years of practical experience, experimentation, best practices, research, and so forth. We would hope that you will feel comfortable enough to consider some of these ideas, and we would encourage you to adapt them to your own particular classroom style. We recognize that not every quick hit will be appropriate for everyone. This is to be expected. Nor is it likely that you will be able to lift a particular technique and apply it successfully without first tailoring it to suit your particular approach to teaching. The important thing is to consider, evaluate, try, and then reflect upon the outcome. Remember that this volume of Quick Hits is but the start of a very important journey for you; a journey that may one day help you to become The Natural as a teacher – the best there ever was, the best there ever will be (with an apology to Bernard Malamud). Introduction Quick Hits for New Faculty ...