RSCS teaching delivery 2020+

supporting learning at scale

Ben Swift & Kim Blackmore

02 Dec '19

poll

in one(ish) word:

  1. what part of your course is the most beneficial for your students’ learning?

  2. what part of your course is the least beneficial for your students’ learning?

can be either an activity (e.g. lectures, labs) or part thereof (e.g. assignment feedback, group work, live coding) or a particular tool/technique (e.g. Wattle quizzes) but must be something you have control of as convenor

workshop goals

to develop a shared understanding of what a good learning experience looks like

to have honest, safe discussions about what’s working and what’s not in our courses

to identify local networks for sharing ideas & resources to improve the student learning outcomes in our courses

table discussion

what does a good learning experience look like?

when you teach, what are you trying to achieve?

QILT

Quality Indicators of Learning & Teaching

table discussion

what does a bad learning experience look like?

when you teach, what gets in the way?

quality learning experiences at scale

teaching at RSCS 2020+: how can we make things (even) better?

no answers, but some helpful questions

discussion: time & energy

(a lesson from physics)

in your teaching, what actually consumes your time and energy?

what’s the relationship between time & energy input and learning outcomes?

are there ways to maximise this efficiency?

discussion: fixed vs marginal costs per student

(a lesson from economics)

in your teaching, what are the fixed costs? what are the marginal ones?

as classes get bigger, are there ways to exchange marginal costs for fixed ones?

an aside: the CECS T&L tech stack

GitLab for assignment submission, marking, feedback (ask Ben about the lucy project)

Jekyll for delivering course content (website, lab material, lecture slides)

Discourse for class discussions

note: these are all “official” and administered by our tech team

discussion: who are your team-mates?

(a lesson from football)

who has the same challenges as you? who’s already overcome them?

who can you reach out to for advice?

are there ways to teach & improve your course more collaboratively?

a commitment

write down one concrete change you’ll make* to your course to improve the learning outcomes for your students

*or at least investigate

appendices

poll results: what’s most important

  • coding
  • hands-on activities
  • assignment feedback
  • forum
  • assignments
  • multiple assignments
  • exam
  • fresh air
  • labs
  • labs
  • student interactions
  • assignments
  • labs
  • interactive workshops
  • interactive lectures
  • assessments aligned with LOs
  • assignments
  • exam
  • assignments
  • exam
  • feedback
  • labs
  • practicals
  • labs
  • labs
  • practical skills
  • labs
  • hardware
  • labs
  • technical stuff

poll results: what’s least important

  • lectures
  • homework
  • mark appeals
  • deadlines
  • mid-sem exam
  • cheating
  • past exam papers
  • big classes
  • lectures after 4pm
  • UP Academy
  • lecture attendance
  • space
  • marks
  • drop-ins
  • lack of feedback
  • cheating
  • group work
  • exam
  • lectures
  • homework
  • SELT
  • shaming
  • breadth
  • Wattle
  • lectures
  • SELT
  • theory
  • lectures
  • synchronous content
  • SELT
  • rules
creative-commons creative-commons-by creative-commons-nc creative-commons-sa bluesky github vimeo envelope