This teaching module has been a great opportunity and I’ve really enjoyed it. I immediately began incorporating some of what we discussed in this module into the class I was TAing and it seemed to help the students. Too bad for the students I had in the semesters prior! As other participants have said, I was surprised at how little of the module was spent on actual SWC. boot camp materials or preparation and how much was spent on a more fundamental approach. In a way, this made it more valuable than I expected. However, I don’t feel prepared to jump into a boot camp myself. Maybe getting ahold of the manual will change my mind.
Onto the particulars…
4.1 Concept map:
This was the section I found most useful in my daily life. Organizing the concepts of what seemed like a simple topic was actually quite challenging. The associated reading from “How Learning Works” was excellent and has made me conscious of the barriers facing learners. I’ll be returning to the book after my schedule stops exploding.
4.2 Assessment questions:
This mainly taught me that assessment is very difficult! We concluded that the most apt way to identify an expert is if they are capable of knowing when to break the rules and this was apparent when I read others’ assessment questions. I had a good time making my assessment exercise for pipes and thought I’d made a pretty tricky problem, but now I realize it wasn’t an expert-level problem. Not even sure how I’d do that.
4.3 Facts & Fallacies + presentation:
In my opinion, this was the least interesting and informative section of the course. The reading was fun, and certain parts resonated but overall, it didn’t seem to be a good fit with the rest of the course. Likewise for the slideshow. We’ve all made those before and making another wasn’t revelatory, especially given the low-information ideas we were conveying. I’d remove this section.
4.4 Whiteboard and screencast:
I welcomed the opportunity to get critique on my teaching style in this atmosphere of mutual learning. Given that my presentation was from a lecture I have given 8 times, I thought it would be a cinch — I’d point the camera at my head, talk for 3 minutes, and be done! However, the differences between video and real life were astounding and it took me many many takes to get one I was happy-ish with (for content, anyway. I was out of town borrowing a friend’s camera and bedroom, so there wasn’t much I could do about the camera’s resolution). The camera adds a lot of pressure, especially for a novice. One stumble and I froze and had to begin again. Unfortunately, I did not achieve a screencast but I have a newfound enormous respect for those who have! Replacing 4.3 with one of these might have increased the number of people who accomplished both of them and would have added me to their ranks.
4.5 Lesson:
This was a great chance to combine the previous concepts, and I found myself drawing heavily on topics from “How Learning Works” and other things we’ve discussed in order to structure the lesson. I used something like a concept map from 4.1 and I think it made me more aware of where prior knowledge was required. Being aware of my blind spots was especially important. Going into this course, I thought every assignment was going to be like this one but after its completion, I understand why it’s important that it was not.
Conclusion:
SWC is rare in its inclusiveness, in my experience. Unfortunately, in the computational world at large, things frequently devolve into a competitive environment where women and underrepresented minorities are overlooked (boy, do I have stories!). The boot camp I attended last November was refreshing because it was clear that everyone was there to learn together. This was one of the reasons I wanted to become involved. SWC’s mission is important — so many scientists, including me, are self-taught — and its methods are exceptional. Thank you to everyone who has participated and thanks to Greg for all he does! Our discussion and feedback was high quality and vital to our learning. We’ve learned a lot from each other. I’m sorry that this group is over and I hope we have a chance to meet in person someday.