Faculty Seminar on Learning and Teaching Excellence

The following statements describe aspects of the Faculty Seminar on Teaching and Learning Excellence. Kindly, express your view by marking the appropriate position on the rating scale that best reflects it. You will find the Seminar outline on page 3 of this form.

Part I

Strongly Disagree SD

Disagree D

Neutral  N

Agree A

Strongly Agree SA

 

	SD	D	N	A	SA
The place/setting was supportive of discussion/reflection				3	5
The Seminar materials/handouts were:
i.     Informative		1	1	2	2
ii.     Interesting			2	4	2
iii.     Difficult	2	1	2		1
The size of the group was reasonable			1	1	5
Having participants from different disciplines enriched discussions				2	5
The duration of the Seminar was sufficient		1	1	2	4
Time (5-7 p.m.) was convenient	1		3	3	1
The topics covered in the Seminar were inclusive				5	2
The Seminar experience provided insights that would be helpful in my future teaching practices				5	3
The Seminar met my expectations			2	2	4
The Seminar provided �pedagogical space� that*
i.     is both bounded and open				4	4
ii.     is hospitable and charged at the same time			1	3	4
iii.     welcomed both silence and speech			1	1	6
iv.     invited the voice of the individual and the voice of the group		1		1	6
v.     honored �little� stories of the participants and �big� stories of teaching/learning			1	3	4
The facilitators:
i.     created an environment supportive of reflection			1	2	5
ii.     raised good questions		1	1	2	4
iii.     were good listeners			1	3	4
iv.     guided group discussion without being too directive		2		2	4
v.     overall, they were well prepared in the area they facilitated			2	1	5

*Palmer's paradoxical tensions

Part II

1-   Which of the sessions was most useful? Why?

1. Most of them were very useful

2. PBL(New idea). Large classes, faculty shared suggestions on how to handle large classes

3. All of them were very useful as they all apply to the topic and teach the most useful would be lecturing and interactive learning

4. Assessment provided good interaction and discussions. Project based learning, specific easily applicable examples

5. PBL and assessment, PBL was new to me and might work in my class. Assessment session was useful because it helped me to evaluate my instruction and students learning process

6. Dr, Boujaoude�s: The importance of using valid questions

7. I particularly enjoyed the session on evaluation. Dr. Boujaoude focused on rubrics and I feel this is an area that we should be working on

8. I cannot label one as being most useful. Each had something in it that was most useful and sometimes, what came out of the session was what was most useful.

The �Evaluating Student Learning� was, however, particularly interesting because it actually touched on a number of things and from different aspects. The presenter was able to offer different perspectives (not only from one discipline).

2- Which was least useful? Why?

1. None

2. Assessment, I felt lost a few times/ could not keep up with what the facilitator was saying

3. Hardly can tell that one of the session wasn�t useful but the least useful probably was PBL

4. PBL was too discipline specific

5. All was helpful

6. Problem based learning. It doesn�t fit my teaching approach quick boring

7. Problem based learning; still I can implement many strategies in my classes especially when we are in the computer labs

8. I am not sure I can answer that. Usefulness is a quality and cannot be quantitatively measured. I can safely say that all sessions were useful when they offered the attendees something they could relate to. For example, if I were a person who never (and will never) teach large classes, then the session on handling large classes would not have been �practically� useful (but only theoretically so).

3-Which topic do you think needed more time/information?

1. Exams preparation and grading

2. Assessment

3. Assessment

4. Project based management needed more information

5. Dr, Boujaoude�s session as we need to have more examples in how to design tests

6. Back to evaluation, I feel we all stand to gain by spending more time on all elements of assessment

7. In general the timing and the information were appropriate. However, some topics lend themselves for more discussion than others. For example, the session on �Evaluating Student Learning� could have taken more time because there are so many issues to talk about. The same applies to the PBL session. As a novice I would have wanted to experiment more on writing a Problem Based Case and seeing it torn and then reshaped by my colleagues. Others who worked on their cases would have probably wanted that too.

4- What did you like most about the seminar?

1. Different ideas from different disciplines

2. Sharing ideas, participants talking and sharing

3. Group dynamics and learning from experience and colleagues

4. Discussions

5. Friendly environment

6. Variety of topics

7. I felt it met my expectations that was rewarding in itself 

8. The spirit in which it was given.

9. The presenters where well prepared and wanted to offer as much as they could.

10. The choice of topics.

11. The interaction among the attendees.

5- What did you like least?

1. Nothing

2. The timing

3. Timing

4. Time

5. Being direct especially in the first 3 sessions

6-Suggestions for future seminars.

1. Add a session or two for extra teaching techniques
2. student characteristics added up for foreign faculty
3. Change time, include topic on student motivation
4. To discuss problems that we already face in our classes
5. Thanks