A richer semester ~ with Kimberly Hurns~
Inservice Excitement!
The most valuable professional development experience that I had during the November In-Service was working on course assessments. I completed two assessment reports the Monday before in-service and made copies for my department to review for our upcoming meeting. Monday afternoon I was greeted with a pleasant surprise outside my office. One of my colleagues wanted to talk about my report! She had questions and suggestions about the data and how it was presented. We even talked about her assessment plans for next semester. I left campus that day smiling.
The surprise did not stop. At our department meeting we went over the reports. We spent lots of time discussing teaching. We talked about different textbooks and if the coverage of the content was sufficient. Our students are reading more because of the new glossy books but do the books cover the material with enough depth? If we use the more attractive textbooks, does that mean we should be doing more synthesizing in class? How can we use worksheets in class to cue students to take notes? The conversation about teaching at our department meeting was awesome!
We discussed our focus on student-centered strategies and class engagement. Do these strategies work if the students are not making the connections to the material? How can we focus the class activities so that students connect them to the terms and reflect upon the activities? My final surprise was that many of us continued to talk about critical thinking, assignments and tests after our meeting. What is the right combination? What is the correct structure? If we are not the sage on the stage, how do we effectively cover the material? We did not come up with solutions but the conversation invigorated great ideas.
The sessions at November in-service were great and talking about the future of WCC was exciting. But, talking about teaching with colleagues was extremely valuable and an extraordinary learning experience. As a member of the assessment committee, we often discuss ways to motivate people to do assessment work. Professional development and collaboration with colleagues should be the reason to assess learning; teaching (not research) is our mission at WCC and we should embrace any opportunity to enhance our teaching skills.
Kimberly Hurns
Business Department
Washtenaw Community College