Seminar and Small Group Teaching

1. Seminar and Small Group Teaching

2. How does the role of the seminar leader differ from that of a lecturer? • More interactive • Important to get to know students quickly • Recognising and responding to students with a wide range of backgrounds and abilities; need to be flexible – re-arranging groups? • Making expectations clear

3. Who are your students? • Different backgrounds and goals • Increase in international students • Fees - students as customers • Reluctance – quantitative subjects

4. Passive vs. Interactive Teaching • Passive teaching : • Boredom…deadly silence! • Poor attendance, lack of preparation • Lack of student participation weakens understanding of material • Interactive teaching: • Students less likely to become discouraged/bored • Deeper understanding

5. Transferable Skills Interactive classes can improve: • Confidence • Ability • Motivation • Performance • Employment prospects

6. Planning your classes • Make classes independent events • Aims and objectives • Structure • Purpose • Introduce interactive techniques that take account of: • Varied student abilities and learning styles • Encourage participation • Transferable skills

7. Class Teaching • Teaching style: • Structure • Clarity • Interaction and Motivation • Introducing activities • Teaching challenges • Some pointers for a successful class

8. 1(a) Provide Structure • Give an overview • Outline the key questions/issues • Work through the material – why is it interesting? • Identify important references/links to lectures • Summarise key arguments and conclusions at the end of the class

9. 1(b) Clarity • Lay out solutions clearly on board • Work step-by-step – outline methodology • Provide handouts for equation-intensive classes • Provide ‘discussion tree’ outlines • Anticipate problems and questions • Resolve confusion if the discussion takes wrong turn

10. 1(c) Interaction • Learn students’ names! • Encourage participation • Face the class, pick up ‘signals’ -adjust the pace and content to meet students’ needs • Link theory to real-world events to generate interest • Friendly but in control

11. 1(d) Class Activities • Individual • Problems/case studies • Pairs/small groups • Activities/discussion/student teaching • Whole group • debate/presentation/review

12. 2. Challenges • Quiet classes… • …and rowdy classes • Students with poor attendance or effort • Classes with students with diverse backgrounds • Students with disabilities e.g. dyslexia

13. Top Tips for Exercises • Keep notation consistent and explain it • Make steps in the reasoning explicit • Use questions to guide students through the reasoning • Provide intuition – plan examples • Identify possible pitfalls or cases • Give students ‘ the bigger picture’

14. Top Tips for Motivation • Learn students’ names early on • Take an interest in students’ goals, problems etc. • Take time to offer feedback and keep an eye out for problems • Be approachable and contactable

15. Always… • Introduce yourself • Plan ahead but stay flexible • Contextualise and structure material • Encourage participation • Make the most of your experience and enjoy it!

16. Never… • Skip parts of explanations • Rush (but keep an eye on the clock) • Ignore problems • Hide errors • Follow do’s and don’ts lists ... look for what works for you!

17. Thank you