BYU professors improve teachig method

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    By Stacey Wismer

    BYU professors took time off to improve their teaching methods.

    The General Education Department hosted a conference Tuesday, May 28, through Thursday, May 30, to improve general education across the campus, said Doreen Wyman, secretary to the dean of General and Honors Education Department.

    Participants included 100 part-time and full-time faculty in a variety of disciplines, she said.

    L. Dee Fink, Director of Instructional Development Program, from the University of Oklahoma, encouraged listeners to teach in ways that will help students prepare and reach for goals years into the future.

    Professors were also given an opportunity to question four students on a panel discussion and then confer in small groups, Wyman said.

    Students were asked questions referring to their pet peeves on testing and studying techniques.

    “Listening to colleagues and students express their thoughts on improving teaching is the most beneficial aspect of this conference,” said Jim Gough, a professor of art history.

    Gough said the conference helps professors look for ways to more appropriately meet the needs of students and inspire critical thinking.

    “Even God cannot do something with someone until they start to think,” he said.

    Gough said the conference proved his methods of teaching and involving students were already “pretty good”.

    Attendants receive a partial stipend for the three-day conference, Wyman said. The professors then must implement the ideas from the conference into a rewritten syllabus, she said.

    The conference also featured a panel of four professors who tried the experiment in their classes last year.

    The professors connected better with their students, reconsidered their teaching approach, and received higher scores on teacher evaluations from students, said Lisa Johnson, a conference participant and professor of honors writing.

    “I realized I can become the teacher I want to become and not just what my department wants,” she said.

    Johnson said the conference helped her to reflect more on learning. She wants to change her teaching to include more self-evaluation for the students.

    A method Johnson wants to integrate is take-home quizzes, she said.

    “Students are doing the reading, and it gives them an opportunity to write and express themselves in ways they cannot do in class,” she said.

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