If I finish all of the physics a lesson or two before the end of term, I like to use those spare lessons to do something fun. For the last 12 years I have done a boys vs girls engineering challenge and the girls nearly always win. Here is why...
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** Schools have been getting ready for this: a thread **
In many ways, I don't blame folks who tweet things like this. The media coverage of the schools situation in Covid-19 rarely talks about the quiet, day-in-day-out work that schools have been doing these past 9 months. 1/
Instead, the coverage focused on the dramatic, last minute policy announcements by the government, or of dramatic stories of school closures, often accompanied by photos of socially distanced classrooms that those of us in schools this past term know are from a fantasy land. 2/
If that's all you see & hear, it's no wonder that you may not know what has actually been happening in schools to meet the challenges. So, if you'd like a glimpse behind the curtain, then read on. For this is something of what teachers & schools leaders have been up to. 3/
It started last March with trying to meet the challenges of lockdown, being thrown into the deep end, with only a few days' notice, to try to learn to teach remotely during the first lockdown. 4/
https://t.co/S39EWuap3b
I wrote a policy document for our staff the weekend before our training as we anticipated what was to come, a document I shared freely & widely as the education community across the land started to reach out to one another for ideas and support. 5/
https://t.co/m1QsxlPaV4
In many ways, I don't blame folks who tweet things like this. The media coverage of the schools situation in Covid-19 rarely talks about the quiet, day-in-day-out work that schools have been doing these past 9 months. 1/
Instead, the coverage focused on the dramatic, last minute policy announcements by the government, or of dramatic stories of school closures, often accompanied by photos of socially distanced classrooms that those of us in schools this past term know are from a fantasy land. 2/
If that's all you see & hear, it's no wonder that you may not know what has actually been happening in schools to meet the challenges. So, if you'd like a glimpse behind the curtain, then read on. For this is something of what teachers & schools leaders have been up to. 3/
It started last March with trying to meet the challenges of lockdown, being thrown into the deep end, with only a few days' notice, to try to learn to teach remotely during the first lockdown. 4/
https://t.co/S39EWuap3b
In Lurgan College today we are using our timely staff training day to hone our skills in the use of Google Classroom as we prepare to educate our pupils at home in the event of school closure in the future. #beprepared pic.twitter.com/E0LQkYqvBD
— Lurgan College (@LurganCollege) March 16, 2020
I wrote a policy document for our staff the weekend before our training as we anticipated what was to come, a document I shared freely & widely as the education community across the land started to reach out to one another for ideas and support. 5/
https://t.co/m1QsxlPaV4
A thread about online teaching and learning (T&L).
@wv012 @Passengercis @thebandb @carelstolker @BieTanjade @C4Innovation @rianneletscher @PietVdBossche @wijmenga_cisca @Pduisenberg @QMProgram #highered #edtech #teaching @threadreader unroll (1)
Here is a university road map on how the strengths of conventional, face-to-face teaching and online T&L can be optimally used to address today’s lecture room challenges.
I am not an instructional designer, but I have been teaching online internationally for over 10 years (2)
In the last 2+ years, I taught hybrid & online undergraduate courses at the University of Maryland Global Campus, among the largest top-20 online colleges in the USA.
UMGC has received numerous awards for its innovations: https://t.co/jd7JkHIK8Q and https://t.co/IPKizZwclA (3)
15+ years ago UMGC was one of the founding members of QM “Quality Matters” a non-profit with 1,500+ members in 26 countries.
QM offers membership of a community of practice, numerous free resources, online training, and review/accreditation services https://t.co/ZoFVsgcBC7 (4)
It is obvious that universities will also be affected by the 4th industrial revolution, and things can not stay the same as they were after the invention of the printing press.
Until recently, a lecture room looked the same as 900 years ago incl. flirting and sleeping (5)
@wv012 @Passengercis @thebandb @carelstolker @BieTanjade @C4Innovation @rianneletscher @PietVdBossche @wijmenga_cisca @Pduisenberg @QMProgram #highered #edtech #teaching @threadreader unroll (1)
Here is a university road map on how the strengths of conventional, face-to-face teaching and online T&L can be optimally used to address today’s lecture room challenges.
I am not an instructional designer, but I have been teaching online internationally for over 10 years (2)
In the last 2+ years, I taught hybrid & online undergraduate courses at the University of Maryland Global Campus, among the largest top-20 online colleges in the USA.
UMGC has received numerous awards for its innovations: https://t.co/jd7JkHIK8Q and https://t.co/IPKizZwclA (3)
15+ years ago UMGC was one of the founding members of QM “Quality Matters” a non-profit with 1,500+ members in 26 countries.
QM offers membership of a community of practice, numerous free resources, online training, and review/accreditation services https://t.co/ZoFVsgcBC7 (4)
It is obvious that universities will also be affected by the 4th industrial revolution, and things can not stay the same as they were after the invention of the printing press.
Until recently, a lecture room looked the same as 900 years ago incl. flirting and sleeping (5)
When the university starts sending out teaching evaluation reminders, I tell all my classes about bias in teaching evals, with links to the evidence. Here's a version of the email I send, in case anyone else wants to poach from it.
1/16
When I say "anyone": needless to say, the people who are benefitting from the bias (like me) are the ones who should helping to correct it. Men in math, this is your job! Of course, it should also be dealt with at the institutional level, not just ad hoc.
OK, on to my email:
2/16
"You may have received automated reminders about course evals this fall. I encourage you to fill the evals out. I'd be particularly grateful for written feedback about what worked for you in the class, what was difficult, & how you ultimately spent your time for this class.
3/16
However, I don't feel comfortable just sending you an email saying: "please take the time to evaluate me". I do think student evaluations of teachers can be valuable: I have made changes to my teaching style as a direct result of comments from student teaching evaluations.
4/16
But teaching evaluations have a weakness: they are not an unbiased estimator of teaching quality. There is strong evidence that teaching evals tend to favour men over women, and that teaching evals tend to favour white instructors over non-white instructors.
5/16
1/16
When a teaching award is based solely on teaching evals and then only men get it. pic.twitter.com/szIBkCvTe9
— Dr. Marissa Kawehi (@MarissaKawehi) February 12, 2021
When I say "anyone": needless to say, the people who are benefitting from the bias (like me) are the ones who should helping to correct it. Men in math, this is your job! Of course, it should also be dealt with at the institutional level, not just ad hoc.
OK, on to my email:
2/16
"You may have received automated reminders about course evals this fall. I encourage you to fill the evals out. I'd be particularly grateful for written feedback about what worked for you in the class, what was difficult, & how you ultimately spent your time for this class.
3/16
However, I don't feel comfortable just sending you an email saying: "please take the time to evaluate me". I do think student evaluations of teachers can be valuable: I have made changes to my teaching style as a direct result of comments from student teaching evaluations.
4/16
But teaching evaluations have a weakness: they are not an unbiased estimator of teaching quality. There is strong evidence that teaching evals tend to favour men over women, and that teaching evals tend to favour white instructors over non-white instructors.
5/16
![Peter McCormack [Jan/3\u279e\u20bf \U0001f511\u220e]](https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1524287442307723265/_59ITDbJ_normal.jpg)
