TEACHING APPROACHES AND PROGRAMME STRUCTURE FOR UNDERAND POST-GRADUATE STUDENTS (IN GEOLOGY, AND BEYOND)
This presentation will explore three primary teaching / programme structure concepts before yielding to open discussion:
(1) Future directions for stewardship of the Geology major will be articulated, including a skills and content review, philosophy for matching instructors with content, and potential small changes to the required major courses.
(2) A communications-intensive programme structure strategy will be discussed. This will start with an introduction to "communications-intensive" courses, and explain the implementation of this approach in EASC4407 Regional Geology. Next, I will review how an undergraduate "distinguished communicator" programme can be an effective mechanism for improving teaching quality broadly across the university.
(3) The costs, benefits, and best-practices of field mapping coursework will be reviewed, with particular attention to its power for scientific method training. These concepts will then be discussed in the context of introductory-level teaching, the current EASC4955 Integrated field studies course, and the training of post-graduate students. A one-week field mapping short course for post-graduates will be advocated as a mechanism to enhance the future scientific success of our research students. These three topics will be followed by an open discussion in JL104, and then perhaps continuing discussion for interested faculty in the Senior Common Room.