THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR COLLEGE “Investigating the Professoriate through University and College Teaching” EDPS 634 / PSYC 695 FALL 2004 Tuesdays, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. Beering 1243 INSTRUCTOR Marne Helgesen, Ph.D., and Director, Center for Instructional Excellence Educational Policies Center for Instructional Excellence Purdue University, West Lafayette Campusu:\Users\wrightlv\EDST\Syllabus\2004\Fall\EDPS 634-695 PSYC.doc 5/6/2008 3:24 PM 2 EDPS 634 / PSCH 695 Fall 2004 INTRODUCTION Welcome! This syllabus is designed to provide you with information about and guidelines for this course, “The Psychology of Teaching and learning in College.” Please read this syllabus carefully and refer to it as a guide to the policies and procedures. Changes to the syllabus may be made by the instructor following the first class session. Following that, any changes may occur only with the consensus of the students. The Purdue University Regulations: 2002-03, should be read as part of the requirements for the course. WHO THE COURSE IS FOR This course is designed for graduate students only; emphasis is placed on the investigation of the professoriate as a career using classroom teaching as the context. COURSE PHILOSOPHY The bases for this course are the philosophies that good teaching practices can be both taught and learned; faculty from all disciplines have something to learn from each other; and close alliance to and study of the discourse and culture of disciplines are essential for effective career and teaching skills. More specifically, a „real‟ academic scholar is a good teacher, a good servant and a good scholar. In a competitive market place, those who demonstrate the ability to cogently and responsibly represent their personal scholarship as well as that of the discipline – the same skills required of a good teacher – will be the favored candidates for the professoriate; and increased knowledge and understanding of the Academe can be translated into successful careers and sound practice. COURSE GOALS College and university professors traditionally have been better prepared in their content or disciplinary area than they have been for teaching. With sound practice and the current competitive market place in mind, this course is designed to assist future applicants to the professoriate to: cogently and soundly represent their personal research, the research in the field and their content (the same skills required of a good teacher), thus being a favored candidate for the professoriate; combine their content and discipline knowledge with the theory and practice of sound teaching, not excluding making contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL); embrace the art and science of innovative instructional student-centered methodology, stewardship and citizenship into their scholarly practice;u:\Users\wrightlv\EDST\Syllabus\2004\Fall\EDPS 634-695 PSYC.doc 5/6/2008 3:24 PM 3 create a personal teaching philosophy that represents self, curricula, institution and students as core to learning; acquire advanced knowledge and understandings of the professoriate so as to make informed career decisions; and carry these understandings and skills to every campus on which they have academic appointments, becoming practitioners of and advocates for the advancement of sound academic, scholarly practice. YOUR GOALS FOR THE COURSE List here what you would like to get out of [achieve in] the course, or at least work toward achieving by the end of the course: COURSE OBJECTIVES By the end of this course, through class readings, assignments, discussions, exercises and personal reflection, students will be able to demonstrate an ability to: know and understand the diversity of the individual, i.e., faculty and students as teachers and learners; understand the relevancy of student motivation; know the various ways of knowing, i.e., recent discoveries in cognitive psychology with responding pedagogies; know, understand and apply basic and innovative student-centered instructional methodologies; know and understand organizational and classroom management strategies; create [synthesize] and analyze their chosen roles in relationship to pedagogy and the academe as a whole; self reflect in a way that encompasses analysis, synthesis and evaluation of their perceptions of, and thoughts about college pedagogy reality; apply the basics of teaching in practice settings; make informed career decisions regarding self and the professoriate create their own philosophy of teaching and scholarship; synthesize and evaluate their sense of self and key others with all aspects of the course content.u:\Users\wrightlv\EDST\Syllabus\2004\Fall\EDPS 634-695 PSYC.doc 5/6/2008 3:24 PM 4 TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR THIS COURSE The typical teaching and learning strategies for this course include Active Learning, familiarization with the literature, critical reflection and experiential learning. These strategies include mini-lectures, learning teams, class discussions and interaction, peer review, guest speakers, reflective writings with feedback, videos, and an electronic course package (WebCTVista). Students who are currently teaching as well as those who are not will have an opportunity to reflect in journals, on the course materials and pedagogies of each other and other instructors on campus through peer review. The final exam will be a case study that requires a defensible combination of the entire semester‟s coverage. CLASSROOM ATMOSPHERE This class is designed for true dialogue. True dialogue involves both freedom and responsibility, and the right to be cogent, and have honest and open exchanges without hostility or a sense of marginalization. True dialogue can also involve personal exposure and the taking of risks. For these reasons, engaging in dialogues in this class requires that as students you demonstrate respect for your colleagues [classmates], and openness to perspectives different from your own. You can expect the same from your classmates in the class, as well. At the same time, questions, challenges, humor and feedback in context, are encouraged. The classroom atmosphere will provide the backbone and be the strength of this course. Respect for others includes not engaging in, or allowing monopolizing behaviors. CLASS