Niko,

Many thanks for these useful thoughts. I had come to the same conclusions you had and was considering if we should think of it as a stand alone course or try to integrate it into the BSc thesis.

We do need more student views about how they feel (1 positive and no negative so far, but 1 viewpoint is not enough to make decisions on). We also need to think the details and implications through carefully.

VBW,

Lloyd

-----Original Message----- From: bklist-bounces@lists.oulu.fi [mailto:bklist-bounces@lists.oulu.fi] On Behalf Of Niko Pursiainen Sent: 15. toukokuuta 2008 15:44 To: bklist@lists.oulu.fi Subject: [Bklist] 3rd Year Students' Teacher Training

Hi all,

Here are some thoughts I have regarding the idea about 3rd year students participating in the teaching of 1st year students. Basically it could be done as a course for them, perhaps with following structure:

Early in the autumn they would receive 1-2 day training in teaching in the way our staff is trained by Teaching Development Unit. Maybe they would be even willing to help here, as it is their specialty. This would be the theory part of this teaching course.

The practical part of the course would be assisting the teachers in running practicals. They would be assigned to one of the courses (Biomolecules, Methods I...) based on where they would be more helpful and also based on their course load. They would help in preparing and running said practicals and thus get good picture of how things work.

After this they would write short report on the experience and have final meeting where they would give and receive feedback.

All this would require more effort from some of the staff in terms of total hours spent, but it would also add more help for those moments where the staff is at its thinnest. For students it would give valuable teaching experience.

In summary, I see great potential in this idea of getting 3rd year students involved with teaching 1st year students' practicals. Good idea, Alex.

Cheers, Niko

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