3.8 KiB
3.8 KiB
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What is the role of lectures vs tutorials in the course
- Lectures introduce new material, while tutorials help students understand said material by doing exercises, reiterating, etc.
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Which ice-break activity would you consider for your 1st session?
- Pick a person at random, they say a category, everybody else has to say their favorite thing in that category (i.e. food, operating system, animal, etc.)
- Icebreakers are always awkward, so it's best to not rely on it. The true icebreaker is to break the awkwardness by acting unserious during it.
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Select 1-2 objectives for the tutorial and answer the following questions: Let's choose understanding graph algorithms as an objective.
- What is the verb used in the objective?
- Understanding
- What is the meaning of the verb?-=What must a student actually need to do to achieve the learning objective
- They have to:
- Understand relations
- Grasp the visual representation of those relations - graphs
- Be able to trace the path of an algorithm (mentally)
- They have to:
- What do you think students will struggle with the most?
- Understanding the concept of an algorithm in the context of graphs
- Memorizing the algorithms
- How can you divide the learning objective =problem in order to work on smaller parts at the time? What would you discuss first and what second to work on the given objective?
- Understanding the use case of a graph, using a top-down exposition to the concept
- Learning to use specific notation to describe relations and then turn them into a graph, and vice versa
- Applying previously learned problem solving/programming skills on this newfound representation of data
- Assigning the terms onto simple algorithms
- Explain the benefits and advantages of more complex, yet optimized algorithms
- What is the verb used in the objective?
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Now, think about active learning methods
- How do the lectures given in the course prepare your students for tutorials? Will you use some active learning tools to recapture the information from the lectures?
- I would assume that the lectures arm them with a shaky understanding of the current subject. Lectures are usually fast-paced and people who are fully able to follow them usually don't need to go to tutorials :D.
- It would be great to explain the concepts again. Through rewording them, reinforce the knowledge of students who already grasp them and create an opportunity for the others to analyse them.
- Solving exercises (i.e. applying the concepts) is very beneficial in most courses.
- What active learning tools do fit your learning objectives the most and why? For what would you like to use them during your tutorial?
- Setting goals in the beginning of the session sets the tone and shows progress
- Having dialogues is beneficial for both parties involved. Sparks the curiosity of both TA and Student.
- Providing real world examples and analogies is crucial for the digestibility of the information provided.
- Group work on more complex problem is great for both the academic process as well as the social one
- How will you monitor the progress of learning: you want to know how your students progress in the course. What active learning tool would you use for that?
- I would encourage them to ask me questions about assignments, exams or quizzes, without revealing the answers of course.
- I'd ask them about their perceived most confusing part of the material and elaborate on that.
- Asking them directly should also do the trick, of course avoiding sounding judgmental
- Making yourself available outside of formal situations (being on whatsapp or when seen on campus) works wonders.
- How do the lectures given in the course prepare your students for tutorials? Will you use some active learning tools to recapture the information from the lectures?