It only took 42 years, but I am finally published!
Earlier this year I was at a conference in the UK, and happened upon a booth that was pitching a trade publication that deals with Micro Manufacturing. I spoke to the guy at the booth, and told him what I did as an engineer, and he said that they were looking for people to write for the magazine.

It was a great experience as they have professional editors to proofread your work. So at no cost to me, I can be made to sound better than I really do! Once things quiet down a bit with my work at Bethel on my Postsecondary Teaching Certificate, I hope to pen another article.

One thing that you will notice is the article has been “translated” into British English.

Here is the link if you care to read it:
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The trade publication called MicroManufacturing.
In it I talk about Micro Molding from the perspective of the Biomedical World.
You can read it here:
http://www.micromanu.com/x/guideArticle.html?id=38

I have a .pdf of it on my website (in the magazine layout) —> Here

I had a short discussion with my friend Brent last Saturday at our seminar class. He told me about the awesome multimedia video clip that he made for his class he is helping to teach as an intern. He proceeded to tell me how proud he was of if, and the time that was put into the creation of this WORK OF ART.

When he played it for the class, they watched it, and shrugged their shoulders. Not terribly exciting to them it seemed. Just like watching a cartoon on the Television. Brent said that he wasn’t drummed out of the classroom with a chorus of boos or throwing of vegetables, but they weren’t as excited about it as he was.

As he told me this story I was mortified, because I was planning to do a similar project.

After thinking and discussing it a bit more. Brent said that he seems to get better interaction and response from the students when he teaches in a LIVE manner. Much better than the response to his video masterpiece.

This is an interesting observation. I belive that in as Online course Brent’s video clip would probably have been better received by students, but in the f2f classroom environment students seem to prefer real people.

I am saving this story for future use (If Brent allows me to tell it, and of course embellish a bit).
It can be filed under technology is an aid to teaching, and not THE Teaching. As a future educational professional I need to know that my presence in the classroom is the best teaching tool. Don’t rely on the technology in face to face classes.

I think that the students come there to see the professor.

Further observations in the Basic Communication Class:
This class is not very interactive (compared to graduate or classes with non-traditional students). This is not necessarily a bad thing, the students are mostly freshmen, and as Prof Phil said, this may be their first class.
Many of them are still transitioning from the High School environment. They may not have as much to add to the discussion, because they do have less life experience. Teaching undergraduates is quite different.

I am very pleased with observing this class. Many of my personal ideas about education and the role of the instructor are being reinforced. In my opinion the value of a class, especially a college class is learning from the professor. A class that consists of the ceremonial reading of the textbook is a waste of every ones time. The money of the student can be better utilized. If all I wanted was to listen to a book reading, I would just go buy the book and read it myself.

The role of the textbook is still very important, and is a supplement to the class. The book needs to be utilized to be successful in the class. The techniques and words used by Phil essentially forces them to use the textbook. He did say that when teaching undergraduates, don’t expect them to bring their books to class. A quick glance around the room solidified this statement. A good alternative to reading assignments is the use of a Journal assignment to verify that the students are reading the book.

I must remember, this is NOT high school anymore, and these students are adults. It is important to set high expectations. The assignments and teaching method must be precise, yet it must leave some open avenues for the students to learn. They are on their own.

Near the end of the class Prof Phil asked for questions, the class seemed to become a bit more interactive at this point. Although the “usual” students asked questions, there were a few new participants. They were encouraged to send e-mails with any additional questions. Of course staying around for a few minutes after class was also a good idea, as some of the more shy students may feel less threatened to ask questions in a one on one environment.

A very successful observation. There is a reason that some professors are better than others.

I have not attended a college day school class for probably close to 10 years. That ended this Tuesday.
As part of my internship for my Certificate in PostSecondary Teaching at Bethel I will be sitting in on a day school class.

Background:
This came about as I discussed with Dr. Leta my role as a Manufacturing Engineer at Medtronic. As a Manufacturing Engineer I spend time training production people how to perform tasks. This production workforce is a varied group of people. We have workers as young as 19 years old fresh out of high school to retired Medtronic employees who have come back to work on a temporary basis. These returning employees can be in their 60′s.

It will be valuable for me to compare and contrast the different teaching and learning styles. Plus it will help me as I perform my “teaching duties” at work.

So… on to class
I stepped into this Basic Communication Class at the beginning of a module on Public Speaking. The first day was quite interesting. Prof. Phil started by letting everyone know that they would be giving four speeches throughout the module. The First one was TODAY! The two young ladies sitting next to me started giggling nervously.

The students got 10 minutes to prepare for their first speech, an impromptu speech. After the 10 minutes of preparation was over the students went up one at a time. All in all they did quite well. Some were quite short, others made it to the 2 minute mark.

It was interesting listening to what the students spoke about. These are mostly freshman students, and are just adjusting to college life. It was a long time ago when I was in their position, so I have forgotten what was important to me. They gave me a bit of a view back into that time of my life.

After class I spoke to Prof Phil, and he told me a bit more about the class, and the students taking it. I did notice that the teaching style used by Phil was very direct. The students were given very precise directions, and knew exactly what was expected of them. I contrast this to the more “open ended” assignments that I had in Graduate School Classes.

Also while we spoke Phil did tell me about how difficult it is to have a whole class discussion with the freshman students. He said that they do better in small groups, because then they will talk together. It is difficult to pull information out of them in front of the whole class.

I did notice that as he lingered a bit after class some students will come up to him to discuss issues. I am sure that they probably didn’t want to ask the question in front of all the other students, but were comfortable asking one on one with the teacher. I will note this as an important part of teaching. Making yourself available for the students after class.