Hi Jim,

I read this with interest and continuously increasing skepticism.  Maybe
this reflects my getting older, although I think it may reflect
different cultures and different individual approaches not necessarily
age related. Perhaps Jaldum Ozaktas is conscious of the cultural
question as well, since he refers to it at item 4d. Certainly the idea
of scheduling class times democratically would not work in our
environment.  I am not even sure how much influence we, as faculty, have
in this decision.  I do not always get to teach when I want to (which is
why I will not make this week's meeting), and sometimes not even the
courses I want.  These decisions are made by the "chair" and are often
influenced by room availability.

I think the parts about maintaining objectivity and avoiding
subjectivity are fine.  This is always a struggle unless one uses
numbers (which I do not like for different reasons - it enforces the
idea of student anonymity), and one can still often tell from
handwriting, etc.  If a good students has a unrecognizable handwriting
(or ink color), style, etc., one can often recognize it in subsequent
papers.  Even if I do not know his/her name, I still remember that this
was a good (or bad) student on the last paper.

As for class attendance and homework, I totally agree with Janet's
response.  Most of my students would make poor choices about these
things.  Turkish students may be older and/or more mature.  They may
also be "hungrier" for a college degree, and this might influence their
willingness to make good choices.  In such cases, I could be persuaded
to give students more freedom to make decisions that we currently make
for them.  In more than thirty years of teaching, I have had several
students ask to be excused from classes.  Two cases stick out in my
memory: the first student I told that if he did well on the first exam,
I would let him skip the rest of the semester.  He scored 99 or 100,
(the only student ever to score this high in my classes) and I never saw
him again, except on exam days.  The second was a student who had taken
the same course at another institution, gotten an A, and was insulted
that she had to repeat the course.  I told her the same thing, and after
getting in the 60's on the first exam, she said to me: "I guess I didn't
know as much as I thought I knew."  I think this is the crux of the
question.  Our students often think they know more about a subject than
they do.  (I have some pre course questionnaire results that suggest not
only that they do not have much knowledge about certain course related
questions, but also that they think they know much more than they do.
Their post course results are better, but still a long way from what I
would like them to know.)

I am also a little concerned about the suggestion of maintaining grading
results that are consistent with the institutional norms (5h).  This
begs the question of whether the others at the institution are grading
properly.  We have often discussed grade inflation and the changing of
student populations, so this should be taken with a grain of salt.
Perhaps a better guideline might focus on rethinking one's expectations
when one finds he/she is out of step with institutional norms.

Anyway, it was an interesting read, and offered many good suggestions.

Bob


-----Original Message-----
From: Teaching Breakfast List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Jim Greenberg
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 8:50 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: A Teaching Manifesto - posted to TB list by Jim Greenberg

Tbers,

The posting below offers some interesting approaches to teaching
undergraduates.  It is by Jaldum Ozaktas of Bilkent University in
Ankara, Turkey.  While not everyone will agree with all these
suggestions they do offer much food for thought.  Also, please
remember that your comments are welcome.  Send them to
[log in to unmask]



                                    A TEACHING MANIFESTO
              (A personal view on undergraduate university education)

1. Let students decide what is best for them.
a. Give students maximum freedom in determining how they learn the
course material. --> 1b 1c

b. Do not put constraints on the way they study by giving homework.
Instead, suggest or provide useful problems or study material and
provide solutions. --> 1a 4c

c. Do not force or blackmail them into coming to class through
devices such as sign-up registers, pop-quizzes, unavailability of
class material in print, etc. Design the course such that students
who prefer so can follow the course without attending any lectures.
--> 1a
2e 5c 5e

2. Acknowledge your subjectivity
a. Do not let subjective criteria, especially personal opinion,
influence students' grades. Avoid as much as possible forms of
evaluation where the degree of subjectivity is high. --> 2b 2f

b. To eliminate bias, grade examinations without reference to the
name or person of the students. (For instance, let them identify
themselves by their student numbers rather than their names.) --> 2a
2f 3b

c. Allow objections to grading of examinations (in writing, again
without reference to the name and person of the student). Give them
due consideration, but maintain consistency with how other students'
answers have been graded. --> 3b

d. To the extent that this is possible, recommendation letters must
be based on objective criteria. Even if the student has personal
characteristics which make it difficult to work with her or him, do
not mention them so long as they are independent from her or his
technical competence and sense of responsibility.

e. Acknowledge the possibility that you are a poor lecturer and that
students do not benefit from coming to class. Do not do anything to
force them to. --> 1c 2f 3b

f. To make it possible for students to criticize you openly without
fear of harassment, completely separate the grading process from the
name and person of the student. --> 2a 2b 2e 3b

g. Be democratic in giving decisions regarding the course, such as
setting the time of lectures, examinations, subject to the condition
that the teaching and evaluative objectives of the course are
fulfilled and chaos is avoided. --> 5a

3. Treat students as you treat other people
a. Treat the students as you would treat the same persons if you met
them outside the university. --> 3b

b. To enable them to also treat you so, eliminate potential sources
of pressure. Completely separate the grading process from the name
and person of the students. --> 2b 2c 2e 2f 3a

4. Encourage sense of community
a.  Encourage communal studying. --> 4b 4c 4d

b. Do not make the students feel as if they are competing with each
other. Rather, design the grading scheme such that they measure
against a predefined standard (which may be slowly adjusted over the
years). --> 4a 4c

c. Do not give take-home examinations or employ other grading methods
when it is the case that independent work cannot be enforced and
students are torn between honesty towards the instructor and loyalty
towards their friends etc. --> 1b 4a 4b 4d 4e

d. Do not ignore the social and cultural setting in which education
takes place. --> 4a 4c

e. Avoid unreasonable precautions to avoid cheating. --> 4c

5. Be precise, predictable, and reliable
a. State the content, requirements, and procedures of the course on
the first day, and do not change them unless an overwhelming majority
of students agree so. --> 2g 5d

b. State material included in exams clearly. If a book or set of
notes is used, clearly indicate which sections are included or
excluded from the course. --> 5c

c. All material that students are responsible for in the examinations
must be provided in fixed form (on paper or other suitable media).
--> 1c 5b

d. Do not change the time or date of examinations or other
appointments with short notice. --> 5a 5e

e. Do not administer any form of examination (e.g. quizzes, orals)
with short (or no) notice. --> 1c 5d

f. Predefine the grading scheme of examinations with rigor and care. -->
5g

g. Grade the question as stated on the question sheet, not as you
intended it. --> 5f

h. Keep the distribution of grades consistent with that of other
courses offered in the same department or school.
------------------------------------------------------
(C) Copyright  Haldun M. Ozaktas  - January 1994
Bilkent University School of Engineering; TR-06533 Bilkent, Ankara;
Turkey.
Fax: (90-312) 266-4126. Email: [log in to unmask]