1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,605 [MUSIC PLAYING] 2 00:00:02,605 --> 00:00:03,980 CHRISTOPHER KING: I love teaching 3 00:00:03,980 --> 00:00:07,670 in a seminar-style format, because I see myself 4 00:00:07,670 --> 00:00:10,640 as a facilitator of the learning process. 5 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,800 It's an opportunity for me to learn. 6 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,180 It's an opportunity for students to learn from each other, 7 00:00:17,180 --> 00:00:19,790 because no one professor knows everything. 8 00:00:19,790 --> 00:00:23,690 So they're bringing in their own perspectives and experiences, 9 00:00:23,690 --> 00:00:25,380 they bring that to the classroom. 10 00:00:25,380 --> 00:00:28,588 And so everyone's learning, it's a learning laboratory. 11 00:00:28,588 --> 00:00:30,380 ALEX THEOS: The main advantage of teaching, 12 00:00:30,380 --> 00:00:32,870 for example, the cell biology of cancer seminar 13 00:00:32,870 --> 00:00:36,710 just to 12 students is that it really 14 00:00:36,710 --> 00:00:38,480 gives the students an opportunity 15 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:41,120 to take ownership of the course and they really 16 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:43,940 drive a lot of the content. 17 00:00:43,940 --> 00:00:46,790 It's great opportunities, then, for not only 18 00:00:46,790 --> 00:00:50,660 instructor-led learning, but a lot 19 00:00:50,660 --> 00:00:52,280 of peer-to-peer interactions. 20 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:53,840 The students are learning just as 21 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,900 much from each other and their own experiences 22 00:00:56,900 --> 00:00:59,060 and what they bring to that course 23 00:00:59,060 --> 00:01:00,710 as much as they're learning from me. 24 00:01:00,710 --> 00:01:03,200 Another great advantage of a seminar environment 25 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,800 is that there's really no place for the students to hide, yeah. 26 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:09,750 And so it gives them great opportunity, 27 00:01:09,750 --> 00:01:13,070 especially in the sciences, to gain some confidence. 28 00:01:13,070 --> 00:01:16,730 You can't really sit in a group of 12 students 29 00:01:16,730 --> 00:01:18,780 and not contribute to the discussion. 30 00:01:18,780 --> 00:01:20,990 RHONDA DZAKPASU: Because the class is small, 31 00:01:20,990 --> 00:01:25,430 the course material is very multidisciplinary. 32 00:01:25,430 --> 00:01:28,250 It allows me to break the groups up so 33 00:01:28,250 --> 00:01:29,750 that the students in each group will 34 00:01:29,750 --> 00:01:32,120 come from maybe one student in physics, 35 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:34,980 one student in chemistry, one student in biology. 36 00:01:34,980 --> 00:01:37,730 And so they're able to now interact across 37 00:01:37,730 --> 00:01:40,820 the disciplines, but they're still solving the same problem. 38 00:01:40,820 --> 00:01:44,420 Traditionally science is often taught in silos. 39 00:01:44,420 --> 00:01:47,810 And so you've got a physics problem or a chemistry problem 40 00:01:47,810 --> 00:01:49,220 or a biology problem. 41 00:01:49,220 --> 00:01:51,770 But we're interested in understanding how 42 00:01:51,770 --> 00:01:53,210 living systems do their thing. 43 00:01:53,210 --> 00:01:56,600 Clearly, they don't know that, OK, now I'm going to breathe, 44 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:58,010 so this is physiology. 45 00:01:58,010 --> 00:02:00,590 Now I have to walk, and so this is mechanics. 46 00:02:00,590 --> 00:02:03,260 So the advantage is that in trying 47 00:02:03,260 --> 00:02:06,320 to understand how living systems do what they have to do, 48 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:10,699 the students can understand this from the different scientific 49 00:02:10,699 --> 00:02:11,480 disciplines. 50 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:15,790 51 00:02:15,790 --> 00:02:19,440 It's not really a challenge of making the learning happen, 52 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,560 but also being comfortable with not covering 53 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:23,880 what you plan to cover. 54 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:29,530 So since the students are doing problem-solving in this class-- 55 00:02:29,530 --> 00:02:31,260 in fact, the class where I teach, 56 00:02:31,260 --> 00:02:33,510 the walls are whiteboard. 57 00:02:33,510 --> 00:02:37,320 And so I will lecture for about 15, 20 minutes at 58 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,170 most, and then pose a question, have 59 00:02:40,170 --> 00:02:41,845 the question on a PowerPoint slide, 60 00:02:41,845 --> 00:02:44,220 and then the students will break up in these small groups 61 00:02:44,220 --> 00:02:46,320 and work on the walls. 62 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:48,370 We might not finish that problem. 63 00:02:48,370 --> 00:02:51,330 And so the challenge is, again, being comfortable with saying, 64 00:02:51,330 --> 00:02:54,270 whoops, we didn't finish this. 65 00:02:54,270 --> 00:02:57,510 We were going to be behind a little bit, and maybe 66 00:02:57,510 --> 00:03:01,600 that being behind might snowball throughout the semester, 67 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,230 but feeling that at least what we have covered, 68 00:03:04,230 --> 00:03:05,340 they've learned well. 69 00:03:05,340 --> 00:03:08,490 For the instructor, I think the major issue 70 00:03:08,490 --> 00:03:10,560 is, you can't predict the questions that you're 71 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:11,730 going to be asked. 72 00:03:11,730 --> 00:03:14,880 So you have to be very comfortable with saying, 73 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:17,550 good question, I don't know, I'll get back to you, 74 00:03:17,550 --> 00:03:19,590 rather than trying to make up something. 75 00:03:19,590 --> 00:03:23,010 Just being comfortable with being at this 76 00:03:23,010 --> 00:03:25,590 interface at the boundaries of science, 77 00:03:25,590 --> 00:03:29,255 where even your expertise might not reach. 78 00:03:29,255 --> 00:03:31,380 ALEX THEOS: With regard to the pitfalls of teaching 79 00:03:31,380 --> 00:03:35,460 a seminar, especially a seminar with the ideal number, 80 00:03:35,460 --> 00:03:39,180 in my mind, certainly of, about 12 students, 81 00:03:39,180 --> 00:03:41,580 is that every group is going to be different, yeah. 82 00:03:41,580 --> 00:03:44,640 And so things that you try, particular types 83 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:47,070 of assessments, particular types of exercises, 84 00:03:47,070 --> 00:03:50,250 nothing is guaranteed to work with every single group-- 85 00:03:50,250 --> 00:03:51,700 every single group is different. 86 00:03:51,700 --> 00:03:54,630 You might have wonderful things that you've developed 87 00:03:54,630 --> 00:03:59,040 for a 12-student seminar that work like a dream one year, 88 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:01,290 but then the next year, for whatever reason-- 89 00:04:01,290 --> 00:04:05,040 again, as an instructor, the most common interpretation 90 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:07,300 is that it's something that you have done, 91 00:04:07,300 --> 00:04:09,210 but it's usually down to you've got 92 00:04:09,210 --> 00:04:13,620 a different group of individuals with different needs 93 00:04:13,620 --> 00:04:15,240 and different learning styles. 94 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:17,370 And so you can't really guarantee 95 00:04:17,370 --> 00:04:23,550 that one particular exercise or modality is going 96 00:04:23,550 --> 00:04:24,952 to work particularly well. 97 00:04:24,952 --> 00:04:26,910 CHRISTOPHER KING: I think the challenge is just 98 00:04:26,910 --> 00:04:30,060 making sure that everyone is engaged 99 00:04:30,060 --> 00:04:33,360 and participating in the process in a meaningful way. 100 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:37,020 You always have a couple of students who are overachievers 101 00:04:37,020 --> 00:04:41,650 or they're just comfortable dominating the conversation. 102 00:04:41,650 --> 00:04:45,765 And so it's important for anyone who's teaching a seminar-- 103 00:04:45,765 --> 00:04:49,050 a seminar-based course to structure it 104 00:04:49,050 --> 00:04:53,220 so that everyone is contributing in an equal way 105 00:04:53,220 --> 00:04:55,770 and that they're making a meaningful contribution 106 00:04:55,770 --> 00:04:57,010 to the conversation. 107 00:04:57,010 --> 00:04:58,527 And I think that's a skill. 108 00:04:58,527 --> 00:05:00,360 It's a skill set and it comes with practice. 109 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:02,980 And I'm continuing to learn how to do that, 110 00:05:02,980 --> 00:05:05,700 but it's just important to be sure that everyone 111 00:05:05,700 --> 00:05:07,350 is engaged in the process. 112 00:05:07,350 --> 00:05:11,000 [MUSIC PLAYING] 113 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:21,000