CSE teaching faculty Beth Simon and Leo Porter, along with Mark Guzdial (Georgia Tech) and Cynthia Lee (Stanford), led a new annual workshop devised to help new faculty excel in teaching. Starting with a keynote address from Ed Lazowska, who holds the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, participants plunged into a fast-paced series of activities and lessons on evidence-based teaching practices.
Fundamentally, the goal of the workshop is to help newly-hired CS faculty be better and more efficient teachers. By providing new faculty with a small number of effective teaching practices before their first year, the workshop aims to:
1. Make teaching more efficient for new faculty, so that they save time for research;
2. Make their teaching more effective (e.g., improved student learning); and,
3. Make teaching more enjoyable and increase teacher confidence.
“I can't believe how much actionable knowledge I picked up about teaching in just a day and a half,” said one participant, speaking to the value of the workshop.
Organizer Leo Porter was impressed with the level of engagement on the part of faculty. “Our participants could not have possibly given us better feedback,” said Porter. “That was precisely our goal. We are very impressed by all our participants’ dedication to their students and willingness to adopt new practices for their students’ benefit.”
The workshop aimed for a small audience in its first year and saw eight faculty from around the country come together for two intense days of activities. CSE Assistant Professor Julian McAuley was among the attendees. After the workshop, participants will receive continuing support from the organizers and their peers.
The workshop is funded by the National Science Foundation and mirrors highly successful workshops in other STEM disciplines, many of which have been running for decades.