My first experiences of teaching

I had planned on writing a short blog-post about Michalemas term 2023, my first experience of University teaching, but have let this slip back slowly into the new year. Perhaps that is enough proof in and of itself that it was a busy 8 weeks!

An unexpected joy I found in teaching was the chance to focus on the bigger picture (of planetary system dynamics in this case), as opposed to the more typical (nostalgic?) memory of my undergraduate days spent bogged down in the weeds of individual questions, and concentrating on finishing problem sets on time. It has also given me pause for thought about how best to teach, and learn, neither of which I had previously given much attention. As far as I was concerned, I was taught and I then tried my best to learn!

The flip side of this however, was then helping the students see the bigger picture, rather than a subset of the course that can be covered in a 2hr class. Of course though, in a group of 10, everyone really wants the solutions to the parts where they went wrong. Exams are coming, so who really cares about the bigger picture?!

And this is not to mention the time spent preparing for the classes, and marking the work. On a purely selfish level however, the process of preparing for the classes definitely improved my own understanding of the material (staying ahead of the very bright students made sure of that!). Perhaps that is value for money after all?

I have since spent lots of time thinking about the, slightly strange, British higher education system. Particularly how it’s all examined at the end - a job well done if you get past 70%? This is of course in total contrast to the, maybe also slightly strange, American system in which grades all seem to bunch in the 80-100% range.

The incentives seem confusing (at best) in the British system, in which it is not seriously encouraged to aim for 100%. Indeed, it is common to even gloss over whole sections of a course, knowing you only need 70% for a 1st. Would it not be more enjoyable to finish a course, and reach the point where it all fits together in your mind, rather than stopping 70% of the way there? Maybe this would even be an encouragement to think of the bigger picture.

1 term of teaching has allowed me at least to articulate these thoughts, but leaves me some way short of knowing what really to make of it. In any case, each camp is well entrenched at this point, which leaves me plenty of time to think…