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Teacher lunches

Last modified by Xwiki VePa on 2025/01/08 07:15

2019

6.11. Digital and analog tools

Wave of digitalisation enables online teaching: lectures, stack exercises, self- and peer-assessment. How does use of digital and analog learning work?

27.11. Are classroom lectures necessary anymore?

Modern teaching approaches, such as flipped classroom, make their way also to university education. More and more teachers abandon traditional lecturing on their courses. But are these only fads? Do we still need classroom lectures?

16.12. Wellbeing of students – and teachers

Every teacher, lecturer and teaching assistant should consider students' wellbeing in their work: planning teaching or exercises, communication and support. But what about teachers' wellbeing? How to avoid burning ourselves out in teaching?

Just a reminder of the Work Wellbeing groups:

2020

8.1. Teaching assistants

The topic of the lunch is teaching assistants, and we will discuss questions such as:

  • How teaching assistants are selected?
  • What are the responsibilities of an assistant? What a lecturer can expect a teaching assistant to take care of?
  • For how many working hours assistants are paid?

12.2. Different assessment methods

Johanna Rämö from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics will give us a short presentation on the topic, after which we will continue discussion over lunch. Johanna has tested different assessment methods, such as self- and peer-assessment, on her mathematics courses. She has also done research on the topic.

Additional material: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/311623

11.3. Wellbeing of teachers

The guest speaker of the lunch will be study psychologist Jasmin Kurkaa-Kivelä, and we will discuss wellbeing of teachers. This topic includes, for example, the following themes

  • the role of self-knowledge in coping with stress
  • meaning at work as a resource
  • ways for a work community to support wellbeing

Additional material:

8.4. Remote assessment (ZOOM)

Come to discuss remote/home exams and different course evaluation options that do not require physical attendance on-site! Senior Lecturer in University Pedagogy Jokke Häsä will join us and tell his tips.

Additional material:

13.5. Experiences on remote exams (ZOOM; open for students)

In the fourth teaching period this spring, all teaching was arranged remotely. This brought about challenges also for organising final exams:

How the supervision of exams should be organised – or do we need to supervise exams in the first place?

Now, some teachers decided to have strictly time-limited exams with questions similar to normal final exam problems. Some teachers decided to have a home exam on their courses. How were these exams experienced and what kind of changes in them are hoped for?

What kind of problems did people have with exams and how should we develop the system?

Is a final exam a good method for assessment – or should we aim to develop continuous assessment on our courses?

Additional material:

arviointijarjestelyt.pdf

10.6. Experiences on exceptional teaching arrangements (ZOOM)

How did teaching go this spring? How will it be arranged next autumn? Nobody really knows what the situation will be in August – but we have to prepare ourselves in time for possible exceptional teaching arrangements.

9.9. Collaborative studying and sense of community on physics courses (ZOOM)

Studies have shown that students' social and academic integration fosters their study success. Therefore, in the first event, we will discuss how we can promote communality and collaborative studying on remotely taught physics courses. We will discuss experiences from previous courses and also the experiences of students and TAs.

Additional material:

integraatio.pdf

23.9. Remote assessment on physics courses, part 2 (ZOOM)

On a request, we will discuss remote assessment in the second teacher lunch event. What could remote assessment look like on physics courses? How to use continuous assessment? What about final exams?

Additional material:

Teacherlunch_23092020.pdf

21.10. Good and working teaching strategies (ZOOM)

    • ===

We will discuss experiences on electronic teaching tools and motivating students on lectures. This is especially topical for those who will teach in the second teaching period.

11.11. Experiences from the exams in the first period (ZOOM)

The topic of the Teacher lunch will be experiences from the exams in the first teaching period! If you are at the moment planning your course's assessment, this discussion might be especially helpful for you.

Additional material:

Hannu Kurki-Suonio: Cosmology I

  • Assessment was modified from normal 75% exam - 25% exercises to 50% exam - 50% exercises.
  • Exam in Moodle; 4 hours including the time for uploading the answers.
  • No supervision, all the materials freely in use. Students were asked not to collaborate – but there was no means to control this.
  • Most of the students wrote the solutions with pen and paper and scanned them. The solutions were asked to be submitted as pdfs.
  • As a back-up plan in case of Moodle crashing, students were asked to use email.
  • Exam problems rather similar to the ones in normal exams but:
    • Only problems that have not been used in exams for years to prevent students finding existing model solutions. These problems were not necessarily the best possible ones – they have not been used for a reason in a while.
    • A couple of wholly new problems.
  • Grading in Moodle.
    • This was a bit tricky for teachers because it is difficult to compare student answers as is normally done with the solution papers.
    • Grading process can be hidden in Moodle. Now some students were confused because they saw that only a portion of their solutions were graded – when grading was in process.

Ilja Makkonen: Kvanttifysiikan sovelluksia II

Opelounas-Makkonen.pdf

Jouni Räisänen: Dynamics of Atmospheric Flow Structures I & Introduction to Atmospheric Flow Dynamics

Opelounas-Raisanen.pdf

9.12. Bachelor’s theses (ZOOM; open for students)

The topic will be LuK-tutkielmat, i.e. bachelor’s theses! We will hear experiences and tips from Jouni and Kimmo – and discuss the topics this time also with students.

Additional material:

Instructions (select the right degree programme from the dropdown menu): https://studies.helsinki.fi/instructions/article/bachelors-theses-and-maturity-tests
The Bachelor's programme's own instructions and thesis template etc.: https://wiki.helsinki.fi/x/2RHNDQ

Jouni’s presentation:

Teacher_Lunch_Jouni_091220.pdf


Kimmo’s notes:

BSc thesis supervision; comments along Jouni’s presentation.

Main difference in my delivery of topics: no Moodle page (should have…), but I give ca. 3 options for possible topics. These take into account if the student has a suggestion or interest towards some particular topic (a phenomenon, a particular course etc.).

The topics I have consider particle phenomenology (e.g. Dark matter, Higgs physics), quantum computation or classical mechanics (e.g. restricted 3-body problem, nonlinear dynamics, chaos).

The progress of supervision very similar as in Jouni’s slides. An important factor is to maintain the dialogue throughout the entire process. As a simple way to maintain this, at the end of every meeting I agree with the student when we’ll meet next time.

When the thesis is almost finished, meaning that all the chapters are in place and have appropriate content, I read the thesis thoroughly and give a list of comments/ corrections to the student. After revising the thesis, the student submits it back to me and I assess the thesis and the whole work process and submit the grade to the register. If in the final reading I find some remaining typos, I communicate them to the student (they do not affect the grade).

the student point of view by Jenni Häkkinen:

Some of the most common problems students encounter writing their thesis:

Difficulties in communication the supervisor

  • Student might not be able to stick to the agreed writing schedule, if the supervisor didn't show interest towards the progress.
  • Thesis work gets easily pushed back if other studies take much time. It would be good if the supervisor checked the progress from time to time.
  • For a student it means a lot if the supervisor gets in contact with them from time to time. Especially if the student hasn't contacted the supervisor for a while, it would be nice of them to check how it is going with the thesis.
  • If the supervisor and the person who grades the thesis were different people, keeping contact with the grader should be paid attention to.

Keeping up with the writing schedule

  • Please, agree on a clear schedule for the thesis work right at the beginning.
  • The supervisor should make it clear that the schedule can be modified if needed and that it is not the end of the world if the student cannot meet all the deadlines.

Starting with the thesis

  • Especially: When to start writing – at what point of the studies?
  • Where to start? LuK-startti doesn't seem to be enough for a starting point.

2021

20.1. HowULearn0-survey's results from Autumn 2020 by Veera Kallunki (ZOOM)

In October, new students took HowULearn0-survey regarding e.g. learning processes, self-efficacy beliefs, study-related burnout and motivation for attending university. How did the freshmen of Bachelor in Physical sciences programme answer?

Veera Kallunki, lecturer in university pedagogy, gives a presentation on the survey results on the Teacher lunch.

Additional material:

HowULearn0_PhyScBachelor.pdf

More info on HUL:

10.2. at 11:00 Self-assessment and DISA on physics courses by Jokke Häsä and David Weir (ZOOM)

    • ===

How to use formative assessment and foster deep learning approach on physics courses? One possible answer is self-assessment.

Digital Self-Assessment (DISA) tool has been developed to make using self-assessment possible and easy even on large courses. Studies on courses utilising DISA have found that both learning objective matrices and self-assessment exercises have positive effects on the learning strategies and motivation of students as well as their view of their own abilities.

Jokke Häsä, mathematician and lecturer in university pedagogy, will give a presentation about self-assessment and DISA, and David Weir will tell us his experiences using DISA on a physics course.

Additional material: 

Jokke’s slides:

DISA, fysiikan opelounas, 10.2.2021.pdf

David’s slides:

Experiences with DISA.pdf

David’s Jupyter notebook used to make the plot of student ratings on the learning outcomes from the DISA export data.

More info on DISA:

10.3. at 11:00 "Recognising, adapting to and handling special needs in teaching" by Jo­seph Bro­jo­mo­hun-Gag­non, Professor of Special Education (ZOOM)

Those who have special educational needs often have adaptations that allow them to thrive in the usual university environment, but for many of us these are little-discussed in pedagogical training. How do we recognise, adapt to and handle special needs in teaching? Jo­seph Bro­jo­mo­hun-Gag­non, professor of special education, will give a presentation on the topic on Teacher lunch in March.

Jo­seph's slides:

Special Needs in Teaching March 10 2021.pdf

More info on special needs and arrangements:

14.4. at 11:00 Sisu (the new student information system) for physicists (ZOOM)

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Sisu is the new core system for studying, academic administration and teaching. The University of Helsinki will replace the current WebOodi system with Sisu on 31 May, 2021.

What should every physicist know about Sisu? How it will change supervision, assessment, registration of study modules, etc.? 

Education Coordinator Hanna-Mari Peurala will tell us more about Sisu and how it will change our work on Teacher lunch in April.

Notes from the lunch:

Teacher Lunch summary.pdf

12.5. at 11:00 HowULearn1-survey's results from spring 2021 by Veera Kallunki (ZOOM)

In March, first-year students took HowULearn1-survey regarding e.g. learning processes, self-efficacy beliefs, experiences of the teaching-learning environment, study-related burnout and students' general working life competences. How did the freshmen of Bachelor in Physical sciences programme answer?

Veera Kallunki, lecturer in university pedagogy, gives a presentation on the survey results on the Teacher lunch.

Veera's slides:

HUL1_Physical sciences 2021.pdf

More info on HUL:

9.6. at 11:00  Teaching next autumn: online, on-campus, hybrid or blended? (ZOOM; open for students)

The coronavirus epidemic shows signs of easing, but some restrictions will be in place on teaching still next autumn. Mass lectures will be held online, but the aim is to arrange exercise sessions on campus. Moreover, study spaces will hopefully be opened for collaborative studying. You may check the tentative plan for teaching times and classrooms of autumn 2021 made by the automatic scheduling here.

Welcome to discuss the plans for the autumn on Teacher lunch on Wednesday 9.6. at 11:00-12 in Zoom! The lunch event is open for students and staff alike.

Taina’s slides:

Syksyn_opetus_2021.pdf

Kimmo’s slides:

lunch_june21.pdf

8.9. at 11:00 New Student feedback system, Norppa

Weboodi is not in use anymore, students register to courses in SISu and student feedback is collected using a new system. Olli Pakarinen presented the new course feedback system called Norppa https://coursefeedback.helsinki.fi/courses. There are three levels of questions university questions that are included to all courses, degree programme questions that are degree level and teacher questions that each responsible teacher can add to their own course. We will discuss how the system works and which questions to add for our degree programme.

10.11. at 11:00 HowULearn0 and 2-survey's results from autumn 2021 by Veera Kallunki (ZOOM)

Answers of first (HUL0) and second year (HUL2) students from September questionaire on e.g. learning processes, self-efficacy beliefs, experiences of the teaching-learning environment, study-related burnout and students' general working life competences.

Veera Kallunki, lecturer in university pedagogy, presented results.

Summary:

  • Overall, the situation seems good in Physical Sciences
  • Response rate has increased in HUL0 after the drop in autumn 2020, the response rate of HUL2 is the best so far
  • Approaches to learning are well balanced and stabile
  • Students’ self-efficacy is at high level
  • Second year students are experiencing higher level risk of burnout
  • There are some problems in wellbeing among the second year students
  • Teacher’s good pedagogical skills and studying together are examples of factors that support wellbeing and studying
HowULearn_Physical sciences_HUL0andHUL2_2021.pdf

More info on HUL: