Resources for Taking the Next Step Workshop

Participants in the workshop will get handouts and links to the following resources...here they are again for reference:

From the Texas Collaborative for Teaching Excellence, a professional development module on active learning: http://www.texascollaborative.org/activelearning.htm

To better understand common barriers to active learning in the university classroom, and ways to overcome them: http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/Resist.html

On the practical end, this worksheet from the University of California - Santa Barbara looks at techniques and tools to make discussions more interesting. In conjunction with conscious efforts to reflect, abstract, and generalize on tutorial and laboratory content and experiences, this can help TAs transform "let's get it done" assignments into powerful learning opportunities: http://oic.id.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/Making_Discussions_and_lectures_more_Interesting_0.pdf

Active Training: A Handbook of Techniques, Designs, Case Examples and Tips by Mel Silberman and Carol Auerbach (1998, Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer). This book is a revelation and although applying its techniques to learning disciplinary content needs to be thought through carefully, the chapters on preparing effective lectures, finding alternative methods to lecturing and using experiential learning approaches should be required reading for course instructors and teaching assistants. Available online through the Carleton Library: http://www.netlibrary.com.proxy.library.carleton.ca/AccessProduct.aspx?ProductId=26039.

Need to actually understand the process, theory, intellectual heritage? Read: David A. Kolb (1984), Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Devleopment, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

And the workshop notes/presentation are available on the Geography and Environmental Studies TA Mentorship WebCT site.