Format
- 398T has been taught by a number of professors over the years (Gleeson, Dicus, Coker, ...). It is currently being taught by Prof. Riley.
- 398T is 3 credit hours scheduled Mondays 3-6pm but usually only goes 3-5pm.
Class size is about 25 students which limits the number of presentations students can do during a semester. - For Prof. Riley the main goals are for students to develop an interest in teaching and to get students comfortable talking in front of a class.
- Attendance is required and students do receive a grade but essentially if the student attends he/she receives an A.
- Our department requires all TAs to take 398T but as far as the University is concerned 398T is designed to help students move from being TAs into AIs and only students wishing to become an AI are required to take 398T.
Content
- Students give 2 talks throughout the semester: 1 on a topic of their choice and 1 on a section from a physics textbook (in the past one of the talks was required to be an explanation of a problem out of the textbook).
- Students evaluate each other’s talks by filling out a short form which is entirely for the presenter’s benefit. Prof. Riley never sees the student evaluations.
- One purpose of these talks is to get students to think about time limits. The talks are supposed to be 10-12 mins but they almost always run longer.
We did not have a lot of time to brainstorm other ideas for what 398T could/should focus on. We will devote a future forum to brainstorming some ideas for 398T as well as increasing the involvement of senior TAs and AIs.
