The Professor Podcast with Ruth and Claire

Ruth and Claire talk about getting a job. They reflect on their own experiences of getting a job at a primarily undergraduate institution. Ruth shares some resources and that dedicating time to preparing statements is crucial. Claire discusses the benefit of interviews, don’t decide before the interview, you will learn something about your preferences from the process! Ruth struggled with negotiation. Claire talks about getting all the information possible about your potential job. Share your tips for successful job hunting, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions! Ruth mentioned this book: The Professor is in - Karen Kelskey

Ruth and Claire talk about Active Learning. Claire shares that an active learning workshop for analytical chemistry was super helpful. In her classes Ruth has been surprised by the success of using mini whiteboards for in class work. She is not sure why it works but it does! Claire is wondering about how to set up successful groups. Ruth is concerned about other people’s perception about breadth versus depth. Share your tips for successful active learning, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions! Ruth mentioned: https://www.aapt.org/Conferences/newfaculty/ Claire mentioned: https://community.asdlib.org/activelearningmaterials/

Ruth and Claire talk about leadership. Claire sees her role as a leader is to facilitate people getting tasks done. Ruth is trying to honor the process and commitment of being a leader. Claire is wondering how to foster independence in her students and encourage their autonomy. Ruth struggles with holding people accountable. She is uncomfortable with people being uncomfortable. Share your tips for successful leadership, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com. Ruth’s quote is from “Daring Greatly” by Brene Brown. https://brenebrown.com/

Ruth and Claire talk about writing grants. Claire has had some recent exciting success with getting the Cottrell Scholar Award and also a previous NSF grant. Claire feels that tailoring to the grant description is crucial. She also felt that getting feedback is essential. Ruth has been applying for as many things as she can and feels good about building up materials for future grants. Claire is working on a good way to organize citations. Ruth is working on her impostor syndrome. Share your tips for writing grants, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.

Ruth and Claire talk about the concept of Buy In in the classroom. They think of ‘Buy In’ as gaining students’ trust in the class. Claire finds transparency and intentionality about the choices she makes in class helps students believe in the activities she does. Ruth found out that something that really matters to students is knowing that you won’t trick them. Claire would love to have a story arc in her lectures, she has done it before and it really impacts student engagement. Ruth wonders how to shut down students who are spreading discontent. Share your tips for getting Buy In, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.

Ruth and Claire talk about adapting to the many changes over the last few weeks. They are grappling with the new world of virtual teaching ahead of them. Ruth was relieved that her first zoom meeting went well, especially breakout rooms. She was also happy to have recorded some lectures in advance. Claire found having a homework due early in the virtual time meant students checked in early. She also shared a feature on canvas where different due dates can be assigned to different students. Claire wondered about whether to have virtual lectures live? Ruth is struggling with being the person in charge. Virtual teaching trailer by Bates College Professor Kennedy: https://www.bates.edu/news/2020/03/27/coming-attractions-brighten-bates-move-to-distance-learning Share your adaptation tips, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.

Ruth and Claire talk about grading strategies. Claire shares that it is really helpful to give quite detailed feedback. Ruth strives to get tests back as quick as possible. Claire wants to alleviate her grading dread by making a more straightforward points scale. Ruth wants to try using the online rubric and also wants to hold boundaries. Send us your grading tips, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.

Claire introduces us to the concept of Essentialism that she learned about through the excellent book by that name by Greg McKeown. Essentialism is the practice of determining what you actually want to do, and then cutting out other things. It means committing to fewer projects and having more impact in those select things you choose to do. Claire is committed to practicing essentialism. Send us your experiences with essentialism, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.

Ruth and Claire discuss how to encourage students to come to office hours. Claire shares that a welcoming and asset based approach when students visit office hours impacts the rate of return. Ruth has had an improvement in office hour traffic because of a nearby student lounge where students can work on problems and then pop in. Claire is working on the issue of getting students to get over the activation barrier of coming to the first office hour. This is also something Ruth is working on. Ruth is also struggling with what to do when students need to have private conversations while students with material questions get frustrated. Send us your experiences with office hours, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.

Ruth and Claire reflect on teaching labs. Claire shares something that is going wonderfully. In order to get students to engage with reading the lab material prior to attending lab, she asks students to note three potential mistakes and what impact they would have on the outcome. Ruth talks about how a lab to recreate a scene from a superhero movie worked really well. Claire wonders about whether it is more important for a student to fully complete a lab or to have more exposure to different experiments. She is also reflecting on the balance between potentially having a longer project to work on as opposed to getting more material covered. Ruth is thinking about dissemination and wants to try replacing a lab report with a letter to someone the student knows. Send us your experiences with teaching labs, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com. Cottrell Scholar Award info: https://rescorp.org/cottrell-scholars/ To sign up for the webinar on March 16th or March 17th with program information and tips for effective proposal preparation: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RCSA_CS_Webinar_Registration

Ruth and Claire reflect on working with undergraduate students on research. Claire shares that her research group is going great, she finds one thing that works really well is to recruit students early. Another thing that has been interesting is to have students who approached her with their own project idea who she gives guidance to. Ruth has realised that having expectations and setting the bar high really benefits students. Claire is working on having group meetings this semester instead of individual meetings with each student. Ruth struggles with finding the time to get her own research done. Send us your experiences with student researchers, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions : contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.

Ruth and Claire reflect on how they give exams. Ruth shares how learning that exams are a tool for learning and not punishment blew her mind. She is being clear with students about exactly what will be on the test and uses group tests as a way for students to review the material and make up points. Claire shares that she has been giving students her past exams as a way for them to practice and get familiar with her exam style. This has been appreciated by students who find it really helpful. This is exactly what Ruth is struggling with, she is finding it hard to come up with a new test every time she teaches a class. Claire is wondering about ways to allow students to earn some extra points and review their tests, which interestingly is exactly what Ruth is doing well. Send us your exam approaches, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions : contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.

Ruth and Claire reflect on how they are approaching the preparation of their files for tenure. Claire shares that having a digital and paper folder to put things in as they come up is working well for her. She finds it reassuring to have the items stored for future sorting and it is a simple system so she keeps up with it. Ruth is using a spreadsheet this year to record hours spent on service and meetings. One thing that Claire is working on is how to deal with the many rumours flying around about tenure. While we have solid criteria written down, what do you do about the things you hear from other people? Ruth is cringing about the awkwardness of asking people for letters and feeling guilty about calculating where things can go in her file. Send us your tenure getting tribulations and successes, potential future topics and celebrity professor suggestions : contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.

Ruth and Claire reflect on how they start the semester by sharing one thing that is working and one thing they are working on. Claire’s thing that is working is making her syllabus and canvas page early, like really early. Ruth’s thing that is working was an introduction assignment before the first day. Claire is working on her system for scheduling office hours, how to decide? Ruth was fretting about her first day and establishing the tone. Send us your thoughts on starting the semester, potential future topics and celebrity professors: contactprofessorpodcast@gmail.com.

A Promo or introductory episode for the brand new Professor Podcast with Ruth and Claire.