The course objective is to strengthen your teaching skills and competences as a PhD student. The course provides guidance and inspiration for planning your teaching within science and technology disciplines based on principles for student-centred learning. During the course, you will get hands-on experience with teaching techniques and technologies to enhance students’ active participation and learning. In collaboration with peers, you will learn to apply tools to identify and find solutions for challenges in your own teaching, and you will train your teaching skills by applying new teaching techniques and technologies in your own teaching and observing others.

The course addresses theories and methods relevant to the diverse teaching formats PhD students at NAT and TECH engage in — including co-supervision, classroom and laboratory teaching, peer and outreach activities, online formats, and other university teaching contexts. Participants can, to a wide extent, focus on the teaching formats most relevant to their own practice.

Learning outcome

At the end of the course, you should be able to:

• Plan lessons in own teaching according to principles for student-centred learning and course learning outcomes 
• Identify and use relevant techniques and technologies to support student learning and active participation
• Develop strategies to create a good learning environment in own teaching practice
• Use effective assessment and feedback strategies to support student learning
• Collaborate with colleagues to identify and evaluate solutions to challenges in own practice

Contents

The course addresses teaching in technical and natural sciences at the university level and covers challenges and teaching formats relevant for teaching assistants at the faculties of Natural and Technical Sciences. This includes e. g. small class teaching with problem-solving, computer lab, student presentations or discussion of scientific literature, laboratory teaching, field work, online teaching, and outreach activities.

The course will focus on the following themes:

1. Planning and applying teaching activities according to learning outcomes,
2. assessment and feedback for learning,
3. classroom management for active preparation for and participation in teaching,
4. techniques to support classroom dialogue and interactions, and
5. methods for the development of own teaching, including peer observation and feedback.