TLT Symposium: Thoughts and Reflections

I had never attended this symposium before, so I really didn't have any idea what this event would actually be like. I planned which talks I would attend, woke up early, had a great breakfast, and looked forward to anything I might be able to learn during this symposium. I will say, I'm glad I attended this event for reasons I'll get into.

Firstly, the keynote speaker was phenomenal. Dan Heath almost immediately captured my attention when he started his introduction as he delved into ways to improve teaching as well as overcoming common challenges. Coincidentally (on purpose, I'm sure), the part that stuck with me the most was his emphasis on making your talks, knowledge, and overall delivery of information 'stick' with people by making your ideas unexpected yet simple. While this was overall interesting to listen to, it was not necessarily new information as if anything you try to teach doesn't stick, that you and your student have effectively wasted each other's time. What really stuck me was when Dan began discussing the "Curse of Knowledge." This concept I know all too well, both on my own end trying to share my ideas with others during talks or in my writing as well as trying to understand the material of some of my own peers. As a result, I try very hard to avoid these scenarios when I teach by learning the material with the students/peers I would be educating. I read what I plan out and dissect each word, each term, to make sure that enough information is present that people are able to refence idea's they're already familiar with. While I never got to listen to his explanations for Credible, Emotional, and Stories (although I lean their importance later), I still found Dan's talk on SUCCES(S) to be the most interesting part of the symposium. 

There were two other talks I thought were interesting. First, "Learning through the art of storytelling" discussed, well, using real stories as an effective teaching method. The main draw in using a strategy like this is upon listening to the real stories told by real people, students will become emotionally invested (remember Dan's 'E' in "SUCCES") in the material and as a result, both retain the material better and become storytellers themselves. This is done by storyboarding stories told by these speakers and having students identify key moments in the story in order to summon empathy within themselves. This was a very straight forward talk and an interesting method of teaching that I never really considered until now. 

Second, ending the final round of talks, I attended "Serious games and gamification: What has research shown us since 2014." Ever since I learned that my middle school began using World of Warcraft to teach story building and money management, I needed to know why people thought this was a good strategy for teaching. As an occasional gamer myself, while I know of ways in which certain games and platforms can be used to teach aspects of life and some skills, I always believed there were better ways to teach the same idea. If the game isn't focused on the 'learning' aspect of the experience, I believe that the core idea of what might be gained by playing games is ultimately lost. The talk delved into the pros of using games to teach, examining the use of intrinsic vs. extrinsic rewards, allowing students a safe place to fail and work at their own pace, as well as finding ways to tie concepts into real-world situations, among others. Despite this, along with the other cons mentioned in the talk such as having the game be a closed system, lack of control over content, and an inability to analyze the gameplay done by students, I remain unconvinced that games should be used as a serious way of trying to teach any school subject-type material. While certain games can certainly improve social skills, and other more difficult games teach aspects of mathematics or other subjects, in the end I still think that other, more conventional methods of teaching are more effective and less risky. I would be open in the future to more ideas like this, however.

That more or less wrapped up my experiences at my first TLT symposium. I'm glad I attended and got to listen to ideas and opinions from many successful teachers. The shark-tank-like event was particularly great, and I'm a little upset only one could be funded (I thought they were all great). I'm excited to bring what I experience into my AEE 530 class and discuss with my peers what they got out of this enlightening experience.

Designing a Syllabus

A syllabus is probably going to be a student's first impression of the class in terms of what is going to happen and what is expected of each student. Therefore, its important that you have everything you need to say down on that document so that you draw in the appropriate students for your course and even allow students the ability to plan how they would like to tackle the course material.
Given my experience in entomology along with my inexperience in course design, I stuck with something I was familiar with and interested in teaching others about. I chose a course dissecting insects' role in our society, along with common misconceptions, fact about insect life-cycles and physiology, and other general perceptions people may have about insects.

 This course is meant to be an entry-level course that grabs the attention of new scholars who are interested in insects, but never had the opportunity to study them and aren't comfortable taking the typical intro course.

Unfortunately for myself, I wasn't able to attend the class where we exchanged syllabi. However, I had a vast resource pool that I was able to dip into: my previous courses. I looked at each of my courses I enjoyed the most, looked at their syllabi, and wrote down all the important policies, tidbits of information, and scheduling that I felt like were very useful for me to have and important in outlining the course's expectations.

The 'deep-dive' showed that both Xiyu and myself had a pretty good idea about what we thought would be important to include on our syllabus and what we wanted to teach a course on. With a few minor points here and there for us to fix, and a schedule added to my own syllabus, we both seemed to have very strong syllabi that I would love to have for any course I'd take.

Student Introduction: Jesse Starkey, Entomology M.S. Student

My name is Jesse Starkey and I'm in my final semester of my M.S. program in the Entomology department. I'm being advised by Dr. Etya Amsalem on my work that focuses on the evolution of reproductive division of labor in social insects.

Originally from Montebello, New York, my interests in entomology did not begin when I was younger (although I was interested in animals and the environment). Starting out interested in birds of prey, wildlife management, and the reintroduction of native species to the U.S, my interests shifted towards entomology after participating in a summer REU (research experience for undergraduates) at the Mountain Lake Biological Station where I was able to work with my current favorite insect, the bumble bee.

I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Environmental and Sustainability Science from Cornell University. During the latter part of my undergraduate career I became interested in the evolution of social behavior in various systems, insects being the most prominent. However, with little to no experience working with insects in general I figured it would be a good idea to put myself out there and work with the system before I journey forward with my education.

After completion of my degree I worked with Purina on developing a alternative honey bee protein supplement that has since made it to market as Hearty Bee. Since then I've returned to my roots as a budding entomologist and began studying aspects of the evolution of eusociality in insects, which led me to the Amsalem lab were I currently work.

I'm excited for this course because as a scientist I have an obligation, that often goes ignored, to convey the ideas and discoveries in the field to friends, family, and the community in a way that facilitates interest and growth. This class seems like a great opportunity to hone my ability to do this.