Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.

Teaching Resources Available for Faculty

SHARING INSIGHTS
Teaching Resources Available for Faculty 
A seminar and discussion series about teaching and a service which 
provides classroom videotaping are available this year for faculty 
interested in sharing insights about teaching issues and honing their 
own teaching skills. 
Both activities are provided with the help of the Faculty 
Instructional Resources Program (FIRP) and the Office of the Dean for 
Undergraduate Education.
"Teaching at MIT," a series of four fall-term seminars will begin 
next week, with a half dozen more seminars scheduled to take place 
during IAP. All Institute faculty, instructors, teaching assistants, 
and community members are invited to attend and participate.
All teaching seminars begin at 4pm and run for about an hour. The 
series schedule is as follows:
Thursday, Oct. 17, Rm 37-696, "Planning and Teaching an MIT Subject," 
Professor Donald Sadoway of materials science and engineering and 
Professor Leonard Morse-Fortier of architecture.
Wednesday, Oct. 23, Rm 36-428, "Working with Students: Handling 
Problems, Counseling and Advising," Dean Robert Randolph of the 
Office of the Dean for Student Affairs.
Tuesday, Oct. 29, Rm 8-302, "Teaching Recitation Sections," Professor 
Arthur Mattuck of mathematics and Professor  Campbell Searle of 
electrical engineering and computer science. 
Thursday, Nov. 7, Rm 37-696, "How To Lecture," Professor Hal Abelson 
of electrical engineering and computer science and Professor Daniel 
Kemp of chemistry.
FIRP was started in spring of 1987 as an outgrowth of the Commission 
on Engineering Undergraduate Education. Its goal was to enhance the 
quality of teaching in the School of Engineering. FIRP assists in the 
orientation of new faculty, aids the process of pedagogical self-
evaluation, and seeks to promote lively debate about pedagogical 
issues among the faculty as a whole. Interest and participation have 
been growing steadily according to Maureen Horgan of the Office of 
the Dean for Undergraduate Education. 
Classroom videotaping is available through the Video Production 
Services in the Center for Advanced Engineering Study. 
Classes are videotaped in the regular classroom, and the tape turned 
over to the faculty member at the end of the class session. The 
premise of the program is that viewing oneself in action is excellent 
feedback in itself. 
There is a charge for this service but support from the deans of the 
School of Engineering and the School of Science permits faculty from 
those schools to be taped at no cost.
Further information about both programs is available from Ms. Horgan, 
Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education, Rm 20B-141, x3-5049.