This blog post was written by an instructor who has participated in MEoTs. Feel free to leave any comments in response. To share your own experiences as an instructor or student, submit an entry of your own!
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Introduction
Name: Michael Griffin
Departments: Philosophy and Classical, Near Eastern & Religious Studies (Joint Appointment)
Courses in which MEoTs were conducted: CLST/PHIL 211 (65 seats) and CLST/PHIL 212 (61 seats)
Additional Information: These courses are two introductory surveys of Greek Philosophy, which run in sequence but are not co-requisites. They’re taught as interactive lecture courses, with an emphasis on class discussion and oral presentation, and are writing-intensive. The core competencies I try to teach in this course are written and oral argument and self-expression. These courses are frequently taken as electives by students without a background in the area.
Why did you decide to conduct a MEoT in these courses?
Although both courses are taught in a lecture theatre, I try to adapt them to student interests and needs each year, so that no two years are identical (this adaptability is a real value of the F2F approach over distance, I think). I also credit participation and oral presentation. The MEoT offers a great opportunity to put my money where my mouth is on the ‘interactivity’ front – student feedback midway through the term could adapt my teaching and evaluation approach and flag issues early – and it also gave me a chance to gauge whether I was offering the right mix of lecturing and information, on the one hand, and class discussion on the other, at a pace that suited the students; I have tweaked the pace of the course each year, and midterm student feedback offered a helpful data point to figure out whether I’d hit a good stride.
What positive impacts did conducting MEoTs have in your courses, and what is one best practice that you would suggest all of your colleagues keep in mind when conducting MEoTs?
The MEoT was very helpful in several respects. (1) It flagged that this year I’d found a good pace for the course, and if anything could speed up – past student evaluations sometimes found it too fast. This allowed me to comfortably include a bit more material without waiting for the end of term evaluations. (2) It showed that at least one or two of the students who spoke often in class were perceived by some as disruptive, which gave me and our TA a push to have an adjustment conversation with those students.
A best practice: encourage students to believe that responding to the MEoT really can change at least some aspects of the course for the better, that it’s done so in the past, and that courses really can adapt.
What was the biggest challenge or most negative part of conducting MEoTs in your courses, and what advice would you give to colleagues experiencing similar challenges?
I only got a 1/3 response rate, and I’m not sure how this compares to others’ experiences (perhaps it’s pretty good); I’d be glad to hear from others who did better. I don’t think making these mandatory is the way to go, but there might be better techniques for driving home the value of the exercise (as above).