2011 Guest Panels
Good educators should understand differences in how U.S. students and international students may approach their learning and how U.S. faculty and international faculty may approach their teaching. Understanding students' perception of their roles as learners (rooted in the context of their own national and cultural norms) and faculty's perception of their roles as instructors (also in part rooted in their own national and cultural norms) should help us gain new perspectives on how to design inclusive learning environment for all.
Wk 03 — 09/16 - International Faculty
Panel members: Johanne Brunett (Canada) | James Ntambi (Uganda) | Hasan Khatib (Israel).
Synopsis: Members of this panel are international faculty who, as many other international faculty on many campuses around the country, have never experienced life as an undergraduate in the United States. Johanne (evolutionary biology), James (Biochemistry and Nutritional Sciences) and Hasan (Dairy Science) have a strong interest and commitment to helping undergraduate learn a scientific discipline for which they are an expert. Each will share their personal stories going back to the challenges they met in their early days as undergraduate instructor.
Wk 04 — 09/23 - (International) Women in Science
Panel members: Dominique Brossard (France / Argentina) | Judith Burstyn (USA) | Laura Hernandez (El Paso, Texas)
Synopsis: Does it make any difference when cultural differences are compounded with gender issues? The members of this panel are (international) woman faculty: Dominique (Life Science Communication), Judith (Chemistry), and Laura (Dairy Science) with strong commitments to undergraduate education. As last week, our panel members will share their experience as undergraduate instructors, but with the added dimension of exploring gender issues.
Wk 09 — 10/28 - Case Study: China - US Teaching & Learning
Panel members: Mary Wang (USA), Linell Davis (USA) and Tony Ives (USA) | Que Lan (China).
Synopsis: This panel includes U.S. faculty and instructors who have extensive experience teaching in China (Mary Wang, Linell Davis and Tony Ives) and a ethnic Chinese professor teaching at the UW-Madison (Que Lan). Mary Wang has taught English in China (and Japan) and is now a faculty assistant in the English department helping international graduate students to become effective teaching assistants. Linell Davis has recently retired from many years of teaching "American culture" at the University of Xanjing (China). For his part, Tony Ives (department of Zoology) has completed a sabbatical during which he taught biology in China (University of Beijing). In contrast, Que Lan a UW-Madison professor (department of Entomology) will provide a "reverse" perspective as an ethnic Chinese faculty member teaching UW-Madison students.
Wk 10 — 11/04 - Connecting Cultural, Ethnic, Scientific and Instructional Identities
Panel members: Dietram Scheufele (Germany) | Patty Loew (USA; Native American) | Amin Fadl (Sudan) | Catherine Woodward (USA).
Synopsis: This panel will be asked to reflect on how cultural, ethnic background or scientific interests have shaped their identities as instructors. Dietram (Life Science Communication), Patty (Life Science Communication), Amin (Animal Sciences) and Catherine (Botany and Center for Biology Education) will share their thoughts on how their background and (or) scientific interests have influenced the development of their professional identities and roles as successful instructors in diverse classrooms.
Wk 10 — 11/11 - Faculty Learning Community | Student Learning Community
Panel members: Aaron Brower (UW-MadisonVice-Provist for Teaching and Learning) | Lillian Tong (Faculty Associate with the Center for Biology Education).
Synopsis: This panel will help us reflect on the importance of learning communities. Lilian has many years of practices in helping instructors share ideas and support each other in teaching in the biological sciences. Also, she has buildt interactions between the biology community and other disciplines across campus. For his part Aaron Brower's scholarship and teaching focuses on the transition from high school to college, and on a variety of issues related to college student life and “integrative learning” innovations in college education. The basic idea is that academic and social outcomes are produced when college environments blend in- and out-of-class learning and experiences to create communities of students, faculty and staff who share common learning goals (i.e., learning communities)