Graduate Seminars
Kris Bruss: "We were talking about graduate education—about some of the challenges, and things that we've learned."
Bonnie Johnson: "When I was making the jump from being a TA and teaching undergraduates to then being a professor and teaching graduate students, I think, for myself, I was very confident teaching the undergraduates. When I switched to graduate students, I think I lost some of my confidence. Just not knowing what to expect, that I was afraid, 'Oh, they'll already know this,' or 'How do I sit down and have a discussion with a group of eight people?' And probably the best advice that I got was to embrace that, 'No, you do know more than they do.' And to trust that you know what direction to take the class, and to take the students, and you really do know what you're doing."
KB: "I think that's important because there is an awful lot of uncertainty initially. When you're talking about three hours, sitting in a room with six people, or eight people, that can be very difficult. That's something that I think I've certainly had to adapt to. How do you master that art of working the small room?"
BJ: "I think if people aren't so hard on themselves, and realizing that each one of those groups of six or eight students are going to be different. To be able to adapt to that. When I do seminars I try to think of what's the big arc, the big story that I want this class to tell? What is it that I want students, when they're writing a comprehensive exam or they're having to use that for their own research, what is it that they're going to remember?"
KB: "Making it real—yes, it's so important to align what we do in graduate education with whatever students are going to be doing after they graduate. Teach them what they need to know: and that's a big challenge with graduate education, figuring out what those desired outcomes are."