PKU-UMich holds the second session of Teaching Development Webinar
Nov 03, 2020
Peking University, November 3, 2020: On October 27, co-organized by PKU Office of International Relations, PKU Center for Excellent Teaching and Learning and the University of Michigan’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT), the second session of PKU-UMich Teaching Development Webinar was held with the theme of “The Study of the Best University Teaching Practice and Inclusive Teaching”. The webinar aims to promote the exchanges and cooperation with international universities, strengthen the sustainable development of teaching competence, and enhance education quality.
At the webinar, Dr. Deborah Meizlish and Dr. Whitney Peoples from CRLT were invited to give lectures. More than 100 faculty members from Peking University and other universities participated in the event online.
Dr. Meizlish pointed out that teachers should know the background of their students in the early phase of learning – who your students are, where they come from, what they have already known, and what they may concern. Dr. Meizlish also shared specific examples of how to enhance students’ motivation, which include identifying students’ purposes of learning, giving assignments like scenario simulation, letting students know the significance of learning, making them believe the possibility of being successful, providing accesses to success for all the students, providing them the opportunities to communicate with others, taking the advantage of peer pressure, and cultivating team spirit.
Dr. Deborah Meizlish
Dr. Peoples shared her experience in inclusive teaching. According to Dr. Peoples, inclusive teaching is to deliberately cultivate a learning environment where all students are treated equally, have equal access to learning, and feel welcome, valued and supported in their learning. She emphasized that inclusive teaching should attend to students’ personal and social identity, which is important in the cultural context of America. She also elaborated on the five principles of inclusive teaching – knowing the differences among students, structural interaction, scholarly community, transparency and flexibility.
Dr. Whitney Peoples
After the lectures, the attendees were divided into 10 groups to discuss related topics and share their thoughts, and group leaders summarized and submitted what they had discussed.
Written by: Yin Ruinong
Edited by: Zhou Meng
Source: PKU News (Chinese)
