Students at large research universities often feel distanced from their professors, and vice versa. But a new program introduced at UW-Madison aspires to change the structure of teaching and learning on big campuses.
The Teaching Academy, a group of UW-Madison faculty and instructional staff recognized by their peers for their excellence in teaching, aims to include student voices in the discussion of effective teaching methods.
In January 2016, the Academy introduced U-CLaSS (Undergraduate Chat, Learn and Share Space) for undergraduates as part of UW-TEaCH (Teaching, Exploration and Collaboration Habitat).
According to Jamie Henke, a professor of music at UW-Madison and a member of the Teaching Academy’s Executive Committee, U-CLaSS marks an effort to improve teaching and learning through collaboration between professors, graduate teaching assistants and undergraduate students.
“We wanted to branch out beyond doing events [for teachers], and to also have programs where we share our teaching ideas and expertise with other people and communicate with the students,” Henke said.
U-CLaSS “chats” provide a forum for students to speak with professors and academic staff about common issues, challenges and possibilities in teaching and learning, according to the Academy’s website.
The chats have thus far taken place at Chadbourne Residential College, where student peer mentors lead discussions and faculty members play a listening role.
During the chats, students are asked to share their suggestions for better student-faculty interactions.
U-CLaSS was born out of the belief that student voices are crucial to the Teaching Academy’s efforts, according to John Zumbrunnen, a political science professor and also a member of the Teaching Academy’s Executive Committee.
“You can’t set learning objectives and outcomes unless you know the students,” Zumbrunnen said. “U-CLaSS is part of that broad effort to understand our students better so we can teach better, and that means reaching out to students and asking them.”
U-CLaSS is not the only way teachers can get feedback from students on their teaching methods. At the end of each semester, students fill out course evaluation forms to share what parts of a class were most effective.
However, Zumbrunnen says traditional evaluations, while often useful, are limited.
“I just think actually getting together and having sustained conversations with students is a lot better of a way for faculty to get to know their students and understand what they’re thinking,” Zumbrunnen said.
Since its establishment in 1993, the Academy has provided services for academic faculty members, but only recently has it expanded its benefits to other members of the UW-Madison community.
The majority of students who have participated in U-CLaSS are in their first year, but the Teaching Academy hopes to expand the program to a wider range of students in the future.
“We’ve had two U-CLaSS sessions now at Chadbourne, so we have that as a home base,” Henke said. “We’re now looking at how to engage other students who aren’t necessarily in Chadbourne.”
Zumbrunnen sees U-CLaSS as a long-lasting way to maintain student involvement in discussions on teaching and learning.
“The thing we really want to do is to get people earlier in their UW career participating in these U-CLaSS events and then build that over time so they stay with the program,” Zumbrunnen said. “There will be more ways coming—we’re just getting started.”
