Making learning a priority and fostering a sense of intellectual community were the broad themes that steered discussion at the annual Conference on Undergraduate Teaching.

The conference is a special meeting of the New Brunswick Faculty Council and is a chance for faculty members to network, exchange teaching techniques, and discuss different philosophies and approaches to pedagogy.

“This conference was about teaching, being in the room with students, and thinking about being there before you get there,” said Martin Gliserman, the conference coordinator and an associate professor of English. “Teachers were talking about ways to be nurturing and ways to structure experiences so that students are engaging in the work of learning.”

A wide-ranging discussion about the university’s core curriculum, which is being revised as part of ongoing transformations to undergraduate education at the New Brunswick/Piscataway campus, also took place.

Teaching large classes was a prominent topic this year. Many introductory courses at Rutgers have always had large enrollments, and engaging hundreds of students at a time in new subject matter is a perennial challenge.

Jennifer Mandelbaum, an associate professor of communication, teaches her department’s introductory course to 350 or more students. The large class, she said, is overwhelming to new students and they can easily lose interest in participating or attending class.

Some ways Mandelbaum engages students are to encourage class participation early in the semester, provide a detailed syllabus including directions to her office; discuss the challenges of a large class rather than dictating rules, rely on students with experience in large classes to help newer students adapt, and shift gears when students become restless.

One technique that drew the interest of faculty was the "one-minute paper." Genetics faculty member Terry McGuire asks students to answer one question in one minute at the end of class and write the answer on an index card. The question is usually about the day’s class – the best part, the worst part, the most interesting, or most difficult.

“You can see it in their bodies when they are bored,” Mandelbaum said. Changing topics roughly every 20 minutes keeps students’ attention, she said.

Terry McGuire, an associate professor of genetics, also relies on short learning segments and small, numerous assignments. He said this tactic not only holds their attention, but also helps retain class material.

“You can shape what they learn. If they retain nothing, then I’ve wasted my time ... I want them to remember for life,” McGuire said. “If they can’t make it to the end of the semester [and retain class material], we’re doing something wrong.”

One of McGuire’s techniques that drew the interest of faculty in attendance was the one-minute paper. McGuire asks his students to answer one question in one minute at the end of class and write the answer on an index card. The question is usually about the day’s class – for example, what was the best part, worst part, most difficult, or most surprising part of the lecture.

When he has a class of about 160, McGuire said he reads every index card. “Boy did I learn about teaching and what I wasn’t doing,” he said of the first time he read student responses. “I hear the voice of every student in class for the first time.”

Carolyn Williams, an associate professor of English, said during discussion that large courses can be effective if they are in the right setting. “I am a passionate believer in the small feel of a large course. We have heard a lot about it this morning and it’s really not that hard,” she said. “I think Rutgers needs to give us more nice classrooms of about 100 to 150 capacity where people can be comfortable and it can be an intimate setting.”