Undergraduate Teaching

The New Boy On the Block

The new university lecturer arrived at work early on Monday morning as he was to take his first class at 9 am - the following Wednesday. He was nervous as he had never taught before. He was lucky to get the position as his job interview exaggerations, and the strong recommendation from his friend, his former lecturer who worked at the university, seemed to have worked. Now being employed he realised that he now needs to deliver as required, or he may not be employed at the university for long.

Help Required

He was now getting very stressed and realised that he needed help. He asked his former lecturer, whom he was now friendly with, for help. His friend provided a quick reiteration of previous teaching and learning discussions they recently had by saying that in his opinion - effective teaching goes beyond conveying facts as it aims to ignite curiosity, develop skills, shape character, and inspire a love for learning.

He continued by saying that teaching and learning are dynamic and interconnected processes that, when harmonised, pave the way for holistic growth and success for the learner (and the student). After hearing this, the new lecturer became even more stressed and thought to himself “What is he talking about? How am I to achieve this?”. The older professor saw the stressed look on the younger man’s face.

The Lecturer as a Facilitator

As an experienced university lecturer, with both undergraduate and graduate students, he wanted to help and using user-friendly language he stated that a lecturer should not just be a traffic cop who controls the activities of the learners but depending on the subject the lecturer should grant the learners space to see creativity and innovation in the subject and in their studies in general. He said that he used this when teaching classes attended by the younger man.

Numbers Versus Customers

The older professor said that he did not want to treat those in his class as “numbers”, as often occurs in the education industry, but as “customers”. He seeks to treat those who attend well and give them an engaging and good quality education.

Undergraduate Versus Postgraduate

The new employee was now beginning to understand what he needed to do more clearly. It was fortunate that he attended several subjects taught by the older professor. He was pleased that his former lecturer agreed to act as a mentor, and would sit in on a few classes, and critically analyse his performance. This made the latter very happy.

Day One

Although nervous, the new lecturer went to his first class but became even more nervous when he saw the whole class was looking at him. With his heart pumping he said to himself that he was going to make a success out of his new vocation and took his glasses off so that he could not see the individual faces staring at him, and stepping forward he said “Welcome, I am …”.

Associate Professor Cyril Jankoff is the Associate Dean of Scholarship at UBSS and a member of the GCA Compliance Directorate.