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February 17, 1997

Winter Convocation on Teaching to focus on gateway classes

The third annual Winter Convocation on Teaching, scheduled for Tuesday, March 4, is titled "Teaching Gateway Classes to the Discipline: Problems and Possibilities."

Gateway classes, which are required lower-division courses that introduce students to selected majors or disciplines, pose a wide range of challenges for instructors. Among the challenges to be discussed are the frequently large class sizes, the differing levels of student preparation, the varied needs and expectations of today's students, and the methods of developing and passing down history and tradition for these courses.

Also to be discussed are ideas for involving senior faculty and mentoring junior faculty to succeed them, incentives for teaching these particular courses, and the role of graduate student teaching assistants.

A panel will begin the discussion before opening it up to all those in attendance. On the panel will be Margo Hendricks, an assistant professor of literature; Shelley Stamp Lindsey, an assistant professor of theater arts; Phokion Kolaitis, a professor of computer science; Stephen Wright, an assistant professor of psychology; and Lynn Fujiwara, a graduate student in sociology. Each of the panelists have first-hand experience with gateway courses. Committee on Teaching chair John Lynch will moderate the discussion.

The convocation will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. in Classroom Unit 1 and is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Committee on Teaching, the Associate Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education, and the Teaching Support Office. For more information, call the Teaching Support Office at (408) 459-5091.

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