Seminar

This presentation will explore three primary teaching / programme structure concepts
before yielding to open discussion:

(1) Future directions for stewardship of the Geology major will be articulated, including
a skills and content review, philosophy for matching instructors with content, and
potential small changes to the required major courses.

(2) A communications-intensive programme structure strategy will be discussed. This
will start with an introduction to "communications-intensive" courses, and explain the
implementation of this approach in EASC4407 Regional Geology. Next, I will
review how an undergraduate "distinguished communicator" programme can be an
effective mechanism for improving teaching quality broadly across the university.

(3) The costs, benefits, and best-practices of field mapping coursework will be reviewed,
with particular attention to its power for scientific method training. These concepts will
then be discussed in the context of introductory-level teaching, the current EASC4955
Integrated field studies course, and the training of post-graduate students. A one-week
field mapping short course for post-graduates will be advocated as a mechanism to
enhance the future scientific success of our research students.
These three topics will be followed by an open discussion in JL104, and then perhaps
continuing discussion for interested faculty in the Senior Common Room.