Henry Walbesser

A Brief Primer on Teaching: for New University Personnel Henry Walbesser

These are times when the quality of undergraduate teaching is being reexamined at most research universities in the United States. The higher education profession has rediscovered the need for a quality program for undergraduate teaching, and its immediate impact upon student retention. An improved national reputation for the institution is a serendipitous additional outcome of improved teaching. This is a book of suggestions about teaching, and is intended for those who are new to teaching at the higher education level. Assistant professors fresh from completing a Ph. D., newly appointed instructors, first year graduate teaching assistants are the intended audience, and those professors responsible for helping new employees adjust to a professorial life. Twenty-one teaching tactics are described in clear, simple English. Pick and choose those that seem the most helpful to you. One last piece of advice, effective teaching is much more an art form than it is a science. Just as artists develop their own distinctive style, so too it is with teachers.