generated during ten minutes of instruction to provide for a few reinforcing pieces of feedback and a similar
amount of growth producing feedback. If the lesson was longer, the feedback could not focus as well on a
few teaching strengths and areas for growth. (It is not necessary to completely overhaul the instructor after
a mini-lesson or during a workshop. The aim is to identify a few areas for improvement and to give the
instructor the confidence to work toward that improvement.)
Instructional Skills
Workshop participants are encouraged to experiment with unfamiliar techniques during the workshop.
The learning is experience-based. For example, if an instructor has never used buzz groups, he/she is
encouraged to incorporate the technique into a mini-lesson. The instructor will receive immediate feedback
on the effectiveness of the technique and concrete suggestions for improvement.
The essence of a good feedback session is summarized in the workshop handout material:
The feedback session is not an analysis of or discussion about a lesson! Rather, it is the
process of helping a teacher in his or her own professional growth. The content of the
process is specific, behavioral feedback based on our own personal experience with the work
that the teacher has just done. The dynamic of the process is our own sense of caring for the
teacher as a person.
Workshop Facilitators
The Instructional Skills Workshops are conducted by regular faculty members who have been trained to
be workshop facilitators. Facilitator Training Workshops (FTWs) encompass the regular ISWs and add an
additional layer of feedback during each mini-lesson cycle. The added 20 minutes is used to provide
feedback to the facilitator-in-training. An additional half day, Day 5, is also incorporated into the FTW to
cover workshop implementation issues. Several settled-in faculty members have found these adventures in
adult, peer group learning to be rewarding and revitalizing. Facilitating Instructional Skills Workshops for
their peers provides an added avenue for personal growth and fulfillment.
After the Workshop
After the workshop, the tremendous sense of team that developed among the participants during the
workshop continues. It is truly a risky business exposing your teaching skills to fellow teachers. It is
through the risking of relationships by trying new techniques and sharing feedback that closeness develops,
so in this sense the ISW is a beginning. Throughout the teaching year, workshop participants visit each
others’ classes, often equipped with a video camera, and then meet afterwards to debrief each other on their
experiences. Through this collegial interaction, interdepartment rapport within the college is established.
Scheduling Workshops
ISWs are normally scheduled during the time allocated for professional development in the full-time
faculty member's contract. When four full consecutive days are not available, alternative workshop formats
are used, An ISW requires 24 hours; any combination of hours and days yielding this time is feasible. The
following formats have been used:
|. two consecutive full-day Friday-Saturday blocks;
2. six weekly meetings of four hours; e.g., 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, or 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
on Thursdays. ,
The Instructional Skills Program
Over 2,500 faculty members have participated in the Instructional Skills Program. About 250 faculty have
been trained to facilitate ISWs, and another 50 have been trained to train facilitators. Through their
participation in the program, experienced instructors have renewed their interest in teaching, first-time
instructors have acquired classroom survival skills, and colleges have been able to address the changing
needs of their teachers and students.

Earl G. Bloor
Planning & Research Officer

For further information, contact the author at Alberta Career Development & Employment, 20th Floor, Park
Square Building, 10001 Bellamy Hill, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5] 3W5.

 

 

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor
April 3, 1987, Vol. IX, No. 10

INNOVATION ABSTRACTS Is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, EDB 348, The University of
Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, (512)471-7545. Subscriptions are available to nonconsortium members for $35 per year. Funding in
part by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Issued weekly when classes are in session during fall and spring
terms and once during the summer.

“ The University of Texas at Austin, 1986
Further duplication Is permitted only by MEMBER Institutions for their own personnel. ISSN 0199-106X

 

 

 

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