Inspiration and insights from this autumn's lunch seminars with pedagogical hidden gems

Effective teaching for different types of students: Strategy and design in focus

Thomas Lundqvist from IV focused on course design to meet the needs and driving forces of different students. The reasoning was based on a distinction between strategy and tactics. Strategy is the most important thing and means investing in planning – so each element is carefully thought out and linked to the examination. Tactics, on the other hand, are all about small adjustments made over the course of the course to deal with unforeseen situations. These tactical measures Thomas likened to "small rescues on a runaway train", which underlines the importance of good strategic planning from the start.

Thomas plans his courses based on the idea that there are three main types of students, each with specific driving forces:

• Subject interested – motivated by the subject itself and seeking intellectual stimulation.

• Career-focused – strive to pass the course to achieve their career goals.

• Socially motivated – driven by community with the group.

In order to create a course that appeals to all driving forces, interesting lectures and challenging extra assignments are proposed to stimulate those interested in the subject. For those who are career-focused, explicit information about minimum requirements and constructive linking, i.e. clear links between activities and examination, is particularly important. Finally, group work, laboratory work and competitions can be used to engage the socially motivated

An important point that was highlighted is the importance of respecting all students' driving forces. For example, it must be completely legitimate for a student to be socially motivated or to ask for minimum requirements to pass the course. By accepting and adapting the course design to these differences, you can create a more inclusive and effective learning environment.

Relationships and professional encounters – keys to success in teaching

Marita Lundström from IoS gave an engaging presentation on how relationships, collaboration and professional meetings can strengthen the learning environment and promote student development. She practices what she preaches – and modelled her teaching tricks on us participants in the seminar – we were given small assignments and questions during the lecture that made us get to know each other a little better.

Marita emphasized that the relationship between teacher and student is central to the student's engagement and that small efforts such as learning names and chatting about everyday things create a feeling of being seen and appreciated. This strengthens the students' presence in teaching. In joint activities, students can build engagement, gain new perspectives and be inspired to learn more, which often results in both better performance and a stronger sense of cohesion in the class.

A professional and relationship-oriented approach in the meeting with students is also crucial for creating trust in the teacher. An example of this, according to Marita, is that students then feel confident that their examinations are fair. She also shared concrete tools to promote communication in the classroom, such as Talk Moves where students are encouraged to listen, develop reasoning and think together.

Marita concluded with a quote from John Dewey - "Teaching must first of all be human, and only then 'professional'.

Language as a tool for collective thinking

Kurt Wicke, a retired teacher from IoS, presented during his seminar a thought-provoking mind-map based on sociocultural theory. The theme was the role of language as a tool for collective thinking, with a central idea of higher education as a transformative experience. However, the transformation should take place on the student's terms, and be characterized by "I want to", "I can" and "I dare".

Our educational mission is not about deceiving, persuading or forcing students to act correctly, but about creating opportunities for self-change through collaborative insight. Kurt's central question, "How do you think it is connected?", aims to create space for reflection and joint knowledge development.

In his teaching practice, Kurt sees teaching methods as social practices that make visible and problematize different discourses for the students. He reflects on what the students need to experience in order to be able to practice what is the goal of teaching. One of his methods, inspired by problem-based learning (PBL), is based on the questions: "What do we know?", "What do we think", "Why do we think that?" and "What do we need to know?". These questions help students reflect on their knowledge, beliefs, and their social context, thus increasing awareness of their own knowledge system. This promotes deeper learning and personal development, while also providing students with tools to become active and conscious actors in their learning process.

One chance left!

Have you missed these opportunities for educational inspiration? Don't worry! You still have one chance left. On January 9, Wayne Coetzee will present his thoughts on teaching sensitive subjects to international student groups (held in Swedish),

A warm welcome!