Course
Enhancing understanding and effective communication in teaching
- Date
- Thursday 7 March 2024
- Time
- Address
- Sterrenwacht
Sterrewachtlaan 11
2311GW Leiden - Room
- C0.05
On Thursday 7 March or Tuesday 9 April teaching staff can take part in a training course Enhancing understanding and effective communication in teaching. The course provides tools to help teachers understand the world as students see it and teaches them how to get students better involved in their class. It has been designed by ECIO, centre of expertise for inclusive education.
Part 1 – Awareness: your position in relation to others
This part of the course focuses on awareness and self-reflection. While teaching and connecting with students, your actions are based on your own judgement. You draw conclusions about the person or thing in front of you based on your own perspective and then act accordingly. This session reveals how unconscious bias operates in the brain and its potential impact on your interaction with others, and ultimately on the supervision and teaching you provide your students. You will receive tips on preventing unconscious bias from dominating your interaction with others.
Part 2 – The different types of student: understanding other people’s perspectives
In order to connect and engage with your students more effectively in lessons, you first need to understand the issues they may be facing and how to deal with them. These issues may include:
- being distracted in class;
- being extremely shy and not asking questions;
- submitting assignments late or not at all, not sticking to deadlines;
- struggling to maintain a clear overview of the course content.
There are several reasons why students may display the above types of behaviour. In the second part of the session, we will explore common reasons for this behaviour such as cultural differences, mental health issues and neurodiversity. Based on these factors, we will look at: 1. Why these types of behaviour occur; and 2. What teaching staff can do to help when someone displays such behaviour.
The training course will be run twice, with up to 30 participants per session. Additional sessions will be organised subject to demand. The course will be provided in Dutch or English depending on the participants’ overall preference. You can submit your preference on the registration form.
If you have any questions or comments about this training course, please contact the Faculty’s Diversity & Inclusion Coordinator and Wellbeing Officer, Susanne Deen, at s.j.deen@law.leidenuniv.nl