Re: Male teaching methods? - was: Re: Women in FOSS at OSWC II
* Almut Behrens <almut-behrens@gmx.net> [2006:02:26 16:49 +0100]:
> Hi all, (guess I haven't posted here for ages...)
Indeed, but it's good to see you posting again... :)
> On Sun, Feb 26, 2006 at 09:06:47PM +1100, Pia Waugh wrote:
> >
> > (snipped lots of good stuff)
> >
> > ... In that case, it turned out that his teaching methods were a
> > very male way of learning, and so the women had to go out on their
> > own a bit more to learn.
>
> Could you elaborate on what you mean by "male" here in the context
> of learning/teaching?
>
> The reason I ask is that way back at university I was (among other
> things) teaching introductory computer courses to students of the
> social sciences (and therefore mostly women).
>
> At the end of the courses, I usually asked for feedback and
> constructive criticism, and sometimes I got remarks saying my teaching
> style was mostly fine, "but a bit too male". Now, I would really have
> loved to understand that ('cos I'm a woman - at least biologically :)
> I asked what they meant, but somehow they could never really enlighten
> me about it...
Hmm, so I've been racking my brain about this for ages -- thinking back
to all of my teachers and professors, mentors and colleagues, etc. I
honestly cannot think of what it means to have a male teaching style (or
a female one, for that matter). The feedback you got was very
interesting... or maybe just plain strange. The bit I find most
intriguing is that you were "too male"! Were the men ever too male? Or
too female? One has to wonder...
I will say that at my place of employment, there is a very strong
tendency to let people work/learn on their own and something I've
discovered is that I am just not good at that -- I do better when
working with another person and talking out ideas, which is very
stereotypically "feminine". I'm curious whether your teaching style ever
emphasized working alone over group work. My classes were pretty evenly
split, though thinking back, I believe I had many female science
teachers and many male liberal arts teachers, so it may be difficult to
say much about their teaching styles, since both kinds "crossed over",
so to speak.
--
off the chain like a rebellious guanine nucleotide
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