How much do you share (teaching materials)?

[Caracal]

.... I now realize what I gave her was crap: just litanies of factoids gathered from various texts because I didn't really know what I was doing and was scrambling to cobble my classes together. ...

....my lectures and other materials are so much more polished as the result of a massive amount of work on my part, and so much a reflection of my own knowledge and perspective ....

I find this interesting because for me the exact opposite is true. When I began teaching more than 20 years ago, my notes were much more detailed than now. Now, when I teach a course for the first time, my notes are often detailed outlines of what I want to talk about, including specific facts. However, after I've taught a course several times, or if I am teaching a subject that I am more familiar with, my notes are often just a few key words to remind me to bring up certain subjects, or remember the exact dates of stuff or how to spell people's names.

Thus, if a colleague asked me for my materials for (say) my history of the United States in the 20th century, I would probably give them just the syllabus, copies of assignments, and some readings; not because I am trying to Bogart anything, but because it is all I have.

I am not saying my way is best, but it did strike me as the opposite of history_grrrl (who, I assume, is also a historian).

I think it has a lot to do with lecturing style and different ways of recalling information. I barely use my notes at all for courses I've been teaching for a while. I mostly just use the powerpoint to prompt me. The notes are mostly for direct quotes, or numbers or that kind of thing. I don't have a lot of text in the powerpoints, they are mostly headings and images with the occasional preview or review bullet points, so they basically just function as an outline for both me and the students.

[marshwiggle]

.... I now realize what I gave her was crap: just litanies of factoids gathered from various texts because I didn't really know what I was doing and was scrambling to cobble my classes together. ...

....my lectures and other materials are so much more polished as the result of a massive amount of work on my part, and so much a reflection of my own knowledge and perspective ....

I find this interesting because for me the exact opposite is true. When I began teaching more than 20 years ago, my notes were much more detailed than now. Now, when I teach a course for the first time, my notes are often detailed outlines of what I want to talk about, including specific facts. However, after I've taught a course several times, or if I am teaching a subject that I am more familiar with, my notes are often just a few key words to remind me to bring up certain subjects, or remember the exact dates of stuff or how to spell people's names.

Thus, if a colleague asked me for my materials for (say) my history of the United States in the 20th century, I would probably give them just the syllabus, copies of assignments, and some readings; not because I am trying to Bogart anything, but because it is all I have.

I am not saying my way is best, but it did strike me as the opposite of history_grrrl (who, I assume, is also a historian).

I think it has a lot to do with lecturing style and different ways of recalling information. I barely use my notes at all for courses I've been teaching for a while. I mostly just use the powerpoint to prompt me. The notes are mostly for direct quotes, or numbers or that kind of thing. I don't have a lot of text in the powerpoints, they are mostly headings and images with the occasional preview or review bullet points, so they basically just function as an outline for both me and the students.

I imagine what Kron was alluding to is that in STEM, lecture notes include things like derivations, diagrams, and so on that take time to make and are too tome-consuming and/or hard to get right made up on the spot. That's certainly the way for my teaching. If I'm just talking about concepts, I don't need much in my notes, but if I want to show some mathematical results or some analytical process, I need to have it in gory detail in my notes so I can't mess it up in front of the students. Similarly, if I want them to see a diagram properly labelled, I'll have it in a slide because my freehand drawing would be pretty sketchy, even more so if I were in a hurry.

[Kron3007]

.... I now realize what I gave her was crap: just litanies of factoids gathered from various texts because I didn't really know what I was doing and was scrambling to cobble my classes together. ...

....my lectures and other materials are so much more polished as the result of a massive amount of work on my part, and so much a reflection of my own knowledge and perspective ....

I find this interesting because for me the exact opposite is true. When I began teaching more than 20 years ago, my notes were much more detailed than now. Now, when I teach a course for the first time, my notes are often detailed outlines of what I want to talk about, including specific facts. However, after I've taught a course several times, or if I am teaching a subject that I am more familiar with, my notes are often just a few key words to remind me to bring up certain subjects, or remember the exact dates of stuff or how to spell people's names.

Thus, if a colleague asked me for my materials for (say) my history of the United States in the 20th century, I would probably give them just the syllabus, copies of assignments, and some readings; not because I am trying to Bogart anything, but because it is all I have.

I am not saying my way is best, but it did strike me as the opposite of history_grrrl (who, I assume, is also a historian).

I think it has a lot to do with lecturing style and different ways of recalling information. I barely use my notes at all for courses I've been teaching for a while. I mostly just use the powerpoint to prompt me. The notes are mostly for direct quotes, or numbers or that kind of thing. I don't have a lot of text in the powerpoints, they are mostly headings and images with the occasional preview or review bullet points, so they basically just function as an outline for both me and the students.

I imagine what Kron was alluding to is that in STEM, lecture notes include things like derivations, diagrams, and so on that take time to make and are too tome-consuming and/or hard to get right made up on the spot. That's certainly the way for my teaching. If I'm just talking about concepts, I don't need much in my notes, but if I want to show some mathematical results or some analytical process, I need to have it in gory detail in my notes so I can't mess it up in front of the students. Similarly, if I want them to see a diagram properly labelled, I'll have it in a slide because my freehand drawing would be pretty sketchy, even more so if I were in a hurry.

Exactly.  My slides do not have much text, they are mostly to present data and images.  In biology for example, pictures are essential.  I can't verbally describe or interpretive dance an anatomy diagram.  Even before PowerPoint most STEM profs were using overheads and projectors, as this is the best way to teach these concepts.

I suppose this makes sharing material a little different.