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Professor Dana Lee Dana Lee is an associate professor in Ryerson University’s RTA School of Media, as well as the manager for the Media Production Program. Before starting his teaching career at Ryerson University, Dana was the Supervisor of Operations at MuchMusic. His research interests include online collaborative learning and the development of teaching software. He has received numerous rewards for his teaching excellence, including the President’s Award for Teaching Excellence, the OCUFA Teaching Award, and – most recently – the Chancellor’s Award of Distinction. What do you enjoy most about teaching? A lot of what I enjoy about teaching is the performance. There’s teaching in a lecture hall, with the teacher simply droning on, viewing students as open, empty vessels ready to be filled with knowledge. But I want a conversation, and – in a way – teaching is like a never-ending conversation. It is a two-way street, not a one-way street, and – as a teacher – you just can’t look at it like that, as a one-way discussion. You have to view teaching as a constant learning experience. As a result, I love the days when I can go home and say, “That was such a cool day!” – that’s the reason I want to get up in the morning. Professor Dana Lee receiving the President’s Award for Teaching Excellence at Ryerson Awards Night, March 27, 2017.
Would you like to tell us about an innovative teaching method that you are using or have used in your class?
One of the innovations in my teaching practice has been online office hours. Every professor needs to have posted office hours - it’s a requirement of the position. So when I was thinking about how to best help students understand concepts they were struggling with, I was thinking I could book a room and hold office hours. But students might have jobs and other responsibilities, and might not be able to come. Then I thought, what about an online tool? I could use a webcam, I could show some slides, and I could use a text chat box so the students could ask questions. This was something I was thinking about over 10 years ago. So I spoke to the Digital Media Projects (DMP) team and talked to Jeremy Littler. He had something that was in very early beta stages, that would allow my students and I to do web-based chats for online office hours. Since then, it has come a long way. Now I can present content, draw diagrams, hold things up to the camera, discuss questions via chat and a lot more. And best of all, if someone can’t make it because they have a work shift or other responsibility that night, they can still view the recording of the session afterward. In other words, if they can’t be there when we’re live, they can still participate and take advantage of the online office hours later, and learn from the great discussions that had gone on.
What inspired you to include this teaching method in your class? I had a class one year that was really struggling and so I asked them how they had prepared for tests in high school. They said their teachers would provide them with a “study guide” with no context; it was essentially the questions they would see on the exam and a request that they memorize the content needed to answer these questions. Now, we know that the learning process is very different in university, and that students require context in order to understand the material. It was this experience that inspired me to do a Scholarly, Research, and Creative (SRC) project one summer. I created a YouTube series called University 101 to help high school students transition to university. These tools – delivering videos, online office hours –they aren’t an easy way out, where students are given all the answers. These are ways to help the students learn, understand better and do better in the class. And now, ten years later, because of the advancements in technology, I can do so much more with it. I see this approach has really improved understanding, and test marks have improved along with that better understanding. I always tell students that everything I’ve told you in this course is material you are going to use in the field, material you are going to need in your jobs. The online office hours really allow that discussion to happen. What’s your best advice for instructors who might be interested in learning more or getting started with these approaches? I have a quote on my wall, that was inspired by the year I took off and travelled. I sold half my things and put the other half in storage, packed a backpack and left. When I was asked where I would go, I said, “London”, and when I was asked where I would go after that, I said, “I don’t know.” So, the quote on my wall pertains to that: “The most interesting life is inherently unsafe.” However, I think the same idea applies to teaching, where one can state that “The most interesting teaching is inherently unsafe.” In other words, sometimes you should try things that you aren’t sure are going to work. I try new things all the time, and sometimes I am not certain about whether it will work out or not. And as educators, there’s a temptation to do the safe thing. We get comfortable, there’s a routine to our teaching practices. But we have to keep moving, keep trying something new, trying something a little different. It is unsafe sometimes, to get out of your comfort zone. But it is worth it. Also having a sense of humour helps. Sometimes I’ll attend a lecture in science or computer programming and I’ll be fascinated. The instructor will tell funny stories and make the topic come alive with case studies and interesting approaches, and I’ll say to him or her afterwards, “I wish I could audit your class all year.” That’s when you just know it isn’t about the topic, it is about the teaching.
Interviews conducted by Asma Farooq and Tanya Pobuda. Written by Zahra Vahedi.
