Sharing Teaching Experiences

Dr. Sarah Busse Spencer, an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Sociology HSE, enjoys working with her motivated students.

What courses have you taught at the HSE?
I started with a course on research methods that I taught with Dr. Ben Lind, a seminar in English for the honours group in the Faculty of Sociology. We had a very short time to prepare and to divide the topics. Some of the themes that I saw as essential the students were already learning in parallel in the Russian language, because it's their “methods year” when they learn quantitative research methods. At first I was concerned because it seemed like learning the same thing twice, but now I think it was very helpful for them because they could focus on the new terms when they already knew what the idea was. Next time I would want more time to prepare, so that we could either go directly in parallel with the Russian course or do different subjects completely. We could plan it in some new ways to get new ideas. I don't want the students to think that everything is just a repetition of what they have already learned. When that course was finished. I also gave lectures on the principles of sociology for our first-year students. I enjoyed that very much, giving them background on some important authors that they will be reading.
Was it easy for you to figure out the requirements for making a syllabus?
Every university has its own rules on what a syllabus should look like and what it should contain. The rules are different here. So, yes, it was difficult for the first couple of weeks. Dr. Lind has been here for some time and he understood the rules better. At the same time I have taught this research methods course for almost seven years, so I brought a lot of experience in terms of the subject matter. Did you enjoy working with your students?I really enjoyed teaching them, they are very good students. I had only one student who didn't receive an excellent mark. I was very impressed with their research, with their topics and their level of preparation already by the second year. Students in the honours group have excellent English skills.Was it easy for the students to study in English?I did not know at the beginning what their level of English would be, but I found that their reading comprehension was very high. I discovered later that it was difficult for some of the students to give presentations in class. So, perhaps spoken English is more of a challenge. But that's why we have the course, for them to practice. In the future I will ask them to present more at the beginning, so that I understand their level in spoken and written English more quickly and see where they need help. I wish I had time to help my students with their English writing and grammar. This is something I hope that the academic writing centre can handle so that I can focus mainly on the content. This is important because it will be the key to these students' future success. By their final year they should be able to write English with accurate grammar. I have to admit I said the same things to my American students when I taught there, that grammar is important!
Do you think teaching is an important part of your work?
I do. I spent several years in teaching positions and I decided that I didn't want to teach only. But on the other hand I can't imagine just sitting in a laboratory and doing research. It's very important to share knowledge and see how students develop their knowledge and their understanding. It's also very helpful for me to see the kinds of questions the students ask. Why is this theory important? How does this theory apply today? If we read something from 100 years ago and I say, “Look, you need to read this important scholar from the 19th century”, they might ask “Why is it important?” That's a very helpful question for me. So, I cannot imagine my job without a teaching component.

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