Critical Incidents Videotapes

University of Victoria's Learning and Teaching Centre has developed a series of Critical Incidents videotapes. These tapes are in use at more than five hundred colleges and universities worldwide. The tapes are often used in teaching development workshops for faculty, sessional instructors and teaching assistants where a facilitator is present to guide the discussion.

A critical incident may be thought of as a highly compressed case study that poses a problem but offers no preferred solution. In this series the University of Victoria has produced dramatized video vignettes that depict a wide variety of challenges associated with teaching and learning in higher education. Each scene lasts for 3-4 minutes and discussion questions follow each episode. A discussion guidebook is included in the purchase price of each videotape.

The vignettes have been used to trigger problem-solving discussions among a wide variety of campus groups including faculty, part-time instructors, graduate teaching assistants, graduate students enrolled in courses on university teaching, undergraduate students and administrative staff.

Cost: Canadian orders are $100 for each tape (includes postage and taxes). U.S. and foreign orders are $110.U.S. (includes postage and taxes).

To order or check for recent additions, check out the University of Victoria's Learning and Teaching Centre.

The following list of vignettes is reproduced with permission from U of V's Learning and Teaching Centre and are available in our Teaching Resource Centre:

• Critical Incidents I
• Critical Incidents II
• Critical Incidents III
• Critical Incidents IV
• Critical Incidents V

Critical Incidents I:

Tape 1: Incident #1: "Do I Have to Write it for You?"

A dependent student is meeting with a professor to get advice on how to complete an essay assignment. The vignette raises questions about the amount of help that should be extended to students and the ways in which people may be helped to achieve higher levels of conceptual reasoning.

Tape 1 Incident #2: "Boring!"

A history professor is lecturing in a particularly monotonous way. Student attention is obviously lagging. The scene prompts discussion of ways to enliven presentations and maintain student attention.

Tape 1 : Incident #3: "Extensions, Extensions..."

A student buttonholes a teacher with a last-minute request for an extension on an assignment deadline. This tends to stimulate discussion of when and how to deal with requests for extensions to deadlines for submission of assigned work.

Tape 1: Incident #4: "Petulant and Persistent"

A petulant and persistent student is complaining to a professor about a grade that she has been given for an assignment in his course. The professor becomes quite defensive and this encourages participants to identify some of the do's and don'ts in dealing with complaints about assigned grades.

Tape 1: Incident #5: "Hectoring and Harassment"

An aggressive male student is contesting a grade that he has been given by a female faculty member. The student’s behaviour escalates towards intimidation and harassment. This incident stimulates discussion of both preventative and responsive strategies.

Tape 1 Incident #6: "Failure to Project"

A teacher is struggling to convey information but making a series of mistakes in his use of the overhead projector. This prompts discussion of the appropriate use of the overhead projector including such considerations as pacing, legibility and alternative presentation media.

Tape 1: Incident #7: "Campaigning for TA Alliance"

An undergraduate student is trying to win the support of the teaching assistant for his complaints about a professor. This raises issues that may occur in the relationship between TA's to their supervising professors and also the question of where TA's should position themselves in their relationships with undergraduate students.

Tape 1: Incident #8: "TA's Adrift"

Two graduate teaching assistants share their frustration at the lack of clear grading protocols for the course to which they are assigned. They feel that the professor should be giving more direction in order to assure uniformity in standards. This situation triggers discussion of fairness and appropriate supervision.

Tape 1: Incident #9: "Students Seeking Structure"

Two students come to a professor's office to express concern about his teaching methods which they find too informal and unstructured. This encounter will encourage participants to explore the place of experiential learning methods and the impact of learning styles on this approach.

Tape 1: Incident #10: "International Misunderstanding"

Three students from Indonesia have come to their professor to request that he spend more time lecturing and less on class discussion. This vignette promotes discussion of the impact of cultural factors on teaching and learning processes.

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Critical Incidents II: Close Encounters of the Academic Kind

Tape 2: Incident #1: "Missing Paper"

A student insists that she handed in a paper, but the instructor has no record or recollection of it. The student then offers to print a fresh copy. This encounter raises questions of fairness and flexibility.

Tape 2: Incident #2: "Losing Control"

An instructor who encourages lively classroom discussion encounters problems as the class deteriorates into a verbal free-for-all. This situation can be used to stimulate an exploration of guidelines for equitable and effective class discussions.

Tape 2: Incident #3: "Voices of Women"

Two students meet with an instructor to suggest that his academic approach-- and his classroom behaviour--are biased towards male participation and a male perspective. This scene tends to prompt discussion of a wide variety of gender issues in the classroom.

Tape 2: Incident #4: "Harassment and Cultural Differences"

A Muslim teaching assistant appeals to her supervisor to confront a male undergraduate student who the TA feels has been paying undue attention to her. This stimulates discussion of cultural differences, perceived harassment and the role of the harassment office.

Tape 2: Incident #5: "Diversity and Expectations"

A Chinese teaching assistant approaches a TA colleague for advice on how to handle many of his North American students who don't seem to do the required preparation for his Chemistry labs. This promotes exploration of laboratory assistant supervision and cultural differences in teaching and learning.

Tape 2: Incident #6: "Academic Standards"

An African-American student questions the comments that a professor has written on his paper; he construes them as inappropriate and racist while the instructor maintains that he must uphold reasonable academic standards. This scene triggers discussion of the assumptions of the cultural perspective of the academy and what may or may not constitute racism.

Tape 2: Incident #7: "Trust and Fairness"

A student with special learning needs explains the reasons why she will require a change in the format of an exam. The instructor wants to ensure that this arrangement will be fair to other students. This encounter stimulates discussion of the many issues related to the accommodation of students with special needs.

Tape 2 Incident #8: "Group Assignment"

Two students explain to an instructor the problems that they are encountering with a non-productive member of their project group. This scenario flags issues related to the assignment of group work and group grades.

Tape 2: Incident #9: "Proof Perfect"

A student whose work has suddenly and dramatically improved is asked by the course instructor to explain how he achieved this success. It emerges that he received a good deal of assistance from a friend and this raises the issue of when peer helping can lead to academic dishonesty.

Tape 2: Incident #10: "Publish or Perish"

A newer faculty member is given some advice by a senior member of his department on the necessity of concentrating on research and publication rather than on teaching. This encounter triggers discussion of ways to achieve an acceptable balance in a variety academic responsibilities.

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Critical Incidents III: "Legends of the Fall Term"

Tape 3: Incident #1: "Inattentive Invigilator"

An overworked instructor who is supervising an end of term exam is using the time to complete some other marking. She fails to adequately monitor the examinees and this results in a situation that raises issues related to cheating and fairness.

Tape 3: Incident #2: "First Year Frustrations"

Three students in their first year of university commiserate with one another about some of their experiences with classes and professors. This promotes discussion of the experiences of first year students and ways to improve their learning conditions.

Tape 3: Incident #3: "Special Arrangements? Not Me!"

A faculty member is reluctant to acknowledge and accommodate a student with a learning disability despite advice from the university lawyer that he is required to do so. This encounter stimulates discussion of the many issues related to the accommodation of students with special needs.

Tape 3: Incident #4: "Student Passivity"

A struggling professor is failing to elicit any response from students in a compulsory first year English Literature course which is intended to be driven by class discussion. This promotes the identification of the purpose of class discussion and optimal ways to achieve the maximum participation of students.

Tape 3: Incident #5: "Dominance and Discomfort"

A mature, male student dominates the class discussion and challenges the instructor. This is evidently frustrating to both the professor and the other students. This vignette stimulates discussion of a wide range of issues related to age, race, gender and general classroom management.

Tape 3: Incident #6: "Student Success or Faculty Sanction"

An instructor is warned by the chair of his department about what she regards as the excessively high grades achieved by his students. It emerges that this professor is using a mastery-learning approach which permits students to repeatedly submit work until it reaches the required criteria. This stimulates a wide discussion of grading practices and policies.

Tape 3: Incident #7: "Learner Perspectives"

Three students see the same instructor in very different ways and find him variously effective in meeting their individual learning needs. This exchange triggers an exploration of differences learning styles and stages and the challenges that these pose for instructors.

Tape 3: Incident #8: "Referral Required?"

A student is meeting with a professor to request an extension of the due date for submitting an assignment. However, as the conversation progresses some emotionally-charged issues begins to surface. This incident is useful in promoting discussion on where and when to refer students with personal concerns and when to grant extensions.

Tape 3: Incident #9: "Undue Collaboration?"

Two graduate teaching assistants discuss whether student collaboration on assignments is useful and acceptable, or dishonest and reprehensible. This conversation raises questions about grading protocols and practices and the place and value of collaborative learning.

Tape 3: Incident #10: "Discouraged Innovator"

A faculty member who has tried an innovative teaching approach is sharing with a colleague his disappointment with the way in which some of his students responded to attempt at creative work. This situation fosters discussion of student expectations and the ways to effectively introduce new teaching practices.

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Critical Incidents IV: "Sense and Sensitivity: Issues of Fairness"

Tape 4 : Incident #1: "Approachable Technologies"

An unhappy student accosts the professor to complain about his use of a website to convey important course information. This woman is a single mother with limited time to access campus computers and no money to purchase her own. This encounter triggers discussion of equity and access in using some of the new communication technologies.

Tape 4 :Incident #2: "Theses: The Lore and the Profs"

Three graduate students are discussing their various struggles with the professors serving as their thesis supervisors. In no case does the relationship seem to be notably productive. This conversation fosters discussion of the mutual expectations of graduate students and their thesis supervisors.

Tape 4 :Incident #3: "Critical Student Comments"

A head of a department is discussing with a junior, untenured professor her most recent teaching evaluations. He singles out a few rather damning anecdotal comments. This situation raises questions about the place of anonymous student comments in the evaluation of teaching and the possible influence of gender in this process.

Tape 4 : Incident #4: "Whose View Is True?"

Three instructors are sharing their individual perceptions of the same student. They have widely differing points of view and thus various ways of responding to this student. The scenario provokes discussion of confidentiality and the impact of differences in learning style/stage and teaching style.

Tape 4 : Incident #5: "Stereotypes and Biases"

Two students are venting their frustrations with a course in which the professor permits stereotyping of followers of Islam to take place during class discussions. They are also concerned that the professor singles them out to comment on South-Asian issues. This exchange stimulates discussion of class norms for respectful discussion.

Tape 4 : Incident #6: "Temporary Instructor Tensions"

Two term-appointed or temporary instructors confront the chair of their department about what they perceive as the unfair allocation of teaching assistants. A senior professor with a small class has a TA--they do not. This exchange raises issues related to the increasing reliance on teaching by term appointed instructors rather than tenured faculty.

Tape 4 : Incident #7: "Who Is Responsible?"

A professor is approached by a student who is concerned about an error in the instructions for an examination. The professor first attempts to deflect the blame on to a secretary. This encounter triggers discussion of staff and student relations and appropriate faculty behaviour.

Tape 4 : Incident #8: "Grading Mysteries"

Three undergraduate students pick up their graded assignments but are mystified by the instructor's comments and the grades that they have been assigned. The episode prompts discussion of the need for detailed feedback and clear grading standards.

Tape 4 : Incident #9: "Who Gets the Credit?"

A graduate research assistant is preparing materials for a conference presentation to be made by her research supervisor. Although she has compiled much of the data and written a significant part of the presentation she laments to a colleague that she will receive no recognition. This raises questions such as when and in what way graduate students should be credited for their contributions to faculty research projects.

Tape 4 : Incident #10: "Expectations Overload"

Two new faculty share their concerns about extra work generated because of their special status or skills. One is a new female appointment in a Science department, the other is highly computer literate and is much in demand to provide consultation and assistance to his colleagues. This triggers discussion of workload and recognition for these kinds of contributions.

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