I am going in for an on campus interview next week. I was told I need to do a 30 minute presentation on a "calculus topic" (the job is for a math tutoring center director at a small liberal arts college). I was told I can use white board space or any other technology. Originally, I thought this meant candidates are supposed to select a section from the standard curriculum and perform a teaching demonstration.
However, when I was given details about the "Talk" I was told to submit a title and abstract. This was slightly confusing to me, as title and abstract usually are more "general audience talks" on a topic people may have not seen, not a teaching demonstration. I sent an email to the search committee asking for clarification on whether this was supposed to be a "general audience talk" or a teaching demonstration (as I would do it in class). I was told the following:
"One of the purposes of the talk is to get an idea of how well the Math Center Director would explain math when working with students, so we would like to see each candidate present a calculus topic. To be consistent with what we have requested of the other candidates for the position, please select one topic from calculus that you would like to present."
I think this means that it is a teaching demonstration for a particular section in the calculus curriculum, but how would you give an abstract in this case (presumably, they would already know about the material).
If anybody could decipher what kind of "talk" this is supposed to be, that would be very helpful. I have sent a couple of lines of communication, but I am still not completely sure what the "talk" is supposed to be.