One of the things that all great teachers share is the willingness to grow and develop as teachers. This growth is likely most effective and efficient if treated as a scholarly process, basing changes on data rather than only on assumptions. This area will suggest ways to gather information on which to develop new strategies and practices, as well as ways to document and share teaching innovations.
Successful university teaching requires both a deep knowledge of a field of study and mastery of a range of pedagogical skills. While there are a few “natural teachers,” the traditional view that content expertise is sufficient preparation for university level teaching is just not true for most instructors. Prior preparation in a range of teaching methods is important for most instructors to support the learning of their students.
However, teaching at the university is a complex web of skills, knowledge, and abilities. No preparation, no matter how good, will last for an entire career. Not only does the research on teaching and learning continue to grow, but students and their attitudes toward learning also change over time. Ongoing development of the professional skills and knowledge-base is crucial to maintain effectiveness.
Richlin (1995) conceives of university teaching on a continuum:
The following pages will provide some ideas and resources for each of these except unreflective teaching.
Earlier, we discussed assessing teaching and using student feedback. Here it is only necessary to mention that collecting student input using Classroom Assessment Techniques, student evaluation surveys, or focus groups and interviews are all useful methods to collect data for you to reflect upon, as you consider how to improve your teaching practice. However, students are only one source of data. Inviting peers to review your teaching plans can also be very helpful; they are much better able than students to respond to the appropriateness and currency of your content and to help you align your teaching with the curriculum of your program.
Your own thoughts are also critical to enhancing your teaching. Only you can define your goals, and only you can determine if you and your students achieved them. It is often helpful to record your thoughts about a course as it is in progress. Many instructors find that keeping a teaching journal, whether formally or as notes, can help them to remember what worked day by day, with a particular group of students. Waiting until the term ends may allow crucial insights to slip from your memory.
Various units at The Ohio State University sponsor seminars and workshops on teaching and teaching issues. Some of these may be discipline-specific, others more generally applicable. Faculty and TA Development (FTAD) consultants can be asked to help plan and deliver college or departmental workshops on teaching, courses for teaching associates on college teaching, visiting lecturers on teaching, and other programs initiated by the unit. There are also a variety of offerings at the university level. Many new instructors participate in the University Conference on Teaching & Learning <insert url> held at the beginning of the academic year. There are other workshops offered throughout the year by FTAD on a variety of topics, which are open to all teachers.
Professional teaching consultants are available to discuss any aspect of teaching, such as designing courses, enhancing classroom techniques, developing course materials, and documenting teaching effectiveness. Consultants work with faculty and TAs to take a scholarly approach to teaching, informed by research and based on the process of asking questions, gathering data, and planning responses. In many cases, we will work together during an initial consultation to choose among several possible methods for gathering feedback. We will then meet afterwards to analyze that feedback and plan how to respond to it. See <ftad.osu.edu/consultation.html> for specific ways we might be of assistance.
Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in College and University Teaching
While the Conference on Teaching & Learning and departmental orientations may be enough preparation for many new instructors, some graduate students will want more than this. The School of Education, Policy & Leadership, Faculty & TA Development and the Graduate School are collaborative partners of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in College and University Teaching. This program allows graduate students to engage in a rigorous, structured exploration of theories and practice of university-level teaching, both in general and in their own discipline, and to develop skills and experience that enable them as reflective, scholarly teachers as they prepare to enter the professorate. This specialization also provides a transcript designation for those students who complete the program. See <http://ehe.osu.edu/edpl/gis.html> for more information and class listings.
Mentoring provides one-on-one interaction for faculty and TAs wishing to develop their skills and learn from more experienced practitioners. There are many programs for teacher mentoring throughout the university. For the latest programs, please see <http://ftad.osu.edu>
Since 1996, the Graduate School has offered the Preparing Future Faculty Program, a collaborative program between The Ohio State University and leading liberal arts colleges and universities in Ohio designed to broaden the academic and professional horizon of Ohio State Ph.D. students. Specifically, the program offers an opportunity for approximately 40 Ohio State graduate students each year to experience first-hand the unique challenges and rewards of an academic career at liberal arts colleges through a partner relationship with a mentor-faculty member at PFF’s host institutions. This mentoring program is intended to prepare our graduate students for the challenges of the evolving professoriate, which increasingly includes greater emphasis on teaching and service in addition to the research role of university faculty. This program provides a capstone experience in its participants’ path toward becoming professors in ways that go beyond the traditional graduate experience.
The Graduate TA Fellows Program is professional learning community for senior graduate students who are nominated by their departments. Selected Graduate Teaching Fellows will participate in a comprehensive summer seminar, meeting twice per week during second summer session to study important aspects of teaching and teaching support at the university level and examining models for departmental GTA preparation and support programs. They will then meet once per month throughout the academic year to share ideas and assist with each others' project planning.
Graduate Teaching Fellows assist with departmental preparation and ongoing support of new GTAs. While they may participate in their departments’ pre-academic year teaching orientation and help GTAs get off to a good start, the central thrust of these programs will be to provide on-going systematic teaching support throughout the academic year. Teaching Fellows may observe and videotape GTAs, provide constructive feedback, share instructional strategies, or develop and present seminars and workshops. According to the needs of their individual departments, they will help design, modify, and implement the project proposals submitted by department chairs and faculty mentors with the program application.
The Academy of Teaching is an organization of faculty who are past recipients of the Ohio State Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching. Some Academy of Teaching members are willing to serve as mentors to other faculty members; a directory of these faculty is currently being organized.
The Ohio State Teaching Enhancement Programs (OSTEP) bring groups of Ohio State faculty and teaching associates together to explore a variety of issues in university teaching, to enhance their own teaching, and to support the teaching of their colleagues. Since 2000, FTAD has convened more than 30 communities with around 300 participants. <check numbers.
Each spring, instructors are invited apply to join one of a variety of communities, such as the Mid-Career & Senior Career Faculty Program or GTA Coordinators. A community consists of the selected 6-8 fellows plus a facilitator. Each member, including the facilitator, is given very modest funds to spend on professional development related to their teaching enhancement project. These funds may be spent on resources to support the project or dissemination of its results.
Communities meet regularly throughout the academic year to discuss their projects. Although projects vary between disciplines and communities, participants comment that it is a fruitful experience for them to discuss their teaching and their projects with members of other departments and realize that there are many overlaps in the issues faculty face, regardless of discipline. <insert url>.
A vast array of literature on teaching and learning is available for teachers at all stages of development, from very practical and accessible information and teaching tips to technical research on all topics in pedagogy. General newspapers and journals on college teaching include The Chronicle of Higher Education, Journal of Graduate Teaching Assistant Development, National Teaching and Learning Forum, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, and The Teaching Professor. Several of these are available on-line at <http://ftad.osu.edu/Publications/>
In addition to “generic” pedagogies that support learning in all fields, there are pedagogies that are especially appropriate to or that are embedded in the culture of a discipline – what Lee Shulman, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, calls “pedagogical content knowledge. Therefore, a large number of discipline-specific journals on college teaching also exist, such as the NACTA Journal [National Association of Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture], Journal of Teaching in International Business, TESOL Quarterly [Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages], and the Journal of College Science Teaching. An abridged list of other discipline-specific journals is maintained at the University of Kansas <http://www.idea.ksu.edu/ papers/pdf/Idea_Paper_28.pdf>.
FTAD maintains a “self-help rack” of short articles on ways to improve various aspects of teaching, as well as a resource library that contains an extensive collection of the most recent works on learning, teaching, and professional development at the college level. Because we know how difficult it would be remain current on the vast amount of literature in ones own discipline and in university pedagogy as well, FTAD consultants can help those interested find appropriate resources and literature on particular topics.
In Scholarship Reconsidered:Priorities of the Professoriate(1990), Ernest L. Boyer proposed a conception of multiple scholarships: Scholarship of Discovery, of Integration, of Application, and of Teaching. Boyer’s concept was refined over time, particularly by
Glassick, Huber, and Maeroff, in Scholarship Assessed (1997) and Laurie Richline in Scholarly Teaching & the Scholarship of Teaching, (1995, 2001) as cited above.
More recently, Huber and Hutchings (2005) explore the progress of SoTL work in changing the university in The Advancement of Learning:Building the Teaching Commons.
Briefly, the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) is currently conceived of as structured inquiry into our own teaching and our students learning, leading to dissemination of findings.While not every university teacher will want to do SoTL, many at Ohio State have chosen to do so. In 2003, several Ohio State faculty from diverse fields joined to support their own SoTL efforts and to advocate for SoTL with colleagues. This group was originally a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) sponsored by FTAD. After meeting for a year, the community chose to continue and expand their group.
The organization, The Ohio State Association for the Scholarship of Teaching (TOAST) meets regularly, discussing teaching and initiating and supporting SoTL projects. Although they are an independent faculty group, they have backing from both FTAD and Academic Affairs. See <ftad.osu.edu/toast>
Embracing SoTL in community has been energizing for these faculty; this enthusiasm can enhance teaching and student learning. Developing a strong, interdisciplinary learning community has been an effective means to build the capacity for SoTL, creating the "teaching commons" (Huber & Hutchings 2005) to make a greater difference than individual efforts could.
TOAST was selected by the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) as lead institution for an international group on "Building Scholarly Communities." Locally, they sponsor events to share work in progress and to develop the skills and knowledge needed to do this work. Each quarter, TOAST and FTAD present a seminar of SoTL work in progress and a workshop on a tool for doing SoTL..
Even if you never do a SoTL study, you are very likely to want to document your teaching practice and effectiveness. Such documentation can be useful as a tool for reflection and improvement, as support in a job search process, as evidence in tenure and promotion review, or in order to share your teaching practices with colleagues as part of your legacy.
The most common forms for this documentation include the course portfolio, the teaching portfolio, and the professional portfolio. A course portfolio includes information specific to a particular course. Such a portfolio would include syllabi, course materials, sample assignments, and an explanation for the rationale behind the assignments, and how your teaching methods and your course materials help students learn. The teaching portfolio describes and documents multiple aspects of your teaching ability, including but not limited to a single course. A professional portfolio is a collection of documents that you might submit as part of a job application or as you go through the promotion and tenure process. This type of portfolio would include all of your work as a scholar, including your research progress, your teaching experience and accomplishments, as well as your record of academic service.
See <http://ftad.osu.edu/portfolio> for samples and many resources for creating any of these portfolios.
Most university faculty members, even research extensive institutions such as Ohio State, spend a significant part of their working lives engaged in teaching and in supporting student learning. It only makes sense to seek to do this well. Regardless of what activities you choose to undertake in your professional development as a university teacher, the point is to try to continue to improve your teaching and your students’ learning.