90 research outputs found

    Experiences with Supporting Teachers with Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at a Research-Intensive University: Lessons Learned

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    Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is a fast-maturing field of study within many research-intensive universities. SoTL improves the quality of teaching, the professional development of teachers, and the recognition and appreciation of education. To encourage SoTL, it is important to know how to support teachers. This study describes two pilot initiatives with the goal to encourage and support teachers at a research-intensive university with their first SoTL project. In both pilots, a community of practice (CoP) approach was used. The experiences with the pilots were investigated with questionnaires and interviews. Based on the feedback of participants, albeit with some caution because of the relatively small sample size of this study, suggestions for future initiatives that support teachers new to SoTL at research-intensive institutes are: 1) the use of a combination of a CoP and individual guidance by experienced SoTL facilitators; 2) the creation of opportunities for formal and informal interaction to strengthen the CoP; 3) encouraging participants to work together on (shared) aligned projects; 4) the provision of structured course elements with guided discussions; 5) the provision of theoretical support regarding the principles of SoTL, for example, finding and interpreting literature, formulating a research question, and choosing the research methodology; 6) structure the inclusion of students’ participations, perspectives, and roles in SoTL; 7) some form of obligation, such as an official status of the initiative; and 8) institutional support, such as providing recognition, time, and financial support. The lessons learned in this study have relevance for all universities seeking to embrace, encourage, and support SoTL, especially for those initiating their first SoTL-supporting activities

    Professional development in higher education: perceptions and experiences of new lecturers at a university of technology in KwaZulu-Natal.

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    Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.Research on professional development in South African higher education institutions (HEIs) has gained traction in recent times. This can partly be attributed to the rapid increase in student enrolment in teaching and learning institutions and emphasis on throughput rates, which is increasing the pressure, internationally and nationally, to provide structured programmes to develop academics’ professional competence. Professional development has been viewed as critical in enhancing the quality of lecturers as teachers in higher education (HE). However, while professional development of lecturers in HEIs is integral to transformation agenda in South Africa, several evaluation studies have uncovered impediments to achieving this goal. As such, the overarching aim of this dissertation was to describe and explore new lecturers’ perceptions and experiences of professional development at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). The study further explores and describes barriers and facilitators to new lecturers’ participation in professional development in HE as well as the perceived impact of professional development programmes on new lecturers’ development at DUT. A qualitative research design was employed for this study. Purposive sampling was used to select participants that met the inclusion criteria. The research participants were purposively recruited based on the inclusion criterion of being novice lecturers. The novice lecturers selected for this study had not been employed as university lecturers for more than three years at DUT and had not worked as lecturers before joining DUT. Semi structured interviews were used as the research instruments for this study. Data were collected from ten research participants from the DUT Midlands Centre. The data were analysed using thematic analysis to describe and explore new lecturers’ perceptions and experiences of professional development programmes. The major findings highlight how new lecturers perceive professional development programmes as useful but not without some challenges as they highlight certain factors that make the programmes unhelpful and which in turn constitute barriers to professional development programmes at the institution. Some of the barriers cited by the new lecturers included unsuitable timing of professional development programmes, facilitators who lacked expertise, and shallow and unhelpful content of the programmes. In addition, the haphazard structuring of the programme and insufficient incentives for participation were also regarded as challenges to the professional development viii programmes. The findings from the study also point to the challenges of new lecturers’ workload, resistance to change, and inadequate support from management. Nevertheless, in terms of the impact of professional development programmes, the findings from the study suggest that professional development programmes provide new lecturers with pedagogical skills and improved pedagogical competence. These findings are discussed in relation to the social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and relevant literature on professional development in HE. It was found that regardless of some perceived impediments to professional development programmes, such programmes can assist new lecturers in finding their place in a University, and help new lecturers create a collegial sense of belonging among colleagues. These benefits however will be more appreciated if the challenges identified in this study are adequately addressed. In this regard, various recommendations for improving professional development programmes are offered in the dissertation. For the professional development programmes to be more beneficial to the target audience, lecturers need to be involved in the conceptualisation of these programmes. This will ensure, for instance, that such programmes are organised on a rolling basis to cater for the need of the new lecturers as they arise. Such recommendations, especially the advocacy for a bottom-up approach to the organisation of professional development programme, will also help to address the challenge of content, among others. The involvement of the beneficiary, in this case the lecturers, will make the programme to be need-based. It will also address the issue of unconducive timing, among other issues raised by the respondents

    Cases of university faculty conceptions and practices of teaching, assessment and action research.

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    Conceptions of teaching and learning held by faculty in higher education broadly reflect two dominant approaches, those that are teacher-focused and content oriented, and those that are student-focused and learner oriented (Entwistle, Skinner, Entwistle & Orr, 2000). Conceptions of teaching may be reflected in the pedagogical choices and practices of instructors, but this has not been well established at college level. Thus, an examination of such conceptions may advance the understanding of good teaching at the college level (Fernandez-Balboa & Stiehl, 1995). Using a case study approach this research (a) examined conceptions of teaching and learning, assessment, and action research held by selected science faculty in higher education involved in NOVA (NASA Opportunities for Visionary Academics) funded courses, and (b) explores the relationship among conceptions and their practices. The dissertation is divided into six chapters. Chapter One provides a rationale and conceptual framework for the study, which is embedded in (a) research on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL), (b) research on faculty conceptions, epistemological assumptions and approaches to teaching, learning and assessment, © research on faculty conceptions of research and action research practices, and (d) research on faculty professional development. Chapter Two is a review of the literature relating to these four areas of research and educational development. Chapter Three outlines the research methodology employed. A case study approach was selected because there have been few studies of faculty conceptions and practices, particularly in depth case studies that examine the relationship among conceptions and associated practices. Chapter Four and Five present the results of the study. In Chapter Four, five detailed individual case narratives are presented, one for each of the five professors who participated in the research. The study participants ratified these as a member check to validate the findings. Chapter Five is a cross-case analysis of emerging themes and issues and reflects both common trends, as well as differences, among the cases. The cross-case analysis is related to the research questions for the study. The results show that in general conceptions of teaching and assessment are associated with practices of these phenomena. However, there are a number of interesting anomalies relating to the less well-known phenomenon of action research, and these are explored more fully. Chapter Six links the research findings with the relevant literature and draws on Bandura\u27s social cognitive theory as an explanatory construct. Particularly, it is important to note that environmental conditions act as a third factor in reciprocal relationships with personal factors (including conceptions) and behavior (teaching practices)

    Australian tertiary learning and teaching scholarship and research 2007-2012

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    Research into Higher Education is strongly supported in Australia by journals and conferences. Teaching and learning awards, projects and programmes in Australia have gained a significantly larger profile over the last five years thanks, in part, to an imaginative and supportive environment fostered by the federal government through the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) and now the Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT)

    III Congreso EuroSoTL: Explorando nuevos campos a través de un enfoque académico de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje, 13-14 de junio de 2019, Bilbao, País Vasco

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    1185 p.EuroSoTL, el Congreso Europeo de Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, o Enfoque académico de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje, está organizado en colaboración con el grupo europeo de la International Society for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning -ISSOTL- y la Red Estatatal de Docencia Universitaria -RED-U-. El congreso se celebró en el Bizkaia Aretoa de Bilbao (País Vasco) los días 13 y 14 de junio de 2019. Las personas participantes pudieron discutir e intercambiar experiencias en nuevas temáticas sobre la enseñanza y el aprendizaje en Educación Superior Tras dos celebraciones anteriores en Cork, Irlanda (2015) y Lund, Suecia (2017) este nuevo congreso ha permitido abrir una ventana para que el Enfoque académico de la Docencia y el Aprendizaje (SoTL) comience a ser conocido, tanto en el Estado español como en Latinoamérica, y que las comunidades científicas que trabajan en la innovación educativa de la Educación Superior encuentren un nuevo punto de conexión y encuentro

    Teaching international trade law to the Google generation:Perspectives on teaching a diverse audience

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    The Effects of Long-Term Systematic Educational Development on the Beliefs and Attitudes of University Teachers

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    Focusing on Fundamentals of University Teaching – one of three levels in the program – the study examined its impact on participant beliefs and attitudes about teaching and learning, their teaching practices and the larger impact on departmental and institutional decision making. Participants also identified benefits, areas of improvement and barriers to participation in the program. The study compared pre- and post-program learning plan documents and changes in program teaching philosophies. Exit surveys and focus groups were also used. A total of 23 UTC participants took part in the study – 8 from the 2009-10 cohort, 5 from the 2010-11 cohort, 9 from the 2011-12 cohort, and 1 from the 2012-13 cohort. Of the 23 participants, 18 were female and 5 were male, a ratio consistent with the full program. Full-time, sessional, graduate student and staff instructors participated, representing engineering, social sciences, humanities, education, science, nursing, business and law. Of the 23 participants, 12 participated in the focus groups and 9 completed the exit survey

    Teaching specialist positions: creating elite teachers or an academic under-class in Australia’s research-intensive universities?

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    Teaching specialist positions differ from casual teaching positions and teaching-only positions in Australian universities. Teaching specialist academics have a workload that is comprised of 60+% teaching, with any research time usually assigned to the scholarship of teaching, rather than to discipline-specific research. These positions purportedly access the same opportunities for promotion and staff development as those offered to research-only or research-teaching academics. Whether this is the reality, is an issue that this thesis explores. Teaching and scholarship were always the mainstays of academic work, but since the Second World War, advances in technology and its consequences for economic development, have elevated research above teaching in prestige and status. In this thesis, narrative and thematic history approaches based purely on publicly available documentary sources are employed to examine trends and policy that influenced university teaching at both the international and national levels. Critical analysis of the impact of globalisation, neo-liberalism, New Public Management and Commonwealth Government policy inform understanding of the issues that led to the adoption of teaching specialist positions by nearly every Australian university over the past decade. The emergence of teaching specialist positions in the Group of Eight (Go8) universities is the focus of this thesis. These universities built their reputations and leadership on research, but all have adopted teaching specialist positions in one form or another. Why they have done this and what they have gained from it are key issues addressed in this research. This thesis argues that the level of support for teaching specialist positions amongst the Go8s is varied. Some appear to hold a genuine belief that these positions will contribute to an improvement in teaching quality, whilst others seem to have implemented them because it is now standard practice across the sector. What the Go8s do have in common with each other, is their almost unquestioning compliance with government policy and their responsiveness to competition within national and international higher education arenas.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Education, 202
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