How to Feed Your Friends & Seduce Your Editors: Writing and Reviewing for SoTL

This presentation is a guide for authors interested in writing and reviewing papers in the scholarship of teaching and learning

The Relationship between Scholarly Teaching and SoTL: Models, Distinctions, and Clarifications

We examine, through conceptual analysis and investigation of the available literature, some commonly assumed models of the relationship between SoTL and scholarly teaching, demonstrate how those models fare against the conceptual and empirical evidence, and propose an alternative that better represents the concepts involved. Both our definitions and the model we choose to represent their relationship impact our decisions regarding policies, programs, and resources. If the assumptions behind these practices are not warranted, our reflexive use, dissemination and propagation of these practices must be questioned

Perceptions of institutional teaching culture by tenured, tenure-track, and sessional faculty

The Institutional Teaching Culture Perception Survey (ITCPS) was used to investigate beliefs of tenured, tenure-track, and sessional faculty members (N=576) about the teaching culture within three large research-intensive universities in Canada. As predicted, we found significant differences between these three groups of faculty members’ perceptions of their institutions’ teaching cultures. Sessional faculty perceived that their universities rewarded effective teaching less than their tenured or tenure-track colleagues. Tenured faculty were less likely than the tenure-track and sessional faculty to believe it was important to encourage, recognize, or assess effective teaching. These results have important implications for the quality of teaching and, ultimately, student learning, as sessional faculty are teaching an increasing number of students and tenured faculty are the primary decision-makers in setting the priorities for their institutions

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

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

The Educational Developer’s Portfolio

Educational Development Guide Series: No. 1.The Educational Developer’s Portfoliohttps://scholar.uwindsor.ca/ctlreports/1006/thumbnail.jp

Assessing Graduate Teaching Development Programs for Impact on Future Faculty

Long-term training programs for teaching assistants have greater impactTraining programs for university teaching assistants (TAs) improve the quality of teaching and learning. But a new HEQCO study of short and long-term training programs at two Ontario universities finds that while both make important contributions, long programs had a greater impact.Assessing Graduate Teaching Development Programs for Impact on Future Faculty was conducted at the University of Windsor and Western University, whose teaching and learning centres offer a wide range of TA training programs -- short, orientation-style conferences and longer, intensive workshops throughout the year.Project descriptionThe study used self-reported measures of TAs’ attitudes to teaching and teaching self-efficacy before and after each program, combined with focus group interviews four months after program completion. The goal was to assess and compare the impact of the programs and to link specific types of programming to measurable outcomes. FindingsTeaching development programs help improve the teaching effectiveness of new TAs in a variety of ways, according to the study. TAs felt better prepared for their role as instructors after participating in training. Both short (one-day events) and long programs (20-40 hours) contributed to increased teaching self-efficacy and to an increase in student-focused approaches to teaching. The focus groups found that when TAs began to teach on their own, they were able to apply the teaching techniques, course design principles and student-focused approaches to teaching that they learn in TA training programs. Participants in short programs emphasized concrete teaching techniques for facilitating discussions, marking, asking effective questions and becoming more familiar with expectations for the teaching assistant role. Participants in longer programs demonstrated greater confidence in using principles of course design and alignment and articulating learning outcomes, and showed a greater depth of reflection on teaching. Long programs also created communities of TAs from a variety of disciplines, where discussion about teaching continued beyond the end of the program. Participants also shared innovative teaching techniques or course design strategies with their peers and with faculty members. The study found that both programs make an important contribution – but do so in different ways. Short programs serve as a gateway to further teaching development, allowing new graduate students to learn a few very practical teaching strategies and better understand the benefits of further training. Longer programs allow participants to build community and strategically prepare for careers in teaching, whether inside or outside academia.The authors note that it is important for teaching centres and departments to clearly communicate the differences between the outcomes of orientation-style and more in-depth programs.Further researchAddition research could explore long-term changes in TAs’ approaches to teaching after training, as well as the impact of TA training on student learning, say the authors, complementing the self-report measures used in this study with observer and student ratings of TA teaching in real classroom settings. Other HEQCO studies that explore teaching and TA development include a report on two University of Toronto TA training programs, a study of Western University’s international TA training programs and an overview of the evolution of teaching and learning centres in Ontario colleges and universities.Authors of Assessing Graduate Teaching Development Programs for Impact on Future Faculty are Nanda Dimitrov, Ken Meadows, Erika Kustra, Theimann Ackerson, Laura Prada, Nick Baker, Pierre Boulos, Gayle McIntyre and Michael K. Potter

Teaching Culture Indicators: Enhancing Quality Teaching

Canadian postsecondary institutions are committed to providing students with high quality teaching and learning experiences. In recent years, provincial and institutional stakeholders have shifted their focus toward better supporting this effort and enhancing an evolving, teaching- and learning-centred institutional culture. As Cox, McIntosh, Reason, and Terenzini (2011) note, a culture with improved teaching quality is likely to lead to improved student engagement and learning. Researchers in the United States, Europe, and Australia have investigated institutional culture and its relationship to high quality teaching over the last 20 years (Aitken & Sorcinelli, 1994; Cox et al., 2011; Hodge, Nadler, Shore, & Taylor, 2011; Gosling, 2013; Harvey & Stensaker, 2008; Kallioinen, 2013; Hunt, 2013, Prosser, 2013); however, to date, there is little, if any, research done in this area in the Canadian context.https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/ctlreports/1004/thumbnail.jp