Approaches to teachingApproaches to teaching

Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in HE

Module 401: Learning, Teaching & Assessment

Dr Ian WillisCentre for Lifelong Learning

Educational Development

What is good teaching?

This is surprisingly hard to define

• What is good teaching in your discipline?

• Does it vary with level?• With topic?

• If it varies, what are the commonalities in good teaching?

Approaches to teaching - outcomesCritically reflect on your own approach to teaching

• Discuss personal experiences in shaping approach to teaching

• Discuss departmental practice in shaping approach to teaching

• Relate own practice to theoretical perspectives• Take forward ideas for inclusion in teaching

dialogue and critical reflection

I think teaching is......

Complete this sentence 3-4 times– Think of a specific context– Setting/context alters responses

There are NO right/wrongs in this

• Discuss in groups• Look at the range• What does this tell us about teaching?

Teaching is.........• Imparting information• Transmitting knowledge• Facilitating learningTeacher is central, makes major decisions

• Changing conceptions• Supporting student learning• Negotiating meaning • Encouraging knowledge creationTeaching seen as changing ways students perceive and use knowledge

Carnell 2007 for summary, Samuelowicz & Bain 2001 (&1992) for original

Finding is repeated in different terms in literature

Personal theories of teaching - FoxFour ‘concepts of teaching’• Transferring, shaping, travelling, growingNote: these are approaches NOT fixed types

Discussion:Where is teacher’s focus in each case?What is expected of students?Which of these to you ‘recognise’?

Note: Fox describes teaching by analogy – doesn’t define it

Key Point:

Lecturers have different (and often unspoken) conceptions of teaching; this affects learningDraw on different approaches in different contexts?

What about this?

“Teaching is about the purposeful creation of situations from which motivated learners should not be able to escape without learning or developing”

(John Cowan, 1998)

or“Teaching is not merely a cognitive act or simply a performance. It is relational, it involves relationships:

self and others learners and knowledge affect and cognition (adapted, Edwards in Elaine Wilson 2004)

May not appeal to everyone: it does highlight the elements involved, but without saying ‘what it is’

Conceptions about teaching in HE

“There is little point in introducing teachers to new techniques if they clash with teachers’ beliefs about the nature and purpose of teaching and learning”

(Knight, 2002, p118)

Part of rationale for critical reflection on:personal teaching practicepersonal concepts of teaching, departmental culture /contextideas from the literature;

Rather than a focus on ‘advanced techniques’

Key Point:

What shapes your approach to teaching

How has your current approach to teaching been shaped by:

• Past learning, teaching and assessment experiences– Teach how you were taught

• Beliefs about the nature and purposes of L&T• Assumptions and expectations of your students• Assumptions and expectations of the dept / programme• Personal feelings, confidence, agendas and aspirations• Theories on learning and teaching???????

Discussion: What have been the key influences for you

Beliefs about teacher development

• Teachers are born not made• All that is required is for the teacher to be

an articulate academic in their discipline• If teachers knew the correct techniques

they would be good teachers.• Teaching is an art not a science – to teach

well is about performance based on developed interpersonal skills.

Beliefs implied in the reflective practice model

Teaching is a complex activity Good teaching can be developed over time through

experience Development requires a critical problem solving cycle Feedback from students and peers motivates change Self evaluation is crucially important Enhanced through dialogue Externalising reflection is useful (Beaty 2000)

Key Point:

Critical reflective practice can lead to changes in conceptions of teaching (do you agree??)

Exercise:conceptions of teaching

• Read the extracts from the interviews with lecturers A and E

• Describe the variation in what the teachers are focusing on

• Describe the variation in how they carry out what it is that they are trying to do

Hand-out: Variation in teachers experience A & EProsser and Trigwell (1999)

Approaches to teaching Five qualitatively different approaches

A Teacher focused strategy - intention to transmit knowledge

B Teacher focused strategy - intention that students acquire concepts of the discipline

C Teacher/student interaction strategy - intention that students acquire concepts of the discipline

D Student focused strategy aimed at students developing their conceptions

E Students focused strategy aimed at students changing their conceptions

Trigwell et al (1994)

Teachers adopt qualitatively

different approaches to teaching

Different conceptions of teaching lead to different approaches

Imparting informationTransmitting knowledgeFacilitating learningChanging student conceptionsSupporting learningNegotiating meaning Encouraging knowledge creation Carnell 2007

Instruction(Teacher focused)

Construction(Student focused)

Two broad conceptions

Transmission model - 1

• Little support as a successful learning method– on its own

• Based in times when lecturer was the source of knowledge

• Traditional: teacher / teaching centred

• Cost efficient; covers content; can be inspiring

Instruction

• Still widely practiced in a traditional passive format– Certainly has a place– Tends to be the default mode– What students see lecturers doing, so seen as

most important part of teaching/learning process– Key activity for lecturers (it’s in the name!)– Plenty of ideas for making more active

e.g. see Exley & Dennick, use of TEL

Transmission model - 2 Instruction

How do we / should we use contact time

Teaching for learning

• Focus is clearly on learning – What the students are doing is more important

than what the teacher is doing• Based on the idea that learning is an active

process– See VITAL for ideas on making sessions more

active– Role is to facilitate learning– Linked to Constructivist theories of learning

Construction

Discussion: How do you/colleagues facilitate active learning Does it ‘work’

Teaching for transformation

• Raises fundamental questions about the purposes of universities and teaching

• Grand claim– maybe hard to enact regularly!– maybe an educational aspiration

• Aligns with Ron Barnett’s ideas of universities fostering ‘critical being’

• Based on Mezirow (and in turn Habermas) See Stanford article in VITAL

So what is good teaching in HE?

NB It’s really not that easy– but see: UK Professional Standards Framework (HEA website; PGCert handbook)

• How much does context effect teaching?– this is significant– how much do we effect our context?

• And how will we provide evidence of good or excellent teaching – Promotion!

The good

Gange’s Nine steps of instruction• Reflect (rate) yourself on how well you

actually do on each item– Say 1-5, so you get a sense of comparison– You might be able to take ideas from here into

your teaching dialogue or assignment

Discuss in groups• Identify good practice that you can adapt

Principles of practice underlying good T&L

Teachers need to:1. Become aware of the way they conceive of

T&L within subjects taught2. Examine carefully the context of teaching

and how the context affects teaching3. Become aware of how students perceive

the T&L situation4. Be developing teaching in light of

developing awareness(Prosser & Trigwell, 1999, p160)

Reflecting on your department

• How would you describe the espoused approach to teaching– Evidence?

• How would you describe the actual approach to teaching– Evidence?

Key Point:

Based on the idea that our practice is heavily influenced by context/cultureDo you agree?

Teaching

The aim of teaching is simple: it is to make student learning possible

(Ramsden 1992, p. 5)

The aim of scholarly teaching is: to make transparent how we have made learning possible

(Martin, Prosser, Conrad, Trigwell, & Benjamin, 1998).

(Cited in Healy 2000)

Variation in outcomes of scholarship of teaching (adapted)

Action Intended outcomeCollect and read literature

Know the literature

Improve teaching

Investigate own teaching and student learning

Improve student learning

Relate discipline knowledge to teaching and learning literature

Improve student learning

Communicate results of own work and existing literature

Improve student learning generally

Trigwell et al 2000 scholarship of teaching: a model- adapted

27

Levels of investigations (scholarship): purpose, process and outcomes of investigation

Level Purpose of investigation

Evidence gathering methods and

conclusions will be

Investigation aimed at

Example

1

To inform oneself

Verified by self Personal knowledge

Learning

2 To inform a group within a shared context

Verified by those within the same context

Local knowledge

Project Evaluation

3 To inform a wider audience

Verified by those outside of that context

Public knowledge

Research article

(Ashwin and Trigwell 2004)

Review, reflect, clarify

Time to pause/ask anything about • This session • How it may relate to your first assignment

BibliographyAshwin, P. and Trigwell, K. (2004) Investigating Educational Development, in

Khan, P. and Baume, D. (eds) Enhancing Staff and Educational Development Beaty L. (2000) Presentation to ILTHE conference. No longer accessibleBiggs & Tang (2011) Teaching for quality learning at universityCarnell E. (2007) Conceptions of effective teaching in higher education:

extending the boundaries. Teaching in Higher Education, 12, 25.Exley, K & Dennick, R (2004) Giving a lecture: From presenting to teachingFaculty Development Associates - http://www.developfaculty.com/online/index.html

Fry et al (2008) Handbook for teaching and learning in Higher Education: Enhancing academic practice

Fry et al (2007) Understanding student learning. Chapter 2 in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Fox D (1983) Personal theories of teaching. Studies in Higher Education Vol 8,2Gibbs G (2003) Presentation at ILT regional conference, YorkHealey (2000) Developing the Scholarship of Teaching in Higher Education: A

discipline-based approach, Higher Education Research & Development, 19:2

BibliographyHillier Y (2002) The quest for competence, good practice and excellence.

HEA website – ResourcesKnight & Trowler (2000) Department level cultures and the improvement

of L&T. Studies in Higher Education Vol 25 no 1Knight P (2002) Being a teacher in Higher EducationHEA Professional Standards

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/professionalstandards.htm Murphy E (1997) Constructivism: From Philosophy to practice

http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/~elmurphy/emurphy/cle.html Postareff & Lindblowm-Ylanne (2008) Variation in teachers’ descriptions

of teaching- Broadening the understanding of teaching in HEProsser M & Trigwell K (1999) Understanding learning and teaching: The

experience in HEStewart (2014) Making sense of a teaching programme for university

academics- Exploring the longer term effects

Trigwell et al (2000) Scholarship of teaching: a modelTrigwell (2006) Presentation at Lancaster UniversityTrigwell, Prosser & Waterhouse (1999) Relations between teachers’

approaches to teaching and students’ approaches to learning. Higher Education 37 pp57 – 70.