Developing the evidence of scholarly teaching

We have referred to the use of evidence throughout this unit. Here we provide a more detailed explanation about the nature of the evidence that is generated through employing a scholarly approach to teaching in higher education.

There are many reasons for collecting and documenting evidence of teaching and learning. We believe it is an essential element in practicing the scholarship of teaching. The evidence can come from many sources, from our students, from our colleagues, from external consultants or we can generate it ourselves. It is not the collection and reporting of evidence that constitutes scholarship. It is when the evidence is evaluated (weighed up) and meaning is inferred that it becomes part of the process of scholarship.

The practice of scholarship requires that we decide;

• what constitutes valid evidence in this instance?
• how can we collect that evidence?
• how do we weigh the evidence?
• how do we make a judgment based on this evidence?
• what guides our judgment?
• what conclusions can we draw?
• how best to use/report these?

Evaluate the quality of the evidence demonstrated by your supp orting documentation.

Each document that you intend to refer to in your portfolio and or include in your teaching archive will need to be evaluated in terms of;

• currency - is the material up to date
• relevance - does it support and illuminate the particular aspect of your teaching
• convincing - does the evidence come from a reputable source, is there collaborating evidence?
• scholarship - does it demonstrate reference to the teaching and learning literature, the discipline teaching literature? Does it illustrate a pattern of inquiry and reflection and evaluation?

Selecting the evidence artifacts.

Evidence of what? Of Your scholarship of teaching? Yes. But importantly this evidence needs to be presented in a way that meets the criteria established by your institution as to what constitutes teaching scholarship. You will be able to obtain this from your Head of Department, Dean or Human Resources Unit.

Examples of statements about the nature of scholarly teaching and the evidence that would substantiate the statements.

We have based our examples on a particular set of assumptions about what constitutes scholarly teaching. These assumptions are best summarized in the 1995 CAUT commissioned project Recognizing and Rewarding Good Teaching A literature review and survey established what is generally held to be the attributes of good teaching. Your own institution's criteria is may also reflect these assumptions.

Below are some examples of the evidence that would demonstrate these attributes in practice.

I am constantly learning - about teaching within my discipline and about teaching in higher education more generally through

• involvement in a range of professional development activities that better equip me to teach within my discipline, eg Membership of discipline Teaching Association
• participant and contributor to departmental teaching forum
• member of HERDSA and contributor at HERDSA Conferences
• keeping abreast of the current research and literature that relates to teaching in my discipline in particular and to teaching in higher education more generally
• maintaining a reflective teaching journal in which I note
  • aspects of my teaching that represent highlights of student learn ing and how this could lead to improvement in other aspects of my teaching
  • areas within my teaching or assessment practices that require me to research and develop better processes or understandings the outcomes of this research.
• my journal provides a systematic record of learning about my teaching.

You can show the reader this by -

• Listing the professional associations to which you belong
• Listing the professional activities in which you have participated with a brief note about the nature of your participation and the contribution you made and your learning.
• Listing the conference papers related to teaching and learning that you have delivered, provide an abstract of each.
• Providing an annotated bibliography of your reading include the relevance of your reading to your teaching practice, identify any changes that you have made to improve your student's learning as a result of your reading.
• Providing some typical journal entries that demonstrate your thinking, planning and evaluating in relation to your students learning and or new ways to illustrate key concepts in your discipline.

I share my own enthusiasm for the subjects that I teach with my students through: -

• keeping them informed of my own learning in the discipline,
• make the papers that excite me available to my students
• share drafts of my own work with them and ask for their for comment
• I report on the discipline related conferences and seminars that I have attended

You can show the reader this by -

• Providing relevant extracts from student feedback surveys
• Providing descriptions of discussions that you have held with students
• Including some of the comments that students have made in relation to your own research.

I investigate the past experiences of my students to ascertain the extent of their prior learning in the subject and ask them for their expectations of the subject they are about to undertake.

You can show the reader this by -

• Providing examples of questionnaire or surveys and the sense that you made of the student's responses.
• Providing the notes you may have made when speaking to colleagues about this cohort of students
• Providing a brief description of any modifications that you may have made your teaching as a result of what you have learnt about your students.

I encourage a deep learning approach in my students throug h the structure of the subject and the assessment tasks related to the subject.

You can show the reader this by -

• Providing copies of subject guides that have been annotated to illustrate what you expect of your students in each aspect of the learning experience.
• Providing copies of students work that demonstrate a deep approach to their studies annotated to explain what aspect of the learning experience encouraged this approach

I ensure my students understand what is expected of them.

You can show the reader this by -

• Providing examples of Subject Guides and Notes to Students that demonstrate clear articulation of learning goals and assessment tasks.
• Providing examples of your feedback to students that assist them to enlarge their knowledge and provide direction for improvement.

You may have other examples to illustrate these attributes, or you may consider you have additional or alternative attributes as a teacher that you would wish to demonstrate to the reader. Please amend this list as you wish.

This evidence would be filed in your Teaching Archive. It is important to develop an appropriate filing system so that individual documents can be located, a simple numbering system will usually be sufficient. The identifying numbers can then be referred to in the Teaching Portfolio that you will submit to a selection or promotion panel.