Module 2: Communicating the Scholarship of Teaching

Introduction

This module focuses on communicating the scholarship of teaching. We believe that the scholarship of teaching is as much about learning as it is about teaching.

"The aim of teaching is simple: It is to make student learning possible." Ramsden, p. 5, 1992)

The aim of scholarly teaching is also simple, it is to make transparent how we have made learning possible.

The practice of communicating the scholarship of teaching starts with:

• Talking through practice issues with colleagues.
• Sharing the knowledge gained through reading the research into student learning.
• Collaborating to enable the development and refinement of ideas, the illumination of practice through theory.

Underpinning this module is the assumption that teaching will be properly valued in higher education when it is publicly seen to be a scholarly pursuit.

This means communicating the way we as scholarly teachers

• take account of the interplay between disciplinary research and the education of undergraduates
• rigorously investigate teaching and learning
• consider university teaching as a process of critical reflection on practice, open to the same kind of collegial scrutiny as research.

This module is designed to support

• communicating at the local level to develop our learning,
• communicating to gain support for developing the scholarship of teaching through grant applications and
• communicating to add to the scholarship of teaching in Higher Education through conference presentations and the writing of articles etc.

See Structure of Module 2.

The practice of scholarship develops within a community, a community of scholars. Communication is central to the idea of community and it is the medium for scrutiny, debate and learning to take place. Aligned with this is our belief that improving teaching practice to improve student learning is based on reflective and collaborative processes. The exercises and activities in this module have been designed to provide teachers with opportunities to focus, reflect and evaluate their practice through communication and within a climate of challenge to old ways and support for new ways of providing learning opportunities for students.

The focus of Module 1 is the development of scholarship in teaching.

It will focus on:

• Aims for student learning
• Theories of student learning
• Teaching for student learning
• Assessment of student learning
• Evaluation of student learning

Underpinning both modules is the belief that what constitutes good teaching needs to be better understood and more open to scrutiny and better communicated (Boyer, 1990, Ramsden et al, 1995 ). For this to happen, university teachers must learn how to adopt a scholarly approach to teaching and how to collect and present rigorous evidence of their effectiveness as teachers. This involves reflection, inquiry, evaluating, documenting and communicating. Scholarship is based on resear ch into teaching and learning, critical reflection on practice, and is open to investigation by colleagues (Boyer, 1990; Gibbs, 1995). See What is Scholarly Teaching.

References:

• Boyer, E.L. (1990). Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. Princeton, N.J.: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
• Gibbs, G. (1995). Promoting excellent teachers is harder than you'd think. Change, May 1995
• Ramsden, P. (1992). Learning to Teach in Higher Education. London: Routledge.
• Ramsden, P. Margetson, D. Martin, E. & Clarke, S. (1995). Recognizing and Rewarding Good Teaching in Australian Higher Education, Committee for the Advancement of University Teaching, Canberra.