Enhancing academic work through the synergy between teaching and research

In this paper we explore an approach to academic development that focuses on developing and using research as a means of understanding the complexity of teaching and learning within specific discipline environments. This approach shifts the attention of the academic developer from the enhancement of teaching using traditional methods such as workshops, formal courses, or in‐faculty curriculum and assessment advice, to encouraging and supporting participant research on learning and teaching, and disciplinary‐based research. Focusing on research development gives academics the opportunity to develop their teaching scholarship, prepare publishable work, and cultivate teaching and learning practices that are aligned with their specific discipline environments. We discuss the philosophy of this approach to the enhancement of academic work through the synergy between teaching and research. We illustrate our discussion with some recent examples in which we have used this approach successfully.     

Advancement towards the scholarship of teaching and learning through the writing of teaching portfolios

This study explores the impact academic teachers’ writing of a teaching portfolio can have on their professional learning. Through an open-ended questionnaire, 26 academics from three faculties reported on insights, effects on teaching practice, and effects on collegial exchange that the portfolio writing entailed. We discuss how the experienced impact relates to the three competence levels excellence, expertise and scholarship of teaching and learning. With regard to academic development, we conclude that the writing of reflective teaching portfolios has the potential of contributing to an emerging academic community of practice characterised by a scholarly approach to teaching and learning.     

Research and the academic developer: A new agenda

This paper argues that there is a need for academic developers to reassess their relationship to research, and suggests that research has to come centre stage in the practice of staff, educational and∧or academic development. The paper discusses the reasons for this and considers the implications for academic development practice. It begins with a discussion of some trends that signal the growing importance of inquiry for higher education. It highlights the important role that research and scholarship are coming to have in preparing students for a society characterized by uncertainty, complexity and plurality. It is argued that developers must become involved in this and that, if they are to be taken seriously in the future, they must become credible as researchers. Different models of the relationship between research and teaching highlight the role of developers in moving teaching and learning forward in a higher education context where teaching and research are more closely allied. Finally, the paper considers what developers need to do to prepare for the challenges lying ahead. In the argument, examples from the author's own practice are used to illustrate developers' changing agendas.     

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Theory–Practice Integration in a Faculty Certificate Program

There is growing recognition of the complexity of academic work and the need for university and college faculty members to develop scholarly approaches to teaching and learning. While structured programs of study have been initiated for faculty to address these issues in various higher education contexts, very little research has investigated the theory–practice relationship of the scholarship of teaching and learning within a faculty certificate program context. This article presents a program development and evaluation framework to enhance the theory–practice integration of the scholarship of teaching and learning in such a program. Data suggest that a broad range of institutional and programmatic strategies can enhance the scholarship of teaching and learning in a faculty certificate program. A scholarly approach to teaching and learning is viewed as both an individual and social contextual process.Dr Harry Hubball and Dr Helen Burt are faculty members at the University of British Columbia, BC, Canada. Harry Hubball's research focuses on curriculum and pedagogy in university settings. He coordinates the UBC Faculty Certificate Program on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Helen Burt is the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Her research interests include the development of novel polymer-based drug delivery systems.     

Conceptualizing educational leadership in an academic development program

Promoting the development of educational leadership in higher education is essential for strengthening the quality of teaching and learning. Additional research is needed to conceptualize educational leadership, especially within informal roles. We analysed how faculty members in an academic development program conceptualized educational leadership. Five key characteristics emerged that inform the development of educational leadership capacity in postsecondary contexts: affective qualities, mentoring and empowering, action-orientation, teaching excellence, and research and scholarship. Three characteristics of academic programs aimed at developing educational leadership were also identified: funding and resources to implement a change initiative, building interdisciplinary communities, and embracing identity.     

Do academic developers’ conceptions support an integrated academic practice? A comparative case study from Hong Kong and Singapore

ABSTRACT

Academic development (AD) is increasingly being oriented towards an integrated approach to academic practice (AP), given arguments for the importance of integrating research, learning, and teaching. Given the complex and evolving character of AD as a profession, it is important to understand the conceptions of AD held by academic developers, who can play a key role in supporting conditions for such integration. This comparative case study explores conceptions of AD and the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) held by academic developers at two universities in Hong Kong and Singapore, and examines the extent to which these conceptions support an integrated AP. The findings show that not all conceptions recognise the importance of integration; moreover, though in both cases aspects of integration come to the fore, there are gaps that militate against a fuller understanding of integrating teaching and research. The study has implications for future AD practice and raises questions about using SoTL as a means of fostering teaching and research integration.     

Promoting a culture of scholarship among educational developers: exploring institutional opportunities

Educational developers tend to be located in centres and units of teaching and learning outside the academic mainstream. They have little opportunity to engage in scholarship. Through an overview of the literature on educational development and educational professional roles and responsibilities, the author suggests that promoting a culture of scholarship among educational developers will contribute significantly towards their pedagogical professional development. It will enhance the quality of professional consultation between educational developers and academic staff in the faculties. The discussion concludes with suggestions for implementing innovative strategies to promote a culture of scholarship within the higher education academic mainstream.     

Strategies to enhance learning and teaching in a research-extensive university

Challenges confronting those who seek to bring about change within large organizations include the need to engage with the values and beliefs held by those involved. In universities with academic cultures that have traditionally lauded and rewarded disciplinary research, attempts to enhance the status and effectiveness of teaching and learning practices must take account of the ongoing power of the research culture. In Australia and elsewhere, prestigious research-extensive 1 universities are now seriously committed to improving the educational experience of student learners from their first year on campus. The focus on teaching and learning is buttressed by another aspect of cultural change - one which values the scholarship of teaching alongside traditional disciplinary research. To the need to re-emphasize teaching, and the need to value that teaching as a scholarly, research-based activity is added a third dimension of change - a focus on the student rather than the teacher. This paper will utilize Fullan's (1991) model for educational change in outlining strategies for change within a large research-extensive university in Australia. While it is too early to ascertain whether those strategies have effectively enhanced student learning, indications are that the strategies have had an impact on the beliefs, behaviour and teaching practice of academic staff. It is suggested that the culture of a university can and will shift given the right conditions for institutional change.     

论教学理念的认识与计算机基础课程教学模式的改革

基于对计算机基础教学理念的认识和计算机教学模式的改革的一些看法和认识,认为应从教师专业化角度去看待教育过程,通过对目前计算机基础教学过程中存在问题的分析,特别是对重视课堂教学而忽视实践教学和项目设计训练的现状,探讨启发式教学和研究性学习的教学模式应用,通过改变考核方式作为惟一的学业评价手段,突出专题讨论作为一种比考试更重要的学生学业水平的鉴定形式.     

Points for Debate: God's Child

Considerable resources and intellectual attention have focused on seeking to raise the status of teaching in higher education over the last two decades. Initiatives at an institutional level have included the funding of pedagogic research, teaching awards and the creation of teaching professorships. In a broader context, the scholarship of teaching and learning movement has campaigned for a reconfigured and more inclusive understanding of scholarship. However, despite the good intentions of these initiatives, the effect been to lower still further the status of teaching, bifurcating universities between ‘teaching’ and ‘research’. It is argued that efforts should instead be directed at integrating academic practice as a more effective way of raising the status of teaching.     

Approaching assessment from a learning perspective: Elevating assessment beyond technique

Assessment is a key process in assuring quality education but how is it linked to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL)? How can we join teaching and learning to the assessment process rather than view it as a stand-alone component in course and/or program development? This paper explores the relationship between assessment and the SoTL in an effort to identify a systems approach to program management practices. The goal is not to dismiss the value of mechanics and tools in assessment but to highlight the value of building an assessment process that brings together the respective components of assessment with the scholarship that constitutes teaching and learning and an understanding of assessment as learning. Incorporating the use of curriculum maps and Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning advances a framework-driven practice that supports assurance of learning.     

Resisting Erasure and Developing Networks of Solidarity: Testimonios of Two Puerto Rican Scholars in the Academy

In this article, we share findings from a critical qualitative study aimed at better understanding the ways that language, history, and geography mediate our work and identities as educational researchers. As scholars whose particular sociocultural and political histories are often absent in scholarly discussions about language and education, we use the intergenerational sharing of testimonios as both methodology and narrative development to gain a deeper understanding of experiences involving the learning and use of English that influence our academic careers. We theorize our experiences as resisting erasure and contribute to Latina epistemology scholarship and critical educational research about Puerto Ricans in the United States. Moreover, we forward the concept of funds of knowledge as a professional practice. Telling our stories and developing mentoring networks is necessary for our individual and collective functioning and well-being as scholars; it cultivates solidarity as a means of thriving in the academy.     

大学英语教师专业发展的目标与途径探析

在大学英语教学中,英语教师专业素养对于教学品质和学习成效产生重要影响。专业发展是教师发展的核心内容,是一个持续成长的过程,需要科学的目标定位和多样化的实现途径。大学英语教师专业发展首要途径是专业学习,包括接受高层次的学位教育与系统的专业训练;其次是在岗自主学习,将英语教学与科学研究融为一体,在教育实践中提升自身的专业水平;第三是开展校际与国际学术交流;第四是专业合作。各种途径互相补充,共同促进英语教育专业水平的提升。     

Adapting the boundaries in primary physical education: an account of my learning,my educational influence and improved practice

In this paper I explore how I have come to theorise my work as a critical emancipatory practice as a lecturer in primary physical education (PE). I give an account of what I understand to be the epistemological foundations and practices of practitioner research and my potential educational influence in my own and other practitioner-researchers’ learning. I explain how I have generated my living educational theory of practice and discuss the changes in my learning from a propositional approach towards a dynamic epistemology of practice that is grounded in inclusional and dialogical ways of knowing. Within my paper I position myself as a professional educator and researcher, and share the exciting and transformational experiences of teaching and learning in evolving action research cycles of practice. I view my learning to date as an active act, working with the novice teachers I support to offer improvement and change in our future practice. I celebrate my reconceptualised view of education as a learner from within my practice and explain my move from knowledge transfer to knowledge co-creation. I make an original contribution to educational knowledge by explaining how I try to inspire others to research their practice and contribute to a new scholarship of educational enquiry.     

高效教学中的知识、方式与评价

高效教学是指以有效知识为学习活动对象,通过有效活动方式和有效评价促进学生有效发展的教育实践活动.相对于知识的学术形态与教育形态,知识的学习形态是一种更为有效的促进学生发展的知识形态.根据教与学相互作用的方式,课堂教学活动方式有三种形式：先教后学、先学后教、教学对话,其中教学对话的实践活动方式是＂对话性讲解＂;从评价与学习活动的相互作用的方式,可以把学习评价分为对学习的评价、为学习的评价和学习内评价.有效发展是实现＂高价目标＂的过程,是学生主动发展的过程,是学生生命化发展的过程.     

教学学术视域下高校教师专业发展策略研究

近二十年来,"教学学术"运动正以一种崭新的视域引领高校教师重新认识教学、研究教学、完善教学,使高校教师的教学工作得到更加科学合理、更具创造性的认识,教学学术水平也逐渐成为衡量高校教师专业发展水平的一个重要指标。本文在厘清"教学学术"概念的基础上,发掘教学学术对高校教师专业发展的价值,提出更新"学术"理念、完善教师评价制度、重视学术共同体建设、注重教学研究与反思、创建学术交流与共享平台等促进高校教师专业发展的策略。     

大学初任教师教学能力发展的价值取向 ——基于教学学术研究的视阈

教学学术包括学术性教学和教学学术研究两个方面,是一个教学实践改善与理论生成互动的过程,它把提高教育教学质量和实现大学教师教学专业发展作为自身的根本目的与最终归宿,对消解教学与科研失衡具有重要意义.实现大学初任教师教学能力发展是提高高校教学质量和实现教师专业发展的内在诉求.教学学术为大学初任教师教学能力发展提供了理论依据...     

Developing the Scholarship of Teaching in Higher Education: A discipline-based approach

There is an international debate about the development of the scholarship of teaching. It is argued here that the scholarship of teaching needs to be developed within the context of the culture of the disciplines in which it is applied. The scholarship of teaching involves engagement with research into teaching and learning, critical reflection of practice, and communication and dissemination about the practice of one's subject. This provides a challenging agenda for the development of subject-based teaching. Implementing this agenda includes applying the principles of good practice in the disciplines; developing the status of teaching; developing the complementary nature of teaching and research; and undertaking discipline-based pedagogic research. The paper is illustrated with particular reference to the discipline of geography.     

The role of institutional learning and teaching grants in developing academic capacity to engage successfully in the scholarship of teaching and learning

The current focus on identifying criteria for academic teaching practice is influencing performance goals for teaching academics. This has produced a strong imperative to engage with the scholarship of teaching and learning; however, it is not always clear how teaching academics continue to build capacity to do this during their academic career. Drawing on the literature, this paper analyses the outcomes from two years of faculty and institutional teaching grants to gauge their role in generating effective engagement in the scholarship of teaching and learning. The paper identifies some improvements to the grants programs which have contributed to quality outcomes.     

大学教学学术的机制及其教师发展意蕴

教学学术是一种独特的学术形式,它扎根于教学实践,并通过理论与实践的彼此互动来推动自身走向丰满;教学学术是一种由教学内容知识加以表征的学术活动,课堂教学研究在教学内容知识的发展上起着核心的作用。根据新的大学教学学术观,在观念层面,教师应成为教学的行动研究者;在策略层面,应通过多样化的教师发展模式来积淀教师的教学学术;在制度层面,应通过完善教师发展制度来营造教师潜心教学学术的外部环境。