Reflective Teaching
Although 'Reflective Teaching' has many specific definitions, at its heart it is the process of actively seeking out evidence of the effectiveness of teaching, analyzing that evidence, and then identifying and employing ways to continuously improve.
This resource has been prepared by the Teaching Centre at the 免费福利资源在线看片 of Lethbridge to support critically reflective teaching practice. This is a process completely under the instructor's control, solely for the purpose of improving student learning. It can be done on any scale, starting small with individual activities, all the way to entire course reflection. It is a model of and a mindset for continuous improvement. It is also effective as a teaching methodology to help students improve in their own learning!
This resource provides a variety of places to start with reflecting on teaching efficacy. There is no magic bullet or 鈥渙ne-size fits all鈥 when it comes to professional growth and development in teaching.
Self Reflection
The starting point for improving teaching is often to engage in an objective self-reflective process. The fundamental differences between casual or informal self-reflection and formal self-reflection is the use of a framework to guide the process and the documentation that accompanies a formal process. The framework will structure the process and help ensure you are looking at your teaching from a variety of lenses. The documentation not only provides a record for you to go back through and review, but also provides evidence of the process for use when documenting your engagement in improvement.
Gathering Feedback and Information about Teaching
Gathering information and feedback from a variety of sources is essential for understanding the impact and efficacy of teaching. This includes information on what was observed, said, presented, perceived, felt and enacted by all members of the class (instructor, students, TAs). It also includes environmental and contextual factors. Non-evaluative, objective observations by peers or Teaching Centre Staff are also valuable sources. This information is important to the reflective cycle, whichever framework is used, as it forms the basis for analyzing teaching and planning for next steps. Below are some details about information and feedback collection:
Analyzing and Growing in Teaching
Once information is collected, the next steps are analyzing what it means about your teaching and then planning actions to grow your teaching practice. Resources to assist with this include: