New Tutor Workshop – Session 1

1. New Tutor Workshop – Session 1

2. Learning outcomes By the end of this workshop you will be able to: 1. Appreciate the changes that are taking place in the Irish Higher Education environment 2. Appreciate (somewhat) the complexity of teaching and the challenge that lies ahead 3. Plan how to incorporate student feedback into your class plan and how to manage the feedback 4. Appreciate the range of factors that can contribute to both successful and unsuccessful learning 5. Consider how to apply the learning cycle

3. National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) • Established in 2003 as part of the Bologna process • Designed for the development, recognition and award of qualifications based on standards of knowledge, skill and competence by learners. • 10 levels, designed to accommodate all types of education and training, wherever it takes place. • The National Qualifications Authority of Ireland (NQAI) is the body responsible for leading the development and implementation of the NFQ. • The Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC) makes awards at NFQ level 1 – 6 • The Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC) makes awards at NFQ level 6 – 10. • New Body: Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland (QQAI)

4. National Framework of Qualifications

5. NFQ • NFQ is ‘the single, nationally and internationally accepted entity through which all learning achievements may be measured and related to each other in a coherent way and which defines the relationship between all education and training awards’. • The focus is on the quality of student’s learning and achievement of learning outcomes.

6. NFQ • The development of the framework of qualifications was set in the context of a vision for the recognition of learning and is in line with the broad national and European policy of promoting a lifelong learning society. • Recognition of Prior Learning - Access, Transfer and Progression.

7. The National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 ‘Higher education is central to the economic renewal needed to support individual well-being and social development... it also plays a fundamental role in fostering a spirit of inquiry and a strong sense of learning among students; it is the positive engagement that students have with higher education that stimulates the imagination and makes innovation possible. The quality of their learning experiences and the environment in which students learn will shape the future development of our society. (Department of Education & Skills, 2010).

8. The National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 • A high quality student experience should equip graduates with essential generic foundation skills as adaptive, creative, rounded thinkers and citizens – in addition to a comprehensive understanding of their relevant disciplines... all students must have access to teaching that has been kept up to date and relevant through scholarship, research and professional development. Academic staff should make full use of the range of pedagogical methodologies available to them and be qualified as teachers as well as in their chosen discipline’. (Department of Education & Skills, 2010).

9. Teacher-centred vs. Student-centred

10. Teacher-centred / content orientated approach • Values ideas over experience or action • Knowledge exists independently of the learner and understanding is getting to know that which already exists • Teaching the is a matter of transmitting the knowledge and learning is accurately receiving it, storing it and using it appropriately • Aim is the simple transfer of knowledge and skill • Supports the conserving of knowledge • Role of the teacher is knowledgeable expert • Focus of teacher’s effort is to know the content well

11. Student-centred approach • Role of experience and active learning emphasised • Meaning is created by the learner, not imposed by the teacher or transmitted directly • Aim is to the development of independent and critical styles of thinking. • Supports the extension of knowledge • Role of the teacher as supporting learning. • Focus of the teacher’s effort is on what the student does, on what learning is or is not going on

12. Challenges of adopting a student-centred approach • Teacher & Student must adopt different roles and responsibilities, which change the balance of power within the relationship • The student must ultimately take responsibility for his/her learning • The teacher must step back and provide support to the learner • This handing over of primary responsibility needs to be managed with care as both teacher and student struggle with the unfamiliar. Beliefs and values, which are largely implicit and rarely well understood, are challenged.

13. Student Feedback

14. Student Feedback ‘Finding ways to access student’s perception of how teaching affects their learning is essential if the intention is to support student learning. Student evaluation of teaching is no more or less that an integral part of the task of teaching, a continuous process of learning from one’s students, of improvement and adaption’. (Ramsden, 2003)

15. Student Feedback ‘...seeing our practice through students’ eyes help us teach more responsively....the most fundamental metacriterian for judging whether or not good teaching is happening is the extent to which teachers deliberately and systematically try to get inside students heads and sees classrooms and learning from their point of view’. (Brookfield, 1995).

16. Student Feedback ‘Effective teaching refuses to take its effect on students for granted. It sees the relation between teaching and learning as problematic, uncertain, and relative. Good teaching is open to change: it involves constantly trying to find out what the effects of instruction are on learning, and modifying that instruction in light of the evidence collected (Ramsden, cited by Prosser and Trigwell, 1999)

17. Purpose of Student Feedback • To improve the quality of teaching & learning • To avoids the tendency to rely on hearsay. No point adjusting your teaching to non-existing concerns • To identify students who may be experiencing difficulties Essential characteristics of a teacher: ‘being able to identify learner needs and to respond to them in a positive fashion, and to recognise significant feedback and use it as data in planning for change’ (HETAC, 2002)

18. Areas where students can provide useful feedback • Communication of course expectations • Communication of course requirements • Perception of the quality of classroom teaching • Adequacy of assessment feedback • Accessibility of learner resources and support (Huntley-Moore & Panter, 2006)

19. Student Feedback ‘While student feedback is important, other sources are necessary in providing direction on how to improve teaching’ (Beaty, 1997, Huntley-Moore & Panter, 2006)

20. Student Feedback • ‘The extent to which teachers respond to student feedback and apply the information, determines its effectiveness in improving the quality of teaching’. • Interpreting feedback from students is an emotional business and in order to improve teaching ‘we need to spend as much time thinking about our emotional reactions to feedback as we do thinking critically about what students mean’ (Ballantyne, Borthwick & Packer, 2000).

21. Data gathering • Clarity about what information is required and why. • Continuous cycle of evidence-gathering, reflection and change. • Seek out contradictions and diverse views.

22. Home work for next session • Complete Part 2 of learning pack • Evaluate a class-plan against set criteria, including learning outcomes • Read Blooms Taxonomy • Carry out a cycle of student feedback, reflection, and action.