Peter Coolbear Meaningful Reflective Practice Ucol Teaching & Learning Conference Oct. 2009

UCOL National Teaching and Learning Conference Palmerston North: 2 October 2009 Peter Coolbear Meaningful reflective practice: the mark of a professional tertiary teacher

Current change drivers
Quality of teaching and learning has never been a hotter issue – framed in value for money terms ….
“ effectiveness”; “performance”; “completion rates”
Increasing value on the student/learner voice
Oct 2009

Current change drivers - 2
Increasing whole-of-institution perspective
New Tertiary Education Strategy
Performance based funding framework
SA and EER
Governance accountability
Oct 2009

Where do tertiary teachers fit into this?
Tertiary teachers: professionals or journeymen/women?
Oct 2009

So what makes a professional teacher?
Critical reflective practice:
Reflection-in-action
Reflection-on-action
Donald Schön 1983
Oct 2009

But … do we know how to do it?
“ A generalisation that seems to apply to teaching .. Is the fact that there is relatively little concern for the effect of reflective practice on the subject of the professional’s action…. Since improvement in learning …. is deemed central to the purposes of these professions, this seems a surprising omission…”
Jennifer Moon (1999)
Oct 2009

Oct 2009 Meaningful critical self - reflection Self - reference Self - reverence

Self-reverence
“ The students we get these days are nowhere near as well prepared as they were 10 years ago”
“ They just want to be spoon-fed”
“ They just want to muck around at the back”
“ They only enrolled here to meet the girls on the nursing programme”
Oct 2009

Self-reference
“ Well that went well: there was some really great interaction in that class”
“ What a great day – I got a great buzz out of those sessions”
“ I’m really excited about this new technology”
“ I find post-structuralism really fascinating”
Oct 2009

Meaningful critical self-reflection
“ Well that went well: there was some really great interaction in that class and the formative assessment demonstrated that the group really understood those key concepts”
“ Jack’s question at the end worries me: he’s just not got the point – and I bet he’s not the only one: would group discussion help? How do I get the right groups together and get them to help each other? How will I know if this is successful? Who might I ask for advice on this?”
Oct 2009

A key assumption
We believe education research and evidence-led innovation has an important role to play in improving outcomes for learners
“ Nothing wins an argument like evidence”
Austen Banks, Chair COMPETENZ
Oct 2009

Key question – how strong is the evidence?
We “know” a lot of the basics about what supports learner success – need to convert anecdote to evidence – authoritative, generalisable research that can’t be ignored.
Oct 2009

Pragmatic choices
Evidence that identifies the most effective interventions when institutions need to make choices
Oct 2009

So what are the characteristics of a high performing professional tertiary teacher?
Empathy: Understands the changing motivations, aspirations and learning needs of each student in the class
Reflection-in-action: Is equipped with and uses a range of teaching / learning support strategies to meet those needs
Oct 2009

So what are the characteristics of a high performing professional tertiary teacher?
Critical self reflection-on-action: Gathers evidence within their own teaching and learning environment to review their own personal effectiveness
Emancipatory: Shares information about progress and learning strategies with students
Oct 2009

But ….
Our National project funding experiences show us that we are not good at this:
Too many EoI’s weak on evidence base:
Didn’t demonstrate the need to do work
Didn’t have robust strategies in place to collect evidence of learner benefit
Many Good Practice Publication Grant applications have no proof of their “proven good practice”
Oct 2009

So what do we do?
Use the evidence already available
Student completion data
Student satisfaction / evaluation data
Participation data
Assessment data
Oct 2009

So what do we do?
Systematise the informal evidence
Students’ stories have validity
Student contributions to class discussion
Student preferences for different activities
Employer feedback
Alumni feedback
Oct 2009

So what do we do?
Develop new sources of evidence
Student engagement – e.g. AUSSE
Critical incident questionnaires
Graduate surveys
Employer surveys
Oct 2009

And then …..
Triangulate the data!
Oct 2009

“ The impossibility of education”
Research in education is not easy
Approximate answers to the hard questions have more value than accurate answers to the easy ones
Jane Davidson
Oct 2009

Back to the beginning – tertiary teaching as a profession
Issues about teachers having agency:
Professionals are positioned to take leadership; journeymen / women are followers
Evidence informs what they do, how they do it and how they are valued
Oct 2009

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Peter Coolbear Meaningful Reflective Practice Ucol Teaching & Learning Conference Oct. 2009

by Ako Aotearoa on Oct 06, 2009

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Peter Coolbear Meaningful Reflective Practice Ucol Teaching & Learning Conference Oct. 2009 — Presentation Transcript