Slides from the first Edubites session on Teaching Excellence, November 2016

1. +
Dr James Field
School of Dental Sciences
PFHEA
Edubites:
Teaching Excellence Series
• What’s the evidence?

2. Newcastle Educators
https://ncleducators.wordpress.com/
Dr Phil Ansell (Maths & Stats)
DrVanessa Armstrong (Biomed Science)
Dr Lindsey Ferrie (Biomed Science)
Dr James Field (Dental Sciences)
Dr Sara Marsham (Marine Sciences)
Dr JC Penet (Modern Languages)
Miss KatieWray (Enterprise)

3. Teaching Excellence Series
We see this as a fantastic
opportunity to engage in some wide-
ranging discussions with a number of
stakeholders
This is not all about theTEF!

4. Excellent. So….
It’s difficult to
imagine starting with
a blank canvas
Our perception is
already heavily
influenced by where
we are….

5. … and where
we’ve been
After all,
excellence is a
relative
phenomenon

6. Sources of evidencePedagogic
literature
Performance
data
Employability
& outcome
data
Student
satisfaction
Student ideas
Expert
opinion
• Robust literature, but not much!
• Recently
• Teaching effectiveness vs excellence
• Differences in perception ()
• Global interest
• De Courcy 2015

7. Pedagogic literature
 CHERI Centre for Higher Education
Research & Information
 Cynical view: Teaching excellence is just
a facet of neoliberalism and part of an
agenda to move towards a consumerist
model of higher education
 Pragmatically:We need a fuller
recognition of the possible different
educational orientations being manifested
at a disciplinary/profession level and their
influence on appropriate ‘excellent’
outcomes for student learning
• Considered and reflexive development of a personal philosophy of teaching
(Skelton 2009)
• Excellence is ‘dynamic’, a ‘force’ that motivates teachers not only at the
heights of their work but also in difficult circumstances and choices
• A moral category – not about ‘what works’ but about what is ‘good’
• Involves vibrant, deliberative cultures in which intellectual curiosity is
supported and ideas and practices are shared and discussed rather than held
to a fixed set of criteria
• Concrete circumstances that underpin teaching and learning:‘Staff-student
ratios; general infrastructure; conditions of work and secure contracts
• Time to reflect within the working day; and professional development
opportunities should be conceived as part of excellence in the whole of the
academic life, and not in rivalry with or in distraction from research
excellence.
The ‘Academic Citizen’ (Macfarlane & Skelton 2007):
• Values such as:
• dedication to one’s discipline
• a love of one’s students
• a desire to communicate
• a willingness to continually learn
• Teaching excellence is part of a bigger, moral, nominal culture underpinned
by academic altruism and, supported through institutional systems

8. Teaching Excellence
Awards: the evidence
 Surely this is all relative?
 And as we strive for, and achieve
excellence, how do we reflexively
redefine the concept?
 Or do we accept that everyone at
some point is ‘good enough’?

9. Student ideas
 We have some equally fascinating
excerpts from the students that we
canvassed
 But the rest of these will have to wait
until our student session on 8th
February
“a true dedication and investment into your
students' learning, rooted in a true passion for
your subject that is conveyed to those you are
teaching.Also providing the extra time and
resources some students may need to gain
sufficient understanding, and the ability to
stimulate interest and a desire to learn in all
those who you teach”
“Dr. Field, I think it's fair to say teaching
excellence is when no one falls asleep in the
lecture.
“When you’re not afraid to ask a question and
when you can never annoy someone by
knocking on their office door”
“successfully taking on the difficult challenge of
teaching the same curriculum to a body of
students with vastly different learning styles
and abilities.

10. The remainder of the series:
Input from:
• You!
• PFHEAs
• PVC
Educator
opinion
Open
discussion
Institutional
views
Student
ideas
Expert
opinion

11. ?