Introduction to University Teaching - ORHEP

Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
ORHEP Project

Approaches to
University Teaching

Dr Sean Walton

www.orhep.brad.ac.uk

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License -
1 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ www.orhep.brad.ac.uk

ORHEP Project

An Introduction to University Teaching
• Theories of teaching.
• The HE Academy & university teaching
- areas (what does teaching involve).
- knowledge.
- values.


ORHEP Project

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section, you should have:

• Reflected on your own approach(es) to
teaching, and begun to place this within
overarching theories of teaching.


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What is University Teaching?
• Individually, describe
on one post-it note
what university
teaching means to
you.



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Some theories of teaching
Prosser & Trigwell:
Lindblom-Ylanne
Approaches to Teaching
Inventory (ATI)

Ramsden
Three Theories
of Teaching www.orhep.brad.ac.uk


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Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI)
• Prosser & Trigwell (1999).
• Draws from research into (science)
lecturers’ conceptions of teaching.



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Line-up Activity
• In responding to each of the following
questions from the ATI, think of a
particular teaching context.
• You will be asked to position yourselves on
a continuum from ‘almost always true for
me in this context’ to ‘only rarely true for
me’.

ORHEP Project

• In this subject I concentrate on covering the
information that might be available from a good
textbook.
• We take time out in classes so that students can
discuss, among themselves, the difficulties that
they encounter studying this subject.
strategy

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• I feel a lot of teaching time in this subject
should be used to question students’
ideas.
• I feel it is important to present a lot of facts
in classes so that students know what they
have to learn for this subject.

intention

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ATI and types of teaching
• ATI: 2 main approaches to teaching
- Conceptual change/student focused
approach.
- Information transmission/ teacher focused
approach.
• But note concern about validity of ATI as a
research tool (Meyer & Eley, 2005).

ORHEP Project

(Sari Lindblom-Ylänne, U of Helsinki, e.g. Lindblom-Ylänne et al (2006); Postareff et al (2007))

• Content-focused approach to teaching
– focus on transmission of knowledge
– generally repeat traditional and familiar ways of teaching
• Learning-focused approach to teaching
– teaching to improve student learning
– emphasis on continuous enhancement of own teaching
• (also looking at how AtT are affected by disciplinary
and teaching context) www.orhep.brad.ac.uk


ORHEP Project

Ramsden’s 3 Theories of Teaching
Ramsden(2003)

1 Teaching as telling or transmission.
- Transmission of authoritative content.
- Teacher as source of undistorted
information.
- Failure to learn is blamed on students.


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2 Teaching as organising student
activity
- Focus on what the student does.
- Orchestrate teaching to generate
learning activity.
- But may be failure to fully integrate T&L
activity with students’ learning of www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
subject.

ORHEP Project

3 Teaching as making learning possible.
- T, L & subject linked in overarching system
- Teacher’s focus is on identifying &
overcoming barriers to students’ learning
- Teacher recognises knowledge of the
subject is constituted by the learner


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The HE Academy & University Teachers
• Areas of activity (what does teaching
involve).
• Knowledge (what do we need to know to
be effective).
• Values.


ORHEP Project

Activity: areas, knowledge & values
In table groups discuss & produce a brief list
of what YOU feel might constitute:
• The key activities of teaching in HE, or
• The core knowledge required by all HE
teachers to be effective, or
• Professional values that should be shared

by all HE teachers.

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HEA: The UK Professional
Standards Framework

Please take a moment to consider the
UKPSF
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ukpsf



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Areas of activity
1. Design and plan learning activities and/or programmes of
study.
2. Teach and/or support learning.
3. Assess and give feedback to learners.
4. Develop effective learning environments and approaches to
student support and guidance.
5. Engage in continuing professional development in
subjects/disciplines and their pedagogy, incorporating
research, scholarship and the evaluation of professional
practices.


ORHEP Project

Core Knowledge
1. The subject material.
2. Appropriate methods for teaching and learning in the subject
area and at the level of the academic programme.
3. How students learn, both generally and within their subject/
disciplinary area(s).
4. The use and value of appropriate learning technologies.
5. Methods for evaluating the effectiveness of teaching.
6. The implications of quality assurance and quality
enhancement for academic and professional practice with a
particular focus on teaching.

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Professional Values
1. Respect individual learners and diverse learning
communities.
2. Promote participation in higher education and equality of
opportunity for learners.
3. Use evidence-informed approaches and the outcomes from
research, scholarship and continuing professional
development.
4. V4 Acknowledge the wider context in which higher
education operates recognising the implicationswww.orhep.brad.ac.uk
for
professional practice.


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Specific References
Lindblom-Ylänne, S, Trigwell, K, Nevgi, A & Ashwin, P (2006). How approaches to
teaching are affected by discipline and teaching context, Studies in Higher
Education, 31 (3), 285-298.
Meyer, JHF & Eley, MG (2006) The approaches to teaching inventory: a critique of
its development and applicability, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76,
633-649.
Postareff, L, Lindblom-Ylänne, S & Nevgi, A (2007). The effect of pedagogical
training on teaching in higher education, Teaching and Teacher Education, 23
(5) 557-571.
Prosser, M & Trigwell, K (1999) Understanding Learning and Teaching,
Buckingham: SRHE & Open University Press.
Ramsden, P (2003) Learning to Teach in Higher Education 2nd edition, London:
RoutledgeFalmer.


Introduction to University Teaching - ORHEP

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