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Usually Teacher to Teacher focuses on bits of pedagogical magic
plucked from the classroom "bag of tricks."
However, because of two very big ideas brought to the last
"Eats and Ideas," in this installment, I will temporarily
depart from the "less is more" mode in order to pass them
along to you.
Mark Maier, Economics
Mark
writes:
Although
we claim that the tenure process should be an opportunity for growth by
the tenure candidate, in my experience we don't often provide concrete
ways for candidates to examine their teaching. This past year economics
instructor Amber Casolari has experimented with a "teaching
portfolio" in which she documents her efforts to help students
write a research paper. In the portfolio Amber has assembled her
research paper assignments (documenting how they changed over time),
samples of student work (documenting improving quality), data from
student surveys, and reflections by Amber on her changing ideas about
the assignment. Amber promises to present these findings to the faculty
as part of the Title V showcase series.
Tenure
committees, and perhaps also those doing post-tenure review, may want to
consider the use of teaching portfolios. They provide the opportunity
for faculty members to look closely at one aspect of teaching, although
the project could be expanded to a "course portfolio" (see
references below). This kind of focused inquiry shifts tenure review
from a static up/down decision to a process in which all of us recognize
that teaching and learning require ongoing attention to our practice.
The documented inquiry generates a product that can be shared with our
colleagues and certainly in Amber's case has created a stimulating
review process.
There
is a substantial literature on teaching and course portfolios including
the following AAHE publications:
Russell Edgerton, Pat Hutchings,
and Kathleen Quinlan. The Teaching Portfolio: Capturing the Scholarship
in Teaching. Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher
Education. 1991. Suggests one model, in which faculty assemble a
collection of carefully selected "work samples" accompanied by
reflective commentary about them. Covers the what, why, and how,
including eight actual sample portfolio entries.
Hutchings,
Pat, ed. with Lee S. Shulman. The Course Portfolio: How Faculty Can
Examine Their Teaching to Advance Practice and Improve Student Learning.
1998. It includes nine case studies by faculty in a range of disciplines who
have developed and used course portfolios, plus an annotated resource
list. Course portfolios are an important and powerful tool for
improvement because they put the focus not simply on teacher practice
but on its impact on student learning.
Ron Harlan, Biology Chairperson
Ron
has come up with an idea to encourage and inspire biology students, but
the same method could be used equally well for any division on campus.
For many years, as part of his "outcomes research," he
has asked students completing the Biology 101-102 series to fill out an
exit survey in order not only to compile information about their
transfer choices but also to contact them after they have left GCC.
This January, Ron sent former students a letter explaining his
new idea. Rather than
summarize it badly, I will quote from it:
It occurred to
me as I gazed upon the "sea of nameless faces" in my Biology
101 class during the first lecture, that beginning biology majors need
some inspiration and encouragement to power them forward.
Beginning biology students face a multitude of problems.
They are unsure of their career goal, have unrealistic
expectations as to timelines, or simply lack the confidence that such
lofty goals are attainable by mortal humans.
It seemed that it would be a great idea to create a "Wall of
Fame" composed of the pictures and personal biographies of past
students who had gone through Biology 101-102.
Not only would this provide inspiration and encouragement for
aspiring biology majors, it would also be great publicity for Glendale
College in recruitment!
Ron,
of course, asks these former students for their help in creating the Wall
of Fame
and includes a brief questionnaire to begin collecting information about
student success stories. Imagine
similar success stories from every major and division posted on the
walls all over campus! That
is Ron's challenge to the other divisions!
Got a teaching idea to share with other teachers?
Send it to me at staylor@glendale.edu. &
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