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My PgCert APHE programme began in 2018 and has taken quite some time to complete, complicated by heavy teaching schedules in Coventry and four teaching blocs in China.  This has not on reflection been a bad thing.  The gaps between modules has allowed me to soak in what was last taught to me and apply the lessons learned and the insights gained in a practical manner.  I have been teaching in some form for nearly forty years, so being asked to analyse my habits and teaching methods seemed rather heretical at first, and at my age of 62 perhaps somewhat after the horse has bolted.  I know my technical material, and have a PhD in it.  Having a professional qualification in teaching had not been needed or valued before, so I was unsure where the PgCert APHE was going and what skills were desired to be learned, together with a feeling that I’ve gotten by without it.  However, I pride myself on having an open mind (but not one that permits my brain to fall out!). I have been teaching at Coventry University since 2016 part-time and 2017 full time.  I was a part-timer in Australia for five years before that, and before that a civil servant.

Beginning with the first module, 7000CRB ‘Developing and Enhancing Learning and Teaching in Higher Education’ I was encouraged to look beyond my somewhat rote teaching, where each cohort looked the same, and the temptation was to not reinvent the material and approach from year to year.  The first module emphasised that I should break this mode and consider the ways in which I could reflect on my own teaching and amended it based on my insights.  The initial stimulus for reflection was Ramsden (Ramsden 2003) which began a process whereby I considered both how I could amend my own teaching to accommodate the ways students learned, but also, to begin to consider the works of academics in this field.  Looking back, I have seen that there is much in the academic writings that have allowed a critical reflection of my teaching methods.  I needed to understand contemporary teaching practices and improve my own.

My first critical review began when we first considered different learning theories such as behaviourism, constructivism, and cognitive theory.  Constructivism appealed to me as it involves individual learners building on prior knowledge and solving problems, which resonated best with the study of my discipline, law.  I was encouraged to read more on this area of theory (Savery and Duffy 1995).  They emphasised that “the learners are actively engaged in working at tasks and activities that are authentic to the environment in which they would be used” (Savery and Duffy, 37).  Law, being a professional subject emphasises the methods that they describe.  At the time I was studying 7000CRB this did not resonate a lot as I was not designing the modules I was teaching.  However, in the next two years I had the opportunity to act on these reflections.  For example, they advocate that all learning activities must be linked to a larger purpose (Savery and Duffy, 32).  In the last year when having responsibility for my own, and new modules, I made formative assessments that had clear linkages to final assessments and to the skills to be gained from completion of the module, and designed authentic tasks.  I found that students were more engaged in the subject if there was a clear correlation between what was taught and what was assessed and practiced.

Considering constructive alignment (Biggs, 2014) allowed me consider in depth my intended learning outcomes and to encourage active learning.  I have in recent years been drafting exams and coursework and reflecting on what their purposes are.  In reviewing constructivism I created these materials in this understanding, as well as formative work and seminars to ensure that these purposes were understood.  Some philosophies of teaching discussed I had come across before as a trainer in government, such as VARK (2018) and Kolb’s learning cycle as well as those I had not such as SOLO taxonomy (Fleming and Baume, 2006) and Blooms’s taxonomy.

I have taught a number of modules since 700CLS.  I have taught in longstanding modules at undergraduate level where there has been little room for me to change them substantively, to new Masters modules in the last twelve months where the materials from 7001CRB and 7006CRB allowed me to design the content and reflect on their purpose.  In 7001CRB, I was encouraged to review my assessment practice, using for example the EAT tool kit and framework (Evans, 2016).  Here I needed to review questions to determine what learning I was seeking to be demonstrated, and whether my lessons had ensured that these skills had been developed.  Neglected concepts such as ensuring that students knew clearly what the teaching objectives were, what quality of work would gain a certain mark using and linking rubrics, and what should be effective feedback were all considered when I taught these newer modules.  I was free to incorporate these new insights into new material and the clarity this has brought students has been well received.  Students have been giving good feedback in emails and MEQs.  Thoughts from such as Carless et al (2011) have ensured that that I consider feedback in my drop-in or informal sessions with students.

In 7006CRB my mind was turned to an area I have not yet explored, the design and assessment of a new curriculum.  As Voogt et al (Voogt, Pieters, and Handelzalts 2016: 130) pointed out, creating new materials requires change.  My law school has recently amended most of our modules to adapt to a new professional environment, so I was curious about what the curriculum was and how it was designed.  How students view the curriculum and other educators was a new perspective.  My perspective in the past was an uncritical delivery of material to students.  Cornbleth’s comment (Cornbleth, 1990: 2) on conceptions about curriculum spoke to thinking about the impact of such upon students.

The thoughts of Fotheringham, Strickland, and Atichison (2011) encouraged me to see curriculum as more than just content.  This coincided with me being a relatively new academic, so the idea of developing role and identity of an academic came with my new experience (Blaxter et al., 1998; Gale, 2011 and Billot 2010: 709) and as an academic leader (Mahtani, 2018).  Wilhelm von Humboldt suggested a novel idea for me of scholars and students in a common search for truth.  Swain (Swain 2011) asks whether education should be for its own sake.  These ideas encouraged me to review whether I should be teaching law just for the profession, or should I be designing modules with a wider brief.  What is my curriculum intended to do, and what skills should come of it?  In designing the modules I currently teach, what were the thoughts behind its designers, and how might I redesign it.  The group work certainly made clear that this is a holistic process (Toohey 1999).  Overall the group work in 7006CRB in curriculum design was instructive on a number of levels in seeing what objectives need to be met and an appreciation of how many stakeholders are involved.

The last fifteen months in which I have been teaching throughout the pandemic has been encouraged developmental stimuli that were unexpected.  The first module in the PgCert APHE was conducted for me in ideal conditions where I could reflect on my usual practice, whilst considering the insights that the PgCert modules gave me such as ensuring that the teaching was student centred, and that more attention was required to ensure diversity and student involvement amongst other issues.  The pandemic featured in the last two modules and there was suddenly a much greater focus on, not only on teaching online, but ensuring that teaching was conducted in an environment that recognised difficulty in accessing online material, and a significant number of classes now being conducted online in real time.  Lectures that were outlines to be filled in while spoken in class now needed to be enhanced so that they could be accessed asynchronously.  Overall a high quality of teaching needed to be maintained under these unusual circumstances to ensure that the student experience was maintained at a high level.  Although I had initially seen the teaching in the PgCert as some add-ons that I could utilise through the various insights gained, the pandemic caused me to pull all the lessons together urgently to ensure that my students got the best teaching and materials possible in the shortest amount of time, amending and adjusting as circumstances changed.

The PgCert has been a journey, of considering why I am teaching, and having the student’s journey in mind in addition to other stakeholders.  I now have access to pedagogical theory that I can revisit when planning and designing new and existing modules.  I have new insights into the content and accessibility of my modules and how they may be delivered more effectively to inform my continuing development in teaching.  I am certain I am now a better educator for the experience.  Who knows?  Maybe I’ll sign up to a real PgDip if it comes along?

Bibliography

Biggs, J. (2014) ‘Constructive alignment in University teaching’ HERDSA review of higher education 1(1), 5-22

Billot, J. (2010). The imagined and the real: Identifying the tensions for academic identity. Higher Education Research & Development, 29(6), 709-721.

Blaxter, L., Hughes, C., & Tight, M. (1998). Writing on academic careers. Studies in Higher Education, 23(3), 281-295.

Carless, D., Salter, D., Yang, M., and Lam, J. (2011) ‘Developing Sustainable Feedback Practices’. Studies in Higher Education 35 (4), 395-407

Cornbleth, C. (1990). Curriculum in context. Falmer Press.

Evans, C. (2016) Enhancing Assessment Feedback Practice in Higher Education: The EAT Framework.

Fleming, N. and Baume, D. (2006) ‘Learning styles again - Varking up the right tree’. Educational Developments, 7 (4) 4-7

Fotheringham, J., Strickland, K., & Aitchison, K. (2011). Curriculum: Directions, decisions and debate. The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.

Mahtani, K. (2018). What makes an academic leader?

Ramsden, P. (2003) Learning to Teach in Higher Education. Abingdon: Routledge Falmer

Savery, J. R., and Duffy, T. M. (1995) ‘Problem Based Learning: An Instructional Model and its Constructivist Framework’. Educational Technology, 35 (5), 31-38.

Swain, H. (2011). What are universities for? The Guardian.

Toohey, S. (1999). Designing courses for higher education. McGraw-Hill Education.

VARK (2018) ‘VARK – a guide to learning styles’

Voogt, J. M., Pieters, J. M., & Handelzalts, A. (2016). Teacher collaboration in curriculum design teams: Effects, mechanisms and conditions. Educational Research and Evaluation, 22(3-4), 121-140.

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(16APR2021) There were a lot of useful tips to takeaway from this session.  The most important reminder was that PowerPoint is a tool and not the lecture and simply supports the learning journey.  Students should expect to find the materials they need from AULA, and not depend on PowerPoint presentations as learning materials.  Extra information can be placed on PDFs so lecture presentations can be shorter.

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Who do we have in mind?          I agree we need to be able to prepare students for the real world of employment, especially in courses that have industry requirements for completion such as law and nursing.  However, we also need to foster a desire for future learning in the discipline.  In law for example, I teach what is needed now, but also I teach the history and philosophy of law, to ensure that the current discipline is understood in context, and a template for further study (formal or just out of interest) is fostered.    

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Who do we have in mind?          I agree we need to be able to prepare students for the real world of employment, especially in courses that have industry requirements for completion such as law and nursing.  However, we also need to foster a desire for future learning in the discipline.  In law for example, I teach what is needed now, but also I teach the history and philosophy of law, to ensure that the current discipline is understood in context, and a template for further study (formal or just out of interest) is fostered.    

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 FBL Workshop on “Meeting the needs of Chinese students in online classroom”.

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 FBL Workshop on “Meeting the needs of Chinese students in online classroom”.

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Workshop  (05MAR2021)
included transforming offline activities online,  promoting collaboration,  making content relevant to Chinese students, and providing an inclusive learning environment.  Useful elements for this module were the writing down of clear instructions and the formalising of activities in modules I create for Chinese students.

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AULA Workshop Session 3: Cognitive science and curriculum design

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AULA Workshop Session 3: Cognitive science and curriculum design

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This session with Joanna Maclean (03MAR2021) challenged a number of basic assumptions on student learning. By looking at how students learn classes can be enhanced and outcomes improved by changing the delivery of information. I found most useful the elements related to linking material to prior learning and issues related to cognitive load as well as creating a motivating environment.

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Light Bights: Using ZOOM to Engage Students Actively

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Light Bights: Using ZOOM to Engage Students Actively

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This session with Ian Upton (15FEB2021) i hoped would address some concerns that I had about whether my lecture creation and module design could do with some improement. I found the suggestions regarding the use of breakout rooms useful, as well as discussion on how to use AULA more effectively by not trying to put all of the student experience into the whole lecture space. Ian discussed also the issues of visual and sound presentation. I found overall the session useful in refining my Zoom presentations. Sometimes it's not about radical change but incremental improvement.