TEACHING TIPS
This section is full of timely and evidence-based practices to apply in your teaching
As we approach the final week of the semester, it is important to take another look at reflective teaching. You are probably already familiar with journaling, observations, and updating your teaching portfolio so here are a few additional options. The Berkeley Center for Teaching and Learning shares four approaches to reflective teaching based on the four lenses discussed in Stephen D. Brookfield’s book Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher:
Autobiographical lens helps you examine your successes from the course and think about what changes could be made to improve it for next semester or the next time you teach it.
Students' lens helps you think about the success of your course from the perspective of your students. What was most helpful to them as they learned new content and navigated the curriculum? What did they love about the course and what could they do without?
Colleagues’ lens direct you to discuss with those who teach courses like yours: what were their successes and challenges? Are there similarities or things that you could work through together to improve outcomes for students? Did the assignments for the course align with intended outcomes?
Theory lens directs you to focus on current literature with evidence-based strategies to support student learning in higher education. How do students learn best based on latest research? Are you implementing those practices in the courses that you teach?
These four lenses give you a broad understanding of your successes and challenges. This type of reflective teaching incorporates multiple perspectives and considers how to make changes that align with current best practices.
Assessing student knowledge is often a large part of what we consider when determining the level of success for our instructional practices. When you assign an activity, assignment, or test, you grade it, provide feedback, and return it. Many times, students focus on the grade and not on the process that led to the grade. Carnegie Mellon suggests the use of exam wrappers - handouts you give to students when they receive assignments back with grades and feedback to encourage them to be reflective about their learning , their responses will help you make changes for future coursework not just exams. You can provide a paper copy or share the document digitally. Here is an example of an exam wrapper for physics .
