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Teaching Communities

Relevant links to this topic:
A Mature Teaching Community.
Agenda of a Teaching Community meeting.
Small group teaching workshop outline
Teaching Communities in the School of IT

Teaching consistently well is a much more difficult and complex task than most people realise. Even experienced teachers can fall into the trap of developing a limited set of teaching responses that are used in all situations, and then blaming students for not being able to learn successfully from them. Recognising that becoming an expert teacher is a life-long process of constant development of knowledge and skill is the first step. Such a process is exceptionally difficult to do in isolation.

Teachers are as much learners as their students, and good teachers are good learners. One of the most effective way to learn well is to operate in a Learning Community with other students learning similar knowledge. Similarly one of the best ways to rapidly improve teaching skill is to be a member of a reflective practice community: a Teaching Community.

Becoming an expert teacher means both knowing what is required to be expert, and being able to learn the knowledge and skills.

Expert teachers have:

1. A core of knowledge about their subject content, in particular a very "deep" understanding of the fundamental principles and concepts (the "big ideas"). They understand the way knowledge fits together and relates, and how the principles can be applied to a myriad "real world" contexts.
   
   
2. An understanding of learning as an outcome. Good teachers know the difference between "deep" learning and "surface" learning, and the importance of the learner constructing a meaningful personal representation of an idea.
   
   
3. An understanding of learning as a process. Students are not generic, they have a range of learning styles and interests, and they use a wide range of strategies when they attempt to learn. Good teachers seek to understand how students decide to learn or not learn, including the factors that influence motivation and interest, and know how to identify the learning approaches being used by students. They know different types of knowledge have to be learned in different ways, and how assessment interacts with learning.
   
   
4. An understanding of teaching principles and methods. Good teachers base their teaching approach on proven education theory, such as the need for active engagement by the students of the knowledge. They also have a wide range of teaching strategies available to match the students' learning needs with the knowledge to be acquired, in the particular learning situation they are setting up.
   
   
5. An awareness of their own situation. Expert teachers are constantly analysing their teaching environment, and in particular the students' reactions, to identify the critical factors that will influence the teaching and learning interaction. They "reflect in practice".
   
   
6. The capacity to make good decision. Expert teachers not only make many decisions about how to respond to the complex environment around them, but are able to monitor their own decision making, using their wide knowledge base to optomise the learning situation for the students they are engaged with.
   
   
7. The capacity to self analyse. Good teachers will take time to analyse their teaching after the event, to consider what went well (and why), and what went poorly (and why) in order to learn from their experience, and plan the next situation. This capacity to "reflect on practice" is both an individual and a group activity.
   
   
8. A willingness to share. Expert teachers talk teaching with other teachers in order to better understand their own situation, and learn from others.
   

 

Acquiring this rich set of skills is a life long process, even when the learning conditions are ideal. The combined research of many academics and practitioners all over the world has demonstrated that ideal learning conditions:

1. Are not be seen by the learner as 'fixing' a knowledge deficit in the learner, but are seen as an opportunity to continue to develop and improve on current knowledge.
   
   
2. Are long term and incremental, not a hurdle to be jumped to achieve a qualification.
   
   
3. Are on a need-to-know basis, where new knowledge has immediate utility.
   
   
4. Foster learning primarily by social interaction with peers - with knowledge construction guided and validated by a trusted expert.
   
   
5. Are as closely situated in the required context for use of the knowledge as possible, to limit the need to translate theory into practice.
   
   
6. Engage the learner in active construction of meaning to solve a real problem in a social context.
   
   
7. Encourage risk taking and experimentation, with assessment that does not focus on mistakes, but rewards learning.
   
   
8. Give ample opportunity for reflection on practice, and in practice.
   
   
9. Give immediate constructive feedback to any attempts to change.
   
   
10. Provide a constant sense of progress and self-efficacy.

 

Teaching Communities are an environment where these learning needs are provided for, and where the complex set of knowledge and skills required to be an expert teacher can be developed.

There are two general types of Teaching Communities (as used in the research conducted at Swinburne University). All are dependent on the participating staff completing a 2 day workshop on small group teaching before the start of the teaching semester. This workshop is vital in establishing a shared understanding of some key teaching and learning principles, and developing a shared language to communicate about learning.

Subject Teaching Communities are the most common. These are based on large intake subjects where a number of sessional and ongoing staff must work together to provide lectures and small group situations. All the staff involved meet weekly, or at most fortnightly, with the guidance of an "education expert". A carefully planned agenda, and input from the education expert, ensures that the objectives are met. An example is the research project run with Swinburne's School of IT.

Generic Teaching Communities are made up of staff from many different subjects, and the focus of discussion is more general. Although not as effective in developing understanding of content, as there is less discussion about the "big ideas", the Generic TC meeting does allow an opportunity for staff to share experiences and draw on the ideas of other teachers. There are also benefits in hearing about the experiences of staff in completely different subject areas, benefits that are not experienced in a Subject TC. In the secondary system the best example of such an approach is the Project for Enhancing Effective Learning (PEEL).

The "education expert" has a critical role to play. He or she should:

1. Ensure that the meeting runs to its agenda, in particular ensuring that the staff share and discuss the students' response to the current teaching.
   
   
2. Help interpret the shared teaching experience in terms of the educational frameworks explored in the initial workshop.
   
   
3. Challenge staff to clearly explain the upcoming "big ideas", acting as a "naive expert" who attempts to model a typical students' capacity to cope with new ideas. This includes introducing common misconceptions or misunderstandings so that staff can practice their own teaching response.
   
   
4. Encourage and support staff to develop teaching methods consistent with good learning principles that would be suitable for the students' current knowledge state.
   
   
5. Introduce possible teaching methods from the broader education literature, bearing in mind the current learning situation of the students, and the concepts to be learned.
   
   
6. Provide feedback to staff about their own development as teachers.

It is helpful if the education expert has at least a working knowledge of the content to be taught in the subject.

Research on Teaching Communities.

Relevant articles about Teaching Communities:

The teaching community: Recreating university teaching. A summary article about the Teaching Community model, its development and successes.

Three articles about Teaching Communities in the first year of the engineering degree at Swinburne University:

Educating engineering academics in the work place through teaching communities.

Redesigning first year engineering: A teaching community approach.

Building teaching communities in first year engineering.

Enhancing student satisfaction in higher education: The creation of staff teaching communities. Article about a separate project at Victoria University of Technology in the psychology department.

Developing a culture of teaching and learning at tertiary level: A training course for post graduate student tutors that made a difference. Details of the small group teaching development workshop integral to the Teaching Community model.

 

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