Getting a belated introduction to learning and teaching

Over the last few months I have been attending a workshop series at my institution that consisted of five discussion-based workshops each focusing on a particular learning and teaching theme. The themes were planning a session; giving a lecture; leading a seminar; providing feedback to students and observation of teaching.

Despite being involved in delivering information literacy sessions for almost a decade my theory base of learning and teaching is limited.  When studying for my Masters in Library and Information Studies there was no acknowledgement that we would go on to ‘teach’ and hence no formal training in designing and delivering instruction was included in the course. All my teaching knowledge was learnt on the job (and sometimes on the spot!) followed by attempts to improve that teaching through continuous, usually informal, personal reflection.

I do not feel that my institution adopts a supportive role in encouraging all those involved in learning and teaching to improve their ‘classroom’ skills. There seems to be a reluctance to accept that some non-Academic staff have a substantial role and influence in the learning and teaching of students and that those staff would like to improve skills that the institution deems are outside the scope of their staff category. An obvious course to participate in to improve my knowledge is the PgC in Learning and Teaching but at my workplace this is validated for Academic staff only.  Initially I was a reluctant participant at the practical workshop sessions because they were aimed at those new to teaching in Higher Education and I felt I had more practical experience to work with. The course did not provide a qualification and this is something I have long strived for on my CV.

However, despite my reservations, I did ascertain a lot about learning and teaching as well as validating knowledge I already have.  Since the end of the course I have reflected on the knowledge acquired and have started to think about how to apply it to my day-to-day work.

What did I learn?

 
Looking back at my notes I think there are four key aspects of information that I can take from the sessions.
 

1. A good teacher keeps trying to improve what they do.

All the informal personal reflection I have carried out over the years was along the right lines. Whenever I get back from a session I scribble down notes for the next run through of the session – what didn’t work/ideas for next time or other sessions – or I write formal notes in response to student evaluation form comments. This activity means I’m always trying to move things on/get things right for myself and the students. I need to continue this method but endeavour to record more of these thoughts than I currently do.

2. Turn first year dependency into final year independence.

A good teacher encourages their students to be independent learners. A good teacher doesn’t get final year students pestering them about reading a draft or how to find a book – they should have grappled with this; got it under their belt and be able to do this on their own. This is a tough challenge for me as I get limited time with students and have to work hard over a number of years to achieve this independence from a distance. It is possible but maybe I need to improve my coaching skills for those students who attend one-to-ones and assess my strategies for group work – can they go away without needing my specific support?

3. Develop mindfulness in the learning and teaching setting.

It turns out that I am mindful when in the classroom but I didn’t know that’s what it was!

Mindfulness – being aware of/paying close attention to your responsibilities – such as thinking and asking:

• Can they hear me?
• Did they understand that last point?
• Checking for puzzled faces in the audience
• Putting yourself in their shoes
• Does the session ‘feel’ like it’s going well?
• Is it going badly? Can you turn it around?

This is something to keep doing in the classroom. I think the key teaching skill I need to take away is to pick up on those puzzled faces and ask them what they need to make them unpuzzled.

4. Lesson plans – always make one.

I usually but admittedly not always create a lesson plan. I started to make them in my current role because it was expected and as the librarians team-teach sessions from time to time it is a good way to map everything out for the other person.

 

Making a lesson plan forces you to think about what you want the students to be able to do, both in and after the session (a step towards independence). It moves you on to think about how you are going to get them to learn that information – talk/activity/reading – and how it fits with their assignment i.e. constructive alignment.

… and number 5 – read up about Carl Rogers; go back and refresh my memory about learning styles and read the odd book about being a lecturer HE...

 What did I learn? That I’ve picked up a lot on the job; that I have surface learning for some of the above and can move on to deeper learning by reading some trusty tomes and that I’ll always be working at my learning and teaching if I want to be a ‘good’ teacher. I think ‘keep going but take it up a notch’ sums up my next move.

 

What did I enjoy?
 

I enjoyed being back in the classroom as a student rather than standing at the front. It was surreal after ten years of being on the ‘other side’. I had to dust off my note taking skills and remember to write up the session each week which has always been my tried and tested way of absorbing the knowledge.

 

One of the tasks we were set was to watch an experienced Higher Education practitioner deliver a lecture. I found it an enlightening experience but I don’t feel confident enough to discuss my criticisms/praise with the lecturer – there were lots of things I thought were good teaching and learning strategies but a couple of areas where I thought things didn’t quite work out but we all have our own styles.

 
Meeting colleagues on the course who were embarking on their first teaching assignments was interesting. They were worried about working with groups of thirty students whereas I work with multiple groups of thirty and routinely deliver lectures for 200 students. They too had similar concerns in terms of not having had any formal teacher training. It was a supportive group who were quite honest and self-critical in their contribution to the discussions. And we were all committed to getting it right.

 

What worked well?

I had thought the session on providing feedback to students after an assessment would be least relevant to me but I was surprised by how engaging and useful it was.  I’m not involved in deciding or designing assessments instead I have to find out what the assessment is; work out what the students need to know in order for them to tackle the assessment and then design my teaching session to facilitate that learning.

 
Unexpectedly I picked up ideas about why students want feedback; what type of feedback they want; delivering negative feedback and getting them to write their own feedback for themselves or their peers. One tactic I might use more of in future is to get them to mark their own work or their classmate’s work. This self-assessment should encourage them to model what their tutor does so they understand the assessment criteria and what they should be aiming for in their work. This has worked well with keyword exercises in some of my sessions – they have to swap papers and assess the search words other person has thought of. By enhancing this and getting them to check the other person’s work against a checklist of core search skills I hope to get them to see what they should be looking for when searching.

 

What, if anything, went wrong?

I found it hard to contribute to some of the discussions partly because I am shy in that environment until I trust the group but also because I felt unfamiliar with some of the topics. As discussions progressed, particularly in the week about leading a seminar, I reflected on how my role in learning and teaching is different from the academic tutor’s role – for example I am parachuted in to timetable slots and often see students once whereas a tutor has more time to build a lasting rapport and learn names. I struggled to make a link between my work and the seminar theme because of the nature of the sessions I deliver - although I get the seminar slot I rarely deliver a traditional ‘seminar’. I ended up picking up things about asking students questions rather than facilitating discussions.

  

What would I change?

If I did this course again I would push myself to contribute more to the discussions even if it was to say that I was finding it hard to relate the topic to my day-to-day work.

 
 

What (potential) impact could this have in my workplace?

 

I have picked up lots of tips about learning and teaching and pointers about what to read and what skills to develop in the future. It has certainly encouraged me to reflect on my skills and the way I work. As I reflect on the notes I took I am buzzing with ideas for workshops which I intend to investigate further. I hope by looking at my sessions with a fresh and more informed perspective that I can improve the learning of my students so that their ability to search independently and more confidently increases. We are moving to a resource discovery tool soon and this gives me the opportunity to revamp my information literacy sessions and make them less about database instruction and more like ‘seminars’.

  

What can I practically apply from the experience I’ve had?

As the workshops progressed I noted down a number of things to investigate or to try in future workshops:

 

• Try to reduce the number of PowerPoint slides in my presentations – can I turn any of the text in to images/diagrams/infographics?

• Look at the generic library induction – do we have constructive alignment issues by trying a one size fits all approach?

• Try negotiating some ground rules in the year one lecture. As it’s the first lecture the students attend, I should try saying what the nature/purpose of a lecture is – schools do not lecture students so this is an alien concept.

• If students are utilising their phones in lectures/sessions for socialising – I can re-engage their concentration by using the phone as part of the session. For example, I could ask them to look up a phrase or how many articles are retrieved on a search for ‘health’?  Maybe I could get them to tweet/email in what they want to know about the resources or get them to check whether we have a particular book in the library and what the classmark is.

• Make the seminar a trial run for the assignment – make it significant/relevant. I do this but maybe I don’t make it obvious to the students.

• If we are mindful of our classroom we are always on the lookout for ‘assessment’ or students’ comprehension of what we are saying – we look for puzzled faces; ask if they have any questions or would like us to repeat anything. I want to test their knowledge by getting them to write down the clearest/muddiest ideas they have taken from my lecture/seminar. I could do this at the beginning or end of the session but must make sure I clear up the muddy ideas asap. Something like this might work best if I see the students for a couple of sessions.

I have offered to participate in a ‘safe’ teaching observation exercise which is being run by the workshop leader. The idea is to run a micro-teaching session that will be observed by others in the workshop group. Getting feedback on my teaching skills in this way is both terrifying and exciting. I’ll report back on the experience.