Concise Teaching Portfolio
Philip
Uys, PhD, 2006
1. MY
APPROACH TO TEACHING: EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND GOALS
3.1 My course and subject responsibilities
3.2 Innovative approaches I have used
3.3 How I deal with diversity among learners
3.4 Assessment strategies I use
3.5 How I learn more about my own teaching
Acknowledgement
I
wish to acknowledge with gratitude the positive impact of colleagues on my
teaching and personal growth through rich interactions during collaborative
work at
I
wish to expound on the model above that illustrates my educational philosophy
and goals. The life-changing potential of the combination of teacher, learner
and problem (Vygotsky, 1962) for growth is still as valid in modern higher
learning as it has been before. My aim in teaching is to ensure that effective
learning, based on transparent values, occurs that leads to holistic growth of
the learner. Values form the ultimate basis for both teaching and learning.
“You teach what you know, but you impart who you are” - Larry Tomczac
Effective
learning might be continually redefined, but at present it means to me,
learning-centred and flexible engagement based upon transparent values.
Conveying information was my aim when starting my academic career in 1993, but
a post-graduate diploma in higher learning and teaching, which I completed in
1997, impressed upon me the enormous potential of good teaching to contribute
to knowledge creation and support multi-dimensional growth in the learner.
In
the model above, the sides of the inner triangle signify the determinants of
learning while the sides of the outer triangle represent the imperatives for
teaching to create these determinants. The determinants of learning include
learners’ awareness of their own values and those of others, when they engage
in and take ownership for their own learning, develop multi-literacy (also
called multiple literacies) and grow in confidence and competence.
Multi-literacy (Brown, Lockyer & Norman, 2004) includes critical, academic, information, language,
media, technological and network literacy as well as numeracy. Multi-literacy
is necessary for learners to be effective in creating academic meaning in the
world we now live in. Learning will blossom and competence will be fully
expressed when learners exhibit high levels of confidence. I see engagement as
the central determinant of learning (Simonson, Samldino, Albright& Zvacek, 2003) and therefore a key focus of teaching, leading to
ownership within the right environment.
The
imperatives for teaching have been derived from the determinants of effective
values-based learning. These imperatives describe my teaching objectives.
In
my teaching, I have attempted to ensure engagement by being enthusiastic,
posing problems for the learners and employing innovative approaches through
reflective practices to address the multiple and complex needs of learners,
thereby supporting ownership of learning. Engagement leads to ownership only
when constructivist approaches (Duffy,
Lowyck & Jonassen, 1993; Piaget, 1977) empower the learners to take responsibility for, and
define areas of their own learning. In my early teaching I was in control and
determined what, when and how the teaching would occur. My approach
dramatically changed when teaching as Senior Lecturer in the Adult Education
Group of the Department of Social and Policy Studies in Education at
The
significance of both learning and assessment engenders engagement by the
learners. Action research (Lewin, 1946; Carr and Kemmis, 1986; Elliot, 1991;
Zuber- Skerrit, 1992) is therefore a favoured research approach of mine and I
used it in my doctoral work to investigate the management of both the
implementation and operation of e-learning in tertiary institutions (Uys,
2000).
Multi-literacy
development requires teaching based on quality instructional design which
provides direction and challenges to the learner (Dick & Carey, 1996). I have
always been open to feedback to guide me towards adapting my teaching to
stimulate and support multi-literacy, which includes life-long learning
processes. Learning needs to be managed towards shared outcomes that include
higher multi-literacy levels. My experience at every institution of higher
learning, both in developed and developing environments, has taught me the
necessity for the teacher to recognise and manage the requirements and wider
systemic influences of the institution. Growth in multi-literacy also requires
a quality environment. This includes a range of educational technologies which
are blended to mediate instruction consistent with good andragogy (Knowles,
1980). Educational technology is subservient to pedagogy and andragogy and its
appropriate use is necessary to provide good learning.
I
have discovered that competence and confidence are inseparable characteristics
of effective learning across the range of learners I taught. Teachers with
integrity engender trust. Creating confidence in learners requires support
which includes being approachable and sensitive to their different needs,
learning styles and goals. Collegiality in teaching, which is particularly
possible with adult learners and fellow academic staff members, leads to confidence,
acceptance and a sense of worth that assist such learners to explore and
experiment. These are necessary conditions for growth and development.
Scholarship (Boyer, 1990), including the scholarship of teaching, is necessary
when competence in the learner is to be achieved through research-led teaching.
Expertise in the particular discipline and in teaching is necessary for quality
learning. Competence is also developed by means of well thought-through
feedback from the teacher on assessment work, which my learners always
appreciated. I hold a systemic approach to teaching. It views learning as
occurring within the axis of a variety of systems such as personality traits,
motivation, life goals, family, friends, colleagues, institutional and sectoral
policies and global developments – life and learning cannot be separated.
Competence seldom happens without the presence of challenges provided by an
astute teacher who is committed to take learners beyond their current levels of
learning. This can occur through a
process of 'scaffolding' (Vygotsky, 1978).
Teaching
is becoming increasingly collaborative as the learners contribute with the
teacher to knowledge creation, and as modern instructional design and
development calls for the kind of multi-disciplinary team approaches (DEC
working party, 1991:34; Holmberg, 1995) that I have been fortunate to be part
of for more than a decade.
My
teaching career thus far has seen many opportunities for adjustment that I have
been able to seize and develop. I see myself as a learner in becoming an
increasingly competent teacher in interesting times of global and local
interaction, technological and human interplay, the convergence of distance and
on-campus learning into flexible education and the challenge between academic
collegiality and managerialism (Middlehurst, 1993:189) in higher learning. A
favourite quote that I try to adhere to as learner is
“In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who survive, the
learned find themselves fully equipped to live in a world that no longer
exists” - Peter Hoffer
I have worked
mostly with academic staff and other adult learners in the areas of change
management, educational technology, ICT-enabledflexible learning and
educational governance. Educational governance includes leadership and
management, particularly management of educational innovation and change. I
have taught courses in these areas at a range of levels and in different
settings internationally. I find these areas exciting as they address major
international issues in both developed and developing environments namely, good
and effective governance of higher education, the dynamics of educational
innovation and institutional change, as well as ensuring the wide-spread and appropriate
use of educational technologies for flexible learning. I have been fortunate to
both teach regarding, and since 2000 implement and manage, university-wide
educational technology programmes and change programmes.
If
the present dynamics in higher education is a sign of times to come, learning
and teaching will be playing an increasingly pivotal role in higher education
and will be in constant need of re-invention (Marquard, 1996; Senge, 1990).
“When the drumbeat changes, the dance changes” - Hausa People
3.1
My course and subject responsibilities
I have 12 years
of teaching experience at tertiary education level, with nine years as senior
lecturer. A full list of courses I have taught is available in my curriculum
vitae. I taught as Senior Lecturer at Wellington Polytechnic, New Zealand
(which became Massey University at Wellington during my tenure) for just less
than seven years from April 1994 to January 2001. Initially, for two years, I
taught courses within the Department of Computer Studies on the Bachelor of
Business Information and the Diploma of Business Computing. Fortunately,
Wellington Polytechnic had a one year induction programme for new teachers.
This stimulated my thinking and met my desire to develop my own scholarship of
teaching that I also signed up for the second year part-time course and thus
completed the Advanced Diploma in Tertiary Teaching in December 1997.
When I
discovered the potential of Web-based learning and also desired more practical
application of my teaching, I started the Hypermedia in Distance Education
Project (hydi) in late 1995. Fortunately this project and I, until I left
Massey in December 2000, found a home and solid andragogical base in the Adult
Education Group of the Department of Social and Policy Studies in Education.
I have found
the innovation
diffusion theory (Rogers, 1983), in providing a general explanation for the
manner in which innovations disseminate through social systems, and Fullan’s
views (1991) helpful in educational change and leadership. I still managed, during my four years at the University of Botswana (UB), to co-taught
in courses offered by the Department of Educational Technology in the Faculty of
Education. My teaching since 2000 has mainly been in change management,
educational technology, academic and curriculum development. At Charles Sturt
University I have taught the distance
education cohort for ESC512, Information Technology and the Curriculum students
of the Master of Education in the School of Teacher Education, as well as the
distance education cohort for MGT572, Managing Organisational Change students
of the Master of Management and the Graduate Certificate of Management in the
School of Marketing and Management. My learners and peers have consistently
commented on the engaging manner, positive interpersonal skills,
approachability, support, pre-planning, patience, clarity and commitment by
which I conduct my work.
3.2
Innovative approaches I have used
I founded the
hydi Educational New Media Centre which started in September 1995 as the
Hypermedia in Distance Education (hydi) project to establish flexible and
e-learning at the Wellington campus of Massey University. I explored group work
in computer studies to prepare learners for a career in information technology
where team work is critical. I soon discovered in my teaching that agreeing on
ground rules at the start of every new semester with every group was critical to
have an agreed basis for operation and accountability. The ground rules
emanated from two questions we discussed, “What do you expect of me?” and,
“What do you expect of each other?”
I also started
using skeleton handouts for first-year learners to assist them in structuring
their note-making. I have used independent learning projects in first year
adult learner courses and higher levels more frequently used at. I used
role-plays in the Computer Ethics course for deeper, experiential learning. In
a number of courses demonstrations were required as part of the assessment
regime. For this I employed peer-review to enhance the reliability of the
assessment. In 1999 I started exploring blended learning using both
correspondence and face-to-face teaching with online communications. In some of
the Adult Education courses in 1999, I explored more constructivist and
student-centred approaches in which the learners added learning outcomes to the
courses and also advised on more ideal times and duration of classes.
I ran the first
WebCT course at UB in 2002 with a group of local second year learners who,
within 45 minutes, created a homepage and were posting messages and replies on
the online discussion board. Peer teaching at UB has been satisfying for its
capacity building effects and in providing intimate and direct feedback. I find
using Mimio-boards, with Ms-Netmeeting to distribute the instructor’s screen to
all the learners, helpful in the collaborative learning spaces we have created
at UB. I used online forums. CHAT sessions and flexible online publishing
approaches to support deeper engagement through interactive approaches.
I try to
provide learners with authentic tasks which are grounded in their life and work
environment, for which problem-based learning has been most effective. My
teaching now is based on constructivist approaches, collegiality, facilitation,
transformation (Apps, 1994; Henderson & Hawthorne, 1995), learning-centred
instruction and with maximum flexibility for the learner, while I am always on
the look-out for innovative approaches to increase the effectiveness of deep,
values-based learning.
3.3
How I deal with diversity among learners
I have taught
diverse groups of learners and found them different in many ways. Mediated
individualised instruction (Romiszowski, 1984), however, needs to be balanced
by collaborative, team work to facilitate authentic, pragmatic and life-long
learning within a social framework (Jonassen (1994); Vygotsky, 1962). I respect
and value diversity and draw on and manage diversity to enrich and stimulate
learning experiences. Constructivism addresses individual differences well and
links to the situational leadership approaches that I use in educational
management, as outlined by Hersey and Blanchard (Bartol, Martin, Tein &
Matthews, 1998).
“Every
door has its own key” - Swahili People
Values-based
learning, which combines well with value-based leadership (Smith Kuczmarski
& Kuczmarski, 1995), plays a vital role in appreciating differences among
learners and teachers in a learning community of practice.
3.4
Assessment strategies I use
I link
assessment closely to learning outcomes and strive for alignment, but find it
challenging to make provision for incidental and emergent learning in
assessment. I use assessment not only as a verification mechanism but also to
provide feedback to learners to motivate and stimulate further learning. I also use peer assessment for both formative
and summative assessment, and have often required self-assessment in formative
situations.
I use a range
of assessment instruments including standard examinations and tests, open book
assessments, assignments, project work, media product development, group
assignments, practical demonstration and presentations. I have also used
assessable online forum work to support collaborative assessment practices. I
am concerned about the over-confidence of teachers in their ability to set
perfectly valid and reliable assessments and thus using it indiscriminately as
absolute measurements of learner performance instead of using it as
opportunities for feedback, encouragement and challenge in a supportive way.
“If you ask the wrong question, you are going the get the wrong answer”
–Gaines S. Dobbins
I prefer achievement-based assessment with grade
related criteria which in conjunction with moderation, assists in supporting
the validity and reliability of assessment instruments. Most of the learners
have over the years commented on the clarity of expectation and the respectful,
motivational, constructive, prompt, additional, enduring, challenging and
quality of feedback provided both in formative and summative assessment.
3.5
How I learn more about my own teaching
The
Johari window (Luft, 1969) emphasise
the importance of
getting external feedback. I obtain such feedback from learners and peers
through formal evaluation, reflection on end of course reports, noting
interesting aspects in my diary, reading about learning and teaching and
interacting widely with colleagues. Information received confirms, enlightens,
challenges and directs my thinking and practices to new explorations within
ethical frameworks which, I believe, always open up pathways for deeper
learning and experience. Peers and post-graduate learners in particular have
commented on my approachability, openness to receive critique and commitment to
ever further and deeper growth personally and collaboratively.
“The important thing is to not stop questioning" - Albert Einstein
My commitment
to teaching is based on the conviction that effective learning brings deeper
growth to both learner and teacher and therefore has meaning beyond
institutional frameworks.
“Education is not filling a pail, but lighting a fire” – Yeats
I
have assisted prospective PhD researchers in exploring additional options and
possibilities; master’s students in improving their theses; colleagues on
upgrading papers for publication and presentation; and learners in matters
beyond formal teaching that impact on their learning. I have been invited to
conduct workshops, deliver key note addresses and make presentations
internationally on ICT-enabledflexible learning and educational innovation.
Over the past four years I have been involved as curriculum development leader
in three projects in e-learning, educational governance, during which I used
Print’s cyclical model (1993), and research practice and before that, have been
part of curriculum development and evaluation teams on certificate, diploma and
degree level programmes. Both personal and institutional significance
determines to a large extent my own contribution and commitment to team-work.
I
have done my post-graduate studies part-time. I have participated in many
international conferences and workshops on higher education, have been a member
of various professional associations; have served on international programme
committees and editorial boards; is the founding chair of the Society and
Network for Technology in Education through Collaboration (SANTEC); and led a
small research team in e-learning for development at UB. Peers have commented
on my enthusiasm, energy and dedication to my work.
Striving for
achieving balance among many models and possibilities is a key concern for me
as I respect not only the explorer but also the body of knowledge on learning
and teaching that have accumulated over centuries, much of which have been
tried and tested.
“The
fool would say: ‘This world is a virgin girl.’ The wise man knows the world is
old” - Hausa People
Over the past
decade growth has often come to me through both challenges and opportunities,
not least in the areas of teaching and learning in higher education. Peers and
learners would often comment on the positives and be silent on one’s areas of
growth. I would like to learn more about bringing all the determinants of
effective values-based learning to bear for the holistic growth of academic
staff, and for the continual reform of higher learning towards higher levels of
scholarship in teaching and learning.
“He
who dares to teach must never cease to learn” -John Dana (1856-1929)
Full details of my teaching are
available in my curriculum vitae.
“All is never said” - Ibo People
Apps, J.W.
(1994). Leadership for the emerging age - Transforming practice in adult and
continuing education. San Francisco: Josey-Bass.
Bartol, K., Martin,
D., Tein, M. & Matthews, G. (1998). Management – A Pacific Rim Focus. 2nd
edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Boyer, E.L.
(1990). Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. Princeton,
N.J.: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Brown, I., Lockyer, L. & Norman, A. (2004). Position vacant: new learner skills required –
multi-literate. Paper presented at the ED-MEDIA 2004 Conference, Lugano,
Switzerland, 21-26 June 2004, 3530 – 3534.
Brown, J. S.,
Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of
learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32-41.
Carr,
W. & Kemmis, S. (1986). Becoming critical: education, knowledge and action
research. Falmer: Lewes.
DEC
Working Party (1991). Distance education discussion and direction papers.
Monash University College Gippsland: Churchill. In Evans, T. & Nation, D.
(1993). Reforming open and distance education. Critical reflections. London:
Kogan Page.
Dick,
W, & Carey, L. (1996). The systematic design of instruction. New York:
Harper Collins.
Duffy,T.,
Lowyck, J. & Jonassen, D. (Eds.) (1993). Designing environments for
constructive learning. New York: Springer-Verlag
Elliot,
J. (1991). Action research for educational change. Milton Keynes: Open
University Press.
Fullan, M.G.
(1991). The new meaning of educational change. 2nd edition. London:
Cassel Education Ltd.
Henderson, J.
G. & Hawthorne, R.D (1995). Transformative curriculum leadership. New
Jersey: Henderson.
Holmberg,
B. (1995). Theory and practice of distance education. 2nd edition.
London &, New York: Routledge.
Jonassen, D.
(1994). Thinking Technology: Towards a Constructivist Design Model. Educational
Technology, (April, 1994), 34-37.
Knowles, M. (1980).
The modern Practice of Adult education: From Pedagogy to Andragogy. US:
Cambridge.
Laurillard, D.
(1993). Balancing the Media. Journal of Educational Television, 19(2), 81-93.
Lewin,
K. (1946). Action research and minority problems. Journal of Social Issues
24:34-46. Reprinted in
Luft, J.
(1969). Of Human Interaction.
McMahon, M.
(1997). Social Constructivism and the World
Wide Web - A Paradigm for Learning. Paper presented at the Ascilite ’97
Conference,
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth97/papers/Mcmahon/Mcmahon.html
Marquard, M.J.
(1996). Building the learning organization – a systems approach to quantum
improvement and global success.
Matthews,
Michael R. (1992). Old Wine in New Bottles: A Problem with Constructivist
Epistemology. Retrieved
on
Middlehurst,
R. (1993). Leading academics. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Piaget, J.
(1977). The Development of Thought: Equilibration of Cognitive Structures.
Print
(1993). Curriculum development and Design.
Rogers, E. (1983). Diffusion of Innovations. 3rd edition.
Romiszowski
A.J. (1984). Producing Instructional Systems.
Senge,
P.M. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning
organization.
Simonson,
M., Samldino, S., Albright, M. & Zvacek, S. (2003). Teaching and Learning at a distance. Foundations of
distance education. 2nd edition.
Smith
Kuczmarski , S. & Kuczmarski, T.D. (1995). Value-Based Leadership.
Uys,
P.M. (2000, December). Towards the Virtual Class: Key Management Issues in
Tertiary Education. Unpublished PhD thesis, Victoria University of Wellington,
New Zealand.
Vygotsky,
L.S (1962). Thought and language.
Vygotsky, L. S.
(1978). In M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, &
Zuber-Skerrit,
O. (1992). Action research in higher education.