Developing Teaching is a short course designed for St. George’s staff involved in teaching and/or supporting learning. It will help you enhance your knowledge, skills, and understanding of fundamental aspects of active, inclusive, and student-focused teaching and support of learning; and also, it will support your development as confident, reflective teachers/supporters of learning in higher education.
The course supports those intending to apply for Advance HE professional recognition via St George’s SHINE programme at Descriptor 1 (Associate Fellow) and Descriptor 2 (Fellow) of the Professional Standards Framework (PSF). You can find further information about the SHINE programme here.
You will need to spend around 12 hours over a 6-week period to successfully complete the course, which uses a blended approach, via asynchronous (self-directed learning) and synchronous (in-person and live online sessions via MS Teams) modes of learning.
What do participants say about the course?
“All the sessions were good. It was a friendly, supportive environment and questions were welcome. We covered a lot of material rapidly and I learned well in this setting (anonymous survey response, November 2022).
“The course was structured well and the learning journey was easy to follow and enjoyable. Self-directed learning sessions were well-organised on canvas, including useful links & references. Online sessions were well-run and engaging” (anonymous survey response, April 2023).
“I particularly enjoyed the microteaching session and the final session on improving future practice. I like the idea of reflective writing and keen to try it out in the future” (anonymous survey response, April 2023).
Who is Developing Teaching for?
Developing Teaching is open to all full and part-time academic and professional services staff involved in teaching and/or supporting learning at St George’s. Relevant activities include (but are not limited to): lecturing, research supervision, assessment of research projects, laboratory demonstration, leading tutorials/small groups, or supporting students’ learning within professional services roles. The course is also open to postgraduate research students who are involved in one or more of these activities.
Please note: If you are an academic on probation and/or if your role has a substantial teaching component, the PgCert in Healthcare and Biomedical Education may be the most appropriate course for you. Successful completion of the PgCert HBE bestows Fellowship of Advance HE. Find out more about the PgCert course and apply.
What are the learning outcomes?
The course content has been designed to help you extend your knowledge about learning as well as teaching/supporting learning within a discipline while being sensitive to the range of learning contexts you occupy (as teachers, research supervisors, assessors, laboratory demonstrators, learning technologists etc.) and the diverse learning requirements of your learners.
The successful completion of Developing Teaching short course will enable you to:
1. explore and adapt your teaching/support of learning to address the needs of individual learners within different teaching and learning contexts;
2. identify and use a range of evidence-informed approaches to develop more effective and inclusive practice
3. be consciously aware of how your practice and professional values reflect relevant learning theories, the wider local-global contexts, and current topics in higher education;
4. reflect on and evaluate your practice to continue improving your professional learning.
What is the structure of the course?
The Developing Teaching course consists of 6 sessions delivered within two Units over 6 weeks. The content will be delivered through:
- asynchronous self-regulated, flexible learning (self-directed online sessions in Canvas);
- synchronous, active, and collaborative learning (group discussions, tutorials, peer learning, online face-to-face learning).
The self-learning resources accessible via Canvas will facilitate self-paced learning, based on your current knowledge about teaching and learning within higher education contexts. Once you have registered on the course, you will be provided with access to the Canvas resources.
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Comprises 3 topics, delivered across the first 3 weeks:
- What do I know about my current teaching/supporting learning?
- How do learners learn effectively?
- How can I know learners learn effectively?
Unit 1 focuses on exploring what is effective learning within your own context of teaching/supporting learning. You will critically engage with the approaches and values that underpin your current practice to draw connections between your practice and how learning happens within your own discipline/subject area. You will also consider ways of assessing learners to check and help their learning while evaluating the impact of your teaching on their learning.
Includes 3 topics and will start from week 4 and continue up to week 6:
- How can I create effective learning environments?
- How do I know my practice is effective?
- How can I improve my future practice?
Unit 2 focuses on examining how effective learning can be made possible within your own context of teaching/supporting learning and within the wider context of higher education. You will also get the opportunity to be involved in microteaching and offer and receive immediate feedback from your peers and the course facilitators. Microteaching is a peer teaching activity and participants who are in professional services roles and academic/research roles can engage in microteaching.
What is next?
If you are interested, please register using the links below. The course runs twice per year:
The registration for the November 2023 intake is now closed
The live sessions will be on Teams on the following days:
- Tuesday 07th Nov - from 10:00 to 11:15 (first session)
- Tuesday 21st Nov - from 10:00 to 11:15 (third session)
- Tuesday 05th Dec - from 10:00 to 12:00 (fifth session -microteaching)
- Tuesday 12th Dec - from 10:00 to 11:15 (final session)
The self-directed sessions facilitated via Canvas are scheduled on the following days:
- Tuesday 14th Nov - from 10:00 to 11:00 (second session)
- Tuesday 28th Nov - from 10:00 to 11:00 (fourth session)
The registration for the April 2024 intake is now open.
The live sessions will be on Teams on the following days:
- Tuesday 09th April- from 10:00 to 11:30 (first session)
- Tuesday 23rd April -from 10:00 to11:30 (third session)
- Tuesday 07th May- from 10:00 to 12:00 (fifth session -microteaching)
- Tuesday 14th May- from 10:00 to 11:30 (final session)
The self-directed sessions facilitated via Canvas are scheduled on the following days:
- Tuesday 16th April - from 10:00 to 11:30 (second session)
- Tuesday 30th April- from 10:00 to 11:30 (fourth session).
Please contact the course director Dr Thushari Welikala (twelikal@sgul.ac.uk) for further information about the course.
For administrative queries, please contact the course manager, Paola Motta: pmotta@sgul.ac.uk