Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Teaching Excellence 2013

Information Session and Information Session and

Writing WorkshopWriting WorkshopJune 2013June 2013

Citations and Awards

VC’s (TEX) Awards for Teaching Excellence

5 x $4,000

OLT Awards for Teaching Excellence

16 x $25,000

VC’s Citations for Enhancing Learning

10 x $1,000

OLT Citations for Enhancing Learning

160 x $10,000

OLT Program Awards

12 x $25,000

5 Criteria1 Criterion

TEX 12

Types of Nomination

Overview of Selection Process

Award

Application

Recommendations to VC

Awards Ceremony

Selection by Committee

Nomination

Eligible and choose to proceed

TEX 12

Citation

Award Categories

Up to 5 awards in 5 categories

•General teaching excellence

•Early career teaching

•Team teaching

•Indigenous teaching

•Improving the external student experience

The Recipients

• $4,000• for any professional development activity

which doesn’t attract Fringe Benefits Tax

• funds go into Murdoch accounts

• Article in the Exchange

• Presented at Murdoch Awards Ceremony• May each year

• Eligible for national teaching awards

• Expected to mentor colleague

Timeline

Tues 18 June Information session

Tues 30 July Nominations close

Friday 2 August 2nd Information Session

Tues 20 August Due date for submissions

Week of 16 Sept Letters sent to successful and unsuccessful applicants

Week of 23 Sept Announcement

May 2014 Awards presented at Murdoch Staff Awards Ceremony

Submission

Application form

8 Page ‘Written Statement’(Fixed 20mm margins, 11pt Times New Roman)

2 References (1 page each-1 from School Dean)

CV – up to 3 pages

Supporting materials – up to 10 pages

Digital photo

Selection Criteria

1. Approaches to teaching that influence, motivate and inspire students to learn

2. Development of curricula and resources that reflect a command of the field

3. Approaches to assessment and feedback that foster independent learning

4. Respect and concern for the development of students as individuals

5. Scholarly activities that have influenced and enhanced learning and teaching

2.

Context of the

contribution / achievement

3.

Significance of

contribution /

achievement (at what

level, national /

institutional / faculty etc would the

recognition be

appropriate)

5.

Contribution / achievement meet criteria

for OLT awards

(see Guidelines)

1.

My / the team’s

contribution to L&T

4.

Evidence of contribution

From others (students /

colleagues / outsiders)

Contributiona) to the

literature; b) to practice;c) to policy.

Planning for an Award Submission

Ideas Generation

Select a criterion and develop some claims and evidence to support your application

•10 mins

Discussion

The 8 Pages

Synopsis (150-200 words)

Overview of teaching context

• 1/2 page

• a succinct, factual recitation of teaching responsibilities

Address the five selection criteria

Summary Statement (1 para)

The Award Writing Genre

• The award writing genre is different

• Focus on your audience (peers)

• Take clues from the promotions criteria• independent evidence against the criteria

• More about less• Just include the key information

• Examples, incidents

Addressing the Criteria

• What do I do? • describe key aspects of practice

• illustrated by examples

• Why do I do it? • ground your work in the literature

• What are the outcomes?• evidence which supports the specific claims made

• What have I learned from this? What have I changed?

Writing

Try to consolidate your ideas in writing on the criterion you have selected above

10 mins

What Counts as Evidence?

Survey results (explain scales)• Link specific survey items to your work - eg groupwork

• Compare to past surveys, school and uni means

Comments by students in surveys, emails…• Relate comments to your examples

Assessment results and examples

Peer review of teaching and of unit designs• http://our.murdoch.edu.au/Educational-Development/Preparin

g-to-teach/Teaching-portfolio/

Scholarly papers

VC’s Awards and Citations Committee

Jan Herrington (Chair)

Jane Pearce Education

Sharon Delmege Arts

Alexander Jensen Arts

Sonia Walker Law

Doug Fletcher Engineering and IT

John Bailey VLS

Ngaire Donaghue Psychology and Exercise Science

Pamela Martin-Lynch Centre for Teaching and Learning

Janice Dudley Management and Governance

Sarah Ross EVP, Student Guild

Vacant Health Sciences

Judgement Criteria

Quality of Case (50 points) judged as overall excellence of teaching• Extent to which the claims for excellence are

supported by formal and informal evaluation

• Extent of creativity, imagination or innovation

• Information from referees and supporting evidence

• Each Criterion (5 x 8pts)

• Support in References (5 pts each)

Sub-criteria

• Evidence of contribution to student learning, student engagement or the overall student experience

• Evidence of recognition for achievements from fellow staff, the institution, and/or the broader community

• Contribution has been sustained over time (min. 3 years of Murdoch evidence)

What assessors will look for

• Rationale• Why you teach the way you do?• Evidence of scholarship• Use of literature

• Evidence• Student comments linked directly to your claims• Survey results with explanations

• Time series data• Assessment outputs• Peer reviews from colleagues

• About teaching• About unit design

• Publications directly related to your teaching

Marking Guidelines (out of 8)

8 = perfect, cannot be improved, could not expect anything better

7 = excellent, extremely impressive statement supported by good evidence

6 = strong statement and evidence

5 = mostly standard good practice, but with some extra good points or evidence

4 = standard good practice

3 = weak statement, lack of appropriate evidence

2 = inadequate, misses the point

1 = catastrophic

0 = did not write anything

Review Processes

Committee reads all applications and scores them

Committee meets to moderate scores for consistency

Committee discusses merits of applications and ranks them

Recommendations made to DVC(A) and VC

Winning applications invited to revise for OLT

You be a reviewer

Approaches to teaching that influence, motivate and inspire students to learn

Students respond very well to my style of teaching: “Helen is one of the best lecturers I have had, she explains everything so clearly and it is obvious she has a real depth of knowledge and is passionate about what she does.” (PSY173 Student, 2010). I convey difficult material effectively so that students understand well enough to reflect upon it themselves and form their own opinions about it: “[Helen] relates things to situations we can understand. Very straight forward but still leaves things up to us to think about.” (PSY249 Student, 2010). I provide clear structure and purpose to every class, and provide sign-posting to connect topics and put them in context. I provide students frequent opportunities to contribute to and direct their own learning and reward them for taking up these opportunities: “At the beginning of each lecture Helen always revises the content previously discussed in the last lecture.” (PSY173 Student, 2010).

From my Teaching Evaluations (Appendix B) it can be seen that 2010 students report that I inspire and motivate them considerably more than the University and the School of Psychology averages, for PSY173 significantly so (p < .001). Nevertheless, on the older version of the survey, my ratings for demonstrating “enthusiasm for my subject” (notwithstanding almost universal agreement) were only about average. Students’ written comments shed light on this paradox and demonstrate how I inspire without appearing highly enthusiastic myself. Two comments that repeatedly come up in my formal evaluations are that students notice and appreciate my sense of humour “Helen uses her good sense of humour to make very boring statistics seem quite interesting. It would be easy to zone out of the lecture if she was not so interesting to listen to..” (PSY173 Student, 2010) and relaxed style of lecturing “Helen is very clear, concise, and calm.” (PSY249 Student, 2010).

Critiquing Task

Fostering independent learning through assessment and feedback is a priority focus when I re-evaluate the units I coordinate each year. Clinical skills are assessed in both NUR103, NUR105 and NUR332 and the students report feeling overwhelmed with the twin challenges of developing new skills and processing a large amount of new data. I am very aware that not all students learn in the same way and I constantly consider the method of delivery when presenting weekly clinical skills. Felder & Soloman (1999, cited in Wirz, 2004) identify many different learning styles and strategies needed to accommodate the learning and retention process…

Helpful Resources

http://edcasestudies.cedam.anu.edu.au/

http://our.murdoch.edu.au/Educational-Development/Surveys-and-evaluations/Peer-feedback-on-teaching/

http://www.nteu.org.au/library/teaching_portfolio

Buckridge, Margaret (2007). “Teaching portfolios: their role in teaching and learning policy”, International Journal for Academic Development, Vol. 13, No. 2, June, 117–127.