Challenges as a teacher

I believe that good teaching involves motivating and stimulating all students to learn, actively participate in designed TLAs, and achieve the course goals; however, sometimes I feel that I am not successful at maximizing their motivation and engagement in the learning processes, as I have planned. In particular, I am unable to stimulate some students enough for them to complete the voluntary labwork assignments, which are important for learning certain skills and understanding particular concepts, but which are not part of the grading or work requirements.

The lesson learned

My teaching practices in the past were mainly based on my own experiences, both as a student and a teacher/supervisor, as well as colleagues’ experiences and views and, not least, the institute’s traditional methods of teaching the course and evaluating the students. I have also adopted some approaches based on key messages from the teaching/learning workshops and seminars that I have attended. The Program for Basic Pedagogical Competence helped me to explore the theoretical and philosophical grounding behind these approaches and methods. I am able to reflect theoretically on my teaching practices, and thus this can be used to further develop, extend, and modify my teaching/learning activities for better learning outcomes. The learning outcomes from this course will also guide me in understanding and overcoming some of the challenges that I have faced in my teaching, such as how to maximize student motivation and performance.

I have been involved in (re)designing existing courses (course objectives, structure, and assessment method). Designing the learning outcomes, course content, and assessment methods was based on my own experiences, including feedback from students and colleagues, and a review of similar courses in different institutions and faculties. This basic pedagogical competence course has broadened my insight, and has provided the theoretical knowledge I needed for better course development, which will definitely help me during the further development of the courses I am responsible for. Very soon, I am planning to revise/rewrite some of the learning objectives of the courses, following Bloom’s taxonomy and constructive alignment theory.

Another important thing that I learned from this course is how peer-observation/review can be used as a quality-enhancement process in teaching. Peer-review, as well as learning experiences from other participants through informal discussions and designed activities during the course gatherings/sessions, have also provided me with greater insights into teaching, and the benefits of sharing experiences and reflecting on one’s own teaching with colleagues.

Teaching is both a science and an art. The program inspired me to learn more about the science of teaching and learning on one hand, and provided me the ways to further develop my teaching skills on the other hand.

The way forward

I will work to further develop my skills to create a student-centered learning environment and implement a more active learning strategy in my classes. Furthermore, I will continue to work at designing the most appropriate teaching/learning activities that best align with the course goals whilst developing my teaching skills. I will use the theoretical knowledge and pedagogical skills that I learned from this basic pedagogical competence course to enhance my teaching professionalism.