FULT Module 4: Evaluation

In his inspiring talk, Prof John Hattie emphasised on the importance of the teacher's mindset; I agree that teachers are role models to most students and the higher their thinking and standards, the better their teaching and therefore student learning will be. The stark contrast between Activators and Facilitators is very intriguing; I feel university teachers these days seem to be pushed to do more facilitating than activating due to time and resource constraints, in spite of most having an activating mindset. Being an activator or facilitator largely depends upon the context. For instance, in flipped scenarios, the teacher but naturally becomes a facilitator. It is important for academics to strike a balance between activating and facilitating, which I think is a skill that is developed over time with experience. 

I also agree with John's comment on building trust, it is a two-way road and the foundation to a healthy teacher-student relationship and overall classroom scenario. The teacher should make students feel safe and comfortable to gain their trust, and learn to trust their students as well. How a teacher makes allowances for students to commit mistakes, helps them make amends and assists in doing things the right way is important not just for successful learning but also influences students' coping in real-world situations. This semester, one of my students was distraught to find out that they had submitted a work-in-progress draft of the assignment following release of the assessment results. By giving the student a chance to submit the completed draft for reassessment, the course convenor and I showed trust in the student. It was evident by the promptness and quality of the resubmitted draft that the student had a genuine case.

Constant evaluation of one's teaching is as important as the teaching itself. There are many models for reflecting upon teaching (such as the ones devised by Gibb, Bond & Walker, Schon, Brookfield) which all advocate an autobiographical lens alongside feedback from peers, students, theory and learning analytics. At this stage, the first three types of teaching evaluation are what I would use the most. For the purpose of this module, I performed a self-assessment of my teaching. I used this lens since there was no time to get feedback from the students or a peer, and I tend to be quite critical about myself. Following the self-evaluation using relevant parts of the teaching self-assessment grid, I learnt that I can reflect upon my own teaching without being biased. I realised that all my students do actively participate in the tutorial, and I could equip myself with more real-world knowledge about the discussion topics for their benefit. I would definitely recommend this method of teaching evaluation to peers as we are usually the best judge (and worst critic) of our own abilities. 

In the face-to-face session facilitated by Lorenzo, my group focussed on discussing student experience, with all of us agreeing that it is the overall experience during a course/program than just within the classroom. As teachers, it is our duty to enrich the students' experience in every possible way. Based on what I gained from this module, my evaluation plan for the future is to incorporate self, peer and student feedback as a default for any course I teach, and to use theory to analyse these evaluations. 

Self-evaluation of this post using Criterion 2 of the e-portfolio feedback rubric: Very good

FULT Module 4: Evaluation