APP PGR: Workshop 1Course introduction, Reflective Practice and Teaching Philosophy

Find someone who……• Help yourself to tea and coffee, and find somewhere to

sit.

• Write your name in bold on a large post-it note.

• Activity: Use the sheet on your table to start a conversation with others in the room, by finding someone who fits each criteria. Write their name in the box (try to find a different person for each box).

Student and tutor ‘pledge’

• To get to know you and support you on the course.

• To model good practice in teaching and learning.

• To share methodology and resources.

• To reflect regularly • To make the APP PGR as

relevant, useful and enjoyable as possible

• To be contactable• To listen to you

• To engage with an open mind and willingness to learn.

• To think about your own subject discipline in relation to the course.

• To try out all activities and approaches.

• To engage with your fellow students on the course.

• To reflect regularly• To read pedagogic

literature

tutor students

Learning outcomes (workshop 1)

• To clarify the constituent parts of the APP PGR and understand its position in the Higher Education teacher training framework.

• To familiarise yourself with the e-portfolio and begin to edit it.

• To reflect on who you are as a teacher, by beginning to construct a Teaching Philosophy.

• To examine a range of models and examples of reflective practice.

The APP framework

APP PGR + Postgraduate Award

To start the programme, students should have completed the Preparing to Teach introduction and Moodle content, have supervisor approval and 15 hours of teaching.

Key tenets of the course• Core and free choice workshops for experiential learning• Moodle space for course management, dialogue, resources,

online activities and groups. • Digital badges for formative, peer assessment• E-Portfolios for assessed pieces and reflective practice.• Twitter hashtag for shared endeavours and announcements

#apppgr• Subject mentor for coaching and teaching observations• Assessed pieces working towards Associate Fellowship status• Reflective practice over the duration of the pathway• Engagement with pedagogic literature – both generic and

discipline-specific

Situating the APP PGRDepartmental/institutional context

community

Local community of practice (group/course)

E-portfolio and reflective practice

Workshops and assessed

pieces

Teaching and learning in higher education and beyond

Higher Education Academy

Pedagogic literature Discipline or

field

The UKPSF (Higher Education Academy)

Activity: Where do you ‘sit’ in relation to this? Take some time to complete a brief, initial self-assessment against the dimensions of the framework. Write notes, draw pictures but keep this draft document.

• The UKPSF is a national framework by which all who work in teaching and learning in HE can benchmark their skills, knowledge and experiences.

• Achieving a level of HEA fellowship is a recognised status and ‘teaching qualification’.

Integrative learning through e-portfolios

Cognitive

PhysicalAffective

Knowledge, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation

Academic ‘norms’ (e.g. referencing)

Attitude, self, emotions, identity, change

Curation, ‘craft’, digital literacies, publication, management

Celebrating the ‘it’“It changed my life..”

“This the best thing I have ever done!”

“I always thought I enjoyed taught courses where you go along and take

notes etc - this course was more interactive - learning from each other,

sharing experiences , which I really enjoyed. It has impacted on my teaching a

lot - I stress to my students now that by taking part in discussions, helping each

other generate ideas for written work etc they will learn a lot more than just by

listening to me.”

‘Transformation’ in perspective and professional identity from an Teacher Trainee at Warwick

Digital badges

• A recent development in distance and online learning, digital badges can account for competences, skills and knowledge acquired on a course, as well as being used to motivate and encourage persistence.

• They are closely linked to the concept of ‘gamification’, another phenomenon which has been of recent interest in education.

• On APP PGR we will experiment with digital badges as a learning community – students, tutors and course administrators can award our badges.

Activity: In small groups consider the criteria for each of our digital badges.

Teaching Philosophy

• One of the assessed pieces in the e-portfolio is a Teaching Philosophy statement.

• This sets a baseline for your practice, but is also an evolving account of yourself as a teacher.

• Your teaching philosophy evolves from your own experiences as a learner, experiences as you think and teach and the influences of your peers, institution and literature.

Lenses for reflection

Brookfield’s lenses, accessed at: http://molingchui.myblog.arts.ac.uk/files/2015/09/reflection-02-new.jpg 09/10/16 ; 18:15

Rich pictures to evolve thinkingRich pictures are used for articulating a state of ‘unknowing’, dealing with emerging themes and starting a process or enquiry.• Use little or no words• Draw or add

meaningful images• Capture chaos and the

‘unknown’• Explorative, narrative,

playful

Activity: Engage in a rich picture exercise as the basis for your teaching philosophy statement. Work alone initially, but you will be invited to share with a peer as part of the exercise.

What is reflective practice?Activity: Work in small groups to discuss what you understand by reflective practice.

This could include:

• Broadly, what the term might mean.• Specifically what you might reflect on, when and why.• How a teacher might reflect

Reflection in/on action• Schon (1991) describes a model

of reflection ‘in’ and ‘on’ action.

• There are many other models of reflective practice, which have evolved from theories of experiential learning (Dewey, for example) and from professional practice.

• Reflective practice is a ubiquitous theme in teacher education, but can be a transformative tool and pivotal to developing pedagogical understanding.

Activity: considering different models

• Look over the model you have been presented with• Make sure the model is clear to everyone in the group.• Use the Internet to find out a little more about the

model/add some details to your understanding.• See if you can come up with at least one example of this

model ‘in action’ (this might be based on your own experiences or an example you find online).

• Be prepared to disseminate your findings to others.

Models of reflective practice

Trigger Incidents

I look back at this experience confused by my attitude on entry. I entered the class interested and open minded at the opportunity of learning some tactics. However, I came out with a completely new philosophy towards being a teaching assistant, and ultimately a teacher in the future. I entered attempting to find ways to simplify my job and make it easier, but came out inspired to potentially become a teacher in HE as a career. This motivation continued as I began to apply a new attitude and strategy in my class room.

On entry into the workshop, my expectations were to learn strategies which minimise: dry mouth, increased heart rate, feeling of dread, nerves about students knowing more than me.

I left the workshop inspired to fulfill these myself, but still uncertain; it was only once went into my first class four days later where I attempted group work for the first time, I could see the alternative feelings of satisfaction, definitive learning from students, student satisfaction and decreased nerves. In addition, I received voluntary verbal feedback from several students stating that they really enjoyed my lesson.

What are we reflecting about?

Activity: Look at the examples of reflections from real students (teacher trainees). Rank these pieces of writing in terms of their ‘reflectiveness’.

You might like to consider:• Use of language (which words indicate reflective practice?)• Tone (formal, informal, professional,other?)• Content – what they are writing about

Be prepared to share your thoughts with the whole group.

Analysing writing

Reflections on the course

Things you might reflect on:• The workshops (core and free choice)• Critical/trigger incidents in your teaching• Departmental occurrences/meetings/decisions• Events, conferences and other activities• Your readings in the literature and/or sector materials,

including news items.• The assessed pieces in your e-portfolio

• Anything else!

Feedback on reflections

Critical closing questionsCan you identify ways in which your knowledge, understanding or views have shifted, as a result of attending Workshop 1?

Can you identify one (or more) teaching/learning methods or resources that you have used today that you could take forward into your own practice?

Things to do before the next session…• Establish a subject mentor in your department• Familiarise yourself with your e-portfolio and add some notes to the

UKPSF or Teaching Philosophy sections.• Write a short reflection on Workshop 1 in your journal (use one of the

reflective models to start you off).• Use the Group forum or chat facility or take to Twitter to talk about

the first workshop.• Complete the post-workshop evaluation form in Moodle to

gain your first digital badge! • Get in touch with the APP PGR team if you have any questions:

apppgr@warwick.ac.uk