Queen's University COED 2008 Update

From OUCEL Wiki

Update from the Centre for Teaching and Learning Queen’s University

Needs Assessment

Last year, the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) conducted a comprehensive needs assessment. We examined ten different sources of data including an online survey of faculty, interviews with faculty and administrators, a survey of graduate students, and several existing sources such as online Internal Academic Review reports, publicly available aggregate results of the University Survey of Student Assessment of Teaching (USAT), exit polls from 2003 to 2007, and the results of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).

A total of 315 individuals responded to the faculty survey, representing approximately 40% of all full-time faculty members at Queen’s. A total of 559 graduate students responded to the Academic Support Services Survey, and twelve administrators were interviewed.

The data provided a wealth of information, but the following five major themes emerged from the analysis of the faculty survey.  Heavy workload. Faculty reported wanting to make use of professional development opportunities offered by the CTL, but their increased workload and lack of time seriously inhibited their ability to participate.  Teaching insufficiently valued or recognized.  Discipline-specific professional development. Although individuals appreciated the value of “generic” workshops, many felt a need for more discipline-based programs.  Curriculum development. Faculty suggested a need to work together for better curriculum alignment among courses, and  Integration of technology. Respondents emphasized the need for pedagogically sound approaches to integrating technology into their courses.

Responding to the Needs Assessment

In response to these findings, the CTL has made several programmatic and structural changes.  We are working to provide several online programs. Faculty will be able to benefit from some of our professional development activities on their own time and at their own pace. For example, in a revised version of our very popular “Meet the Teacher” series, faculty are able to view streaming videos of successful colleagues, many of them teaching award winners, who have generously agreed to allow us into their classrooms to film them in action. These colleagues also respond to questions about why they teach the way they do, and the challenges and successes they have encountered in their classrooms.  We have reorganized our workshop schedule into one-day programs that can be completed in between the end of classes and the start of exams each term. The first of these, entitled “Teaching and Learning Symposium: Shaping the Future through Teaching” will be held on December 2, 2008. This new format allows us to schedule concurrent sessions on a wide range of teaching and learning topics from which faculty may choose those that best suit their interests and needs.  We are collaborating with departments that are conducting internal academic reviews to assist in integrating into their curriculum the recently adopted Undergraduate Degree-Level Expectations (UDLEs).  Using the slogan “meeting you where you teach”, we are trying to work more closely with faculty in their departments. We are encouraging more department-based discussions about teaching and learning, CTL-led workshops at the departmental level, and peer review of teaching. To facilitate increased departmental-based programming, especially around curriculum development issues, the CTL is inviting every department to name a Teaching and Learning Liaison (TTL) who will work closely with the CTL to ensure that the teaching and curriculum development needs of the department are met.

Challenges

The CTL is still struggling with finding the best means of helping faculty integrate technology in their teaching. We continue to work closely with the Partnership for Teaching and Learning Support (Information Technology Services and the Queen’s Library) to provide consultations, workshops and resources for faculty to engage with technology. However, we have yet to find the most effective model for our context. We welcome ideas and suggestions from our colleagues in the COED.