Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Teaching Excellence 2013

1. Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Teaching Excellence 2013 Information Session and Writing Workshop June 2013

2. Citations and Awards 1 Criterion 5 Criteria Murdoch VC’s Citations for Enhancing Learning 10 x $1,000 VC’s (TEX) Awards for Teaching Excellence 5 x $4,000 National OLT Citations for Enhancing Learning 160 x $10,000 OLT Program Awards 12 x $25,000 OLT Awards for Teaching Excellence 16 x $25,000 TEX 12

4. Types of Nomination

5. Overview of Selection Process Nomination Eligible and choose to proceed Citation Award Application Selection by Committee Recommendations to VC Awards Ceremony TEX 12

6. Award Categories • Up to 5 awards in 5 categories • General teaching excellence • Early career teaching • Team teaching • Indigenous teaching • Improving the external student experience

7. 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

8. Timeline

9. 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

10. Selection Criteria • Approaches to teaching that influence, motivate and inspire students to learn • Development of curricula and resources that reflect a command of the field • Approaches to assessment and feedback that foster independent learning • Respect and concern for the development of students as individuals • Scholarly activities that have influenced and enhanced learning and teaching

11. Planning for an Award Submission 1. My / the team’s contribution to L&T 4. Evidence of contribution From others (students / colleagues / outsiders) Contribution a) to the literature; b) to practice; c) to policy. 5. Contribution / achievement meet criteria for OLT awards (see Guidelines) 3. Significance of contribution / achievement (at what level, national / institutional / faculty etc would the recognition be appropriate) 2. Context of the contribution / achievement

12. Ideas Generation Select a criterion and develop some claims and evidence to support your application 10 mins Discussion

13. 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)

14. 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

15. 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?

16. Writing Try to consolidate your ideas in writing on the criterion you have selected above 10 mins

17. 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/Preparing-to-teach/Teaching-portfolio/ Scholarly papers

18. VC’s Awards and Citations Committee

19. 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)

20. 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)

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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).

25. 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).

26. 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…

27. 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.