Category: Philosophy

Teaching philosophy

The teaching philosophies of Learning Development

Lee Fallin 1 Comment

Introduction to Teaching Philosophy Statements

As part of undertaking my Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, I had to produce a Teaching Philosophy Statement. I’m drawn to the approach the University of San Diego (2023) takes to introduce the Teaching Philosophy Statement, which I think sets the tone well:

The life of a teacher is an extremely busy one. From early morning until long after dark, teachers dedicate the better part of their day to their students. Amid the lesson planning, the snack breaks, the recess duty, grading and the myriad other daily tasks, it can be easy to lose sight of the why of teaching. 

Why are you drawn to the classroom, and what is it about your love of teaching that makes it a fulfilling career? What’s the overarching philosophy that guides your teaching practice? Even on the busiest school days, every teacher should be able to explain their “why” by returning to their teaching philosophy.

(University of San Diego, 2023)

A Teaching Philosophy Statement is absolutely something all Higher Education practitioners can reflect upon. It is not just the realm of academics. A teaching philosophy statement sets out core beliefs about the purpose of teaching, it sets out an individual’s approach and justifies why this is their approach. I found it a thoroughly enjoyable activity!

Lee – why share your Teaching Philosophy Statement now?

This is a good question! After all, I’ve technically left Learning Development. But, I have two very good reasons for sharing this now.

  1. I want to call on Learning Developers to write their Teaching Philosophy Statements and share them. Do it now! This will provide a rich discussion about the teaching philosophy of Learning Development. It will reflect the diversity of the profession, and allow further discussion around the values established by ALDinHE and how they are applied in the profession.
  2. I must acknowledge my teaching philosophy is changing. I am now a Lecturer in Education Studies. I want to share my Teaching Philosophy Statement as it stood a year ago. I promise to re-visit this in another blog post and update my statement for my new context. It will provide an opportunity to reflect on any similarities and differences. I think this is an exciting way to continue reflecting on that transition from thirdspace professional towards academic.

This is why my post is titled the ‘teaching philosophies’ of Learning Development. I think we need to acknowledge these statements will be numerous and diverse – just like the profession. Learning Development is a profession I still very much care about. While I may now work as a Lecturer in Education Studies, a core part of my scholarship and research will be dedicated to Learning Development. It’s why I am still involved closely with ALDinHE – and am a member of LearnHigher and the JLDHE Editorial Board.

So! Here it is – my teaching philosophy from my time as a Learning Developer…

My Teaching Philosophy Statement (2022)

My aspirations

As a Learning Developer, I feel my aspirations are very driven by my profession. Hilsdon (2011:14) defines Learning Development as the “teaching, tutoring, research, design and production of learning materials, as well as involvement in staff development, policy-making and other consultative activities” in support of student academic success. However, I believe student success can never be built on dependency, so for me, effective Learning Development must also build student independence and self-efficacy. As much as I aspire to help students, my true goal is for students to become self-sufficient so they do not need me.

Philosophical underpinning

The signature pedagogy of learning development is arguably academic literacies (Lea & Street, 1998; 2006). This approach acknowledges that writing, learning, and other academic practices are not isolated ‘skills’, but are complicated literacies situated within disciplinary discourses and power frameworks (Lea & Street, 1998). Acknowledging these complexities is vital for me to identify and confront what is not taught or is assumed – constituents of the null (Kazemi et al., 2020) and hidden curriculum (Hinchcliffe, 2020). As a Learning Developer, I work within the hidden curriculum to expose and challenge it. My role as a 3rd space professional (see: McIntosh & Nutt, 2022) is very much an enabler.

Teaching methods and assessment

The most established teaching method in learning development is the one-to-one appointment. As learning is both a complicated and individual process, such appointments allow students to engage in these complexities with full acknowledgement of what they already know and understand. As represented by Webster (2018), both students and Learning Developers bring knowledge to such appointments and operate with different levels of agency. Depending on the appointment, this can frame my role as mentor, listener, teacher, and coach. I often have to informally assess students to determine how to best support them, and which of those roles I might need to take.

The most significant challenge has been scaling Learning Development beyond appointments to help more students, and there are three approaches I have taken. Firstly, there is workshop-based instruction, which allows similar principles from appointments to be applied in a group situation, extending capacity. Second is the creation of self-support resources like University of Hull (2021) SkillsGuides. These allow students to access help at a time that is convenient. Finally, there is ‘integrated practice’ which involves directly teaching in timetabled sessions as part of the curriculum. Integrated practice is arguably the best and most inclusive way to increase access to Learning Development.

While I do not set or mark student work, I do have a role in assessment. One common task involves helping students prepare for an assessment set as part of their course. This can be as simple as demystifying the essay in an appointment or teaching a whole class the principles of public communication to help them write a wiki article. I also support students with formative feedback to help them develop their response to an assessment, or provide them summative feedback on a previously marked piece of work to help them develop further. For me, this is all about supporting student learning.

Inclusivity at the heart

Inclusivity is a core value of my practice. I have worked hard to promote inclusive practices, helping ensure students can be successful no matter their background, neurodiversity, or protected characteristics. This goes beyond legal obligation – it is simply the only ethical approach to teaching. Furthermore, I aspire to uphold the ALDinHE[1] (2018) Manifesto for Learning Development, which strives to increase participation in HE and legitimise different forms of student knowledge. As I work across all disciplines taught at Hull, I need to respect different approaches to knowledge too.

Looking to the future

For me, the PCAP is an opportunity to improve my teaching further. I now have over 10 years of experience working in HE, and I still have things to learn. I’m proud of my Senior Fellowship with the HEA and fully intend to work towards Principle Fellowship in the future. I’m also keen to maintain my professional accreditations with ALDinHE and Microsoft Education, as well as gain my accreditation with the Association of Learning Technology (ALT).

[1] Association of Learning Development in Higher Education – the professional body for learning developers

Writing your own Teaching Philosophy Statement

As I shared in my introduction, I’d love to see more Teaching Philosophy Statements shared from Learning Developers. If you want to know where to start, check out this guide: What Is a Teaching Philosophy? Examples and Prompts. Please share yours and pop the link in the comments section below.

References

ALDinHE (2018) Manifesto for Learning Development. Education, Association for Learning Development in Higher Education. Available online: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KJnC7e2l5xnA44FWsOxaKkKNx4SQKlX2/view [Accessed 19/04/2022].

Hilsdon, J. (2011) What is learning development?, in Hartley, P., Hilsdon, J., Keenan, C., Sinfield, S. & Verity, M. (eds), Learning development in higher education. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 13-27.

Hinchcliffe, T. (ed), (2020) The Hidden Curriculum of Higher Education. Advance HE.

Kazemi, S., Ashraf, H., Motallebzadeh, K. & Zeraatpishe, M. (2020) Development and validation of a null curriculum questionnaire focusing on 21st century skills using the Rasch model. Cogent Education, 7(1), 1736849.

Laurillard, D. (2002) Rethinking university teaching: A conversational framework for the effective use of learning technologies. London: Routledge.

Lea, M. & Street, B. (1998) Student writing in higher education: An academic literacies approach. Studies in Higher Education, 23(2), 157-172.

Lea, M. & Street, B. (2006) The “Academic Literacies” Model: Theory and Applications. Theory into Practice, 45, 368-377.

McIntosh, E. & Nutt, D. (eds) (2022) The Impact of the Integrated Practitioner in Higher Education: Studies in Third Space Professionalism. Oxon: Taylor & Francis.

University of Hull (2021) SkillsGuides. Available online: https://libguides.hull.ac.uk/SkillsGuides/ [Accessed 23/04/2021].

University of San Diego (2023) What is a Teaching Philosophy? Examples and Prompts. Available online: https://pce.sandiego.edu/teaching-philosophy-examples [Accessed 26/01/2023]

Webster, H. (2018) How to implement effective 1:1 tutorials, Association of Learning Development in Higher Education Annual Conference. University of Leicester, 26th – 28th March. Leicester: Association of Learning Development in Higher Education.

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Pre-sunset at the end of the day

The magic start date – plus or minus 2 days

Lee Fallin 1 Comment

Earlier this month I reflected on leaving the thirdspace. This post continues my reflections on this transition.

The start date for my new position is technically the 1st of October, in two days’ time. Despite that, I’ve already dipped my toe into the School of Education’s conference, moved office, spent whole days in my new building and attended meetings. This all took place thanks to my internal move, allowing me a smoother transition instead of dropping into the deep end. However, while that magic start date is coming up, it actually felt like the real start was two days ago as this was my first teaching. Hopefully, the +2 or -2 makes sense now 😅. It still kind of feels weird blogging about the build-up to a starting point that has already kind of happened (in reality) – but hasn’t (contractually) at the same time.

Earlier this week I blogged ahead of my first teaching sessions. Today I have the benefit of reflecting on this experience.

Workshop time: A day without slides

My first two sessions this week were both workshops. This gave me a full two hours with my L7 workshop group and another two hours with my L6 students. These sessions were entirely activity-based, requiring me to teach through facilitation. There were no slides or detailed plans, just the knowledge in the room: both mine and my students. This felt novel. Refreshing even. It is fair to say, however, that as an outgoing Learning Developer, this shouldn’t be the case… What happened to my Learning Development practice and signature pedagogies?

Massification of Learning Development

A decade ago, when I first started as a Learning Developer, it was all about high-quality, one-to-one appointments and small group-based workshops to facilitate learning. Somewhere over the years, as demand for the service grew and as the resources in our team changed, this support model changed. Appointments were still important, but those small workshops had rapidly turned into lecture-like sessions. While it was never by design, this model kind of crept up on us.

The development of Learning Development

For my old role, the Learning Development workshops were 90 minutes long and delivered in two parts. First, we used to intentionally ‘lecture’ students for 30 minutes, and then our volunteers facilitated activities for the following 60 minutes. This model was based on Peer-Assisted Study Sessions (PASS), and it worked really well. This approach helped us to support large levels of demand and maintain high-quality provision. Statistically speaking, the impact of this on reach was HUGE – but, unfortunately, this model failed when we struggled to recruit volunteers. This needed to be addressed and to maintain the service level and include more students, much of our provision moved online (well before Covid-19).

With the move online, we also recognised that 90-minute online sessions were unattractive – and so reduced the sessions to 60 minutes. In parallel to this, the most significant area of our service rapidly became in-curriculum teaching. With guaranteed reach and high capacity, this model also favoured lectures (all be it interactive). Again, from a reach, supply and demand perspective, this was a no-brainer. However, it also reflects the transition from workshop to lecture. Although this transition in pedagogy was never intentional, it worked – and still remains the best approach to meet demand.

As a Learning Development team, we long desired to bring back interactive workshops or introduce small-group teaching. However, it was a hard sell – even to ourselves. Given the pressure on our time and the demand for the service, it was hard to justify anything that might reduce capacity. I know this is not reflective of all Learning Developers and Learning Development Teams – but I also think it is common. It can be challenging to argue a different path when that can reduce capacity.

What does this all mean for this week..?

Back to this week’s teaching

It might feel like this post went a bit off-topic – but bare with me. As I alluded to above, the exciting thing about these first sessions I delivered as a lecturer is that the workshops were activity-based. Don’t get me wrong – I will also deliver lectures – but the most substantive part of my teaching will involve workshops similar to this. Obviously, this approach is not new to me, but it has been a while. I hadn’t realised how much I missed this approach until this week. It feels like I’ve left the thirdspace only to rediscover one of the signatures of my old practice. It’s been exhilarating to be facilitating once again. Delivering so much content without the structure of slides made this all intellectually stimulating.

Workshops in practice

My first workshop focused on supporting L7 students with understanding research. It was based on three questions, and I intentionally made no detailed plans as we were expecting late arrivals. This means that I had no idea if I would have three people in the room, or 30. The lack of detailed plans allowed me to be flexible with what I delivered, and I rocked up with flipcharts and marker pens as I think they allow a lot of options. After introductions, I asked students to share what they already knew about research and get it all down on flipchart paper. This was to reassure everyone that they had a starting point of pre-existing knowledge, and it also allowed everyone the opportunity to get to know each other. The two hours sped past and were over before we knew it. It felt dynamic, engaging and student centred. It feels like a while since I’ve been able to deliver content like this!

This opportunity continued into the afternoon with my L6 session. We were discussing research philosophy and positionality – which worked perfectly as a dynamic session. Everyone placed themselves on a spectrum of positivism to interpretivism and then mapped their own positionality. The discussion and debate in this session were outstanding, and I got some great feedback from the students. It was freeing to be delivering this type of session again, and I look forward to more of this next week.

Final thoughts

The best thing about both workshops is that I will see the same group of students next week. I mentioned this in my last post, but it remains nice to think that we can build upon what we started this week. I also believe that as we get to know each other more, the co-learning and knowledge construction will no doubt grow. I think this is important for educational research as we bring part of ourselves into research. This means discussing ourselves. Anyone undertaking such research needs to be a reflexive, self-aware and critical practitioner. Talking about ourselves is always easier with people we know.

Freedom to learn and civil liberties

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Last week I attended both the Freedom to Learn Conference and Liberal Democrats Spring Conference. After two excellent events, it’s hard to avoid the urge to blog about freedom, education and civil liberties. They are all under threat…

This Conservative Government keeps trying to erode our civil liberties all in the name of security. They want to keep us safe. Apparently. There is no doubt that targeted surveillance of criminals should be allowed. I am not disagreeing with that, I don’t think anyone is. What I am arguing against is the wholesale collection of bulk data and essentially spying on every citizen in this country. This amount of data is dangerous and no-one should be trusted with it, least of all our government. After a string of hight profile data breaches, how can they be trusted to keep this data safe? Even if you trust a conservative government with this data, what is UKIP or Greens achieved a majority… would you be happy then? Hasn’t Snowdon’s high-profile whistleblowing demonstrated how our data is at risk?

As we live an increasingly large amount of our lives online, it is important to think of what that means. The data you share online is your communication with family and friends. It is your photographs and memories. It is your ideas and studies. It is you. Even if you have nothing to hide – do you not have something to protect? All of this stuff is precious and needs to be protected. I know the risks and benefits for engaging with this technology. I fear many young teenagers don’t. My biggest fear is that they ‘expect’ the government to spy on them to keep them safe. Is this a fair trade off? Bulk surveillance is the equivalent of the Home Office steaming open love letters sent in class. Even with this metaphor they don’t seem bothered…

This is where education comes in. While we can lobby the government, there may be no stopping Theresa May’s desire to know everything about everybody. Despite her lack of technical competence, there is a real chance the government will sink an awful lot of money to achieve the near impossible. The bulk collection of data about it’s citizens. So how can we fight back? I think education has a real power to make a difference. We need to teach, train and education our citizens to make sure they make informed choices. I share a lot of stuff about myself online. I use cloud storage. At least I don’t do this in naivety. I want everyone to know of the advantages and disadvantages of sharing their information so they can make informed choices too.

If we don’t do something, I genuinely feel we will raising a generation that expects to be observed and surveilled. The fight that we are having to protect our civil liberties is under threat unless we educate our teenagers to pick up this fight also. I am deeply concerned about the lack of education available, but maybe there is light. I had a brief opportunity to discuss this with Shami Chakrabarti and was heartened to hear there is a fight back. Some teenagers are looking carefully at what they share online and deciding against it. Some teenagers are shying away from Google and Facebook, aware of the consequences for sharing so much data with large companies. Lets hope this critical approach to sharing online is picked up by more.

So where does freedom to learn come in? Wherever our civil liberties are under treat, there is no freedom to learn. There is no freedom to debate. There is no freedom to think. Control just drives thinking underground not out in the open where it can be challenged and debated. This, if anything is the biggest threat to freedom to learn.

Postmodernism: It’s impossible to move!

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I would say this is a form of procrastination, however after such a productive morning I am happy to label this as a well deserved break. I’ve spent most of this week so far buried in the spaces of modernity (Dear & Flusty, 2002), an interesting volume that focuses on postmodern interpretations of space. Tucked between a couple of the chapters I came across this excellent comic from Calvin and Hobbes (Watterson, 1990) and I needed to make this quick post to share it.

I think this little strip perfectly captures the headaches we all go through when grappling with new concepts. It kinda makes me wish I was seeing the world through a neo-cubist art lens as opposed to the Marxist or postmodern! Nevertheless, I think the real gem from this strip is the following:

The multiple views provide too much information! It’s impossible to move!

Maybe that alone should form my definition of postmodernism. Shame it would have to end there. After all, we can’t let the world fall into a recognisable order…

Calvin and Hobbes

Source: Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip, July 27, 2014 on GoComics.com
One of the many great comics you can read for free at GoComics.com! Follow us for giveaways & giggles.