Resources to Support Excellence in Teaching
Excellence in teaching is central to the University of Lethbridge. Our strategic plan promotes a diverse and inclusive environment, research-informed teaching, and creating engaging learning environments for our students. The pandemic created unprecedented challenges for our small, student-centred university, but it also reminded us how important teaching and learning are to our community, reaffirmed our commitment to our students, and created new (if not always welcome) opportunities to explore more inclusive and effective teaching practices. This resource invites our teaching community to capitalize on what we have learned by defining key features of excellence in teaching and making it easier for teachers on campus to explore and demonstrate their excellence. A core tenet is that excellence in teaching (regardless of modality) is student-centered, research-driven, observable, and measurable.
Caring
Caring about your students means treating them as individuals whose contributions are valued, and as adults who have lives beyond our classrooms. It involves creating supportive, inclusive learning communities, and considering student mental health when making pedagogical choices.
Inclusive
Inclusive teaching celebrates students’ differences and involves educated, intentional pedagogical choices aimed at creating welcoming classrooms, reducing barriers to learning, and embracing learner diversity.
Engaging
Creating engaging learning environments for our students means designing courses, activities, and assessments that move students from being passive recipients of course content to active participants in the learning process. Student-centered learning promotes student agency, autonomy, and lifelong learning. Active learning engages students in a wide range of activities.
Effective
Assessments are the tools we use to find out what students have learned and can do with respect to the course’s learning goals. Effective assessments are aligned with the goals of the course as closely as possible, and students should receive timely feedback on their performance so they can reflect on their learning. Teachers can use a wide range of formal (for grades) and informal (not for grades) strategies to assess students’ learning, and demonstrate how they have refined their assessment strategies over time.
Adaptive
Excellence in teaching is no different from research excellence in that both require an ongoing investment of time and energy to understand and develop expertise. It requires observing and reflecting on what works, what does not, and making appropriate changes. This involves trying new research-driven and context-appropriate strategies, often making smaller changes in the earlier years of a career and more substantial ones as you gain more teaching experience and confidence.
Feedback
If you have comments or questions about this site, please contact one of the following people with your inquiry: Jeff Meadows or Sheila McManus