It goes without saying that effective teaching plays a significant role in student success. Yes, students need to be present and engaged in the learning process, completing assignments and readings, reflecting, thinking critically and sometimes pushing themselves beyond any perceived boundaries to accomplish greatness in the classroom. Without excellent teaching, however, academic success rarely comes easily. Great teachers and skilled learners go hand in hand.

Since the launch of the Teaching Skills Enhancement Program (TSEP) in 2012, more than 230 educators and graduate students have had the unique opportunity to build upon their teaching skills with strategies and teaching tips, to cultivate a curiosity for teaching and to consider new and different ways of doing things in the learning environment. The program administrators are careful to balance theory and practice and fill the gap between scholarship and practice.

Responding to the recommendations of the Teaching and Learning Framework, the program enhances the knowledge of teaching and learning among faculty members, instructional assistants, contractual instructors, post-doctoral fellows, per-course instructors and graduate students. A key emphasis of the collaborative program is to create a community of practice among educators at Memorial. 

“This course is unlike any other I have ever taught because of the range of disciplines and interests represented in the classroom,” said Dr. John Hoben, program facilitator and teaching consultant with DELTS (Distance Education, Learning and Teaching Support). “I really see this as a strength because it forces participants to think about what a university community really is and what it should strive to be. When these highly intelligent and accomplished people open up to each other, they begin to see that they have many issues and positives in common, and they also realize that they can learn by attending to the different signature pedagogies that exist in each discipline.

“My role is to get participants to take this new knowledge back to their home disciplines to start a conversation there about teaching aims and needs,” continued Dr. Hoben. “It’s an iterative process where these disciplinary conversations are at once informed by and inform the broader university dialogue about teaching in today’s post-secondary classrooms.”

The TSEP for graduate students consists of two main components over two semesters. First, students participate in a blended approach to learning with 12 professional development experiences. Second, they participate in a teaching apprenticeship. Faculty and other educators complete the professional development experiences only. The pan-university and online approach to delivery is one of the features of this unique professional development experience.

Dr. Stephen Czarnuch came to Memorial University as a post-doctoral fellow working on human motion tracking and automated assessment, funded by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. He recently began working as an assistant professor at Memorial, jointly appointed to the Department of Electrical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science and the Discipline of Emergency Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine. He participated in the TSEP in fall 2014.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the experience,” said Dr. Czarnuch. “Before starting the program I believed I was a dynamic and effective instructor. After completing the program, I was surprised at the number of ideas I had for courses I was teaching or going to be teaching. I still believe that I was, and am, a good instructor, but now I feel I am better prepared to reach more students and I am excited about trying some new things.”

The TSEP for faculty and graduate students will be offered again in fall 2015. For more information or to inquire about registering, contact Jennifer Moran at instrdev@mun.ca or call (709) 864-3028.