April 2002
Vo l . 1
No.1
&
Reflecting the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning at the
In This Issue...
An Interview with
Michael Atkinson
The Writing Tip of
the Day by Donna
Greschner
SPRING TEACHING
DAYS
Librarian-Scholars
and the Boyer
Model by David
Fox
Look Into The Work
And Find The Truth:
A Statement of
Teaching Philosophy
by Marcus Rayner
University of Saskatchewan
Welcome to the inaugural issue of “Teaching & Learning
Bridges,” our new-look teaching and learning newsletter.
The name was suggested by
Nancy Poon from Sociology,
and we picked it for its
relevance to Saskatoon and for
its rich nuances of connection,
building, and communicating.
We thank Nancy for her
suggestion.
We received other proposals,
too, some of them downright
whimsical:
- Inter-Actions
- The Teaching Source
- Teaching Well
- Teaching Reflections
- Teacher, Teacher
- Branches
- The Newsletter formerly Known as Pointer
- The Very Excellent Teaching & Learning
Newsletter (We really liked this one, but
modesty forbids!)
So thanks again to Nancy, and to
Joan Tilk (Printing Services); Andy
Allen (Veterinary Pathology); and
David Fox (Library) for their
suggestions.
We’d also like to thank Lori
Verishagen from U of S Printing
Services for her excellent design
work.
The name may have changed, but the goal
of the TLC newsletter remains the same: to
reflect the scholarship of teaching and
learning at the University of Saskatchewan.
As always we’re delighted to accept your
contributions or letters.
Eileen M. Herteis,
Programme Director
The Gwenna Moss Teaching & Learning
Centre
Don’t forget to complete the enclosed needs assessment/survey ...
We are eager to receive your feedback about our programming and
suggestions for future sessions. The enclosed survey will take only a few
minutes to complete and send back to us.
Thank you!
Gwenna Moss Teaching & Learning Centre
37 Murray Building • 966-2231
Spring 2002
Vol. 1 No. 1
Gwenna Moss Teaching
& Learning Centre
University of Saskatchewan
Room 37 Murray Building
3 Campus Drive
Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A4
Phone (306) 966-2231
Fax (306) 966-2242
e-mail : corinne.f@usask.ca
Web site : www.usask.ca/tlc
Bridges is distributed to every
teacher at the University of
Saskatchewan and to all the
Instructional Development
Offices in Canada, and some
beyond. It is freely available
on the world wide web through
the TLC web site. Your
contributions to Bridges will
reach a wide local, national,
and international audience.
Please consider submitting
an article or opinion
piece to Bridges.
Contact any one of the
following people; we’d be
delighted to hear from you!
Ron Marken
TLC Director
Phone (306) 966-5532
Ron.Marken@usask.ca
Eileen Herteis
TLC Programme Director &
Bridges Editor
Phone (306) 966-2238
Fax (306) 966-2242
eileen.herteis@usask.ca
Christine Anderson-Obach
Programme Coordinator
Phone (306) 966-1950
Christine.Anderson@usask.ca
Corinne Fasthuber
Assistant
Phone (306) 966-2231
Fax (306) 966-2242
corinne.f@usask.ca
ISSN 1703-1230
AN INTERVIEW WITH
MICHAEL ATKINSON
E
arly in March, Eileen Herteis spoke to Michael Atkinson, Vice-President
Academic and Provost, about his vision for teaching, teachers, and the
Teacher-Scholar model at the University of Saskatchewan.
EMH: In your March, 2000 Academic
Agenda address, you said the following:
“Teaching is difficult, good teaching is
especially so.” When the TLC opened in
Summer, 2000, what were your hopes for
the new Centre and its role in supporting and
encouraging good teaching on campus?
MA: My hope was that the TLC would be a
genuine centre, so that people could feel
there was a place to come to talk and learn
about teaching, to share their successes
concerns and frustrations around teaching.
Before we had a Teaching & Learning
Centre, this was happening, but it was
restricted to the individual colleges. The TLC
allows for a cross-fertilization of ideas across
a broader range of disciplines and units.
I’ve spoken to people who met one another
through the TLC. In that sense, I’m very
pleased.
On the symbolic side, people need a sense
that teaching is valued and that the time they
are spending at it is worthwhile. Again, you
can have that message delivered in the
various units, but it is more difficult and a bit
more episodic than if you have a dedicated
centre with programmatic responsibilities.
The last thing I want to say, and this is from
an administrative point of view, is that I want
to make sure people understand that the
emphasis on research at the U of S does not
come at the expense of teaching. In fact, we
must learn to manage the teaching enterprise
much better in situations where we’re asking
2
people to devote more time and energy to
research.
EMH: As a follow-up to that, there is also
some concern that the TLC is being cited too
often as proof of the university’s commitment
to teaching, that our existence lets others off
the hook, as it were. It moves the responsibility
for teaching and learning to the Centre and
means that college or departmental teaching
committees don’t have to be so active.
MA: I never thought that the TLC would be
relieving colleges of their responsibility for
teaching and learning. I always thought
they’d have to embrace it and pay more
attention to it in more strategic terms. My
sense is that at the University of
Saskatchewan the culture of high quality
undergraduate education is so well
established that you couldn’t deprive
colleges of teaching resources without a
fight.
This will be even more the case when we
release the enrolment plan that has been in
development for some time. The plan will
ask colleges what they’re doing to promote
the first year experience, experiential
learning, internships, internationalization,
capstone courses, and so on. Colleges will
be obliged to pay attention to those issues as
they put together their own enrolment plans.
It’s a challenge they cannot duck or sidestep,
and I’m sure they won’t want to.
The TLC will be a resource to them, but if a
college’s strategic plan involves putting more courses online,
the TLC will not tell it how to manage online courses or
which courses to do.
want to put so many of our courses on-line, and you are
involved in that, then the college should write about that
contribution in positive terms.
EMH: We’ve just finished putting together the five-year plan
for the Centre, and one of our priorities is to strengthen our
links and partnerships with college teaching committees to
ensure that we are at the hub of the wheel, as it were, but
there are lots of spokes going out to the various colleges and
departmental committees.
MA: That’s good. I would encourage that.
EMH: We hear a lot of comments at the Centre
when we give workshops, and the next two
questions address two of the most common
ones. First, when I give Teaching Portfolio
workshops, the most common question I hear is
“ How’s this going to be evaluated?” Do you
anticipate that evaluation criteria will be made
available to candidates so that they can plan
their portfolios better?
EMH: One of the things I stress when I give workshops and
when I put together the teaching portfolio section of our web
site last year, is that people must provide a context in terms
of their teaching responsibilities and their philosophy: why
they do the things they do in the classroom. I also
emphasize that the evidence and the philosophy should be
closely connected. We had over 9000 hits on our web site
in February alone, and almost 1200 of
those were to the teaching portfolio
pages—I hope that increases the quality
“A lot of people are
of the portfolios coming to the
committees.
putting in a lot of
effort, but I hope they
MA: My sense is that most candidates
are nervous about promotion and tenure
but when it comes to an individual’s
themselves and for
teaching performance, expectations are
their students, not to
not especially dramatic; coherence in
philosophy; evidence of attention to
meet the Standards.”
MA: Not in the sense that we’d stipulate “This
teaching; and effort in preparing classes,
– Michael Atkinson
is what we expect you to say,” or “Here’s the
acquiring
skills,
and
improving
evidence we’re looking for.” Maybe we should
performance—that’s what we’re looking
try to get to the point of saying that we want to
for. We really don’t ask for the world
see certain things in a portfolio. I don’t know
when it comes to teaching, so getting
that we’ll ever say we want the following six or
past the minimum expectations shouldn’t
twenty items, although perhaps we’ll get there.
be that difficult. Tragically, some will not
be capable of meeting that standard,
When you teach, much of what you’re doing is
and I have no hesitation in saying that
going to be affected by the environment:
people in that category will not be
students, discipline, size of class. We can’t be
recommended for tenure or promotion.
too prescriptive in what we want to see, but we
Now doing yourself justice, going
do expect you to take a look at the grid in the Standards.
beyond minimum standards, that’s different and difficult.
It’s pretty inclusive. It says in a healthy way that an
Explaining where you feel your teaching is going and
evaluation of teaching is more than just how well you write
why—that’s great to see. A lot of people are putting in a lot
on the board or deliver material.
Teaching involves
of effort, but I hope they are doing it for themselves and for
adequate preparation, evaluation, the sharing of skills and
their students, not to meet the Standards.
experience. With all of its possibilities, that grid is an
invitation to be inclusive without being overwhelming.
EMH: The second question that comes up is “What’s the
Frankly the biggest problem we have with portfolios is not in
point of putting a lot of effort into teaching improvement if
the material supplied, it’s that they’re badly put together.
all that counts in the end is publication in refereed journals,
There’s an enormous flow of unpredigested paper, without
and in many departments in only some refereed journals?”
any statements about what this means or what teaching
How do you convince teachers that teaching really does
means to you. People don’t take the opportunity to talk
count at this university?
about themselves, who they are, what they’re doing and
how they’re helping their college or department.
MA: Because we turn people down for promotion and
tenure on the basis of teaching. A case can falter and fail
Another real problem is that college committees need to be
even when the research record is spectacular if the teaching
clear about what they are looking for when it comes to
record is not.
teaching. The new enrolment plan will affect this and how
well people are connecting with what their college wants to
EMH: What if the teaching is stellar, but the research record
do. For example, if a college’s strategic plan says that we
is a bit suspect?
are doing it for
3
Photo by Ginny Cherepacha
MA: Same thing. We are intent on
supporting the Teacher-Scholar model.
That means you must meet the
standards in all of these categories.
It’s the way the Collective Agreement is
written and the way these committees
work. The committees can, and should
be prepared to, stop someone on any
of the criteria independent of the
others.
EMH: What about recruitment? Would
you encourage hiring committees to
seek documentation of a candidate’s
teaching effectiveness?
MA: I’d like to see them pay attention to
some evidence of teaching quality and
commitment. Sometimes, departments
staff positions with an eye to
undergraduate teaching responsibilities.
I’m not a big fan of that. When we hire
a tenure-track person, we should
consider how they could contribute to
the department as a whole. Not simply
say, we’ve lost a marine biologist so we
have to hire another since there’s six
credit units to be taught. We need to
hire the whole person, remembering
that we rarely get exactly what we
want, and people do change their
teaching interests over the years.
Tenure-track candidates should prove
themselves capable, competent, and
interested in teaching. You can’t look
at teaching as some kind of burden at
the U of S. You can’t come in showing
no interest in teaching, not asking
about teaching or students, not
showing any sample course outlines.
The Standards are telling you that
when you get further down the line at
this institution, you must make the
grade in teaching or you’d better go
somewhere else.
EMH: Finally, there’s still confusion over
what the term “Teacher-Scholar” means,
especially when our Mission Statement
espouses the four scholarships of Boyer:
teaching, discovery, engagement and
integration. When you take teaching
out and place it beside “scholar” it begs
the question, Is teaching no longer
considered scholarship? Why not just
the model of scholarship?
MA: Good question. I was not at the U of S
when the Mission Statement was
put together, and my acquaintance with
Boyer was pretty limited until I
got here. I do have a lot of sympathy for
the Boyer perspective. It’s richly nuanced
and valuable, and people are drawn to it
with the four intersecting scholarships of
teaching, research, engagement and
integration. In universities we tend to
compartmentalize, and in many cases,
there’s a significant overlap in what we do.
4
I liked what Bud Weiser had to say at
the “What is a Teacher-Scholar?”
Symposium. It made a lot of sense.
He said that many people are
teaching, and doing a very good job
at it, but they are not involved in the
scholarship of teaching. The TeacherScholar model recognizes that.
While Boyer reflects inclusiveness, the
richness of scholarship, the TeacherScholar model sends a message of
balance—in one’s life, career, and
over time. In his address, Weiser said
that you can be scholarly in the way
you teach, but that doesn’t mean that
you’re engaged in the scholarship of
teaching. The scholarship of teaching
involves what I call a pedagogical
consciousness: Are you reflective? Are
you contributing to the teaching quality
of others? I’d put myself pretty much
into the “good teacher” or “aspiring
teacher” category—like most people,
I’m not a scholar of teaching.
I can see that the two may appear
contradictory, but I don’t see it as one
canceling out the other. Boyer is about
inclusiveness; the Teacher-Scholar
model is about balance.
THE WRITING TIP OF THE DAY
Donna Greschner,
College of Law
(first published in THE LAW
TEACHER, Spring 2002)
to take you seriously. I began with
simple ones, such as confusing “it’s” and
“its.” Other yuk-yuks were overuse of the
passive voice, wordy nominalizations,
and incorrect comma placement. In this
section, I typically distributed a handout
describing the problem and suggesting
methods of fixing it. The handouts were
exercises I had devised or several
pertinent pages from a grammar text.
Old methods sometimes work the best.
Although Web bins, PowerPoint, and
interactive chat rooms are effective
instructional aids, law professors still
succeed with tried-and-true methods of
teaching. Last year I improved students’
legal reasoning and writing skills by
combining conventional pedagogical
techniques in ‘The Writing Tip of the
Day’.
In Saskatchewan, second-year law
students must take one legal theory
course. Each course has 20 students
and meets twice a week. Since one
purpose of these courses is to develop
writing skills, students must submit two
papers, one midway through the term
and the second on the last day of
classes. Over the past decade, I have
tried various techniques in legal theory
courses to enhance students’ writing
proficiency. I now teach Constitutional
Theory, a course designed to raise
issues of legal philosophy in the
context of constitutional law.
In 2001, I decided to spend the first
five minutes of each class giving
students one tip about good writing.
Before I began, I impressed upon them
the importance of becoming the best
writers they could be. Words are the
only tools that lawyers possess, and
the more adeptly students handle
words, the better lawyers they will
become. To complement and set the
stage for the “Writing Tip of the Day,”
in the first week of term I devoted one
entire class to matters of style,
grammar, and revision.
DONNA GRESCHNER, COLLEGE OF LAW
I divided the Writing Tips into several
thematic groups. The first cluster
comprised general points about
becoming professional wordsmiths,
which I classified under the Delphic
maxim, “Know Thyself.” They included
the following: Recognize your most
creative time during the day, and use
it, if possible; identify your personal
style of writing; and acquire the tools
of the trade, such as dictionaries,
thesauruses, and grammar books. I
brought into the classroom examples
of excellent dictionaries and other
reference material. I also recommended
books about writing, such as Joseph M.
Williams’ classic, Style: Toward Clarity
and Grace (1990).
The second group of Writing Tips
focused on errors that I have
repeatedly encountered in students’
writing. In my experience, one or two
out of every 20 students suffer from
each problem. I call these common
problems “yuk-yuks”– they are basic
grammatical mistakes or stylistic
infelicities that cause your readers not
5
A third group of Tips, which were
scattered amongst the others, offered
ways of recognizing and constructing
solid arguments. I stressed to students
that, as lawyers, their purpose in
writing is to present cogent arguments.
If they could distinguish between good
and bad arguments, they would
become better writers, too. These
Writing Tips supported the substantive
content of the course, which contained
a large section on judicial reasoning in
constitutional cases. I took examples of
different types of arguments and
fallacies from the course readings.
Again, I distributed handouts, which
highlighted components of arguments,
and suggested books, such as
Attacking Faulty Reasoning by T.
Edward Damer (4th ed., 2000).
These Tips enhanced class discussion
because students learned to identify
fallacies and more readily suggested
ways of strengthening arguments made
by authors of the course materials.
Moreover, as the weeks progressed,
students became increasingly frustrated
with vague, confusing or convoluted
arguments, and they complained about
some authors’ writing styles. Hence,
the Tips also showed students the virtue
of writing clearly, accurately, and
precisely. Several students later told me
that they found these Tips especially
illuminating.
Midway through the term, students submitted their first paper.
In assessing each paper, I noted particular problems with
writing skills, referring the student to the relevant ‘Tip’ or
attaching new handouts addressing the difficulties. For
instance, one student’s paper was stuffed with tandem
subordination. My comments described the problem, and I
gave the student an excerpt from a grammar book about ways
of dealing with it.
Assessing papers in this manner augmented
my knowledge of writing. I had to identify
precisely a student’s weakness, and I could
not rely on general criticism about writing
style, such as ubiquitous comments of “this
paragraph is awkward,” “reduce the
passive voice,” or the even bigger cop-out,
“your writing style could be improved.”
second paper, he revised his first draft for the first time in his
six years of university education, and that he now
understood the tremendous benefit of revisions!
Overall, students reacted positively to the Writing Tip of the
Day. The anonymous student evaluations, which were
conducted midway through the term and again at the end,
contained many positive comments about the Writing Tip.
Students told me, both during office visits
and after the end of term, that they greatly
appreciated this feature of the course. For
instance, one month after the end of term, a
Each one was
student said that she thought that the Tips
not merely a
and feedback on her first paper had
increased her marks in other courses by at
Writing Tip –
least a full grade. Several students
it was a
suggested adding Writing Tips of the Day to
thinking tip.
every seminar and theory course.
The fourth group of Writing Tips began after
– Donna Greschner
I had graded and returned the first
As a pedagogical technique, the Writing
assignments. These Tips took examples from
Tip of the Day has several advantages. First,
the papers (without, for course, naming the
it is inexpensive, without need of fancy
students) to move beyond grammar and
equipment. Second, it is not time-consuming
other obvious difficulties, such as overuse of
for long-time teachers, who can draw upon
the passive voice. They focused on more
their experiences in finding examples and
structural problems, such as building smooth
devising tips. Third, it motivates students to
and cogent paragraphs. Several Tips took
work hard on their assignments. When
between 15-20 minutes, but it was time well
students prepared their first paper, they
spent. Many of them reinforced my
already knew the common errors that I
comments on the student papers, and they
had mentioned in the Tips, and they could
integrated the earlier Tips about legal
avoid them. The second papers were
reasoning, using examples from the course
noticeably better, as students had more
readings and student papers. Examples included writing Writing Tips and feedback from the first paper under their
topic sentences, handling counter-arguments, composing a belt. Fourth, it increased attendance. Students did not want
compelling factual narrative, and connecting smoothly a to miss the day’s Writing Tip, if only to know what not to do
group of paragraphs into a persuasive brief or essay.
in their papers.
When I received the second papers, I saw considerable
improvement in many students’ writing. Most papers began
with a thesis paragraph, flowed more coherently, and
contained concise conclusions. All of them had far fewer
grammatical and stylistic glitches. Some students told me
later that they had invested more time in the papers,
incorporating my comments from their first papers and the
Tips. Indeed, one student told me that when he wrote his
I think this technique succeeded because the Writing Tips
went beyond grammar and punctuation. They encompassed
the essential subjects of constructing flowing paragraphs,
developing convincing arguments, setting appropriate tones
for particular audiences, and other substantive matters. Each
one was not merely a Writing Tip – it was a thinking tip.
6
SPRING TEACHING DAYS
1. On-Line Teaching and
WebCT for Post-Secondary
Instructors in
Saskatchewan
1. On-Line Teaching and WebCT for Post-Secondary Instructors in
Saskatchewan
May 8th, 9th, 10th, 2002
This special 2.5 day event will provide the information and training you need. It
will combine hands-on experience with some of the essential pedagogical issues
you should consider before you develop an online course or teach with WebCT.
Schedule:
May 8th: Keynote presentation, Teaching Well with On-Line Tools, by
Dr. Rick Schwier, Education, University of Saskatchewan
Panel Presentation from experienced WebCT users from Saskatchewan
May 9th: Getting Started with WebCT
May 10th: Advanced WebCT
Who should attend:
Teachers and graduate students interested in learning more about developing
online courses and those involved in current TEL initiatives
For more information about the programme or to register, visit our web site:
http://webct.usask.ca/training/2002
Acknowledgements
This event is made possible through funding from the provincial Technology
Enhanced Learning Initiative. We would like to acknowledge the support of the
following U of S units:
Division of Media & Technology
Gwenna Moss Teaching & Learning Centre
Information Technology Services
Instructional Design Group, Extension Division
2. Instructional Technology
Survival Skills
2. Instructional Technology Survival Skills
Tuesdays, April 16, 23, 30 , 11:45 am to 1:30 pm.
These three 90-minute video-taped events are packed with tips, tools, and
techniques for using the latest technology effectively in all kinds of classes.
April 16th: Surviving and Thriving in Your First Online Course
This programme will show you many ways to minimize the pitfalls and ease the
anxieties of teaching online. This programme will examine a wide range of
scenarios based on the real-world problems instructors typically face when
teaching online. Experienced educators will share their strategies, offer helpful
hints, and provide valuable insights into how to avoid many of the problems in
the first place and handle them effectively when they occur.
April 23rd: Using Information Technology in a Traditional Classroom
Computer technology pervades our students’ daily lives, so they fully expect to
use it in their courses—even in classroom settings. As a result, many teachers are
7
turning to information technology to enhance what they’re already doing. Others
are using IT as an impetus to re-examine the complexities of teaching and
learning in general. In the process, classroom teaching is being expanded and
redefined in exciting ways, including the growth of “hybrid” classroom courses
using online elements. Participants will learn, among other things, how to use
computers and other forms of IT to expand students’ access to course content and
to increase communication with and among students.
April 30th: Improving Multimedia and Online Courses with Instructional Design
New technologies and teaching environments provide challenge and opportunity
for teachers: classrooms enriched by multimedia resources, asynchronous courses
offered completely online, and myriad variations on those themes. Teachers need
a framework for creating and adapting instruction so it will be effective
regardless of the multimedia tools and course delivery systems that continue to
emerge. They need a solid grounding in the principles of instructional design,
specifically in the ways adults learn best.
Teaching Techniques
for Humanities TAs
3. FOR TAs Only,
Facilitated by TAs
Teaching Techniques for Humanities TAs
Tonya Lambert,
The Gwenna Moss Teaching & Learning Centre
Tuesday, May 14th, 1:30 - 4 pm
Through a combination of instruction and discussion, Teaching Assistants will
enhance their knowledge of various teaching techniques, both inside and outside
the classroom. This workshop will also highlight the resources available on
campus for TAs in the humanities.
Marking Strategies:
Especially for Teaching Assistants
Marking Strategies: Especially for Teaching Assistants
Rob Angove, Graduate Peer Consultant, TLC
Thursday, May 16th, 1:30 - 4pm
Teaching and Marking Assistants occupy an important niche in the university. A
major part of their task, of course, includes the evaluation of assignments.
Although clearly beneficial to both students and professors alike, it can be a
difficult and arduous endeavour. It does not, however, need to be that way. This
workshop is designed especially for graduate students — both those currently
registered and those beginning their program next fall —to help with some of the
major issues of evaluation. The major topics include: Grading schemes· The goal
of the marker ·Constructive commentary ·Time management: How long should it
take? ·Plagiarism: Where does one turn?
First Annual
Bright Ideas Showcase
4. First Annual Bright Ideas Showcase
Thursday, April 25
1:30 - 4 pm (Reception to follow)
Take a break from the April doldrums of exams and grading! Come to our first
annual Bright Ideas Showcase to see some of the high-energy, low-tech ideas
your colleagues are using to enliven their classes. All of the ideas are easily
adaptable to other disciplines:
8
Presenters:
• Lori Hanson, Community Health & Epidemiology: Giving Students the ‘Last Word’
• Tonya Lambert, History/TLC: Bringing the Past to Life
• Sheila Harding & Marcel D’Eon, Medicine: Using Lego: A Constructive
Approach to Teaching Client-Centred Interviewing
• Darwin Anderson, Soil Science: Crosswords and Cooperative Learning as a
Fun Way to Review Mundane Terminology
• Bruce Irvine, Accounting: Skits and Costumes
Pedagogy, PowerPoint, &
Presentation: Basic
PowerPoint for Teachers
5. Pedagogy, PowerPoint, & Presentation: Basic PowerPoint
for Teachers
Kim West, The Gwenna Moss Teaching & Learning Centre
Wednesday, April 24, 1-4 pm
In this session, you will be introduced to PowerPoint 2000 as a teaching, learning,
and presentation tool. At the outcome of this session, you will be able to:
• present your teaching and research in a new, engaging, investigative format
• understand the basics of PowerPoint including how to create your own slide
show presentation
• design and develop effective educational presentations
• discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using PowerPoint in the
classroom.
No previous experience with PowerPoint is required. Registration is limited to 20
people.
The Teaching Portfolio and the
Scholarship of Teaching
6. Special Event: The Teaching Portfolio and the Scholarship of
Teaching
Friday, May 3rd, 2002
You may register for each of these sessions individually. Registration limited to 25
participants
Morning Session, 9-11:30 am
The Portfolio: Documenting the Scholarship of Teaching
Facilitator: Eileen Herteis, Programme Director, Gwenna Moss Teaching &
Learning Centre, University of Saskatchewan
In 1990, Ernest Boyer created a new paradigm of scholarship, comprising four
equal components: teaching, discovery, application, and integration. The
teaching portfolio has become an increasingly important tool for teachers who
want to record their teaching activities, accomplishments, and scholarship. In the
past few years, with the advent of our new Standards, the portfolio has also
become very important for University of Saskatchewan faculty seeking promotion
and tenure. As well as discussing the components of a portfolio, this practical
session will provide you with information on
• why you should compile a portfolio to document your scholarship in teaching;
• what information you should include in your portfolio;
• how you should organize and present your portfolio.
Afternoon session, 1:30-4 pm
The Portfolio: Evaluating the Scholarship of Teaching.
Facilitator: James McNinch, Director, Teaching Development Centre,
University of Regina
(description continued next page)
9
REGISTRATION FORM
SPRING TEACHING DAYS
Name:
Campus Address:
Phone:
E-Mail
I would like to register for:
Instructional Technology Survival Skills
❐ April 16- Surviving and Thriving in Your First Online Course
❐ April 23- Using Information Technology in a
Traditional Classroom
❐ April 30 - Improving Multimedia and Online Courses with
Instructional Design
❐ April 24: Pedagogy, PowerPoint and Presentation: Basic
PowerPoint for Teachers
❐ April 25: First Annual Bright Ideas Showcase
❐ May 3: The Teaching Portfolio and the Scholarship of Teaching
❐ Morning: The Portfolio: Documenting the
Scholarship of Teaching
❐ Afternoon: The Portfolio: Evaluating the
Scholarship of Teaching
❐ May 14: Teaching Techniques for Humanities TAs
❐ May 16th: Marking Strategies: Especially for Teaching
Assistants
May 8, 9, 10: Please note registration for
Online Teaching and WebCT for
Post-Secondary Instructors in Saskatchewan is only
available online at http://webct.usask.ca/training/2002
The Gwenna Moss Teaching & Learning Centre,
Room 37 Murray Building
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, SK
S7N 5A4
Phone 306•966•2231
Fax 306•966•2242
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The Teaching Portfolio and the
Scholarship of Teaching continued...
How can we most effectively use teaching
portfolios to evaluate the scholarship of
teaching of our peers? This session will
provide you with information on how to
• establish consistent criteria for evaluating
this scholarship
• use a rubric to “weight” the various
components of a portfolio, and
• ”sift the wheat from the chaff” using a
norm-based approach to this evaluation.
This session will also provide an
opportunity to discuss the evaluation of the
scholarship of teaching from a number of
perspectives: in comparison to other forms
of scholarship, as a developmental process,
and as a form of reflective professional
practice. Several different models will
be analyzed and compared for an
appropriate fit with the University of
Saskatchewan context.
LIBRARIAN-SCHOLARS AND THE BOYER MODEL
David Fox
Head,
Information
Technology
Services
University of
Saskatchewan
Library
What is the nature of scholarly work in
academic librarianship? Librarianship
is a practical discipline. There is not a
vast theoretical base, but there is a
distinct and extensive body of applied
knowledge in three broadly defined
areas: the classification of information,
collection management, and the guidance
and instruction of users. As well, many
librarians would argue that the study of the
literature of any field of scholarship is their
legitimate domain.
responsibilities; others have reference
desk and service responsibilities around
which their weekly schedules are
structured. Although there are no
formally specified hours of work, most
librarians at the U of S probably dedicate
40 hours or more per week to their
assigned duties year round. Except for
sabbatical leave, there is no formal
release time to pursue scholarly work.
For most librarians the only time that
can be devoted to scholarship is on
evenings and weekends. At the
University of Saskatchewan, librarians,
as is true for other faculty members,
are expected to engage in scholarly
work as a necessary condition for
permanent status and promotion.
The standard professional degree in
librarianship is the Master of Library
Science (MLS). There is a PhD in
library science, but it is not normally
required to practice. However, many
academic libraries require a second
advanced degree for certain positions,
e.g. a second masters or a professional
degree relevant to the position. Among
librarians at the U of S, in addition to the
MLS, there are three law degrees, 10
second Masters degrees, and one
doctorate.
Bud Weiser, the keynote speaker at the
“What is a Teacher-Scholar?” Symposium
in November 2001, described the “Living
Position Description” that was introduced
at Oregon State University. At OSU all
faculty members have a position description
that is developed in consultation with
their Department Head, defines their
assigned duties and research objectives,
and is revised and updated annually.
In my view this sort of position description
would be a big benefit to librarians. It
would acknowledge the large component
of assigned duties, allow for the wide
variation in duties among librarians, and
facilitate assessment for permanent
status, promotion, and salary increments.
Librarians’ work normally includes a
significant component of assigned duties.
In this respect we are more similar to
clinicians, extension specialists, and
administrators than teaching faculty.
Many librarians have management
There are a number of avenues for
librarians’ scholarly communication.
Internationally there are more than 120
peer-reviewed journals in librarianship and a much larger number of non peerreviewed library publications. More
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than 300 library-related listservs and
discussion forums act as a medium for
professional exchange. Many local,
regional, national, and international
associations promote the advancement
of the library profession. Many of these
associations hold annual conferences
that provide continuing education
opportunities for librarians.
At the University of Saskatchewan,
librarians, as is true for other faculty
members, are expected to engage in
scholarly work as a necessary condition
for permanent status and promotion.
The standards governing permanent
status and promotion for librarians are
being revised to conform to the new
University Standards, but as of Feb 28,
2002 the new draft standards for
librarians are still awaiting approval.
Librarians hired before July 1, 2002
will be evaluated for permanent status
under the current 1992 standards.
Promotion cases for existing librarians,
and for new librarians hired on or after
July 1, 2002, will be judged according
to the revised standards, once approved.
Under the 1992 standards, scholarly
work is one of 13 factors in the
Practice of Professional Skills:
3b) scholarship exemplified by publications,
presentations at meetings, etc.
Category 4 of the standards: Research
and Scholarly Work is more rigorous,
emphasizing formal peer-reviewed
publication. Activity in this category is
required for permanent status and
promotion to Librarian IV, the highest
librarian rank. Research and Scholarly
Work is an optional category at lower
ranks. Even for Librarian IV a rating of
Superior in the Practice of Professional
Skills can be substituted for a ranking
in Research and Scholarly Work under
the 1992 standards.
The 2001 revised draft standards for
librarians make the following statement
about scholarly work:
“Scholarly work is expected of all
librarians. Unlike traditional faculty
research, a librarian’s scholarly work
usually derives from professional
practice. Candidates for permanent
status or promotion will engage in
scholarly work appropriate to academic
librarianship with the fundamental
expectation that the results of scholarly
work will be shared with other members
of the profession and the academic
community. A librarian’s scholarly work
may be in one or more but not
necessarily all of the following areas:
application - the acquisition and
dissemination of knowledge through
practice. In 1998 the Association of
College and Research Libraries Task
Force on Institutional Priorities and
Faculty Rewards described a number
of activities performed by academic
librarians in all of Boyer’s categories
of scholarship.
“According to Boyer,
scholarship really has
four dimensions:
Discovery, Integration,
Application, and
Teaching, each of which
is equally valid.”
– David Fox
a) applied scholarship …
b) subject scholarship …
c) theoretical/policy scholarship …
For the purposes of this document
scholarly work means work which
has been subjected to external peer
review. This is the primary evidence
in this category.”
The Boyer model of scholarship is well
known at the University of Saskatchewan.
In his book Scholarship Reconsidered:
Priorities of the Professoriate , Ernest Boyer
argued that equating scholarship with
the formal publication of research
results is too restrictive. According to
Boyer, scholarship really has four
dimensions: Discovery, Integration,
Application, and Teaching, each of
which is equally valid.
Unfortunately, Scholarship Reconsidered
makes no mention of librarians! This
comes as a surprise, as academic
librarianship provides an excellent
example of the scholarship of
I’d like to illustrate a case study in
applied librarianship from my own
sub-discipline of systems management
and development, and then ask the
question, “Is it scholarship?” The
case in question is the development
of the U of S Library Electronic Journals
Management System.
The Electronic Journal Management
System provides seamless integrated
access to 5,000+ electronic journals
through the E-journal Database and
the Catalogue. It was developed over
a six month period through active
collaboration by a team of librarians,
library staff, and a computer programmer.
The expertise required to create the
system included knowledge of license
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administration, cataloguing, user needs,
system design, and programming.
The E-journal Management System
makes electronic journals accessible
through the Catalogue or the Electronic
Journals Database. E-journals are
searchable by title, subject, vendor,
collection, and publisher. There are
links to online full-text. Alternate
sources are listed. Links are validated.
There are system status messages to
report when vendor sites are
temporarily unavailable.
The E-journal Management System
was described in two presentations
at national conferences in 2001. It
was also peer reviewed. The author
invited selected members of the
audience for the Canadian Library
Association conference presentation
to send a confidential review of the
talk to the U of S Library Director.
Two critiques were received, one
from the Head of Cataloguing
Services, University of Ottawa Library
Network, and another from the Head
of Collections Management for
Simon Fraser University Library. Both
of these individuals attested to the
currency, value, and relevance of the
content of the presentation.
In my field of specialization, conference
presentations are a much more timely
method of communication than formal
print publication. Conference presentations
can reach the desired audience quickly;
they are often archived indefinitely on
the conference Website; there are
usually no copyright issues involved;
and, as I have demonstrated, with a
little effort they can be peer reviewed.
In August 2001, Mark Jordan,
Systems Librarian at SFU, gave a
presentation at the Netspeed 2001
Conference in Edmonton in which he
quoted data (with appropriate
acknowledgement) from my CLA
presentation two months earlier. This is a
simple illustration of the speed by which
scholarly information can be exchanged
through informal communication.
The E-journal Management System is
intuitive and user friendly. A good deal
of thought, design, technical expertise,
license administration work, and
ongoing maintenance has been invested
to make the system transparently easy to
use. It is so transparent, in fact, that
many faculty may be enjoying online
access to e-journals without realizing the
Library’s role in making these resources
available.
But is it scholarship? The E-journal
Management System is a comprehensive
resource discovery tool. It integrates
and applies knowledge of several subdisciplines of librarianship and
computer programming. The development
was shared with other members of the
profession and the library community,
and it was subjected to external
peer review. Therefore, in my view,
this project meets the test of the
Boyer model as an example of the
scholarship of application and the
scholarship of integration. It meets
the test of the revised draft U of S
Library Standards since it was
derived from professional practice,
shared with colleagues and the
academic community, and subjected to
external peer review. And it meets Bud
Weiser’s OSU “litmus test” as an
example of “creative intellectual work,
validated by peers and communicated”.
The 2001 revised draft Library
standards emphasize that scholarly
work is expected of all librarians. This
is appropriate providing that the
“specific requirements” for permanent
status and promotion at each rank are
phrased in a way to allow a flexible
interpretation of what is meant by
scholarly work.
Librarianship is primarily a practicebased discipline. Traditional peerreviewed publication should not be a
requirement for junior librarians early
in their careers, in my opinion. Nor
should it necessarily be an essential
component of the scholarly work of
more senior librarians. Those who
wish to publish should be encouraged
Dr. Mark Evered, Dr. C. J. “Bud” Weiser and Dr.
Ron Marken at the “What is a Teacher-Scholar”
Conference, November, 2001
Proceedings from the event will be available from
the Gwenna Moss Teaching & Learning Centre by
the end of April 2002. Please call 966-2231 if
you are interested in obtaining a copy.
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to do so, but it is possible to be an
excellent academic librarian without
ever publishing anything.
Formal print publication is not
necessarily the best way of
communicating new knowledge.
Several of my colleagues have
suggested that what is needed is a
more broadly defined and accepted
view of the word “publication”. Peer
validated conference presentations,
websites, editorial work, significant
contributions to professional listservs
and discussion groups, etc., should be
considered as equivalent to refereed
journal articles.
In the future, with the aid of technology,
there may be new forms of professional
communication and collaboration that
we can only dream of today. Rather
than prescribing in the standards
specific forms of scholarly work that are
worthy of consideration for permanent
status and promotion, I believe we
would be better to adopt the very
flexible, generic OSU definition of
scholarship as “any form of creative
intellectual work, validated by peers
and communicated”.
LOOK INTO THE WORK AND FIND THE
TRUTH : A STATEMENT OF TEACHING
PHILOSOPHY : MARCUS RAYNER
I have always been a teacher but have not always
worked for a university. To be given such an
opportunity has allowed me to do something that
circumstances - destiny, if you like - prevented me
from actually doing before I came to La Ronge. After
completing my M.A., I travelled and worked in
different parts of the world, met and married a
Canadian, and came to teach
in Northern Saskatchewan. In
a sense, I took the “path less
travelled by”; I am glad that I
did so.
table in the dining room, his gauloise cigarette
tipped at an elegant angle from his mouth, Earl
Grey tea in a china cup at his side, he read
Lawrence’s poem “The Snake” to me. I was
entranced. By the age of fourteen, I had read The
White Peacock and Women in Love. The snake
became my guide. Quite literally, in fact, for it is my
totem figure now.
Then there were Margaret
M. and David C., my
mentors at university.
How eccentric they
Now I can approach the
both were - and how
responsibility of teaching at a
brilliant! What minds,
university with the assurance
and what understanding.
that I can bring something
She was - I am convinced
practical to what is, in effect,
- in love with John Donne.
an intellectual pursuit. I can
And when she read
impart to the students what I
from his poetry, it was
MARCUS RAYNER RECEIVES HIS AWARD FROM MICHAEL ATKINSON.
know to be the beauty of the
as though it had been
THE SYLVIA WALLACE AWARD WAS CREATED BY THE TLC IN FALL, 2000
TO RECOGNIZE THE WORK OF SESSIONAL LECTURERS
language and the texts that I
written for her. David sitting
select and teach, but I can also allow some of my
in his office, during a tutorial, saying something
own experience of the world to add validity to what
suddenly brilliant about Ben Jonson, regarding me
I teach, and how I do so.
with intense blue eyes and saying, “For God’s sake,
Marcus, stop saying what it isn’t, and tell me what
I love books. I love the very nature of them. I
it is!” That, too, has been a part of my own credo remember an old Hindu teacher, in another country,
look into the work and find the truth.
once accidentally drop a book, bend over to pick it
up, slowly stand upright again, and then bring the
I learned from people such as these as they had
book to his lips, kiss it, and beg for its forgiveness.
learned from others. John had been a student of
Lord David Cecil, and Margaret (very old when I
And as I teach, I think also of my first tutor, for I was
knew her) had known T. S. Eliot, Lawrence Durrell,
not a happy child at school and my parents hired
and W.H. Auden. She had been a “slip of a girl in
their best friend to teach me on hot afternoons many
Paris.” Paris taught her well, and I learned from
years ago in Africa. That very first time when John
her. David had been to night school in the fifties,had
came to teach me and we sat at the mahogany
strived to get where he was, and know - instinctively
Marcus Rayner received the second Annual Sylvia Wallace Teaching Excellence Award for Sessional Lecturers at a
ceremony on February 1st. Marcus teaches English in La Ronge. The version of his teaching philosophy that appeared in
our Winter, 2002 newsletter contained an error. We apologize for this and are delighted to reprint the corrected version.
14
- how to inspire learning. To shake the hand of
David C. was to shake the hand that shook the
hand … and so on down to Samuel Johnson
himself. For a literature student this was the
equivalent of kissing the hand of the Pope.
The Sylvia Wallace
Teaching Excellence Award
for Sessional Lecturers
And at home, in a house full of books that my
parents and I have taken with us all over the
world, to hold one in my hand, and say to myself,
“This I bought in Mombasa” and, “I read this
when I visited Bimini.”
Would you like to nominate a
colleague for the Sylvia
Wallace Award?
Here’s a book from my shelves. Open it. Eliot’s
The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism. Now
read on the flyleaf a person’s name, an address a street in Bloomsbury, London - a date, October
1940, and the inscription, “Heavy raids last
night.” In all that horror and destruction,
someone, probably an air-raid warden, read
those eminently intellectual essays as the world
tumbled down around him. Did he survive? I
sense that he did not. But the book did. And we,
as teachers, are honour-bound to teach that most
crucial lesson that this man knew half a century
ago - that the written word has a power to
transcend everything. Civilizations will fall: the
intellect survives intact.
Simply visit our web site for
information about the third
annual Teaching Excellence
Award for Sessional Lecturers:
www.usask.ca/tlc and
choose “Teaching Awards.”
Deadline for nominations:
November 15, 2002.
You can also learn more about
the invaluable contribution of
Sessionals to undergraduate
education at the U of S by
accessing the September,
2001 issue of our newsletter
from our site
www.usask.ca/tlc/
resources.html#publications.
If I am to consider myself a teacher of any calibre,
then it must be because I have been shown how
to do so by the very best. And I have read books
that belonged to others who also valued and took
strength from poetry and stories, novels and
essays. I have an obligation to impart this to all
my students, whoever they are and wherever they
come from.
That issue contains “The
Light at the End of the Tunnel,”
the teaching philosophy of Dr.
Jack Coggins, History, the first
winner of the Sylvia Wallace
Award.
Bespectacled and rather vague, the old man who
dropped his book chose, purely by accident, the
path for another. I kiss the book.
Editor’s note:
To read Marcus Rayner’s acceptance speech at
the February 1st ceremony, please visit our web
site at www.usask.ca/tlc and choose “Teaching
Awards.”
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“BRIDGING THE GAPS”
It’s often easy to overlook resources that
are at your fingertips. The TLC web site
has a number of excellent resources that
you can access online. Just go to
www.usask.ca/tlc and click on “resources.”
Teaching & Learning at the
University of Saskatchewan
Thanks to Joel Deshaye, the TLC’s
popular resource guide for instructors
is now available online. The topics
include:
The Teaching Environment
Teaching In The Laboratory
Learning Styles
Instructional Strategies
Evaluation And Grading
For those of you who would prefer a
hard copy, call Corinne at
966-2231(corinne.f@usask.ca).
The Successful Professor
This new e-journal provides an
international forum for teachers to
share innovative teaching strategies
and techniques for use in the
traditional classroom, the cyber
classroom, the laboratory, the clinic,
and the workshop. You will need
Adobe Acrobat to read this journal,
but we will always have some printed
copies available at the TLC. There is a
sample issue available for viewing at
www.thesuccessfulprofessor.com
National Teaching & Learning
Forum
The February, 2002, issue contains
some very thought-provoking articles on
educational technology and technology
enhanced learning:
Our subscription to this journal goes
back to May 1998, and as long as
you log on from a “usask” address,
you will be able to access this valuable
resource.
Journal on Excellence in College
Teaching
Our subscription for this peerreviewed journal goes back to Volume
1 in 1990.
Also on our site, browse the loan and
reference sections of the TLC resource
room, link to the Saskatchewan
Universities’ Teaching & Learning
Website, or download information on
CANCOPY and internet copyright
issues.
• From Learning to Understanding
With Help From the Web
• In the Palm of My Hand: Faculty Life
and PDA’s
• Teaching With Technology
• Generation E
The Gwenna Moss
Teaching & Learning
Centre Website
www.usask.ca/tlc
Bridge photo credit
Ginny Cherepacha
Printing Services • 966-6639
University of Saskatchewan • CUPE 1975
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