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Griffith University
Tutors as teachers and
learners
Resources to facilitate learning, evaluation and
professional development
Alf Lizzio and Keithia Wilson
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Contents
1. Introduction: How do I use this resource?
2. Good teaching and evaluation
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4
3. Feedback for professional learning and development
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4. Overview of tools to support your professional learning
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Teaching team development
Designing your first class
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21
Reviewing your first class
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Tutor self-reflection and planning
30
Student learning review
32
Mid-course class review
34
Tutor feedback survey
38
Student evaluation of teaching (SET)
42
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1. Introduction
How do I use this resource?
This resource package provides a range of user-friendly formative classroom tools to
support ‘conversations about quality’ between teachers and students. The present
primary focus is small-class teaching. However the underlying principles are applicable
to all learning environments.
The first two sections provide the conceptual framework for the resources presented in
this package. The first section Good Teaching and Evaluation provides a theoretical
basis for the proposed ‘partnership approach’ to formative class evaluation and
improvement. The second section Professional Learning and Development provides an
overview of the various sources of potential feedback that a university educator can use
to evaluate and improve their learning and teaching practice.
The third section Tools for Learning, Evaluation and Development describes each
evaluation tool and when and how to appropriately use it over the lifecycle of a semester
class.
These tools are offered in the spirit of enhancing your teaching practice. It is not
necessary to use all of them with a particular class. In fact, if you can reliably answer the
questions “How is it going?” and “How can we improve things?” with simple and regular
informal conversations with your students, then you may not need the scaffolding
provided by these structured tools. On the other hand, you or your students may find a
structured approach to provide more systematic feedback. Over time, you will find what
approach works best for you and your students.
We encourage you to enter into both the spirit and the procedure of the formative
classroom evaluation of both your teaching practice and your students’ learning.
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1. Good Teaching and Evaluation
What is good teaching?
The Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ is the established sector-wide measure of
quality in Australian higher education, and it is the primary means by which our
graduates provide feedback on their university experience. The CEQ measures a
number of aspects of student perceptions of their degree programs, but its main scale
measures a set of behaviours and attitudes generally termed Good Teaching (see Table
1). Students’ perceptions of Good Teaching strongly predict their engagement with
learning, their development of generic skills and their overall satisfaction with their
degree program. Good Teaching may also function as a protective factor and reduce
student drop-out and enhance students’ motivation and sense of safety. Clearly, there is
something going on here that is worthy of our attention as university educators.
So what is ‘good teaching’? Inspecting the items one could argue that ‘good teaching,’
as operationalised through the CEQ, is fundamentally a relational construct. The Good
Teaching scale summarizes a constellation of interactions that are predicated on
engagement and conversation between student, teacher and curriculum. It should not
be surprising that from a students’ perspective these items ‘hang together’. The unifying
theme of this construct is that of a respectful learning partnership between teacher and
students. Not surprisingly, the fundamentals of this educational partnership are
relational: engagement and interest in students’ success (This course really tries to get
the best out of its students); a commitment to seeing a course or program from the
students’ perspective (Staff make a real effort to understand difficulties students may be
having with their work); valuing student voice (Staff here show no real interest in what
students have to say); and teaching as formative two-way communication (Our lecturers
are extremely good at explaining things to us, Staff here normally give helpful feedback
on how you are going).
Facet
Motivating
engagement
CEQ Good Teaching Scale Items
Teaching staff motivate students to do their best work
This course really tries to get the best out of its students
Empathy and fairness
Staff here show no real interest in what students have to say (R)
Staff make a real effort to understand difficulties students may
be having with their work.
Stimulating learning
designs
Teaching staff work hard to make subjects interesting
Accessible
explanations
Our lecturers are extremely good at explaining things to us
Helpful feedback
Staff here put a lot of time into commenting on students’ work
Staff here normally give helpful feedback on how you are going
Table 1: Facets of the Good Teaching Scale of the Course Experience Questionnaire
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You may have observed as a generalization, that these behaviours and interactions are
as much to do with the attitude of the teacher and the culture of the classroom as with
the technical aspects of teaching. In other words, this is a conception of ‘good teaching’
based on relational engagement (i.e., caring about and relating to students) We might
even go so far as to say that ‘good teaching’ is predicated on establishing a course or
classroom culture that is based on building and maintaining effective working
relationships. A classroom culture which is grown through an ongoing conversation
between students and staff about ‘how are things going?’ and ‘what do we need to do?”
It is important to emphasise that this conceptualisation of ‘good teaching’ is firmly
grounded in notions of excellence and challenge (Teaching staff motivate students to do
their best work). An emphasis on relational culture does not imply that good teaching
can be discounted as simply ‘being nice’, ‘being uncritically supportive’ or ‘being
entertaining’. Good teachers also ask their students to ‘step up’!
We can speculate from a systems perspective that ‘conversing with our students’ may
result in outcomes whereby the whole course or a class can become greater than the
sum of its parts, and a cultural stance of ‘respectful partnership’ may deliver outcomes
beyond technical or procedural strategies. We can also speculate that there will be a
positive interaction between ‘relational culture’ and ‘pedagogical strategies’. Thus, no
matter what we do on a technical level in our courses (e.g., clever assessment, work
experience, group work, etc), if we deliver this within an authentic relational culture
students are more likely to perceive the ‘whole experience’ to be more satisfying and
effective. In this sense, the implications of this approach to good teaching are ubiquitous.
This has interesting implications for our conceptualisation of quality improvement.
What does this mean for quality improvement?
We would like you to entertain the idea that building a relational culture in your
classroom and engaging in continuous quality improvement of your learning and
teaching environment are very similar ideas. If you are doing one you are more than
likely to be doing the other! The argument is that courses or classrooms which evidence
good teaching are also more likely to evidence a superior capacity to learn and improve.
In this sense, effective working relationships enable teachers to learn from their students
and to adjust their teaching and management practices accordingly. Thus, good
teaching can be seen as a virtuous process which builds on itself. Contrastingly, poor
teaching may be more likely to be associated with less effective learning processes for
both staff and students, simply because there is less capacity for the exchange of valid
and timely information that might enable quality improvement. The question ‘how are we
going?’ is less likely to be asked of and answered by students!
Authentic quality improvement is not an abstract intellectual exercise but a pragmatic
engaged activity between people. For students particularly, it is an experiential process,
they either ‘feel’ that we are actively with them or we aren’t! We are either listening to
them or we aren’t! It follows that if we want our students to experience a ‘sense of
quality’ (and evaluate us accordingly) we must more actively engage them in the quality
process. That is, a ‘sense of quality’ requires both data and relationships! Once again,
this strategic shift is as much cultural as procedural. Thus, from this perspective
optimally enhancing the student experience involves us not only ‘doing quality’ (level 1
working privately and procedurally to improve our courses), and being seen by our
students to be doing so, (level 2 communicating commitment through ‘closing the loop’
feedback), but also, quite critically, ‘doing quality with and for them’ (level 3 active
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partnering with students in course or classroom management). Level 1 and 2
approaches to quality will deliver improvement, but a level 3 partnership approach may
produce transformation. The key differences being visibility of the process and the
active engagement of all parties.
High
High
Level 3
Doing quality
for & with students
Level 2
Visibility
Doing quality for students
Relationship
Engagement
Level 1
Doing quality
Low
Low
Figure 1: Levels of engagement and partnership in enhancing classroom quality
So, in summary, the notion of Good Teaching supports working in partnership with
students, to enhance learning outcomes for both educators and students. It is basically a
process of respectful continuous collaborative inquiry about ‘how things are going?’ and
‘what can we do to improve?’ (Figure 2). Simple but effective!
5.
Strengthening
trust and
commitment
1. Adopting a
partnership
approach
with students
4. Maintaining
open and
mutual
dialogue with
students
2. Developing
a shared
understanding
of classroom
dynamics
3. Undertaking
shared action
to support
learning
Figure 2: Teachers and students working in partnership to manage and enhance
learning
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What can we do to improve the quality of our courses?
The facets of Good Teaching provide an educational ideal of an engaged relational
classroom culture that embodies continuous improvement. However, it is not necessary
for educators to radically redesign their courses and classrooms or sign up for a
‘personality change’ or an ‘ideological conversion’ in order to engender a stronger sense
of quality in their students’ experience. While there are clear underlying educational
values and pedagogical skills underpinning the related ideas of good teaching and
continuous course improvement, it is also possible to efficiently scaffold towards such a
culture by employing simple processes (no matter what the course design, class size or
curriculum content) at key stages over the lifecycle of a semester. This resource
package is designed to provide user-friendly examples of such formative classroom-level
tools to support ‘quality conversations’ between teachers and students.
The idea is to provide tools that teachers, can adapt and use in varying forms
appropriate to their context , that don’t depend on personal characteristics (e.g.,
leadership, charisma, process skills) or teaching circumstances (e.g., class size,
available time) for their efficacy in developing a sense of quality. The defining feature of
these processes is that they simultaneously gather useable and timely data and build
relationships between teachers and students. Making the process of quality
improvement explicit and transparent to students not only signifies our ‘commitment to
quality’, but also provides a shared language and framework within which students have
a clear sense of how they are able to contribute to and influence their learning
environments. In this regard it is interesting to note that students’ perceptions of ‘good
teaching’ are strongly correlated with their perceptions of ‘fair participation’ (viz., staff in
this school care about students opinions, staff ask students for their ideas on how things
could be improved, staff members invite students to raise their concerns or problems).
There is also arguably a degree of synergy between formative and summative
processes. One can argue that courses with active formative quality cultures will
encourage students to be more confident in end-of-semester summative evaluation
processes (e.g., SEC/SET) (See Figure 3). Positioning students as partners in course
management and being responsive to their feedback (which we could characterize as a
‘hot’ course culture), not only, enhances our awareness of their learning needs and
progress, but also, helps them feel that ‘class engagement’ is a worthwhile investment.
4. Increases quality and
response rate of end-ofsemester summative
feedback
1. Hot course culture’ with
responsive and formative
feedback mechanisms
3. Strengthens student
confidence in our
evaluation processes
2. Signifies valuing
of student voice and
enhances understanding of
curriculum
Figure 3: Virtuous Quality Cycle: Formative processes enhance summative feedback
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What concerns may be relevant?
Now, there is the legitimate concern that in ‘overly empowering students’ a teacher may
feel that they may ‘lose control of their course or classroom’. However, the idea is to
strengthen academic leadership. These tools and strategies in this package offer
educators greater control over their learning environment, enhanced capacity to predict
and manage potential problems and increased capacity to positively influence their endof-semester outcome evaluations. These tools are designed with the intention of
empowering educators to ‘take charge’ of the quality processes related to their learning
environments. In this sense the explicit focus is on developing ‘local practice’ and
building ‘bottom-up’ classroom culture. In terms of formal University processes the tools
in this package are also an attempt to operationalise the PIRI (Plan, Implement, Review
and Improve) quality cycle at a locally-owned level.
We should also be clear that these tools position students as partners (not complaining
consumers) and legitimate their voice over matters of which they are the experts (i.e.,
their learning experience and perceptions). There is still however a need to consider
other stakeholders and sources of expertise in the quality improvement process (more
on this in the next section). However, the meta-point worth emphasizing is that if ‘student
perceptions’ are a key component of educational quality, and can influence their learning
outcomes, then it makes strategic sense to constructively and continuously engage with
students and their experiences. The medium is the message!
Finally, it is very helpful to be clear about the reasons for engaging our student as
partners in quality improvement and classroom management. The tools in this resource
package will provide optimum payoff if they are used with more than a curiosity-driven
data collection intention (e.g., I wonder what students are thinking about the course).
Students are reasonably wary about being asked for their opinion/feedback with minimal
prospect for anything being done about it or the information disappearing into an
‘academic black hole’. The act of asking ‘how are we going?’ creates expectations and
thus a commitment to action (e.g., I wonder what my students are learning and what we
might do to enhance their experience?). Our commitment to genuinely ‘closing the loop’
is key to effectiveness. If the exercise is done for explicit reasons (and students can see
that it is their immediate self-interest) then potential issues such as survey overload and
disengagement are much less relevant.
2. Feedback for Professional Learning and Development
We are not in the business of just ‘teaching students’. We are appropriately concerned
with facilitating their learning. We have argued that students’ learning is more likely to
occur in classroom environments that are ‘designed for learning’ and which value the
active and honest monitoring of ‘how things are going’ and ‘how people are feeling’ and
‘what is being achieved’. In this sense, our professional learning as university educators,
is founded on the process and discipline of systematic reflection and evaluation.
Systematic evaluation of learning and teaching contributes to a number of related goals:

Accountability: providing quality assurance of a School’s degree program

Development: providing feedback to affirm or improve our learning and
teaching practice
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
Student voice: providing students with an opportunity to influence their
learning environment

Effectiveness: Understanding and influencing the factors that may be helping
or hindering students’ learning and achievement.
We can collect feedback about our learning and teaching effectiveness from a variety of
sources and in a range of ways.
Student Perceptions
Peer Processes
What are my students
experiencing?
What can I learn from my
peers?
Self-Reflection
What sense do I make
of my practice?
Student Performance
Practice Benchmarks
What are my students
learning?
What are my standards for
good practice?
Figure 4 Sources of Feedback about Learning and Teaching Effectiveness
Student Perceptions
Student are entitled to make judgments about their experience of the learning
environments we design and our approaches to facilitating their learning. Student
perceptions may not be the whole story but they are a significant and valid part of
understanding effective learning and teaching practice. There are a range of ways to
engage with our students’ feedback:

relatively informal conversations with individual students

scheduled brief end-of-session ‘how are we going’ class discussions

brief formative surveys at various times during semester

final summative survey at the end of semester.
Student Performance
Paying attention to how well our students engage with and master the course material is
also a useful and valid means of evaluating the effectiveness of our learning and
teaching environments. Progressively checking with ‘are we getting this’ exercises not
only provide us with information about ‘what to cover and how fast we can cover it’ ( the
balance of progression and revision), but also provides our students with feedback and
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reassurance about their mastery of the course. We can monitor our students’
understanding in a number of ways:

asking questions and attending to students’ answers

setting brief formative ‘one minute’ tests on a topic

reviewing students’ performance on formal assessment tasks to identify general

areas of understanding or misunderstanding of material
Peer Processes
We don’t have to teach and learn alone. In fact, it’s usually much more effective and
satisfying to actively engage with our peers and colleagues. Our professional peers can
be a valuable source of both stimulating challenge and personal support. So a teaching
team culture that actively values and facilitates professional learning and development is
a valuable resource. This involves, of course, a mutual process of ‘helping others’ and
‘being helped ourselves’ to learn and improve. There are a number of ways to engage
with our peers to enhance our learning and teaching practice:

Discussing your formative student feedback with colleagues

Discussing issues and incidents that arise over the semester with colleagues
(e.g., what do you think is going on? What might you do?)

Inviting your peers to observe your teaching and provide feedback

Offering to observe your peers teaching and provide feedback

Sharing and comparing session designs and resources with teaching team
colleagues

Asking the team leader or course convenor for feedback or coaching/mentoring
Practice Benchmarks
We teach in a context with expectations and standards. Our ideas about what
constitutes ‘good practice’ can come from our discipline, our institution and the wider
scholarly literature on learning and teaching. The process of comparing or benchmarking
‘what we do’ and ‘how we do it’ with external standards and approaches introduces both
the discipline of professional accountability and the potential for innovation into our
practice. We can benchmark in a range of ways:

Reading and sharing scholarly literature with colleagues

Ensuring that out practice is consistent with the values, policies and procedures
of the institution within we are working

Comparing our teaching evaluations on standard evaluation measures (SET)
with the benchmarks for our school/discipline

Attending staff development workshops
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Self-Reflection
Ultimately we are in charge of our own learning and professional development.
Feedback, whether it be from students, colleagues or experts is only useful to the extent
that we are willing and able to use it. The process of professional development and
reflective practice requires us to seek and use feedback, set goals based on that data,
implement our intentions and monitor how we went. This is obviously a process of
continuous learning. We can facilitate our capacity for reflective practice by:

Systematically seeking feedback and being open to incidental feedback that
emerges in the classroom

Developing the habit of ‘gentle self-observation’

Conducting ‘safe experiments’ in the classroom

Reflecting on sessions before ‘moving onto the next class’

Remembering to affirm our strengths.
3. Overview of Tools to Support your Professional Learning
Your professional learning and development as a university educator is a dynamic
process that will necessarily reflect your personal background and goals and the
circumstances and resources of your current course and teaching team. There is thus,
no one right way of monitoring and improving your effectiveness.
However, there are a number of simple tools that you might consider using to support
your efforts at systematic evaluation and reflective practice. We have organized these in
two ways. Firstly, in terms of the type or source of feedback they may contribute to your
learning. This schema is presented in Figure 5.
Student Perceptions
Peer Processes
Initial Class Review
Teaching Team Development
Mid-Course Class Review
Peer Observation and Feedback
Tutor Feedback Survey
Self Reflection
Tutor Self-Reflection
and Planning
Practice Benchmarks
Student Performance
Student Learning Review
Class Contracting and CommunityBuilding
Figure 5 Purposes of Learning and Evaluation tools
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We have also organized the tools in terms of the lifecycle of a course, to give you an
idea of the likely sequence in which they may be used. This is of course only indicative.
This schema is presented in Figure 6. The process of self-reflection and planning is
obviously continuous over the semester.
Teaching
Team
Building
Class
Contracting
and
Community
Building
Initial
Tutorial
Review
Peer
Observation
and
Feedback
Student
Learning
Review
MidCourse
Tutorial
Review
Tutor
Feedback
Survey
Student
Evaluation
of
Teaching
(SET)
Figure 6 Evaluation and Learning over the Course Lifecycle
The key questions you are trying to answer with your students are “How is it going?” and
“How can we improve things?” You can do this with simple informal conversations or
with more structured tools. As long as you can reliable answer these questions then you
are more than likely doing both good teaching and authentic quality improvement. These
tools are offered in the spirit of supporting and scaffolding your practice. Over time, you
will find what approach works best for you and your students. Remember, it doesn’t have
to be complicated, just genuine!
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Teaching
Team
Development
Class
Contracting
and
Community
Building
Your first
class
Initial
Tutorial
Review
Tutor SelfReflection
and Planning
Peer
Observation and
Feedback
Tutorial
Content
Review
Mid-Course
Tutorial
Review
Tutor
Feedback
Survey
Student
Evaluation of
Teaching
(SET)
At the
conclusion
of your first
tutorial
After any
tutorial,
particularly the
first
At any time
during semester
After any
tutorial,
particularly
those with
challenging
material
To establish
your students’
understanding
or mastery of
the content or
material of a
session
About the midpoint of
semester
At the end of
your final
class
At the
conclusion of
the course
To establish
the
effectiveness
of your tutorial
and to provide
opportunity for
timely
improvement
Provides
students with a
timely
opportunity to
positively
influence their
learning
environment
Provides you
with timely
feedback and
the opportunity
to correct and
improve
To provide
you
with feedback
on students’
perceptions
of
your skill and
attitude
Develops
your
capability to
help
future
students
learning
Required
formal
university
evaluation of
your teaching
When
might I
use this?
Pre-semester
Why might
I use this?
Lay the
foundations for
effective
course and
team
management
Establishes
the conditions
for effective
learning and
engagement
To establish
the quality of
your
beginning
working
alliance
To organize
and integrate
student
feedback and
plan changes
Provides a
complementary
source of data on
areas that may
not be so readily
amenable to
student feedback
How might
this help
my
students?
Facilitates
clear and
consistent
course culture
and processes
Helps
students feel
clear,
focused, safe
and
empowered
Provides
students
with a clear
signal that
their needs
and opinions
are valued
Enhances your
practice and
therefore their
learning
How might
this help
me as a
teacher?
Provides a
predictable,
and supportive
context
Helps to
develop a
strong
working
alliance with
your class
How might
this help
the course
overall
Effective teams
are more likely
to run effective
courses
Effective
engagement
in one part of
the course
helps the
course overall
Provides
you with
timely
information
about the
process of
your tutorial
Provides
early
feedback to
teaching
team
Enhances
your
confidence
and
competence
and therefore
students
learning
Provides you
with a
structure for
self-review
and a basis for
planned
improvement
Provides data
for collegiate
discussion in
your teaching
team
Table 2: Overview of formative class evaluation and learning tools
Provides use with
focused feedback
on professionally
relevant areas
Strengthen the
teaching team
and learning and
improvement
culture of the
course
Provides
students with a
relatively safe
opportunity to
identify what
they do and
don’t
understand
Provides you
with timely
information
about your
students’
mastery of key
concepts
Provides
feedback to
convenor on
students
mastery of
material
Provides
progressive
feedback to
convenor and
teaching team
Affirms your
strengths and
provides
information
on areas for
professional
development
Provides the
basis for
professional
development
with peers
Provides
current
students with a
formal voice
and information
for future
improvement
Completion of
the SET
process is a
required for reemployment as
a sessional
teacher
Provides a
measure of
accountability
and quality
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Teaching Team Development
What is it?
Whenever people have to collaborate there is usually a need to sort out the ’who’, ‘what’
‘why’ and ‘how’ of working together. The more complex the tasks to be achieved or the
more challenging the working environment the greater the need to invest in activities
such as team development and planning. Time spent on planning and preparing can be
thought of as a useful investment in building working relationships, focusing a common
agenda and preventing future problems or misunderstandings. Many of us are used to
‘working individually’ and the idea of a ‘teaching team’ may be a little strange or novel.
However, there is considerable evidence (from both staff and students) to support the
proposition that a teaching team working interdependently is more likely to conduct an
effective course than a group of teachers working independently.
How do we do this?
1. Read the material in the next section (Teaching Team Development: Effective
Leadership and Membership). This will provide you with an overview of the types of
tasks and topics that can usefully be discussed in helping a teaching work together.
These ideas are relevant for both leaders and members of teaching teams.
2. Meet as a teaching team before the start of semester to start the process of ‘preparing
to work together’. Don’t try to cover everything in one meeting. Rather focus on laying
down the foundations (goals, roles, procedures and relationships) for your work together
over the semester. This meeting will usually be initiated by the course convenor.
3. Schedule ongoing teaching team meetings and flexible ways of communicating over
the semester.
4. Review your teaching team and course effectiveness around mid-semester. Make any
necessary adjustments.
5. Review your teaching team and course effectiveness at the end of semester. Identify
learning for the next offering of the course.
5. Continue to
meet , work
and learn as a
team
1. Decide that
you want to
work as a
teaching team
2. Do the
background
reading and
identify your
needs
4. Empower all
teaching team
memebers to
contribute
3. Have a presemester
meeting to lay
team
foundations
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Teaching Team Development: Effective Leadership and Membership
Context
How well we prepare, manage and monitor our courses and teaching teams has a
significant impact on both staff satisfaction and the quality of student learning. In this
sense, enhancing the effectiveness of our teaching teams contributes to improving the
quality our learning and teaching outcomes.
University educators have contact with students in a wide range of teaching roles (tutors,
facilitators, laboratory demonstrators, clinical educators), teaching and learning modes
(face to face, online, and in the field), learning contexts (first year courses, advanced
undergraduate courses and honours and postgraduate courses), and team structures
(working as a single educator, working in large or small teams, being managed by
convenors or head tutors).
While each of these diverse educational contexts has a distinctive set of local needs,
pressures and requirements, there is arguably, a set of underlying principles for the
effective management of courses and teaching teams. Thus, while there isn’t a ‘single
right way’ of leading and managing a course, we can usefully identify generic activities,
attitudes and behaviours which are likely to enhance the effectiveness of a course and
the satisfaction of teaching team members. These are summarized in the figure below
and further described in the following text.
Fundamentally, university educators, whether they are academic managers, course
convenors or teaching team members, are concerned with the same fundamental
questions:

Is the course effectively managed?

Is the teaching team effectively managed?

Is the course design and teaching effective in helping students learn?

Do teaching team members find teaching the course to be a rewarding
professional experience?
We can increase our chances of achieving these various aspects of ‘effective practice’
by systematically engaging with four main tasks:

Course and teaching team preparation

Course and team management

Formative quality improvement

Professional development
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Professional Development
What processes do we use to
develop the capabilities of our
teaching team members?
Team culture to support professional
learning
Systematic evaluation of teaching
practices
Course and Teaching Team
Preparation
What processes do we use to
form & prepare our teaching
teams?
Clear goals & standards
Clear roles & responsibilities
Clear procedures & ground rules
Sound working relationships
Appropriate resources
Course & Team Management
What processes do we use to
manage & support our teaching
teams and their members?
Outcomes
What are the perceptions &
experiences of our
teaching team members?
Convenor support & guidance
Effective student management
Effective assessment management
Teaching team collaboration
Course effectiveness
Team effectiveness
Teaching effectiveness
Professional satisfaction
Formative Quality Improvement
What formative processes do we
use to monitor & improve the
effectiveness of our courses and
teams?
Quality improvement course culture
Progressive course review
Progressive team review
Establishing and Maintaining an Effective Teaching Team
Both course convenors and teaching team members significantly contribute to the
effectiveness of courses and student learning. The following set of prompts is intended
to help teaching teams in their discussions around the goal of establishing the culture
and processes to support the learning and development of both staff and students.
1. Course and Teaching Team Preparation: What processes do we use to form and
prepare our teaching teams?
The quality of course and team induction and preparation directly influences the quality
of the learning environment for both staff and students. The key practical elements for
inducting a teaching team include developing a shared understanding of course goals,
Tutors as Teachers and Learners Griffith University 2011
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clarifying roles and responsibilities and working procedures, and providing timely and upto-date resources to support effective teaching. These activities also have a relationship
and cultural benefit in that a front-end investment in teaching team-building and planning
establishes a foundation for effective working relationships and contributes to open
communication between team members. Such activities have significant payoffs for
course convenors in minimizing potential problems and misunderstandings. These
preparatory activities also have a benefit for students in that they lay the foundation for
collaboration and consistency in standards and approaches across the teaching team.
How the team leader can contribute to successful preparation
Conducting an effective face-to face pre-semester induction process to establish the
task and relationship foundations for the teaching team
Ensuring that the goals and standards for the course are clear and shared by all
members of the teaching team
Ensuring the roles and responsibilities of the teaching team are agreed by and fairly
allocated across the teaching team
Ensuring the expectations of teaching team members are fair and reasonable
Ensuring that the processes and procedures for the course are clear and agreed by all
members of the teaching team
Establishing effective communication and information sharing processes between
members of the teaching team
Facilitating discussion between team members to establish mutual understanding and
appreciation of each other’s styles, areas of expertise and developmental agendas.
Providing team members with appropriate teaching and resource materials (e.g., tutorial
designs, worksheets, handouts).
Facilitating and modeling a culture of learning and reflective practice within the teaching
team and course.
Empowering team members to ask questions, provide feedback and share their needs
and concerns
How teaching team members can contribute to successful preparation
Making themselves available for team induction and preparation processes
Committing to working as a member of a teaching team and within the goals,
groundrules and philosophy of the course
Being willing to share information about themselves and their learning goals
Being willing to ask questions about anything
Being encouraging of, and willing to work with, their fellow team members
Being willing to discuss what they don’t know or what they may be concerned about
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Being willing to ask ‘difficult questions’ about appropriate expectations and obligations of
each other
Seeking to make connections and establish working relationships with fellow team
members
2. Course and Teaching Team Management: What processes do we use to manage
and support our teaching teams and their members?
The quality of leadership and management of courses and teaching teams is an
important influence on student learning and the effectiveness and satisfaction of team
members. The key practical elements for leading and managing a course and teaching
team are the quality of support and guidance provided by the course convenor, a
consistent approach to managing the expectations and needs of students, coordinating
and guiding staff through the assessment process, and, fundamentally, facilitating
effective coordination and communication between members of the teaching team.
These course leader activities and behaviours not only have obvious benefits for the
satisfaction and effectiveness of teaching team members, but also, demonstrably
contribute to student satisfaction and learning outcomes. Thus, they provide the
foundation for consistent academic standards and learning quality across a course.
Team members also have critical contributions to make to the effectiveness of their team
and course. Leadership and coordination comes from all members of the team not just a
designated leader.
How the team leader can contribute to successful management
Being approachable and readily available to teaching team members
Helping team members with managing issues or problems (e.g., understanding difficult
course content, debriefing challenging student behaviour)
Ensuring coherent linkages and alignment between the elements (e.g., lectures and
tutorials) of the course
Ensuring assessment requirements and criteria for the course are clear and wellorganised
Providing adequate support and guidance in the marking of assessment
Facilitating moderation processes that help the teaching team reach a shared
understanding of assessment standards
Coordinating the activities of teaching team members over the semester
Providing consistent and timely information to members of the teaching team
Establishing and maintaining effective systems and procedures to help students solve
problems in the course
Convening teaching team meetings at regular intervals
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Providing teaching resources in a timely and appropriate form
Being sensitive to workload pressures faced by part-time teaching staff
How teaching team members can contribute to successful management
Being consistent in the information, resources and support they provide to students
Making themselves available for team meetings
Checking with the course convenor before varying agreed practices or procedures
Keeping other team members informed/ in the loop about plans or events
Seeking advice and support on issues rather than trying to ‘go it alone’
3. Professional Development: What processes do we use to develop teaching
team members’ capabilities?
The quality of professionally relevant learning and development within teaching teams
influences staff satisfaction and effectiveness. There are two key elements to withincourse development of academic teachers: firstly encouraging the members of teaching
teams to engage with the formal student evaluation of teaching (SET) process and
supporting their systematic reflection on this feedback; and secondly, establishing a
‘learning culture’ in teaching teams such that members undertake formative evaluation
using student feedback are willing to raise and discuss issues and questions about their
teaching practice and learn from each other. These capacity-building activities and
attitudes are of obvious benefit to both staff and students.
How the team leader can contribute to successful professional development
Actively supporting team members to evaluate and reflect on their teaching
Offering to discuss teaching and learning situations and issues with team members
Organising processes that enable team members to systematically collect feedback on
their teaching
Discussing student feedback with team members and collaboratively identifying areas
for enhancement
Establishing a ‘learning culture’ in the teaching team so that team members have safe
opportunities to learn from each other.
Observing team members teaching practice and provide feedback
Modelling feedback and reflective practice processed by discussing their own teaching
and professional development
Distributing relevant literature to members of their teaching team
How teaching team members can contribute to successful professional
development
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Being willing to discuss their teaching and learn from each other
Systematically collecting formative student feedback over the semester
Inviting their peers to observe their teaching and provide feedback
Offering to observe their peers teaching and provide feedback
Sharing and comparing session designs and resources with fellow members of the
teaching team
Asking the team leader or course convenor for feedback
4. Formative Course and Team Review: What formative processes do we use to
monitor and improve course and team effectiveness?
The quality of formative review and evaluation processes in your courses influences the
learning and satisfaction of both staff and students. There are two key foci for review: the
course and the teaching team. Progressive monitoring of course effectiveness (how the
course is going) can be built in to the regular meetings of the team and/or can be
conducted as a specific activity such as a mid-semester review. Progressive monitoring
of team effectiveness can also be incorporated into the regular conversation of team
meetings (how are we going), and/or can be a scheduled activity at an appropriate point
in the semester. These formative quality improvement activities not only have practical
benefits for both staff and students, but also significantly contribute to team member’s
sense of being valued and ‘listened to’, which strongly influences their satisfaction.
How the team leader can contribute to successful course and team improvement
Scheduling formal formative reviews of ‘how the course is going’ over the semester
Scheduling formal formative reviews of ‘how the team is going’ over the semester
Encouraging team members to provide feedback and contribute ideas for improvement
Being open and non-defensive in the face of feedback
Listening to members ideas and suggestions
Conducting formative processes to collect student feedback over the semester
How teaching team members can contribute to successful course and team
improvement
Actively participate in scheduled team and course reviews
Conduct formative evaluations of their own element (e.g., tutorial) and contribute this to
the course review process
Contributing ideas and suggestions
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Designing your First Class
What is it?
‘Getting off to a good start’ is something that both teachers and students value. The first
class is an opportunity to establish the learning environment and working relationships
that will not only support student learning, but also make running your class a lot easier.
The good news is that there are number of predicable needs that people have when they
meet together for the first time. You might recall the types of needs and topics you
discussed in forming your teaching team. Many of the same issues are relevant when
you are designing and conducting your first class.
How do we do this?
1. Read the Facilitating effective group beginnings presented in the next section. This
will provide you with an overview of the types of issues and needs that you might
consider addressing in designing your first session.
2. Consider the types of students you are likely to have in your class, the learning goals
that they will be required to achieve, and the ways they will have to work together.
3. Based on this understanding, design the sequence of activities (what will you do and
how much time you will allocate to each?) that will help you establish an effective
learning environment and working alliance with your students.
4. Make use of the Inititial Class Review (ICR) process (outlined in the next section) to
evaluate the effectiveness of your design.
5. Make the
necessary
adjustments
in week 2
1. Read the
background
material on
beginnings
4. Conduct
the Initial
Tutorial
Review
2. Think
about your
students
needs
3.Design a
'first class' to
build a
working
alliance
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Facilitating Group Beginnings
What are students’ needs?
A key task in conducting our first class is to help our students become ready, willing and
able to start learning. How well we achieve this depends to a considerable extent on our
session design. Notwithstanding that every class has its own unique needs and
requirements, there are a set of common questions that participants ask, either implicitly
or explicitly, at the beginning of a class. (See table X). Addressing these questions
enables us to form an effective working alliance or working relationship with our
students.
Depending on the types of class you are conducting, you might address these process
issues and needs briefly (in 10 or 15 minutes), or more thoroughly (most of the first
class). The more that learning requires students to work and interact together ( the
required level of interdependency) the more that class preparatory activities may be
useful. Either way, jumping straight into the content material without conscious attention
to contracting and community building is not advised.
TABLE X A Framework for understanding and designing class beginnings
STUDENTS NEEDS AND CONCERNS
DESIGN AND FACILITATION TASKS
STUDENTS’ PRESENCE AND ENGAGEMENT
How much of my attention is available to this
Monitor and if necessary, help students
class?
become aware of any issues affecting their
engagement with the class?
PHYSICAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
How comfortable and effective as a learning
Establish a physical space that that facilitates
space do I find this physical environment?
the types of learning and interaction required in
this class.
LEADER RELATIONSHIP
Who is the person running this class and can I
Establish a functional working relationship,
work with him/her?
both as a person and a leader, with the
members of the class.
PARTICIPANTS RELATIONSHIP
Who are the members of this class and can I
Facilitate functional working relationships
work with them?
between members of the class.
TASK AND LEARNING OUTCOMES
What will we be learning in this class?
Clarify the goals and tasks of the class
ROLES, PROCESS AND PROCEDURES
How are we going to conduct this class?
Establish/negotiate the ways of working that
will best support class goals
STUDENTS ASSUMED SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
Do I have the necessary skills to participate in
Identify the skills and attitudes required to be
this class?
successful in the class and help students
develop these if required.
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What are some possible approaches?
Facilitating Students’ Presence and Engagement
People can be physically present but psychologically absent. For example, participants
may be focusing on competing concerns outside of class (e.g., unfinished work or family
responsibilities), or they may be feeling resentful or disengaged because they don’t
particularly want to undertake the course (e.g., core or compulsory course), or they may
be feeling anxious because of what other have said or their prior experiences with
similar courses (e.g., statistics anxiety). There are a couple of simple approaches we
can use to facilitate students’ presence:
Awareness-raising
Greater presence can be achieved by the simple act of ‘paying attention’. Ask your
students:
Rate yourself (0 to 100%) on how much of your energy and attention is available for
work in this course? How much of you is here and now and how much of you is absent?
Share your ‘presence rating’ with the person next to you. Identify where the rest of you
is ….and see if you can become more available to what is going on here in the class.
Warm-ups
Warm-ups is the general term for brief exercises or activities that have the goal of putting
people in the ‘right frame of mind’ or ‘mental state’ for the task at hand. Obviously, we
would use different warm-up activities to prepare for different tasks. Thus:
 Energy might be facilitated by physical activity
 Positive mood might be facilitated by fun or playful activities
 Relationships and trust might be facilitated by activities that ask people to share
information about themselves
 Task engagement might be facilitated by cognitive activities such as brief
quizzes, puzzles or problem solving tasks.
Establish an Effective Physical Environment
The way a class room is set-up can be a powerful influence on students’ expectations
and ways of interacting. Chairs arranged in straight rows with ‘the teacher’ out the front,
is a very different learning environment than chairs arranged in a circle or small groups.
There is no one right way of setting up a classroom (and sometimes we are constrained
by the room itself) but we should make an effort to be aware of the physical set up and
adjust this as much as possible to our learning goals.
Forming a Tutor-Class Working Relationship
The importance of clarifying your role (tutor, leader, facilitator) depends to a large extent
of the novelty of the learning environment and learning tasks. The more novelty the
greater need for clarification. First year students are for example, often unsure about
what to expect of ‘a tutor’ and how that role might be different to other roles (e.g., school
teacher) that they have previously encountered.
Apart from role clarity, your working alliance or relationship (also can be understood as
leader credibility) with your students develops through your sharing information with
them around some common issues:
 Competence: The extent to which students perceive you as ‘knowing what you
are doing’.
Tutors as Teachers and Learners Griffith University 2011
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
Trust: The extent to which students experience you as fair and respectful.

Authority: The extent to which students understand your authority in the class

Compatibility: The extent to which students feel some sense of connection or
rapport with you.
Making your ‘opening remarks’ to the group is a strategic opportunity for you to start
letting students know ‘who you are’ and establishing your working relationship. What we
say (and don’t say) about ourselves also models what we value and in a very real sense,
sets the class climate.
The basis for any ongoing working relationship is for all parties to have a clear and
agreed understanding of their respective roles. The basic question is: Given what we are
here to achieve, what do we expect of ourselves and each other? Once agin the fact that
we might bother to clarify and exchange our expectations of each other, rather than
making unilateral assumptions, is in itself a potent normative statement to the group.
A simple exercise can be to draw two columns on a whiteboard with the headings ‘What
students can expect of tutors? What tutors can expect of students?’ and discuss the
types of attitudes and behaviours that would contribute to an effective student-tutor
working relationship.
Forming Student-Student Working Relationships
As we have discussed previously, different types of groups will require different types
and levels of working relationships between members. For example, a class that
requires students to collaborate (e.g., critically discussing ideas or practicing skills and
giving feedback) will require a front-end investment in building working relationships to
develop sufficient openness and safety. Beyond this, students also value the
opportunity to ‘get to know each other’ and small-classes are perhaps one of the few for
opportunities we have as educators to build their social capital.
As a bare minimum, conduct some form of exercise that at least allows students to share
basic course relevant information about themselves with each other. There are many
ways to do this. One example is:
1. Ask students to form a pair with someone they don’t know.
2. Students have a 2 minute discussion about any two of the following topics”
 What’s your name?
 What is your interest in this degree/course?
 What challenges do you experience with studying?
 What’s an important value for you?
3. Students rotate and form a pair with another person, and repeat the exercise. This
time they are free to discuss any topics they choose.
4. Convene the whole class together. Ask each student to say their name and the names
of those they met, and one thing they learnt about someone from the discussion.
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Clarifying Learning Agendas
Just because course objectives are documented in a course profile or outline, we
shouldn’t assume that students have either read or understood this information. This
should not be thought of a criticism of students. Words on paper have minimal
communicative value in establishing a learning contract between people, and cannot
substitute for us actively explaining and interacting with our students around these basic
types of questions:






What are we going to learn?
Why this is relevant and important?
How does this class fit within the overall course?
What is the specific value of this particular class?
What will you learn in a small class (e.g., tutorial or lab) that is different to a
lecture?
What do you want to learn in this class?
Clarifying Learning Roles and Processes
Students are often unfamiliar with the things we take for granted. First-years might, for
example, not really appreciate the difference between a lecture and a tutorial. Even
more experienced students describe significant variation in how ‘tutorials’ are conducted
across their courses. So, a brief discussion of ‘how we are going to do things here’
(procedures, ways of learning, processes of formative evaluation) and the ‘reasons for
this’ will be both appreciated and helpful.
Identifying Assumed Knowledge and Skills
We may sometimes find, having clarified for students the learning agendas and learning
processes of a class or course, that they may have some (often unexpressed) concerns
about their adequacy (Can I do what is expected of me? ) or their workload (Do I have
the capacity to do this?. Often just a simple discussion about the perceived demands of
the class may provide sufficient reassurance for students. Alternatively, if there are
specific skills and knowledge that are ‘assumed’ for this class then it may be useful to
explicitly identify these for students, and, if feasible, provide opportunities for ‘skillbuilding’.
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The Initial Class Review (ICR)
What is it?
The Initial Class Review (ICR) process is designed to provide early feedback on student
engagement, the effectiveness of the early learning environment and the quality of your
beginning working alliance with your students. The basic structure of this
evaluation/feedback tool is based on the tasks for establishing your first class identified
in the previous section.
Depending on your time constraints and the level of feedback you would like to collect
you may use either the long or short form of the ICR.
How do we do this?
1. Take the last five minutes of you first class (tutorial, workshop, lab) to distribute the
ICR form. Explain to your students that their feedback will help to improve the
effectiveness of the class and that you will briefly give them a summary at the beginning
the next class.
2. Summarise the feedback and identify one or two key things that you can do ‘next
week’ to build on what is going well and/or to improve areas requiring some attention.
3. You may find it helpful to briefly compare your ICR feedback with that of other
members of your teaching team. This will achieve two things: give you a sense of
context or perspective for how your tutorial is travelling, and provide general themes for
the course overall that the convenor may wish to address in the lecture or in
communication with the class overall.
4. In the first five minutes of the next class ‘close the loop’ with your students by briefly
sharing the main themes of their feedback with them. This may also be a good
opportunity for you to provide encouragement and reassurance. You may wish to remind
students that this feedback exercise is just a way of starting the ongoing process of good
communication in this class.
6. Continue the
conversation
with your
students
1. Be clear
about what
you are trying
to achieve
2. Frame the
execise for
students as
collaborative
learning
5. Followthrough on key
points
4. Close the
loop and let
the students
know what
they said
3. Reflect on
their feedback
as nondefensively as
possible
Tutors as Teachers and Learners Griffith University 2011
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GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY
INITIAL CLASS REVIEW
Long Form
Course: ____________________________________
Tutorial Day/Time: __________________________
Tutors Name: _________________________________
Briefly consider today’s session, the first tutorial for this course, and please respond to the
following questions. Your honest feedback will help us make this tutorial an effective and
enjoyable learning experience.
1. What were the useful or positive aspects of today’s first session?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
2. What were the less useful or negative aspects of today’s “first session”?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
3. Information about this course or class that I didn’t get or am still not clear about is:
_____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
4. How well has the tutor/workshop facilitator established a good working relationship with
the students in the class?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
Moderately
5
6
7
Very well
What, if anything, might be helpful for your tutor to do at this stage?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
5. How well has a working relationship been established between the members of the class
(i.e. between the students)?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
Moderately
5
6
7
Very well
What, if anything, might be helpful for the tutor to do at this stage?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
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6. Following this first session estimate how many people in the class you know (i.e. you can
remember their first names).
1
Nobody
2
A couple
3
A Few
4
Half the class
5
More than half
6
Most people
7
Everyone
7. How clear are you about what this class is trying to achieve?
1
2
Not at all clear
3
4
Moderately clear
5
6
7
Very clear
8. How clear are you about how this class is going to be conducted and what is expected of
you??
1
2
Not at all clear
3
4
Moderately clear
5
6
7
Very clear
9. How comfortable do you feel about the types of activities (e.g. tasks, expected ways of
working and interacting) that are likely to be a part of this class?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
Moderately
5
6
7
Very comfortable
10. Overall, as a result of this first session, how prepared and ready” do you feel to undertake
this course?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
Moderately
5
6
7
Very prepared
11. Following today’s session what is your overall attitude to participating in this course?.
1
2
Very negative
3
4
Neutral
5
6
7
Very positive
If your ‘overall attitude’ rating is 4 or less please tell us why:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Thank you for your feedback. We will provide you with a brief summary of students’ comments
next week.
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INITIAL CLASS REVIEW
Short Form
Course Code: ____________________________
Tutorial Day/Time: ___________________________
Tutor’s name: ____________________________
Briefly consider today’s session, the first tutorial for this course, and please respond to the
following questions. Your honest feedback will help us make this tutorial an effective and
enjoyable learning experience.
1. What were the useful or positive aspects of this first tutorial?
___________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
2. What were the less useful or negative aspects of this first tutorial?
_____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
3. What information, if any, in today’s tutorial (or about this course) are you still unclear about?
___________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
4. How well has the tutor/workshop facilitator established a good working relationship with
the students in the class?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
Moderately
5
6
7
Very well
5. Overall, as a result of this first session, how prepared and ready” do you feel to undertake this
course?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
Moderately
5
6
7
Very prepared
6. Following today’s session what is your overall attitude to participating in this course/ subject.
1
2
Very negative
3
4
Neutral
5
6
7
Very positive
If your ‘overall attitude’ rating is 4 or less please tell us why:
_____________________________________________________________________________
Thank you for your feedback. We will provide you with a brief summary of students’ comments
next week and use your feedback to improve your learning experience.
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Tutor Self-Reflection and Planning
What is it?
Managing our learning and development is a core aspect of being a professional.
University educators have access to a range of useful feedback and collegiate
environments to support systematic reflective practice. The process of professional
development involves seeking and using feedback (from self-observation, others’
perceptions or class outcomes), setting goals based on that data, implementing our
intentions and monitoring changes. This is a continuous learning process.
Structured processes can be useful to scaffold self-reflection and planning. This is an
example of one such process, a deceptively simple set of questions that invite you to
extract learning from experience.
How do we do this?
1. Before looking at any student feedback that you may have collected (e.g., ICRs)
conduct your own self-reflection on the session. This will not only give you an
opportunity to practice the skill of self-observation (which is foundational to your
continuous professional learning), but also, provide you with a point of comparison (i.e.,
your experience of the session compared to your students’ perceptions).
2. Compare your own reflections with that of your students. You may want to discuss this
with a colleague.
3. Identify any potentially useful principles (e.g., If you do… action….then…. likely
consequence).
4. Identify one of two things that you might want to try over the next couple of sessions.
5. Get into the habit of ‘noticing’ your own and your students’ reactions/responses to
class events and activities.
5. Try out
new things
and see what
happens
1. Engage in
an
experience
2. Reflect on
your
personal
sense of the
experience
4. Identify
conclusions
or principles
3. Compare
your
perceptions
with others
feedback
Tutors as Teachers and Learners Griffith University 2011
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Griffith University
TUTOR SELF-REFLECTION AND PLANNING
1. Self-Reflection on Session
Review your own perceptions of the session using the following questions/prompts:
Did the session go as planned or as you expected? What was different? What was surprising?
What aspects of this session worked? Why do you think that was?
What aspects of this session didn’t work or were less successful? Why do you think that was?
Following this session how do you feel about teaching this class?
What have you learnt about your students from today’s session? How can you use this
information?
What have you learnt about yourself from today’s session? How can you use this information?
What, if anything, might you try differently in future? How would that be useful to you?
2. Reviewing Student Feedback
Review the feedback provided by your students and reflect on the following aspects of the
session:
Your working relationship with students
Students working relationships with each other
Students clarity about class goals
Students clarity about class processes/procedures
Students comfort with expectations
Student level of readiness
Students overall attitude to the course
3. Planning and Goal Setting
Reflecting on both your own perceptions and the feedback from your students:
What is the one thing that you can do in the next session that would make the most significant
difference to your students?
What is the one thing that you can do in the next session that would make the most significant
difference to your professional effectiveness or satisfaction?
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Student Learning Review
What is it?
Perhaps the most fundamental test of the effectiveness of a learning environment is
whether or not students are engaging with and mastering the course material. Effective
educators build in ‘checking student understanding’ into the ongoing pattern of their
class interaction. Well-constructed and well-timed questions can provide useful
feedback. Simple formative exercises (sometimes called Classroom Assessment
Techniques (CATs) such as ‘one minute tests’ or ‘in-class problem solving’ can also help
both teachers and students check ‘how they are going’ with the course material.
A complementary approach is also to ask students to identify the content areas that they
are finding challenging and would appreciate additional attention. Sometimes this can be
done by simple conversations with the class. However, if you feel that you would like a
more systematic answer to the question of ‘how are my students are going’, or if you feel
that they may be more likely to be open and honest in an anonymous format, then this
process may be useful.
How do we do this?
1. Distribute the Tutorial Content Review sheet at the end of a class. Explain to your
students that you want their honest responses so that you can make any necessary
adjustment to how the class is conducted or to identify what, if any, additional support
may be required.
2. Summarise your students’ responses. Identify the major themes and what might be
the one or two most common ideas/topics that appear most challenging. Decide how you
will address this: brief revision next week, using peer teaching outside of class, offering
student consultations, making brief online posts, setting up a discussion board on the
relevant topics, identifying helpful readings.
3. You may find it helpful to briefly compare your TCR feedback with that of other
members of your teaching team. This will achieve two things: give you a sense of
context or perspective for how your tutorial is travelling, and provide general themes for
the course overall that the convenor may wish to address in the lecture or in
communication with the class overall.
4. In the first five minutes of the next class ‘close the loop’ with your students by briefly
sharing the main themes of their feedback with them. This may also be a good
opportunity for you to provide encouragement and reassurance.
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GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY
STUDENT LEARNING REVIEW
Course Code: ____________________________
Tutorial Day/Time: ___________________________
Tutor’s name: ____________________________
Week of Semester (Circle one)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Briefly consider the material covered in today’s class (i.e. the content of the session) and
respond to the following questions.
1. The aspects (i.e. concepts, procedures, skills) covered today that I have a reasonable
understanding of are:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
2. The aspects covered today that I am still unclear or unsure about are:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
3. A question about the material covered today that I would like answered/addressed is:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
4. How interesting did you find the material covered in today’s session?
1
2
Not at all interesting
3
4
Moderately
5
6
7
Very interesting
5. How well do you think you understand the key ideas covered in today’s session?
1
2
Totally Confused
3
Confused
4
Just clear
5
Fairly clear
6
7
Totally clear
6
7
Very Confident
5. Overall how confident are you feeling as a student in this subject?
1
2
Not at all confident
3
4
Moderately
5
Thank you for your feedback. We will use this information to enhance your learning in this course.
Tutors as Teachers and Learners Griffith University 2011
34
Mid-Course Class Review
What is it?
While formative evaluation and monitoring of the student learning experience can and
should occur continuously over the life of a course, mid-course or mid-semester is
particularly useful ‘window of opportunity’ for a formal formative evaluation. At this stage
students have had sufficient experience of a course (viz., 5-7 weeks) upon which to base
their feedback with adequate time remaining in the course to respond to factors which
may help their learning.
The Mid-Course Class Review form is organised in two sections. Section A (How is the
class going?) seeks students’ feedback on their experience of the class to date and
suggestions for improvement. Section B (How are you going?) asks students to describe
their experience of themselves in the course to date, and to identify what they can do
personally to improve their learning. Please feel free to modify the survey to suit your
purposes, the nature of your class and the needs/characteristics of your students. We
have also provided two sets of questions should you wish to use class discussion rather
than survey to conduct your mid-course review.
How do we do this?
1. Frame and conduct the review Take a few minutes to frame/explain the value of
the exercise to your students in a way that signal a genuine interest and a commitment
to understanding improvement. Model the spirit and process of non-defensive critical
inquiry by telling students that you are seeking ‘balanced feedback’ (i.e., both
improvements and appreciations), that you want them to be honest and constructive,
that it is a voluntary and anonymous process, and that you will also respond
constructively. Finally tell them how and when you will provide a ‘feedback summary’ to
the class.
2. Collate and sort the data A key aim is a reasonably quick turnaround (e.g., feedback
to the class the following week) so, particularly with a large class, it is important not to
get lost in the detail. It is perfectly acceptable to simply identify the main themes from the
open-ended questions and basic percentages (e.g., % who agree) from the rating
scales.
3. Convert the data to useful information We are all aware of the maxim that ‘data is
not information’ and that analysis is required to make data ‘fit for purpose’. In the present
case students will provide a wide range of responses and some judgements will need to
be made as to how to categorize the feedback. One possibility is to sort responses
according to basic action categories:
 Affirmations You appreciate the following aspects of the class….
 Class Priorities The main suggestions for change that you think would make
the most difference are…..
 Actionable Change Things that I can do something about now are…
 Future Change Things that I can do something about in the future are…
 Constraints Things that I acknowledge are an issue but are somewhat
constrained in what we might presently do are…..
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 Clarification Things that you have suggested that I would like to clarify/better
understand are….
 Student Priorities The main suggestions for student change that you think
would make the most difference are…..
4. Conduct the interactive feedback session with class Taking the time to ‘close
the loop’ is a key part of the power and value of this exercise. The feedback session
is an opportunity to test the validity of summarized information, develop consensus
or at least acceptance of priorities and continue to build students’ commitment to
actively participate in the management of the course and their own learning.
The process can be something as simple as summarizing the feedback on a couple of
power point slides (e.g., using a set of headings like those described above) and then
allowing a brief time for discussion. You might also find a one-page summary handout
useful. You can do this in 10-15 minutes. You might follow a basic set of steps such as:
(i) Thanking students for their feedback, affirming your interest in
their opinions and confirming the value of this type information to the
quality of the degree program/school as a whole.
(ii) You might then briefly explain how you analysed the data.
(iii) You might then invite questions or facilitate a brief discussion. Some
potentially useful questions you might ask students include:
 Does this feedback fit with your experience of the course?
 What parts, if any, of this feedback are surprising?
 What is your reaction to the priorities we have identified?
 What else would you like to tell us?
(iv)
(v)
You might then briefly reaffirm the priorities for action.
You might conclude by inviting any interested students to ‘continue the
conversation’ by sending you emails, posting comments on the class discussion
board or coming to see you. You could also post a written summary of the
feedback on the class website.
5. Follow-through on key points Over the following weeks you can usefully signal to
student how you are responding to their feedback and also invite them to monitor their
own ‘good intentions’. Keeping the ‘feedback conversation going’ makes the mid-course
review more than just a static one-off event and communicates a stronger ongoing
‘quality message’ to students.
6. Monitor end-of-semester evaluation processes (SET) Towards the end of
semester you may wish to make the improvement/responsiveness process more visible
by summarising for students the ways in which the course has sought their feedback and
involved them in the course management process. You may even wish to test the
efficacy of your student participation processes by including a discretionary question in
your end-of-semester SET evaluation to the effect of ‘The staff member was open and
responsive to feedback from students about ways to improve the course”.
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36
Griffith University
Mid-Course Tutorial Review
Course Name and Code
We want to know how you are going in this particular class or tutorial and what we might do to
enhance your learning. Please use this opportunity to tell us about your experience to date in this
particular class. We will collate your feedback and discuss this with you next week.
A. HOW IS THE CLASS GOING?
What aspects of this class (e.g., teaching, organisation, discussion, practice, feedback,
communication, consultation,), if any, are working well for you?
What aspects of this class if any, are not working so well for you or which you would like to see
improvement?
So far, what is your overall experience of this particular class?
Strongly Disagree
disagree
This class is well organized
1
2
Neutral
Agree
3
4
Strongly
agree
5
There are enough opportunities to ask
questions
1
2
3
4
5
The teaching is effective in helping me learn
1
2
3
4
5
Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of this
class
1
2
3
4
5
What is the ‘one thing’ that we could do or change (do more, do less, do differently) that would
make the most significant difference to your learning in this class?
B. HOW ARE YOU GOING?
What, if any, of the material/course content that we have covered to date in this class have you
found most challenging and/or would perhaps appreciate an opportunity for revision?
So far, what is your overall experience of yourself in this class?
Strongly Disagree
disagree
I prepare for class by doing the pre- reading
1
2
Neutral
Agree
3
4
Strongly
agree
5
I participate in class activities/discussion
1
2
3
4
5
I attend class regularly
1
2
3
4
5
I put in the time and effort required to do well
1
2
3
4
5
Overall, I am satisfied with my approach to
learning in this class
1
2
3
4
5
What is the ‘one thing’ that you personally could do or change (do more, do less, do
differently) for yourself that would make the most significant difference to your learning in this
class?
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Griffith University
Mid-Course Class Review
Discussion Formats
A. Extended Discussion Questions
What aspects of this class (e.g., teaching, organization, discussion, practice, feedback,
communication, consultation,), if any, are working well for you?
What aspects of this class if any, are not working so well for you or which you would like to see
improvement?
What is the ‘one thing’ that we could do or change (do more, do less, do differently) that would
make the most significant difference to your learning in this class?
What, if any, of the material/course content that we have covered to date in this class have you
found most challenging and/or would perhaps appreciate an opportunity for revision?
What is the ‘one thing’ that you personally could do or change (do more, do less, do
differently) for yourself that would make the most significant difference to your learning in this
class?
B. Brief Discussion Questions
What are the positive aspects of this class?
What are things that you would like:
More of…..?
Less of….?
Done differently…..?
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38
Tutor Feedback Survey
What is it?
The role of university educator requires a diverse range of skills and attitudes. Managing
small class environments (e.g., tutorials, seminars) can be particularly challenging both
personally and professionally.
The Tutor Feedback Survey provides you with a quick overview of students’ perceptions
of your use of the different capabilities of ‘being an effective learning facilitator’:
facilitating classroom learning, facilitating student engagement, facilitating independent
learning, and facilitating improvement.
How do we do this?
1. Conduct the formative survey in your final class for semester. It should about 5
minutes for your students to complete. Take a couple of minutes to explain the value of
the exercise as professional development and quality improvement. Reassure students
that the process is both anonymous and voluntary. Remind student that they should
complete the formal university on-line Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) survey as
this provides formal quality assurance and accountability. You may want to ask a student
to collect all the completed surveys, so that you are ‘hands off’ in the process.
2. Use the scoring template to construct your summary feedback profile. Identify the
major themes in your students’ written comments.
3. Reflect on whether student feedback (your impact) is consistent with your selfperceptions (your intentions) as an educator. Pay particular attention to areas that you
find ‘surprising’ or ‘unexpected’, or about which you feel ‘defensive’ or ‘resentful’. As
much as possible, try to avoid ‘self-justification’ or ‘righteous indignation,’ and attempt to
see yourself from your students’ point of view.
4. You may find it valuable to compare your profile with the members of your team.
5. Identify one or two key insights that you can use next time you work as a teacher.
Facilitating
Improvement
Using
students’
feedback
Out- of- class
availability for
consultation
Supporting
and
encouraging
students
Understanding
and explaining
the material
Facilitating
students’
participation
Checking
students’
understanding
Facilitating
Independent
Learning
Managing
assessment
for learning
Engaging and
motivating
students
Organising and
focusing the
class
Tutors as Teachers and Learners Griffith University 2011
Facilitating
students’ critical
thinking
Facilitating
Student
Engagement
Facilitating
Classroom
Learning
39
TUTOR FEEDBACK SURVEY
I am seeking your feedback to improve my teaching. Please tell me your experience of my
teaching and facilitation this semester. To what extent, in your experience, have I:
Strongly
disagree
1
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
2
3
4
Strongly
agree
5
1
Demonstrated a good understanding of material
2
Clearly explained the course material in a studentfriendly way
1
2
3
4
5
3
Checked that students understood key ideas
1
2
3
4
5
4
Encouraged students to ask questions
1
2
3
4
5
5
Outlined clear goals for each session
1
2
3
4
5
6
Kept class activities focused and on-track
1
2
3
4
5
7
Used teaching methods that challenged you to
think
1
2
3
4
5
8
Stimulated critical discussion and constructive
debate
1
2
3
4
5
9
Acknowledged and encouraged students efforts
and contributions
1
2
3
4
5
10
Been patient and understanding with students
problems and challenges with course material
1
2
3
4
5
11
Ensured that all students had a fair opportunity to
participate in discussions
1
2
3
4
5
12
Facilitated students to actively review and
summarize their learning from the class
1
2
3
4
5
13
Helped you see the relevance and value of course
material
1
2
3
4
5
14
Stimulated your interest in this area
1
2
3
4
5
15
Been readily available for out-of- class
consultations
1
2
3
4
5
16
Responded to email queries in an effective and
timely manner
1
2
3
4
5
17
Helped you understand and prepare for
assessment
1
2
3
4
5
18
Provided constructive feedback on your
assessment
1
2
3
4
5
19
Invited and used feedback from students to
improve the class
1
2
3
4
5
20
Been open and responsive to students’ opinions
and concerns
1
2
3
4
5
21
Overall, been effective in helping you learn
1
2
3
4
5
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How would you describe in a few words your experience of being in my class this semester?
What, if anything have you found useful or positive about my approach to teaching and managing
this class?
What, if anything have you found less useful or negative about my approach to teaching and
managing this class?
What, if anything, is the one thing I could do or change (do more, do less, do differently) that
would make the most significant difference to your learning?
Thank you for your feedback. I will put it to good use.
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GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY
TUTOR FEEDBACK SURVEY
SCORING SHEET
The Tutor Feedback Survey is intended to provide you with a snapshot overview of students’
perceptions of your teaching and facilitation. The instrument comprises ten (10) scales each
measured by two (2) items and one overall/global effectiveness item. Given that items are scored
on a 5-point rating the highest possible average score for each scale is 10/10 and the lowest
possible average score is 2/10.
To calculate your average score for each item, total the student ratings for each item and then
divide by the number of students. You can then add the average scores for each pair of items to
produce your scale score.
Use the chart below to plot your average score for each scale. This will give you your tutor profile.
1
2
3
Understanding and explaining material
(Items 1 & 2)
Checking students understanding
(Items 3 & 4)
Organizing and focusing the class
(Items 5 & 6)
Facilitating critical thinking
( Items 7 & 8)
Supporting and encouraging students
(Items 9 & 10)
Facilitating students participation
(Items 11 & 12))
Engaging and motivating students
(Items 13 & 14)
Out-of-class consulting
(Items 15 & 16)
Managing assessment for learning
(Items 17 & 18)
Inviting and using student feedback
(Items 19 & 20)
Facilitating learning overall
(Item 21) (maximum score is 5)
Tutors as Teachers and Learners Griffith University 2011
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
42
Student Evaluation of Teaching
What is it?
The university conducts a formal summative online student feedback survey at the end
of each course. The survey asks students to provide feedback on the course (SEC) and
each teacher (SET) with whom they have worked.
Sessional academic staff are encouraged and supported to reflect upon their teaching
performance through their participation in standard University evaluation processes. A
sessional academic staff member is required to undertake a student evaluation of
teaching (SET) whenever he/she is responsible for teaching into a semester long class.
If you are a sessional academic staff member your further employment in a School is
generally dependent on satisfactory student evaluations and supervisor’s
recommendation. If you seek seek re-employment as a sessional academic staff
member at Griffith you are required to provide copies of your previous Student
Evaluations of Teaching (SET) with your application
How do we do this?
Course Convenors coordinate the student evaluations of members of their teaching
teams using the standard online University system. Convenors will discuss the student
evaluation process (viz., timing of survey, types of questions to be used, procedures for
accessing results, processes for debriefing) with teaching team members prior to the
survey administration.
The results of student evaluations will be made available to the sessional academic staff
member's supervisor (i.e., Course Convenor). Sessional academic staff should be
provided with the opportunity to discuss their student evaluations with their supervisor.
Supervisors should provide guidance, support and advice on improving teaching and
learning outcomes.
The following are the core questions used in the Student Evaluation of Course (SEC)
online survey:
Rating Questions (1 to 5)
This course was well-organised
The assessment was clear and fair.
I received helpful feedback on my assessment work.
This course engaged me in learning.
The teaching (lecturers, tutors, online etc) on this course was effective
in helping me to learn.
Overall I am satisfied with the quality of this course.
Open-ended Questions
What did you find particularly good about this course?
How could this course be improved?
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The following are the core questions used in the Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET)
online survey:
Rating Questions (1 to 5)
This staff member presented material in a clearly organised way.
This staff member presented material in an interesting way.
This staff member treated students with respect.
This staff member showed a good knowledge of the subject matter.
Overall I am satisfied with the teaching of this staff member.
Open-ended Questions
What aspects of this staff member's teaching were most valuable to your
learning?
How could this staff member's teaching be improved?
Tutors as Teachers and Learners Griffith University 2011