2a. Teaching, Learning and / or assessment processes: An understanding of teaching, learning and/or assessment processes
Details
Requirement: An understanding of teaching, learning and/or assessment processes
Statements here might relate to areas such as teaching experience, learning design, curriculum development, work-based assessment, the creation and execution of a programme of training and so on.
Evidence might include being on the register of the Higher Education Academy, a PGCE award, having completed a SEDA-approved course or undertaken relevant sections of the FERL Practitioners Programme or Certified E-Learning Professional courses. Commentaries from peers on your approach would also provide suitable evidence. Other possibilities include teaching experience, reflective statements that analyse experience in terms of learning theory, pedagogic approaches, sociological theories, or a comparable, recognised perspective. In relation to learning design, a report, specification or reflective statement might be provided that clearly elaborates the principles that informed the design process. In any collection of evidence there should be some consideration of how technology is changing approaches to teaching and learning and/or the roles of learners, teachers and support staff.
Description and reflection
I have twice led training sessions in the use of Audacity for research purposes in the University's Masters Programme in Applied Linguistics on the University's Research Skills for the Dissertation module. The module co-ordinator was consistently positive about my training and reported good feedback from the students.
My training sessions consisted of a brief introduction, followed by getting the students logged into the workstations and starting Audacity. I then demonstrated the basic features of the software, along with more advanced functionality. Throughout the sessions I allowed plenty of time for students to try different simple tasks to give them 'hands-on' experience. During the sessions I kept to a relatively fluid plan, as I knew that there would be a wide variety of students with differing abilities. I allowed plenty of time for what some students find simple to allow for those new to Audacity, or who had little experience of the technology, not to get left behind.
I also tailored the session to include functions which are particularly useful when transcribing interviews - something that many (if not all) of the students on the programme had to do. The second running of the session was built on the first session a year earlier - I felt that although the first session had run smoothly, there were more details about transcription-related tasks that I decided to build into the session rather than relying on students to ask for them.
I allowed time for questions at various points in the sessions, and toured the classroom myself to answer any questions the students had, and to try to overcome any specific teething issues. Audacity is automatically available on University computers which helped to reduce the setup time, but also meant that I had to provide a reference sheet for students wishing to download the software onto their own computers. This itself added a complication factor - having tested the download links the week before the session, I had to make a change on the day before as one of the links had changed. This highlighted to me the importance of checking links and functionality as close to a session as possible, as well as allowing time to make changes. I also provided the handout online after the session rather than before, to ensure that students had the most current version.
Evidence
Andrew Davey has contributed on a number of occasions to the teaching of the 'Research and Enquiry 2' module as part of the MA programmes in Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching at the University of Southampton. Specifically he has led the sessions on using Audacity to edit audio recordings used in research. On all occasions he has demonstrated a professional and thorough approach to teaching. He has been well-prepared for the sessions, offered useful and clear explanations to the students and been approachable and adaptable in responding to students' questions and problems in the practical activities during the sessions.
- Dr Will Baker, Research and Enquiry 2 module convenor