Macquarie recently joined a growing number of universities worldwide in establishing a distinct promotion pathway via teaching excellence (Cashmore, Cane, & Cane, 2013).
It means that collecting, tagging, and organizing evidence of one’s teaching achievements is now more important than ever.
What can serve as evidence of my teaching achievements?
Evidence for teaching excellence can come from multiple sources and have different weight and validity (Subbaye & Vithal, 2017). The list below, while not ‘all-inclusive’, illustrates some potential sources you can use to evidence your teaching excellence. Ideally, your evidence will come from multiple sources to provide a breadth and depth of your teaching achievements.
| Evidence sources | More details/Examples |
| 1. Teaching track record | A summaryof your contributions toteaching-related activities, including, but not limited to: unit co-ordination,curriculum design, lecturing,tutoring,studentsupervision, mentoringand supervisingpeers,teaching-related administrative activities,etc. |
| 2. Feedback from students | – Student survey feedback (e.g.LEUs & LETs) – Longitudinal student feedback(e.g.,briefly assessing student attitude towards a subject at different times) – Other forms of student feedback, e.g.,emails or award nominations from students – Alumni feedback Etc. Tips:Tag or savefeedback emails from students in a separate folder.Back up ifyour work email isset to deletemessagesafter 12 months. |
| 3. Feedback from peers | – Formal or informal peer review of one’s learning design, curriculumand/or delivery – Testimonials from teaching teams – A peer review from an award winner or an accomplished L&T colleague on a particular aspect of your teaching Etc. Tip:Peer review can be done by colleagues atMQ,other institutions as well as industry partners. |
| 4. Self-reflectionand self-evaluation | Record-keeping of teaching practice with a focus on critical reflection (identifying issues),e.g.,areflective journal, reflective course memo at the end of the semester |
| 5. Improvements in teaching practice | Planning,implementing,and assessing/reflecting on improvementsto your teaching practice. Tips:Self-initiated improvementscanbe prompted byself-reflection, student or peer feedbackor L&T innovations piloted/implemented.Improvement can beat the scopeof an individual task/a wholeunitor may havehadpositive impactbeyondoneunit to the programme or beyond. |
| 6. Observable outcomes | – Learning outcome measures(e.g.pre-and post-learning measures; research student completions) – Student engagement measuresIncrease in student enrolment due to pedagogical improvements – Rates of attrition, failure, progression to honours/post-graduate studies – Student achievements (employment, further study, awards & prizes) MQexamples: Increased average grade after redesigning an assessment taskIncreased support for a diverse population of students,e.g.,including indigenous perspectives or providing referrals or additional support to studentswith identified needs, etc. Benchmarking against units in other universitiesIncreased employability rates after liaising with industry partners Student self-reported knowledge/skill gain at the end of the course |
| 7. Practice informed by research | – A clearly articulated teaching philosophygrounded in the scholarship of learning and teaching – Grounding one’s curriculum and/or teaching decisions in L&T scholarship and best practice |
| 8. Teaching portfolio | A collection ofartifacts (e.g.,lesson plans; reflections;unit summaries; student feedback, etc.) that showcases your teaching achievements |
| 9. Personal teaching blog | Postsabout yourL&T experiences,challenges and solutions,interviews with other educators, links to external resources, etc. |
| 10. Professional development | – Engaging with the scholarship of learning and teaching – Doing L&T professionaldevelopment workshopsand courses – Joining L&T communities, attending conferences and presentations, etc. |
| 11. Aligning one’s practice toMQcontext | – IncorporatingMQ-supported approaches, like embedding sustainability, indigenous perspectives, employability, active learning approaches, etc. – AdoptingMQ-supported learning technologies, like Active Learning Platform, Learning Analytics, etc. – Being aware of TEQSA requirements and applying them in one’s teaching practice |
| 12. Peer recognition | – Invitations tospeakon L&T events(or participate in L&T projects) – Advance HE Fellowship – L&T Awards (MQor elsewhere)(winning or nomination) – Peer-reviewed or invited L&T publications – Being invited to be an external examiner – Contributions to discipline textbooks |
| 13. Impact on peers | – Providing peer feedback – Sharing one’s L&T practice with colleagues,e.g.,presentations in the department meetings, contributing to a TECHE blog or elsewhere – Resources developed for colleagues/usedatMQand beyond – Contributions toL&T committees – Input into L&T policies – Teaching across subject and disciplinary boundaries thatcontributeto interdisciplinary / professional education |
| 14. Projects to advance L&TatMqor within a discipline | Supporting or leading L&T projects (e.g.,curriculum mapping; learning innovations, etc)Grantsfocused on L&T) |
| 15. Industry recognition | – Employer ratings – Feedback on student performance from industry |
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Cashmore, A., Cane, C., & Cane, R. (2013). Rebalancing promotion in the HE sector: Is teaching excellence being rewarded. York: Higher Education Academy.
Subbaye, R., & Vithal, R. (2017). Teaching criteria that matter in university academic promotions. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(1), 37-60.
