Unpacking the roles of teaching

More students, different students, different courses, different modes of delivery, multiple campuses, a growing emphasis on good pedagogy based on research, more visibility and accountability for effective teaching and learning, a changing K-12 curriculum, increasing diversity of academic roles and responsibilities, shrinking resources, social and economic change - the list is endless. The demands on the university teacher created by the ever-changing university environment are reason to reflect on the roles that each teacher adopts in the ‘delivery of teaching’.

For an academic it is impossible to operate in a vacuum and it is increasingly difficult to divorce one aspect of academic life from another. Teachers face a whole range of challenges in the ‘classroom’, not only directly as a teacher but also indirectly through the many other roles and responsibilities they undertake as an academic in the university and in the community. Teachers need to face these challenges and find solutions. Biggs (1999) says that “these solutions will not be found in learning a whole new bag of teaching tricks” (p. 5). The challenges reach beyond teaching tricks and necessitate deeper consideration of all aspects of teaching and learning. Biggs and others suggests critical reflection, with attention given to the context in which the individual teaches.

In this changing environment it is very difficult, perhaps impossible, for an effective teacher to do it all on their own. The basic ‘design, implement and assess’ roles of delivering teaching are multi-faceted, involving many skills and strategies. Teachers need to identify and reflect upon the roles that they will adopt in the delivery of their teaching. Some roles reside within the teacher, often those where the teacher has a personal interest and has a level of comfort in handling those roles. Other roles are external, that is, the teacher is dependent on or supported by others. Through personal reflection and, if necessary with help, teachers might identify their strengths, what skills they are prepared to develop and what resources, including technology and specialists, they have available.

Today in some locations there are specialists and resources to assist in the delivery of teaching: academic developers, instructional designers, assessment specialists, software designers and computer program packages, multimedia and technology support, graphic designers and learning skills advisers. Even as teachers develop new skills, update existing skills and tap into available resources to adopt new roles in the delivery of their teaching, more new challenges and roles emerge.

In this edition we look at some of the roles involved in the delivery of effective teaching and the specialists and resources that may be available to support the teacher in adopting these roles. What roles are yours and where do you seek out assistance and support?