Teaching is a value-laden activity. What one teaches--and who one teaches, and perhaps even how--is a personal expression of professional goals and values. Why does one teach? The question often evokes basic moral values--about an informed citizenry, about self-fulfillment and understanding or about developing the means to achieve one's life-goals. The professional teacher reflects on these values, articulates them, makes them explicit and public, possibly justifies them, and uses them as a guide to clarify and develop practice.

"Teaching philosophy," as a phrase used by different authors, has a wide variety of meanings. Many writers use it to refer to one's notions about how teaching occurs. We prefer to call such concepts "theories of learning." Presumably, such theories can be tested and supported by (or found contradictory to) evidence. Although they may be part of someone's personal beliefs, they are ultimately a matter for public consensus based on empirical study. The concept of "teaching philosophy" profiled here, by contrast, is an expression of individual values. It is like a personal mission statement.

By noting that values are expressed individually, one is not committed to mere relativism or a posture of "anything goes". In a public or social sphere, values need to be justified (as any philosopher will readily acknowledge). The condition of justification, however, leaves a wide latitude of possible values.

In an academic community, the individual scholar has the freedom to teach as he or she deems appropriate. Hence, values about teaching may vary widely within one institution -- with no single definable standard. For example, some may value volume of content knowledge as an end, while others may value process or critical thinking skills. Some may value group skills and cooperation, others individual skills and independence. In the best teaching communities, this diversity can be viewed as a strength. Scholars need to remind themselves sometimes that diversity, even disagreement, is a strength and a healthy foundation for scholarly dialogue and intellectual growth. Still, it can pose a potential problem for assessing teaching: how does one proceed where there are no uniform established standards? It is precisely in this regard that a well articulated teaching philosophy is important. It defines the standards for the individual. It sets the benchmark for measuring the appropriateness of one's methods, the scope of one's activities, the effectiveness of one's teaching, and the achievements of student learning.

Profiling teaching philosophy as a benchmark does not give the teacher carte blanche. Certain professional standards are implicit in academic freedom. For example, a statement of teaching philosophy may be judged for its depth: how fully does it address the context of learning and/or scholarly dialogue about the ends of teaching? It may be judged for its scope: is it modest or ambitious? It may be judged for the quality of the justification: to what degree do cultural values, the institutional and disciplinary contexts, and/or other reasoning or widely accepted principles support it? It would violate professional norms, of course, to measure it against someone's own specific or preferred standards or values about education. The freedom to define one's own standards must be coupled with a duty to do so responsibly.

At the same time, one might acknowledge that individual teachers work in the context of specific institutions. Indeed, the university community contributes (at differing levels) to developing a mission statement that declares its shared institutional goals, including education. An individual's teaching philosophy, therefore, might well address the institutional context. Is it appropriate to ask if and how a faculty member is addressing the educational component of his University  Mission and Vision. A teacher might also be able to articulate how his or her goals are consonant with student goals.

Because teaching philosophy is so central to evaluation, a statement of teaching philosophy should be concise, cogent and clear for the sake of any reviewer.

A teaching philosophy, unchecked, might potentially drift into utopian visions. Or the statement of philosophy, well articulated and noble enough, may be quite disconnected from the teacher's daily practice. Ultimately, as professional reflection deepens and experience accumulates, the link between teaching philosophy and classroom activities should become clearer and the goals should become more fully realized in observed practice. Analysis of and commentary on practice may reflect a more mature teaching portfolio.

 

A study by Ross, Bondy, Hartle, Lamme, and Webb (1995) had 5 qualitative researchs evaluate the effectiveness of teaching portfolios. The portfolios were from the University of Florida for the Teaching Improvement Program. The study was designed to identify the characteristics of effective portfolios, and the researchers suggest 7 guidelines for portfolio development based on the portfolios in this study.

Effective portfolios have the following:

·  some standard sets of content

·  some standardized context data (list of courses, taught, enrollment in courses, whether the course was in an auditorium or was a small lecture course, etc.)

·  a teaching statement

·  evidence of effort to improve instruction

·  multiple sources of evidence to support claims of effectiveness

·  all evidence explained

·  limited amounts of evidence

 

 

Teaching as a Scholarly Activity

This website is founded on the premise that teaching, like research, is a scholarly, professional activity. But what does this mean? Here, we list some of the features of peer review that are important to research, as a basis for undertanding the sharing and review of teaching by peers. In addition, we discuss the role of academic freedom in defining one's teaching goals (as a standard for evaluation)--and the corresponding responsibilities. Finally, we consider two dimensions of professions: reflective practice and continued intellectual development.

 

Scholars are familiar with the professional dimensions of research, including the sharing of research with peers, especially for evaluation. Here are some of the features and values of the peer review process identified in discussion by UTEP faculty in spring, 1998:

Rehearsing these generally familiar aspects of peer review in research is valuable in eliciting parallel thoughts about teaching. (For example, review the list again in the context of peer evaluation of teaching, instead...) In a broad view, scholarship is worthless if not shared. Publication of research is certainly one dimension of this sharing, but teaching and sharing one's knowledge through education are also (and service, as well). Historically, this is why the university as a teaching institution has always been coupled with the university as a research institution. This perspective on teaching leads to several consequences, outlined below.

Who decides what good teaching is? --And towards what end?

When one views teaching as a scholarly activity, akin to research, one can see more clearly how it is one element of academic freedom. The professor sets the standards for and decides the content of his or her own classroom. Indeed, most discussion of academic freedom in recent decades has centered more on teaching and the views that are expressed in the classroom rather than in the arena of research. Any evaluation of teaching, therefore, must ultimately begin with how the individual faculty member has reflected on and articulated his or her educational goals and values, standards, institutional roles and responsiblities, and methods of teaching. The personal teaching philosophy, in particular, is central to the whole process -- and is far more important than many popular discussions of teaching "dossiers" or portfolios (e.g., Seldin, 1993, 1997) suggest.

Of course, such freedoms are coupled ethically with certain corresponding responsibilities. For example, one may claim that it is incumbent upon the professional to articulate those standards and, further, to communicate them clearly both to students and colleagues. The classroom, like claims in research, must be open to public scrutiny. In this forum, they are subject to common ethical norms, such as respect for persons and accountability to one's community. This principle of openness underlies the expectation of, or requirement for, a statement of teaching philosophy--either in a teaching portfolio or in a syllabus for any specific course.

The freedom to define one's own teaching, though fundamental, may be partially qualified. For example, the goals of an individual and his or her parent institution should ideally be commensurate. The university might well expect, then, that an individual who is a member of its community be able to articulate how his or her teaching philosophy exemplifies or intersects with its mission statement and/or vision. In particular, such a philosophy should help clarify or define one's roles and responsibilities within the university setting--from the courses taught to other advising, leadership or fund-raising activities related to education. It may be worth emphasizing that in this view, these roles and responsibilities are secondary to, or downstream of, one's teaching philosophy: they are generated by the individual, not the institution (as parameters of some "job description," for example).

The university, in turn, should respect the historical dynamics by which mission statements and individual research agendas can grow and change (perhaps sometimes diverging). Establishing a relationship with any faculty member has historical ethical dimensions.

The view of teaching as a profession (profiled here) parallels views in medicine, law, engineering and other professions. One expectation of such professionals is that they reflect upon their practice, in order to improve and to understand and appreciate more deeply the values that permeate the professional activity. Professionals are largely accountable to themselves and to their peers. Reflection and self-analysis is certainly an ideal for any form of work or employment, but it is especially important in the tradition of professions that serve the community and (generally) are accorded a degree of respect and sometimes privilege. The teaching portfolio can be both a tool for reflection and self-analysis and also for demonstrating the reflective process to others. Getting information relevant to reaching one's self-defined goals in teaching is also important for documenting the effectiveness of that enterprise for others. In this perspective the concepts of feedback and evidence are intimately related.

Another expectation of professionals is that they continue to grow intellectually and develop their expertise. This standard is common in research, where investigators are expected to keep up to date on methods and to stay current with theoretical developments in their field. Indeed, one is often expected to contribue to those developments. Keeping abreast of new knowledge is certainly one important responsibility for the instructor committed to developing fully prepared students. But the teacher should also continue to grow intellectually and develop expertise in terms of the ability to teach itself. That is, there is an implicit duty for professional development within pedagogy or the practice of teaching.

Such development may assume many forms. It may mean reading literature on education, education theory, or instructional methods. It may mean attending workshops or seminars on campus, at professional society meetings or at other special educational conferences. It may mean working with peers in a teaching team or teaching circle, perhaps even collaborating on course development. It may mean conducting educational research in one's own classroom. It may even extend to sharing one's expertise through publications, leadership, or mentoring other teachers, or it may involve pausing to deliberately shape one's future goals in an educational context.

One concept of professional development that forms a framework for this website is teaching capital -- the repertoire of intellectual resources and skills that can support or guide productive teaching. As in any profession, one's capital should increase in depth, breadth and quality as one matures or advances through one's career. In addition to documenting one's teaching, therefore, the professional teacher also shows evidence of development that leads to an increase in teaching capital. Hence, in evaluating teaching, it may be important to consider how an individual progresses through stages of professional development (that would be documented in a teaching portfolio that also develops with time).

A final dimension of professions is their organization into communities of mutual support. This ranges from intellectual dialogue and sharing of skills to exchange of expert critiques and lively, respectful debate. Education, in particular, involves a constellation of individuals who collectively guide any given student through several stages of intellectual and emotional development. Teaching takes place in a teaching community. It is likewise appropriate that the evaluation of teaching occur through peer review.

As one matures as a reflective teacher, one's intuitions about good practice become more clearly articulated. Ideally, one's teaching philosophy deepens and becomes defined in greater detail. At the same time, one develops stronger knowledge of theories of learning and a fuller repertoire of skills and strategies to match these. One might well expect, then, that the veteran teacher will be able to describe more cogently how his or her teaching philosophy is expressed in practice--that is, in the organization of a syllabus, methods of evaluation, daily class activities, etc. For example, a profile of a specific course (as one example) might show through samples and commentary how EACH of the following is linked to your teaching philosophy, as expressed in your own statement:

The purpose is not just to show that you can do these things, or even do them well, but that they express your goals in teaching (as a benchmark). Specific comments by students or peer reviewers might reinforce your own analysis and demonstrate that your philosophy effectively guides your work.

Do you have a distinctive teaching style? What makes your teaching unique and especially notable or valuable to students? This may be a complex synthesis of teaching goals and teaching methods. Describe this as part of your professional reflection, or more particularly in your statement of teaching philosophy. Compare yourself as a teacher with your peers (within the same department or at other institutions). Amplify your special features. Give examples. Perhaps focus on one episode in teaching that epitomizes your goals and, equally, reflects your teaching overall. Describe what is special about the episode AND why or how it is representative of your other teaching.