What to Reflect on
Informed by literature and through consultations with members of the U of A community, CTL has developed a framework to help instructors better their teaching practice through methods of developing, documenting, and reflecting on their teaching.
In what ways can we improve the learning experience of the students in our courses? How do we know which parts of our teaching practice are effective and which could be improved? What methods are available to me that can facilitate a continual development of my teaching practice? How will I know if my newly learned interventions have impacted learning? One way to address these questions is to pay attention and reflect on different aspects of your experiences as an instructor.
The Framework for Effective Teaching can be used by instructors to reflect on those factors in the teaching and learning environment that contribute to meeting program objectives and course learning outcomes. As an instructor, you are able to arrange the learning situation to provide opportunities for your students to facilitate their ability to reach these outcomes.
Using the Framework for Effective Teaching, instructors are able to collect data, gain deeper insight and understanding of their teaching and learning experiences, and continuously improve their interventions.
Based on an extensive review of the literature and feedback received from the University of Alberta community, CTL has developed the following Framework for Effective Teaching and Learning.
To guide your reflections and improvements of your teaching practice, we suggest becoming aware of, learning more about, and reviewing the five essential dimensions of the Framework for Effective Teaching:
If you would like to read further or see the works informing the Framework for Effective Teaching, please checkout our reading list on our Libraries Reading List Service.