Contract Faculty CoP | Designing Student Self-Reflections on Learning 

Event Date & Time

Event Description

This is a multi-access event.

*Updated Topic*

Designing Student Self-Reflections on Learning 

While anonymous student opinions of teaching have become a commonplace tool for administrators and student organizations to judge the pedagogical methods of instructors, they are a flawed practice that serve more as discipline techniques and complaint arenas. They have little pedagogical value, adding little to student learning, and can be deeply harmful to the teaching and mental health conditions of instructors. According to Arbitrator Kaplan ruling in the case of Ryerson University (2018), SETS should not be “used to measure teaching effectiveness for promotion or tenure”, because of deeply concerning flaws in anonymous evaluation of experts by non-experts. This ruling has been taken as a precedent, and universities across Canada have been adjusting their teaching assessment policies since then. However, as educators, we still want to do our best to ensure effective learning for our students. This workshop will provide some guidance on how to design learning self-reflections that can help both the student and the instructor work through learning processes throughout the term. Students become more aware of their own learning preferences and strategies, and of the techniques that work and don’t work for them, and instructors become aware of areas where they can provide extra support and guidance to students. The focus rests on the student learner, rather than the instructor, and can be more practical and productive during the term, rather than anonymous, uncontrolled responses about instructors after it is too late for any adjustments or help to the learners. The student self-reflection learning method can help the student become a stronger, more effective learner.

Facilitators:

Sarika Bose teaches in the English Department and is the Chair of the UBCFA’s Contract Faculty Committee, which represents 8-month, 12- month and all other non-tenure track faculty at UBC.

Judy Chan is a sessional lecturer with the Faculty of Land and Food Systems since 2010 and an educational consultant with the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology.