Dr Colleen McKenna

Participants are required to be teaching for a minimum of 20 hours during the academic year in which they are enrolled.

This is a course tailored for those working as GTAs at LSE. Its purpose is to develop participants' confidence in leading classes and seminars and assessing student work. The course also enables participants to reflect on their teaching and to explore diverse ways of gathering feedback from peers and students.  Additionally, participants have the opportunity to reflect on broader issues and developments in the HE sector.

The programme comprises 3 modules, selected from the following:

•     small group teaching (compulsory)
•     student learning
•     evaluating teaching
•     assessment and feedback
•     contemporary issues in Higher Education 
•     signature pedagogies

Participants will develop a portfolio of written tasks and reflections; all formative and summative assignments will be incorporated into the portfolio which is submitted at the end of the programme.

Successful participants will be awarded the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education - Associate level and are eligible for Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

12 hours of workshops in the MT. 12 hours of workshops in the LT. 2 hours of workshops in the ST.

Please note that the exact breakdown of hours per term depends upon module selection. 

Teaching for this course will take the form of 2-hour, interactive workshops. Moodle will also be used as a learning environment.

Students will be expected to produce 1-2 pieces of coursework per module.

There are formative feedback points for each of the summative assignments.

Additionally, there are formative reflections at both the start and finish of the programme. These formative reflections, combined with the coversheets on the 3 summative essays, make up the learning log element of the course and contribute to the final portfolio submission. Throughout the formative texts are designed to encourage a reflexive approach to academic practice.

Ashwin, P. (2015) Reflective teaching in higher education. London: Bloomsbury.

Berk, R. (2005) Survey of 12 strategies to measure teaching effectiveness. International journal of teaching and learning in higher education. 17 (1) 48-62.

Biggs, J.  & Tang, C. (2011) Teaching for quality learning at university. Maidenhead: McGraw Hill Open University Press.

Carless, D. (2015) Excellence in university assessment. London: Routledge.

Carlisle, O. & Jordan, A. (2005) 'It works in practice but will it work in theory? The theoretical underpinnings of pedagogy' in Emerging issues in the practice of university learning and teaching.  Dublin: AISHE.

Case, J. (2008) Alienation and engagement: development of an alternative theoretical framework for understanding student learning. Higher education 55 (3)  321–332.

Donnelly, R. (2007) Perceived impact of peer observation of teaching in higher education. International journal of teaching and learning in higher education. 19(2) 117-129.

Gibbs, G. & Habeshaw. T. (1992) Preparing to teach: an introduction to effective teaching in higher education. Technical and Educational Services, Ltd.

Jones, A. (2009) Redisciplining generic attributes: the disciplinary context in focus. Studies in higher education. 34 (1) 85-100.

Macfarlane, B. (2004) Teaching with integrity: the ethics of higher education practice. London: Routledge

Assessment path 1
Essay (34%, 2500 words) in January.
Essay (33%, 2500 words) in the LT.
Essay (33%, 2500 words) in the LT and ST.

Assessment path 2
Coursework (34%) in January.
Essay (33%, 2500 words) in the LT.
Essay (33%, 2500 words) in the LT and ST.

This course is assessed entirely by coursework - formative and summative. There are no exams. 

All assignments are assessed on a Complete/Not Yet Complete basis, and all assessments are viewed as developmental opportunities. Participants are offered detailed feedback for all assignments and, where appropriate, they have the option of developing assignments further based on feedback from the teaching team.

The assignments include both essay-style written texts and reflective pieces. Additionally, there are some opportunities for choice within the assessment diet. For example, for module 1, participants can select either a reflective task plus a poster OR a 2500 written assignment.

Depending on module selection, participants may also undertake an annotated bibliography, bog posts and podcasts.