untitled

16 CAREER ADVICE FOR LIFE SCIENTISTS

The Scholarship of Teaching

Christopher Dobson

Front Range Community College

N

ew faculty members commonly make their

instructional debut by diving head-first into

teaching, with little formal training or prepa-

ration in pedagogy, to either sink or swim. Naturally,

many instructors adopt a teaching method based pri-

marily on how they were taught as students. This

seems reasonable, but is it effective?

Although effectiveness as a teacher is difficult to

measure, any such measurement should be based on its

impact on student learning. The central importance of

learning was highlighted in the seminal article, “From

Teaching to Learning—A New Paradigm for

Undergraduate Education” (1995), and more recently

in the national videoconference, Tools for Transformation:

Making the Learning Paradigm a Reality(1999). The pur-

pose of both was to advocate systemic change at a

national level that would place the focus of educators

on learning.

Many instructors attempt to improve their teaching

over time by adopting ad hoc pedagogical techniques.

But without systematic and purposeful implementa-

tion, an individual’s teaching method may not change

significantly over the course of a career. While instruc-

tors often measure their teaching effectiveness by the

successes of their students after graduation, some stu-

dents may succeed in spite of our teaching, not

because of it.

Instructors at all levels need a formal and compre-

hensive treatment, a scholarship of teaching, with the

Effectiveness as a teacher is difficult to

measure; any such measurement

should be based on its impact on

student learning.