COLLECTING EVIDENCE OF GOOD PRACTICE AND LEADERSHIP IN A TUMULTUOUS TIME

Abstract

GOAL To deliver an outcomes-focused workshop that guides participants in recognising and communicating potential sources of evidence as part of their teaching practice and leadership. BACKGROUND With the increase in education-focused roles around Australia, many tertiary institutions have established new pathways for recognition, reward and progression. However, the wave of new and transitioning tertiary educators in recent times may be unfamiliar with navigating through these new expectations and pathways. Fortunately, there are many commonalities in the reward and recognition processes for tenure, promotion and awards across institutions and a strong, supportive science education community to share experiences and advice! AIMS In this session, we will share our collective experiences and expectations across a range of Australian institutions. We will highlight proactive approaches to the collection and organisation of teaching and leadership evidence in different teaching and service contexts, paying close attention to the challenges posed by the transition to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this workshop, we intend to develop strategies that individual participants may employ to build their teaching and leadership portfolios. Participants from all science disciplines and academic levels are invited. DELIVERABLES Through this workshop we aim to facilitate the following: • A landscape view of commonalities in the awards and academic progression requirements across tertiary institutions; • Tips, tricks and strategies for the collection and organisation of teaching and leadership evidence; • Reflection on your own academic portfolio and plans for future evidence collection. WORKSHOP Introduction (15 minutes) We will begin this workshop by breaking down a few of the key expectations of institutions, including important similarities and differences. The promotion and award experiences of some of our most respected members within the science education community will be shared. Workshop task 1 (30 minutes) Participants will be split into small groups (2-3) to spend a short period of time evaluating the impact of different types of evidence. Coming back together, each group will summarise key points from their discussion.   Communicating your evidence (30 minutes) An important step in communicating your evidence is the consider your own, personal teaching philosophy. Through a short activity, this will be explored before splitting into small groups once more to spend time focused, through key prompts, on dot pointing some evidence of impact of their recent activities. Each member of the group will discuss their own experiences and provide each other with feedback regarding additional evidence they might seek and include. Wrap-up (15 minutes) To conclude, we will come together to once more share this experience with the wider group and discuss where-to from here. A set of tips and tricks for collecting and organising evidence will be provided and discussed.