Teaching and learning support
Teaching helps you to develop crucial skills while inspiring others
- What is teaching?
- Why is teaching important?
- How can you improve your teaching skills?
Teaching is vital to the researcher experience
Teaching is crucial to how students take on information
A good teacher will be an excellent communicator, have empathy, and be willing to learn themselves and to innovate, to provide the best teaching experience for their students.
What is teaching?
Teaching is a complex art; it involves communicating information accurately and clearly, while creating understanding in a student’s mind that will inspire them to act differently.
Why is teaching important?
- Teaching is important in academic institutions to persuade the top students to join, as these students demand more from teachers now that the education environment is more competitive and expensive to partake in.
- Enthusiasm is infectious – if you are enthusiastic, motivated and inspired, this will translate to your students also and help them to learn better.
How can you improve your teaching skills?
Experience
Seek opportunities to teach in your institution, or at a local university or college, if you are based in a research institute. This will increase your confidence and enable you to share and develop your teaching skills.
Train
Undertake training such as a PGCert. in Teaching and Learning or Academic Practice. This qualification is nationally recognised and required for a post that involves teaching. If you are not eligible for this, seek out alternative training at your institution.
Study
There is a vast body of research and literature about teaching in Higher Education, which you can pursue.
Think
After every teaching session, reflect on the positives and negatives of what happened – did the session go as you planned, what aspects were most successful, etcetera. Write these thoughts down so that you can act on them.
Talk
Seek out or create a network of fellow teaching enthusiasts. Talk through your session plans with them and review what did and didn’t work.
Watch
Attend lectures and seminars to learn how others teach, which gives a different perspective from focusing on the content of your teaching.
Innovate
Try new things in your teaching – this will already distinguish you as an impactful teacher. Evidence that you have been able to improve students’ results or levels of satisfaction is excellent for your CV.
Final takeaways
- Teaching is a complex art; it involves communicating information accurately and clearly, while creating understanding in a student’s mind that will inspire them to act differently.
- Enthusiasm is infectious – if you are enthusiastic, motivated and inspired, this will translate to your students also and help them to learn better.
- Seek opportunities to teach in your institution, or at a local university or college, if you are based in a research institute. This will increase your confidence and enable you to share and develop your teaching skills.