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Evaluating Your Pedagogical Practices
Pedagogy in Practice | By Catherine Ford, Minnesota State Program Director for Educational Development
Jessamyn Neuhaus (2019), author of Geeky Pedagogy writes, “We know how to do the things we’re teaching students to do, but we are also still learning – because everyone is always still learning – how to teach our subject effectively” (p. 112). Continuous improvement, a growth mindset that many instructors hope their students embrace, is something faculty can also cultivate through evaluating and reflecting on their pedagogical practices.
Assignment, assessment, or activity not go as well as you’d hoped? You can proactively engage in reflection and evaluate your pedagogy when asking the question, how might “it” be improved? The “it” could be an assessment you created, engagement in a discussion, facilitation of a small group activity, or design of a lesson or a course.
Neuhaus (2019) reminds us that “building our pedagogical knowledge through reflection keeps us focused on continuing to improve and to reframe our mistakes as learning opportunities” (p. 112). What did you learn that can be applied to the next opportunity to impact the outcome? You can use informal observation, personal reflections, peer reviews, feedback from students, or course/assignment student success metrics to engage in this continuous improvement that informs teaching and learning practices.
It is worth the energy and effort to evaluate our pedagogical practices. It benefits you and it benefits your students. It also models what you request of students when you ask them to engage in feedback or reflect on what they can do differently within their sphere of control on the next assignment. Reflective practice can lead to an Action State where teachers “continuously assess the impact of [their] actions [and] keep a close watch on the degree to which [their] practices affect student learning” (Hall and Simeral, 2018, p. 4). This may give you internal permission to shed activities or practices that are not meaningful or supporting the student learning you desire, or it can challenge you to revise or try new strategies.
Evaluating your pedagogical practices can also be a scholarly endeavor. Consider a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) study that takes a methodical examination of one of your pedagogical practices. This takes reflective teaching into the scholarly realm by seeking empirical evidence to inform continuous improvement. Cathy Bishop Clark and Beth Dietz-Uhler (2012) write in Engaging in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, “without a doubt, engaging in SoTL is good for our teaching and out students’ learning…we spend more time thinking through a teaching strategy, we become more connected to our student, and we think more about the evidence we need to convince others that students learned what we intended” (p. 5).
SoTL Opportunities through the NED
If SoTL has piqued your interest, consider these SoTL opportunities available through the Network for Educational Development (NED). This spring, the SoTL short course Collecting and Analyzing Data begins April 1 and applications for the next Minnesota State REFLECT cohort are available later this month.
Evaluating your pedagogical practices can foster new learning, new approaches, and new knowledge. If you are not sure where to start, begin with reflection – mark up assignments or class notes with observations about what went well and what didn’t or keep a journal. And then revisit these notes with a critical lens of what you might change that is within your sphere of control. Could directions be clearer, could the organization of a lesson be revised, or the classroom environment need a stronger sense of belonging? Consider asking students for their perspectives. Then identify what type of evidence might inform whether or not a change occurred. Observation? Scores on an assessment? Remember your students as you reflect on or more formally study or evaluate your pedagogical practices and that continuous improvement of your teaching and learning skillset also impacts your students’ learning experience.
Kaltura MediaSpace: Videos, Playlists, and Channels
Academic Technology Tips | By Megan Babel, Minnesota State ASA Communications Coordinator
Minnesota State institutions share access to Kaltura MediaSpace, which provides tools to create and store video associated with your role (student, faculty, staff, etc.). Following are tips about the basics of videos, playlists, and channels.
Videos
All of your videos can be found under “My Media.”
Add new videos
There are a variety of ways to add videos to Kaltura MediaSpace. Three common ways are to record using Kaltura Capture, record to the cloud in Zoom, or to manually upload a video.
- Record using Kaltura Capture (9:42) – Record your screen and audio using Kaltura Capture and easily upload the result to your Kaltura MediaSpace account.
- Record to the Cloud from Zoom – If you have logged into your Kaltura MediaSpace account and are recording through Zoom, consider recording to the cloud. This will automatically upload the recording to your Kaltura MediaSpace account (set to private).
- Upload a Video – If you chose to record to your computer from Zoom or have other video files on your computer, you can also manually upload them to your Kaltura MediaSpace account.
Edit and publish your video
Your recorded video doesn’t have to be perfect in one take, utilize the Video Editor to trim and delete sections of your recording, or save a clip as its own video. Once the ready, the following steps will help you and your students find and engage with the video.
- Add consistent and descriptive titles, as well as a helpful video summary to make finding your videos within your My Media content easier while also letting your students know they are in the right place (See the image below).
- Order and edit captions (5:26) to not only comply with ADA, but provide multiple ways for students to engage with content, a principle of Universal Design for Learning.
- Publish your video so it is able to be watched by others. When publishing, you have an opportunity to add the video to a playlist.
Playlists
Creating a playlist is a great alternative to embedding several videos separately or sharing several links. A playlist is a curated collection of videos that can be played and shared in sequence. View the example below, where an embedded playlist contains the videos shared above, and more related tutorials.
Channels
Further organize your content by grouping related playlists into a channel. For example, a faculty member who teaches Biology 101 and Biology 301 might have the following organization in Kaltura MediaSpace:
- Channel: Biology 101
- Playlist: The Chemical Foundation of Life
- Video: Atoms
- Video: Water
- Video Carbon
- Playlist: The Cell
- Video: Prokaryotic Cells
- Video: Eukaryotic Cells
- Playlist: The Chemical Foundation of Life
- Channel: Biology 301
- Etc…
The Minnesota State Office of Equity and Inclusion Kaltura MediaSpace Channel is a great example of utilizing playlists within a channel. Consider adding colleagues as managers to your channel, granting them the ability to contribute.
Learn More
Join the Kaltura MediaSpace Community of Practice through Microsoft Teams. Find additional ASA Communities of Practice on ASA Connect.
Save the Date: 2024 NED Conference
Did You Know? | By Megan Babel, Minnesota State ASA Communications Coordinator
September 26 – 27, 2024 – New dates!
Original dates were October 3-4, 2024.
The 2024 NED Conference is a great opportunity for educators to share their evidence-based experiences and learn from each other as we explore the theme Guides for the Educational Journey. The conference will be held both in-person and online at a metro location, providing flexibility for faculty to attend in a way that suits them best.
The NED Conference will cover topics such as:
- best practices for teaching,
- fostering equitable learning environments,
- innovative pedagogical approaches, and
- strategies for student success.
The conference will also provide opportunities for networking and collaboration among educators from different institutions. There will be a fee will be associated with this conference. More details will be announced this spring.
View more ASA meeting and conference dates on the ASA Connect Calendar.
Educational Development and Technology, Minnesota State.
View past editions of the Educational Development Digest.
Visit the NED Events Calendar to view upcoming educational development opportunities. Visit the NED Resource Site for recordings of previous webinars and additional resources.
