Developing a National Framework of Teaching Expectations: March 2-22, 2009

Who's the "we" in your declaration, Rosalie? Is this a discussion for those who are doing something to faculty members, or a discussion with those who teach or ? Answering that question is a good place for me to start thinking about national credentials.

I ask myself - what problem is this initiative trying to solve? Answering that question then moves me to understanding what a solution (or solutions) might look like. Then I consider who might implement such a solution(s). If faculty development officers (which is short hand for the many titles for such positions) are the ones, then I believe treading carefully is called for.

There's a lot of "teaching in higher education sucks" rhetoric "out there" without the evidence to back it up. Who are the "good teachers" - whether one subscribes to language of effective or language of excellent - and what is good about them? Can a list of desirable outcomes flow from such an investigation?

I sense the development of a mechanistic approach to a practice that is very un-mechanistic (unless one counts mapping out a course outline someone else can read and understand). Someone who facilitates learning would have a much different sense of standards than someone who is teacher-centred and transmits knowledge much of the time.

Yes, indeed, I (we?) have all been the victims of poor teaching. Some of this poor teaching was at the hands of highly credentialled teachers (I'm thinking of the elementary and secondary systems as well as certified educators in higher and adult education) who had the stamp of authority from their educational institutions all over them and everything they did. They were still poor teachers. I also have been lucky enough to be in learning environments with gifted and effective educators, who were good in their own ways.

As a faculty member and someone who cares deeply about teaching, the last thing I want is someone telling me what consistent national standards are unless I've had a full opportunity to be a voice in such a development. The language of business seeps into the language of learning, and I find that troubling. Sometimes - to wildly mix metaphors here - the person up on deck looking for the life boats is the one who ran us into the ice berg in the first place ... and the one "resisting change" is not hunkered down having a nap but more likely - like Scotty in Star Trek - trying to keep the engines running.

The last time I was at the UK conference of SCUTREA, the adult educators association in the UK, I heard quite a bit that was interesting about the UK initiatives to have a credential of higher education, and a fair amount of critique. I'd appreciate hearing some of those voices. Is this conversation open to some of those folk who are affected by the implementation of such a credential Vivian is talking about?

Wendy