In a recent article in Inside Higher Ed, Benjamin Rifkin, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the College of New Jersey, outlines why and how the summer months can be the best time to review your teaching practices and verify they still align with your teaching philosophy.

Such reflection may take the form of thoughtful consideration of your learning goals and how your students met them. It may begin with feedback from others, as in student evaluations and peer reviews. It may even follow such activities as teaching workshops, individual consultations, or pedagogical research. Whatever its form, summertime reflections often motivate—at just the right time—plans to revise your teaching practices.

“Before you begin the process of reviewing your course syllabuses, think about what you hope to gain from the experience.  Perhaps you’re looking for better student learning, measured in higher grades on a particular task. Perhaps you’re looking to implement a learning project that you can use to publicize the work of your department, measurable in accolades from your public relations department or stories on your college websites or brochures.  Whatever the purpose, you should be able to match it to measurable outcomes in the revised course compared with a benchmark or benchmarks of your point of departure.”

-Benjamin Rifkin

Read the Rifkin article Summertime and Course Redesign

Tags: Course Design, Pedagogical Theory, Reflection, Teaching Documentation

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