Abstract:

Shullman [1] introduced in 1986 the term “pedagogical content knowledge” (PCK) to the educational milieu. It refers to the combination of Content Knowledge (CK) in conjunction with the appropriate Pedagogic Knowledge (PK) for teaching in order for the student to learn the material.

Improving university teaching is based on four main components: workshops, surveys, personal support and research. Personal support is usually made by peers who share the same CK or through pedagogic experts who have the PK but do not have the same CK. At the Center for Excellence in Teaching in our college we have implemented a unique pilot program “Teaching Supporters”. Outstanding lecturers in the various academic departments were identified and after receiving workshops on peer observation, giving feedback to their colleagues and other pedagogic topics were tasked to become an in house Teaching Supporter (TS) for their department. The approach is a unique one as the TS not only has the content knowledge put in addition has the pedagogic knowledge and skills. Besides giving overall pedagogic support to staff members, the TS observes actual classes (lectures, recitations, labs) and gives detailed feedback on the class observed and plans strategies for improving the teaching performance. A key and crucial element of the program is the anonymity of the feedback and evaluation. No information whatsoever is passed on to department chairs, deans or rector.

End of year assessment has shown high satisfaction with the program and its outcomes from faculty and administration.

References:
[1] Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4–14.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Faculty Development, PCK, Peer observation.