Targeted to Intermediate English (B1+) speakers.Read more
This is the standard requirement for most courses. Participants at this level can participate actively in discussions and manage everyday and professional situations. If they are unsure about their English level, they can test it here or explore our courses facilitated in Basic English.
Higher Education Staff.Read more
The listed audiences are those for whom the course is especially recommended, but courses are not exclusive to them and are open to everyone. In fact, most of our workshops are built around the collective sharing of participants’ experiences and having a variety of profiles enriches the learning process and is highly encouraged!
Description
Many people who teach in higher education are experts in their field, but, on closer inspection, almost no one has ever been formally trained to teach.
Lecturers are often hired for their specific subject knowledge, academic research experience, or professional expertise, and are then expected to design courses, engage students, and assess learning (all of that with very little pedagogical preparation!).
As a result, teaching is often shaped by personal experience: we teach as we were taught, and most of them do it by copying how they were taught.
But knowing a subject deeply is not the same as knowing how students learn, how to structure a course, or how to design assessments that are fair, meaningful, and aligned with learning goals.
This becomes even more important if we consider that, for the first time, this matters to their careers, because teaching quality now counts toward promotion, recognition, and a university’s standing.
This course gives subject experts the foundations of teaching that their own training left out.
It introduces the foundations of teaching in higher education, with a practical focus on course design, session planning, active learning, assessment, and feedback.
Participants will explore how learning works in practice and what this means for everyday teaching. They will learn how to design a course starting from clear learning outcomes, align teaching activities and assessment methods, and plan sessions that help students participate actively rather than simply receive information.
The course draws on recognized professional teaching standards, including the Advance HE Professional Standards Framework and the SEDA Professional Development Framework, helping participants connect their teaching practice to established benchmarks for professional development.
Throughout the week, participants will rebuild one of their own courses, whether they teach in a university, a university of applied sciences or a secondary school.
They will gradually redesign it with clearer outcomes, stronger learning activities, and more purposeful assessment and feedback strategies.
By the end of the course, participants will be able to design and teach a course with intention rather than improvisation, choose teaching and assessment methods that fit their goals, and explain and evidence their teaching against a recognised standard.
They will leave with one of their own courses redesigned and ready to teach.
What is included
Learning outcomes
The course will help participants to:
- Understand how people learn, and what the science of learning means for everyday teaching;
- Design courses “backwards” starting from clear learning outcomes, using constructive alignment;
- Plan and facilitate sessions that keep students active rather than passive;
- Choose teaching methods that fit the goal, the subject and the size of the group;
- Design fair and meaningful assessment tasks aligned with intended learning outcomes;
- Provide feedback that students can understand and use to improve their learning;;
- Reflect on and improve their teaching using a recognized professional standard;
- Redesign one of their own courses on sound teaching foundations.
Tentative schedule
Day 1 – Introduction to the course
- Introduction to the course and the Academy;
- Introduction to the host city and the week’s cultural activities;
- Icebreaker activities;
- Presentations of the participants’ schools and institutions.
How People Actually Learn
- Why subject expertise does not automatically make good teaching;
- How learning works: attention, memory and understanding, in plain terms;
- Recognized teaching standards as a map for the week (the Advance HE and SEDA frameworks);
- Choosing the course you will redesign during the week.
Day 2 – Designing a course that works
- Starting from the end: what should students be able to do?;
- Constructive alignment: matching outcomes, teaching and assessment;
- Structuring a course so each part builds on the one before;
- Workshop: mapping the backbone of your own course.
Day 3 – Teaching a live session
- Moving from lecturing students to helping them learn;
- Keeping a room active: questioning, interaction and retrieval;
- Explaining difficult ideas clearly, and reading when you have lost the room;
- Workshop: planning one of your own sessions.
Day 4 – Assessment and feedback
- Designing assessment that measures what you actually intend;
- Marking fairly and consistently without drowning in it;
- Giving feedback that students can understand and act on;
- Workshop: building an assessment and feedback plan for your course.
Day 5 – Evidencing and improving your teaching
- Reflecting on your teaching honestly, and turning that into improvement;
- Mapping your practice against a recognized professional standard;
- How teaching can count toward recognition and career progression;
- Finalizing your redesigned course and peer feedback;
- Course evaluation: round up of acquired competences, feedback, and discussion;
- Awarding of the course Certificate of Attendance.
Day 6 – Structured cultural activities
- Structured cultural activity(ies) according to the hosting location;
- Learning journal: individual written reflection on the course experience;
- Course reflection: self-reflection and review of course materials and resources.
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