After working in graduate student programming at CTE for the past three years, this term I collaborated with Donna Ellis, CTE Director, on a SSHRC-funded project involving eight other Canadian universities. The project is developing and validating survey tools (the Teaching Culture Perception Survey) to measure indicators of institutional teaching culture. You can find out more about the project here.
The surveys have been conducted at four institutions over the past few years, and it was our campus’ turn this fall. We invited a random sample of 5,000 second and third year undergraduate students, all graduate students, all instructors teaching in Fall 2016, and all staff supporting teaching and learning on main campus to participate. We will be analyzing the survey data in Winter 2017 and are hoping to present preliminary results at the Opportunities and New Directions Conference on campus in April 2017 (PS: you should come!).
The end of term is an important time for reflection, so I will leave you with some questions to consider for the New Year:
- What do you perceive as the teaching culture at University of Waterloo? In your faculty? In your department?
- What can you do to enhance the teaching culture at University of Waterloo? In your faculty? In your department?
- What can you do to enhance students’ experiences within the teaching culture at University of Waterloo? In your faculty? In your department?
Have a relaxing and happy holiday season – see you in 2017,
Kristin Brown
PhD Candidate, School of Public Health and Health Systems
Research Assistant, Centre for Teaching Excellence
