Steps to teaching success
How Victoria University of Wellington promotes the use of inclusive teaching practices that benefit our increasingly diverse community of students and staff.
If you don't have a commitment to the sea of faces that come before you for 12 weeks, you shouldn't be there. You should never forget that they are the reason you are there. Your job is to keep the smile on their faces... keep them stimulated, not just about your course, but life. And you can't underestimate the influence that has on your students' lives.
By acknowledging top teachers and encouraging them to share their success strategies and experiences, we aim to lift teaching standards and student achievement in Wellington School of Business and Government (WSBG).
The Showcasing Teaching Excellence project grew from an idea to develop a one-stop teaching and learning resource for commerce teachers. Across the faculty, we are aware that teachers are seeking tried and tested strategies to improve their teaching and enhance student-teacher engagement.
The focus of this project has therefore been to develop a highly accessible collection of strategies, ideas, and insights from top teaching staff to help raise teaching standards across the WSBG. This collection is the result of listening to the voices of some of our best teachers. Teachers who have
generously shared with us, their experiences, strategies, and wise reflections.
Twenty-six teachers from five commerce schools participated in creating this teaching and learning resource, based primarily on in-depth interviews. In addition, sixteen third year students enrolled in a project management course took part in focus group conversations to reflect on group work.
Our wholehearted thanks to all who participated in the project.
How to use this resource
Are you a new teacher, or an experienced teacher interested in refreshing your teaching? Do you want ideas on what to do in your first class of the trimester? Are you looking for the best advice on how to teach theory, on how to deal with large classes, with group work, or how to get your students to better engage with readings and their writing? Do you provide tutorials? Do you want to learn from other teachers?
The Project Chart is your guide to navigating this site and finding out what you need to know.
Key themes
Discover the key themes of teaching success.
Active learning
Explore the concepts that support active learning, and how to help your students achieve it.
Advice for new teachers
Key advice to support your teaching journey.
The first class
The first lecture in a course creates the right environment and establishes expectations between teachers and students.
Bloom's revised taxonomy
Explore the key ideas behind the taxonomy, and download a copy.
Teaching theory
Theory is perceived by some teachers as difficult for students to comprehend. Equally, many students perceive theory as hard to follow and dull.
Readings and writing
Get your students to engage with course material through reading and writing.
Dealing with large classes
Encourage discussion with and between students to effectively interact and teach with large classes.
Group work
Promote groupwork with thorough preparation and relevant cases to build up students' collaborative skills.
Think-Pair-Share
Think-Pair-Share is a widely used and highly effective form of informal group learning.
Engaging students in tutorials
Ideas and approaches to help you provide engaging tutorials.
Five C's for teaching
Use connectedness, conversation, curiosity, consideration, and community and culture to create a successful learning environment.
Teaching self audit
Reflect on your teaching, and identify skills, knowledge and insights you have gained with past teaching experiences.
Learning and teaching project reports
A list of project reports prepared by academic staff at Wellington School of Business and Government.
Teaching matters at Wellington School of Business and Government
Resources
A list of resources to support successful teaching.
Video clips
Assurance of learning
Disclaimer
This resource is not intended to be prescriptive. It is very much descriptive, with teachers sharing what works for them. As far as possible, we have endeavoured to be true to the voices of WSGB staff. Some ideas will work better in some contexts than others and of course, we cannot guarantee success, but there are plenty of fantastic suggestions to get you thinking. Pick and mix to find out what works for you.
Outcomes from this project are being added to over time, while also providing guidelines for similar projects in other faculties. We are more than happy to offer advice (and to receive feedback!) on applying the ideas.