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Generally speaking, university professors are committed to teaching their students. But professors, who face various competing demands and pressure at work, will naturally focus more on research, if they feel that institutional management values research more than teaching in academic reviews. To sustain the professional capability and passion in teaching of the academic staff, a robust assessment and reward system is thus indispensable. A Robust Reward System Is Indispensable We need to define "teaching" before discussing how it might be assessed. Nowadays, student learning in higher education is no longer confined to the transmission of knowledge in the classroom, but involves a diversified range of learning experiences. "Teaching" therefore encompasses a variety of activities that influence students' learning and development, such as curriculum design, student advising, writing of teaching materials and textbooks, and research on and development of innovative teaching approaches, etc. Under this broad definition, supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students on their research projects is also part of "teaching". As there are so many facets to "teaching", its assessment methodology needs to be adjusted correspondingly. Currently, tertiary institutions in Hong Kong use questionnaires to gauge the views of students on the courses they take. Although such data provide useful information, relying solely on students' feedback in assessing professors' teaching performance is incomplete. According to international good practices, a robust assessment system should cover the views and feedback of different stakeholders. Among them, students are certainly important constituents, but the information they can provide only represents part of the teaching work, such as professors' performance in the classroom and their attitude towards students, etc. As regards the programme content and appropriateness of the curriculum design, students are not equipped with the relevant professional knowledge to judge. Therefore, many assessments on teaching should be carried out by fellow academic colleagues, especially by senior professors who excel in teaching. They can, from the peer perspective, make impartial and professional assessment through classroom observation and review of teaching materials. Specific recommendations on concrete improvement measures can also be made. Certainly, those responsible for making peer assessment also need to undergo appropriate training.
Deep, Systematic Self-reflection For Improvement Another important source of information for assessment is "Self-assessment". Each professor can, through the compilation of a teaching portfolio, gather evidences to demonstrate his/her own performance in teaching. The portfolio may include items such as teaching philosophy, course outline, students' views and achievements, peer reports, teaching-related research and professional development activities, etc. It is important for the professor to demonstrate deep, systematic self-reflection to strive for continuous improvement. The basic principle of a portfolio is to reflect the diversity of teaching activities through the use of a variety of data. If these data become strong and sound, the portfolio can serve as a reliable tool for assessing and improving teaching. In recent years, the concept of portfolio has evolved from "Teaching Portfolio" to "Academic Portfolio", which applies a consistent model to present a professor's performance in teaching, research and services. UGC-funded institutions have all had the experience in using "Teaching Portfolio", especially as an important reference document in the process of selecting outstanding teachers. As it takes time to compile a good portfolio, this approach has yet to be widely adopted in the tertiary sector as a tool for assessing and improving teaching performance. However, a reward system for good teaching has to be built on a fair and credible assessment model which should be developed without delay.Professor Edmond Ko |
