Common Sources for Post-secondary Training
Training for post-secondary instruction is often limited to informal structures. While each can provide positive growth in instructional development, the lack of formal training highlights deficits in each model.
For instance, as an instructor in a police foundations program, how do you stay updated with the latest policies, practices, skills, and knowledge in policing? Staying current in one’s professional field is common, but if you’re not actively working in the field, you might need to seek alternative methods to keep your skills and knowledge up-to-date.
This often involves reading materials that cover:
- Professional practices
- Standards
- Research & Literature
- Certificates and online courses
The primary ways post-secondary educators find help in developing their craft are:
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Colleagues Often learn from their colleagues, which is largely due to convenience. It is more convenient to learn from those around you. LimitationsWhile learning from your colleagues is convenient, it may limit your exposure to only those colleagues you surround yourself with and only to what they know including their poor teaching practices.
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Tradition Learn from their past; what they have done in the past that has worked they continue to use and that which has not worked they discontinue. Tradition can include teaching methods they have been exposed to as a student and their effectiveness or not. LimitationsThere is no guarantee that what has worked in the past will continue to work, which is particularly true given that the education system, students, and the context of teaching and learning are continually changing. Tradition may limit educators from trying newer teaching practices that may work better.
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Authority Look to the opinions of experts who they assume will know what works best. LimitationsAuthority alone does not necessarily provide enough support for the use of a particular instructional strategy. Plus, you will always find conflicting opinions about strategies.
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Common Sense Use reasoning as a basis for how to teach; what they reason to be appropriate, effective, or both. LimitationsCommon sense can be problematic, particularly if the information that we rely on is sub-standard. The main problem with these sources of information is that they tend to be unreliable or faulty because of bias. This bias is due largely to how we collect the information, which is in an unsystematic and subjective manner.
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While these sources of information can offer educators some pearls of wisdom when it comes to teaching, some limitations accompany them.
Post-Secondary Learning Research
The unfortunate reality is that even “professors with years of teaching experience often make commitments to certain pedagogies without ever questioning their evolving and unfolding understanding of a particular phenomenon and their students’ ability or inability to grapple with content area the professor has already mastered.” (Gayle, Randall, Langley & Preiss, 2013:81)
Notable American faculty developer Maryellen Weimer (2006) argues that faculty looking to improve their classrooms have too often ignored the existing teaching and learning research; a sentiment echoed by other educational scholars (Bok, 2006; Evers et al., 2009).
Why might this be?
- Most teachers in post-secondary institutions have little to no formal teacher training experience
- Very few go to teachers college (or its equivalent)
- Few universities and colleges in Canada offer teaching certificates.
The reality is that most faculty learn to teach haphazardly; simply learning as they engage in teaching.
(Evers et al., 2009: 3)
Findings from a Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HECQO) funded research study found that the majority of faculty surveyed use the following two methods as the primary way to learn about teaching.
- Trial and error
- Consulting colleagues
Many post-secondary teachers reported that when they were hired there was an expectation that they would naturally know how to teach.
