Developing academics for the future: new thinking on teaching observations

This project explored how the teaching observation experience informs the professional practice of an educational developer. By researching teaching activity and dialogic interaction within the context of teaching observation feedback, a theoretical framework was developed. I was both subject and researcher and perceived myself as an agent of change who sought to improve her own professional practice. The intention was not to generalize the findings to a larger population, but to explore through contextual description and analysis what was happening in my own organization and how I might improve this. Ten academics in Engineering and Computing Sciences were observed by me, teaching on three separate occasions over the course of one semester. The post-teaching observation feedback and learning conversations were recorded and analysed with additional data provided by field notes and journal entries that I made as the practitioner researcher. Teaching observation events provided the context of a safe space where essential conversations could take place, along with a critical exploration of the subjective experience of the participants. Findings showed a complex and expansive range of teaching activities, revealed by teaching observation and later discussed in learning conversations between each participant and me. The research is strongly grounded in the participants’ experiences and highlights the tensions and shortcomings of current teaching observation practices. The findings especially challenge the notion that teaching observations can be used as both an appraisal tool and for developmental purposes. The paper concludes by suggesting a theoretical framework for effective teaching observation practice