All posts by Isabeau Iqbal

“I don’t read my student evaluations of teaching”

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FIGURE 11.2 360-degree feedback

At a recent meeting about the evaluation of teaching, a faculty member bravely disclosed: “I don’t read my student evaluations of teaching”.

I held my breath as I gauged the reaction of the other committee members, all of whom were in positions of authority/power in their department, faculties, or schools when it came to the evaluation of teaching.

“The ratings and comments,” she continued “do not help me improve my students’ learning.” She described her experience of having read previous evaluations as distressing and confusing. This was not a case of an uncaring, uncommitted instructor. This was a situation of intentional self-care.

At about this time of the year, instructors at the University of British Columbia (UBC) receive the results of their online student evaluations of teaching (SEoT). As someone who works in the field of enhancing teaching and learning, I encourage instructors to review the students’ ratings and comments. I will continue to do so but I hold a sincere recognition of how anxiety-producing it can be for instructors (those who have received strong ratings in the past and those who haven’t).

In my role as an educational developer, I have a deep concern for faculty member wellness. And while I am delighted by all the attention being put to student wellness, I think there needs to be the same attention put to the health and well-being of faculty members.  With that in mind, and tying back to the issue of student evaluations of teaching, below are a few suggestions for alleviating the stress associated with reading one’s evaluations.

If you are feeling stressed about reading your SEoT, here are some suggestions for things to do before you read the results:

  • ask a trusted friend or educational developer from your teaching and learning centre to read your SEoTs before you do and summarize the results
  • “pick a good time to do so, when you will have enough time to digest at least some of the information, have privacy, and can give yourself some mental ‘space’ to analyze the information.” (Vanderbilt Center for Teaching)
  • “have a glass of wine” (suggested by my colleague)
  • do something that typically makes you feel good (i.e., exercise, listening to an upbeat song, etc)

This Chronicle article and the Vanderbilt Center for Teaching have helpful suggestions for things you can do after you read your results.

I would love to hear from you on ways you prepare, ahead of time, to read and process your SEoT results.  Please leave your comments below.

 

Photo credit: Jurgen Appelo Flickr https ://flic.kr/p/8VBCoV

Everyday leadership: How podcasts have contributed to my career transition

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Everyday leadership: How podcasts have contributed to my career transition

My career interests have expanded and shifted over the past ~2 years and it has taken me until now to start becoming public about this. Writing this post is a small act of courage: I am claiming and making known my in-transition and growing professional identity.

This post outlines how a few podcasts have had a key role in shaping the direction of my career. I am writing this to highlight the importance of everyday leadership and lollipop moments–those moments when people show up, share their inspiration and have a profound effect on someone else, often without knowing that they’ve done so. I feel much gratitude for the work of every person and podcast mentioned here.

Everyday Leadership through Podcasts

The visual below is my best attempt at demonstrating how the connections (note 1) were made and what theme//idea/guest in that particular podcast significantly contributed to my career transition. Under the visual is a brief textual description.

(Click on the image for a larger view)

[oh no, I cut off Dr. Tracy Timberlake’s name by accident!]

Text summary of the visual: It started with Bonni Stachowiak’s Teaching in Higher Education podcast. I don’t even recall how I discovered it but know that I was still fully immersed in my educational developer identity when I started listening. Bonni and her guests talked about teaching in higher education (surprise, surprise) and she also talked about this fine fellow Dave Stachowiak who has the Coaching for Leaders podcast. I had a hunch I might like it. I did, and do! On Coaching for Leaders, I was introduced to the Introvert Entrepreneur podcast by Beth Buelow. One day, Beth interviewed Kwame Christian who hosts the Negotiate Anything podcast. In one of his episodes, Kwame had a conversation with Lisa Cummings, of Lead Through Strengths, about ‘smart yesses and wise nos‘ and they talked about StrengthsFinder. I was intrigued and primed because I had taken the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment in 2016 and had found it revelatory.  I started to listen to Lisa’s podcast and, within a short time, began to seriously consider developing as a Gallup Strengths coach.  Alongside the above podcasts, I was also hooked on Chris Guillebeau’s Side Hustle School and a regular listener to You’ve Got This, in which academic entrepreneur Katie Linder shared about her consulting ventures and inspirations.

The Transition and the Now

Approximately one year ago, I recognized the extent to which my professional interests had grown. I was still immersed and engaged in the field of educational development through my work at UBC, but wanted to pursue coaching and entrepreneurial activities.

To honour my changing interests and new career goals, I made a number of decisions:

  • enrolled in Tracy Timberlake’s course for new entrepreneurs (Tracy was a guest on the Introvert Entrepreneur)
  • sought educational consulting opportunities
  • registered and then completed the Gallup’s Accelerated Strengths coaching course

I am now a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach and very energized by this journey I’ve begun.

Thank you to my everyday leaders.

**************************************

Note 1:  For anyone who knows StrengthsFinder, you probably won’t be surprised to know that my Top 5 are: Learner, Intellection, Input, Achiever and Connectedness.

Note 2: I am a regular listener to all the podcasts I mentioned above because I learn SO much from these. I also learn a great deal from other podcasts, but the ones I’ve highlighted are that had a distinct role in my career transition.

Note 3: This post is inspired by Bonni Stachowiak’s blog post in which she wrote about podcasts’ contribution to her personal knowledge management system.

 

Peer review of teaching videos

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I’m excited to share a series of videos on the formative peer review of teaching. The purpose of these videos is to enhance understanding of, and skills for, the peer review of teaching. These videos are for both reviewers and reviewees.
The videos can be found on the UBC Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology’s YouTube Channel at the “Formative Peer Review of Teaching” playlist: https://www.youtube.com/user/ctltresources/playlists

The specific videos are:
This project started as an attempt to create videos myself. The result was cheesy looking videos which were painstakingly long to create.
Since I am not a particularly patient person (my children and spouse would wholeheartedly agree), and because I appreciate high quality work, I was thrilled that, in the end, the videos were a produced with the expert help of Michael Sider and UBC Studios.
Please send me your feedback via email (isabeau.iqbal[at]ubc.ca), twitter (@isabeauiqbal) or in the comments box. You can, of course, leave comments on YouTube.

Should I get a PhD?

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If you are an educational developer, you may be debating whether you want to go back to school and pursue doctoral studies. In this post, I share my perspective and experience on that issue in the hopes that doing so may help colleagues who are grappling with the question of “Should I get a PhD?”

Early thoughts about getting a PhD

I started working as an educational developer in 2003 as I was completing my Masters degree in Adult Education. I deeply enjoyed my work at the teaching and learning centre but because I was employed there only 1 to 2 days per week it took me a few years to “get” what this field was about. By 2006, my work at the centre was more regular and I recognized that educational development was a profession I felt committed to.

Knowing that I wanted to pursue a career in educational development, I began to ask myself whether I wanted to do doctoral studies. My sense was that I would have more varied and interesting opportunities with a PhD and that, overall, this would lead to greater career fulfillment. Specifically, I remember feeling that the PhD matters in the world of higher education and that ‘having one’ would allow me to collaborate meaningfully with others more often.

Other issues I considered in my decision-making process

Even if I felt fairly confident that pursuing a doctoral degree would be a good career decision, I had many other things to consider before I submitted my application. These are the main issues I thought about/stressed over as I made my decision:

  • Mothering. I had two young children (ages 2 and 6 at the time). Could I mother them in a way that I felt good about if I did my PhD? That is, could I give them the attention, love, and time I wanted to while pursuing doctoral studies?
    • It turns out I could but only because I became extremely good at setting boundaries around a whole number of other ‘opportunities’. During my studies, I said ‘no’ to a bunch of tempting offers (i.e., service work, side-research projects, volunteer opportunities, projects etc) so I could give more to my children and enjoy them as much as possible.
  • Relationship. I had heard that the rate of divorce was fairly high in graduate school. I was in a long-time relationship and did not want ours to end up in divorce.
    • It didn’t. We will have been together 22 years this fall (2017).
  • Work. I wanted to continue working part-part time. Since my reasons for starting doctoral studies were strongly related to my career, I wanted to keep working as an educational developer.
    • The teaching centre’s director at that time, Dr. Gary Poole, and my supervisor, Ms. Janice Johnson, were highly supportive of my professional growth and I was able to continue working at the teaching and learning centre part-time while going to school.

Support from my family

My father, mother, and spouse were supportive of me going back to school and this was an important aspect of my decision-making process. My retired father, I knew, would provide as much help as he could with childcare; he also offered to help me financially (I accepted).  Both my parents had had academic careers and my father was ecstatic that I was considering a PhD. I was confident I could count on my spouse for emotional support; he’s my biggest cheerleader.

Has it been ‘worth it’?

I began my PhD in Education (with a focus on teaching and learning in higher education) in 2007 and completed it in 2012. There were many aspects I enjoyed about doing a PhD and, at the same time, there was a lot of stress involved.

Am I glad I did it? Yes, for so many reasons.

Has it been worth it, career-wise? Yes.  I had predicted that completing a PhD would lead to more fulfilling work and I believe it has. Within the context of the large, research-intensive university within which I work, I have been involved in various research projects, collaborations, facilitative processes, and consultations that I don’t think would have been available to me if I did not have a PhD.

Did it help me grow as an educational developer? Yes, yes, and yes because I gained so much by way of knowledge, skills, and experience during my years of study.

If you have any questions, please contact me! If you’d like to consider the “Should I get a PhD?” question further, read the interviews at Should I Get a PhD?

 

Photo credits:

Finger face with a question: https: //flic.kr/p/cBFFBS

Questioned proposal: https: //flic.kr/p/4S8uZe

 

Documenting the impact of educational leadership in faculty member careers

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Leadership quote

For just under a year, I have been involved in a collaborative project concerning educational leadership (EL) in faculty member careers.

This initiative involves (1) clarifying what EL is in the context of faculty member careers and (2) helping faculty members articulate the evidence and impact of their EL activities.The people with whom I am collaborating are Dr. Simon Bates (lead) and Dr. Simon Albon. Though my involvement is in the UBC context, this is part of a larger international Universitas 21 project.

One of the reasons that articulating evidence and impact of EL matters is because Educational Leadership Stream faculty must be able to do so to advance their careers (see note 1). However, since EL is a concept people are still trying to figure out, it is not yet ‘obvious’ what counts as evidence and how to communicate the impact.

We have begun to develop some resources to help with this and are workshopping them with faculty members and others to get their feedback.

The tool I wish to share about in this blog post is the Educational Leadership Mapping (ELM) tool.  The ELM tool is an organizing framework that can help instructors begin to categorize and make sense of their EL activities. This two-dimensional framework asks instructors to plot what they do related to teaching/learning and the forms of enactment. Learn more here.

Download the ELM tool here as a PowerPoint slide.

In our experience, faculty members have an easier time plotting along the horizontal axis than on the vertical; they can find it difficult to distinguish between “Manage” and “Lead” and may have a (negative) reaction to the word “manage”. The distinctions made on page 2 of The University of Glasgow’s Guidelines for Learning, Teaching & Scholarship Track may be helpful for distinguishing where to place an activity along the vertical (i.e., items in the Professorial list would match up best with “Lead”).

Our work is ongoing and we welcome your feedback. We will be presenting this work at the 2017 POD Conference in Montreal and I will be writing more posts on the topic as we prepare for that session.

 

Note 1: Though faculty members in the Educational Leadership stream MUST demonstrate EL, faculty members at all ranks and appointments may be engaging in EL.

Photocredit: https: //flic.kr/p/8X2jaV.photosteve101  planetofsuccess.com