Introduction

AU Educational Development Network (UPNet) is responsible for the Teacher training programme for assistant professors and postdocs at Aarhus University and has been in charge of the programme for several years.

The programme is aimed at assistant professors and those postdocs with teaching obligations on their way to qualify/ apply for a permanent position as associate professors as well as other employees at AU, who are responsible of teaching activities at the same level as assistant professors e.g. teaching assistant professors or associate professors without equivalent pedagogical competency.

The aim of the programme is to contribute to the professionalization and quality of university teaching through the development of the participants’ practical teaching skills and by fostering a scholarly approach to teaching.
The aim will be achieved when participants are able to

• Analyse and discuss teaching based on knowledge about quality teaching, didactics, assessment, evaluation, and students as learners.
• Plan, execute, and evaluate well-aligned teaching and assessment activities within their own disciplines and organizational contexts.
• Use and evaluate educational technologies to promote learning activities for groups and individual students.
• Demonstrate practical teaching skills within a variety of forms of teaching    .
• Collect data, analyse, and communicate information about their teaching practices and experiences to colleagues and other stakeholder in a teaching portfolio. 

The programme is organized with the purpose of supporting the teaching activities in which participants are already involved by, for example, supporting the planning of teaching and implementation of teaching experiments as well as the preparation of (digital) teaching material.

Finally, it is a central part of the programme, that participants write contributions to their own learning portfolios. The learning portfolios may be considered the starting point for the development of participants’ own teaching portfolios, which they must develop in order to apply for a position as associate professor at AU. AU´s rules for teaching portfolios can be found here.

The programme is considered the basis of the mandatory supervision process, which forms part of the pedagogical training of assistant professors at Aarhus University.

AU`s rules and practice concerning the teacher training programme for assistant professors and postdocs

The programme consists of four modules:

Module 1: Introduction to teaching and learning in research-based education
Module 1 is a 3-day residential course at either Sandbjerg Gods (spring) or Kystvejens Konferencecenter, Grenå (autumn).

The module focuses on

• Participants own development as university teachers
• Basic university pedagogy: theory, concepts and models
• Student characteristics, motivation and learning 
• Pedagogical research and evidence
• The planning of teaching, with focus on well-founded choices of learning outcomes, content, assessment, and educational IT
• Teaching methods and techniques including an introduction to lecturing, small class teaching and supervision
• Course evaluation and the development of participants’ own courses.

The total workload is estimated at 50 hours. The module will be held in a blended learning format. The estimated preparation is approximately 25-30 hours ahead of the residential module.

Module 2: Educational IT – The use of educational technology 

The module is held at each of the four faculties, and the content is designed so that it fits the different educational IT strategies at the faculties.

The module focuses on the implementation of

• The educational IT strategy of Aarhus University, including:
• Different course formats: ’technology distributed’, ’ technology supported’, ’ technology innovated’ (blended learning), and ’ technology based´(distance learning)
• Best practice examples of teaching supported by technology
• Models for planning blended learning teaching (classroom teaching supported by e-learning)
• Hands-on experience with different methods of e-learning and technology, with special focus on lecturing, small class teaching, and supervision
• Production of minimum 1 digital teaching object for use in participants’ own teaching
• Re-design of participants’ own courses
• The teacher’s role as e-moderator

The total preparation and workload for this module is estimated at 25 hours. The module is held as a blended learning module at ARTS, BSS and HEALTH and as a distance learning module at Nat-Tech.

Module 3: (Re-)designing course

Participants must choose one of the following tracks: Lecturing, Small Class Teaching, or Supervision.

All tracks have the following format:

• Online introduction
• Course day face-to-face (f2f) with presentations, activities, sharing of knowledge and preparation of a (re-)design project for a course or learning module
• Supervision related to the (re-)design project, including the use of technology
• The testing of the re-designed learning module in participants’ own teaching
• Final course day f2f with evaluation of experiences and results. 

The track on lecturing focuses on e.g.:

• Identifying issues in participants’ own lecturing practice
• The planning of lectures or a series of lectures (including the interaction between in-class and out-of-class activities)
• Rhetorical instruments in the lecture
• Digital instruments in the lecture
• Visual instruments in the lecture

The track on small class teaching focuses on e.g.:

• Identifying issues in participants’ own small class teaching practice
• Possibilities and challenges in activating students in small class teaching
• Organising small class teaching (including the use of technology and the interaction between in-class and out-of-class activities)
• Meeting the students, including classroom-management and the diversity of students
• Managing professional dialogue in small class teaching
• Feedback and assessment in small class teaching

The track on supervision focuses among on e.g.:

• Identifying issues in participants’ own supervision practice
• Matching expectations in supervision
• Relational and process skills
• Text skills and feedback in the writing process
• Communication skills and methods for dialogue
• The use of technology in supervision

The total workload for one of the tracks in this module is estimated at approximately 45 hours: 20 hours for preparation and participation in the course days and approximately 25 hours for formulation and testing of participants’ own project.
 

Module 4: Final workshop on teaching portfolio, knowledge sharing, and the teaching practice at the four faculties 

The content of this module differs slightly from one faculty to the other. However, it goes for all the faculties that participants will have the opportunity to present their experiences and insights, and the outcomes of the teacher training programme for a group of supervisors and colleagues.

On the final course day, focus will be on:

• Feedback on participants’ own learning portfolio or teaching portfolio draft
• Presentation of selected outcomes from modules 2 and 3
• Discussion of the teaching environment at the faculty such as the students, evaluations, conditions for teaching and teaching development, university strategies,

The total preparation and workload of module 4 is estimated at 30 hours.

The modules must be completed in one semester.
Overview of the structure of the course.