Teaching
ACPA described this competency as having the “knowledge and understanding of concepts and principles of teaching, learning, and training theory and how to apply these theories to improve student affairs practice and education” (ACPA, 2007, p.11). Teaching, training, and facilitating educational programs have become experiences that I highly value in fostering meaningful interactions with students. Although the subject matter I have delivered in such settings has often been specific to the individual roles and responsibilities of the participants, I believe I have developed skills in understanding the importance of environmental aspects of the classroom and of creating planned syllabi that account for relevant learning outcomes. I consider myself to have reached an intermediate level of this competency, and have included a collection of lesson plans I have developed for sessions delivered at the Oldham College. I have also included my inspection report on the effectiveness of the sessions at the Oldham College and the Learner Involvement Strategy which guided my design of learning outcomes. Finally, I have included the training materials from the Residential Discipline Committee Training I have delivered multiple times at BGSU, as well as the syllabus from the Leaders in Residence class I co-facilitated in Spring 2010.
During my time serving as the sole advisor of the Students’ Union Executive Committee at The Oldham College, it was my responsibility to design and deliver training sessions that provided all students’ union officers and class representatives with the skills and knowledge they needed to effectively represent the student body. As this was the first year implementing such a democratic system at the college, I had no prior material to work from and so was able to tailor the training modules to the needs of the officers and the student population. The democratic structure was implemented as part of the Oldham College’s Learner Involvement Strategy, an initiative required of all further education colleges in the UK by the minister for education. I specifically designed the learning outcomes in these sessions to align with the learning outcomes set forth in this document, therefore directly contributing to the overall success of the program.
During the college’s Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OFSTED) inspection, I complied a report on the effectiveness of the system and subsequent training sessions which exhibited how the training sessions directly linked to the learning outcomes expected of all further education colleges in the UK through “Every Child Matters”: be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution, and achieve economic well-being. I believe that in being pro-active in my creation and assessment of learning outcomes that align with the mission of the institution, as well as constructing quality lesson plans and syllabi, and using evaluative techniques to build on future program development, I have successfully exhibited an intermediate level of teaching as a professional competency.
Since leaving the Oldham College I have become a certified facilitator for the Breakthrough program through the Pacific Institute and having delivered a number of training sessions for the First Year Success Series, Residential Discipline Committee training, IFC and Pan-Hellenic Council J-Board training, Teaching and Learning Conference, and the Leadership Academy at Bowling Green State University. In the Spring semester of 2010 I also co-facilitated Leaders in Residence, a 6-week program designed to develop leadership skills among residential students at BGSU. This experience allowed me to develop my own lesson plans from pre-existing learning outcomes and assess the effectiveness of each session and the overall program.