Department for Curriculum and Quality Enhancement

Recommended Reading for Those New to Teaching

• The Top Ten Requirements of Good Teaching
  'Good teaching: the top ten requirements' by Richard Leblanc, York University, Ontario. This article appeared in The Teaching Professor after Professor Leblanc won a Seymous Schulich Award for Teaching Excellence including a $10000 cash reward. This site also provides a link to an extensive Teaching Tips Index.

• General Resources for Students and Staff
  LearnHigher - Excellence in Learning Development pages provide free teaching and learning resources for staff and students across the FE/HE sector.

• Graduates Who Teach
  The Higher Education Academy (HEA) offers various forms of support for Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs). The Subject Centres provide specific support for the different subject areas.

• Teaching Tips
  The Teaching Tips Index from Honolulu Community College contains brief articles on a variety of topics, including: preparing for the first day and weeks of class; ways to engage students; setting expectations; principles of learning; organization; and assessment.

• Teaching Tips for Discussion Sessions, Lab Sessions, and Special Issues
  This page from the University of California, Santa Barbara, includes ideas on effective questioning; wait-time (the amount of time to wait after a question is posed); recommendations for first time Teaching Assistants (TAs); how to teach problem-solving; TA-ing large classes; encouraging participation in the classroom; what to do when students have not done the reading; acknowledging responses and dignifying errors; and dramatic ideas for the classroom.

• University of California, Santa Barbara TA Handbook
  This handbook has a section on special teaching topics, including strategies to enhance learning; lecturing lab session; discussion sessions; and cooperative learning groups (small groups).

• A Berkeley Compendium of Suggestions for Teaching with Excellence
  This compendium, from the University of California, Berkeley, was first published in 1983 and many of the suggestions may be out of date. It is still on the web as a service and recommends that you check more contemporary sources, too. The ideas in the compendium have been expanded and incorporated into a book, Tools for Teaching, published by Jossey-Bass.

• A Brief Summary of The Best Practices in College Teaching
  This page, compiled by Tom Drummond of the North Seattle Community College, is intended to challenge the professional development of all teachers.

• Preparing to Teach
  This Kansas University website contains several useful links.