Frequently asked questions

Specific queries about aspects of teaching and learning, mostly contributed by staff at the University of Birmingham are posted on the Prodait Forum. There are occasional links to external websites and resources that may suggest answers or methods of investigation, but the main function of the list is to suggest ideas for your own classroom enquiries. If you do investigate any of these, or similar, questions, please contribute a report of what you did and what you discovered.

We have also included on this page some queries of a more general nature, or which relate to institutional requirements.  Short answers and suggestions for these are given wherever possible. 

General queries

What recent research has been done on teaching in HE?   (see the Higher Education Academy website)

The following journals publish research papers on teaching in HE

Click here for a list from Taylor and Francis

Click here for journals from Springer

Additional titles:

Active Learning in Higher Education

Arts and Humanities in Higher Education

How can I raise the profile of teaching and learning in my School or department? view here

For promotion panel members etc: How do I evaluate the evidence provided on quality of teaching? view here

Institutional requirements

How do I know that what I produce is ‘correct’ and conforms to the institutions programme requirements?

How do I find out exactly what I need to do in relation to programme aims, objectives, learning outcomes and curriculum development?

Supporting and encouraging CPD

What material is available to support the CPD of academic-related staff involved in teaching?

Queries about doing CPD and getting recognition

How can I work with a colleague to develop a new course or revise an existing course? view here

How can I use a single course as a "laboratory" for examining the effectiveness of my teaching? view here

What is a ‘reflective statement’? view here

How can I show evidence of my teaching quality? view here

I’ve identified a specific problem related to my teaching work (eg many members of my undergraduate seminar group fail to do the preparatory reading I set them) – how can I go about finding a solution? Link to action research page

I’m intrigued or puzzled about an aspect of my teaching work – how can I investigate this to see what is going on? Link to exploratory practice page

I’m curious to know why some of my views about teaching and learning seem to differ from those of my students and / or colleagues  Link to Beliefs pages

I don’t have any specific problem or puzzles I want to solve right now but I am generally interested in finding out more about the teaching and learning process and understanding this better Links to beliefs, peer observation and Exploratory Practice

Peer observation/peer review

How do I help my department develop a peer review programme?

How do I help a colleague develop/improve her/his teaching?

How do I help a colleague show evidence of her/his teaching?

What are the requirements and procedures for peer observation in my university?

• Birmingham
• James Cooke
• Lund