Dr. Merris Griffiths

Chapter 1: Introduction & Personal Commentary

Abstract

This opening chapter will provide a brief introduction to my first impressions as a ‘beginner lecturer’ and an introduction to the process of portfolio building. After providing a brief outline of my academic background, I will then move on to detail the context (at the time of writing this account) with regards my teaching workload.

1.1 To begin at the beginning

As a ‘beginner university teacher’, the prospect of planning and developing modules for the first time can be a daunting task. The importance of offering modules that simultaneously excite interest in the subject and offer clarity of content require a great deal of careful consideration from the outset. In many ways, being challenged to write this teaching portfolio has helped me to crystallise and refine both my thinking ‘as teacher’ and my approaches to teaching (at undergraduate level).

This portfolio is submitted in part requirement of tHE Scheme. It seeks to include a number of teaching reports based on a minimum of 90 hours teaching experience, with reference to the insights gained and changes made in teaching methods. The main aim is to frame the teaching reports in the context so-called ‘reflective practice’ (discussed as a concept later, in Chapter 3.1), explicitly showing how teaching skills develop dynamically. Through this systematic approach, I hope to prove my competence as a thoughtful and organised university teacher, able to critically evaluate her own approaches with the aim of improving course quality and teaching ‘effectiveness’.

1.2 Personal history

UWA has been my academic home since 1993, when I first registered as an undergraduate student studying for a BA joint-honours degree in English & Education. My intention, at that point, had been to complete the degree and train as a primary school teacher, but at the end of my final year I decided to register for post-graduate studies. My initial work towards an MPhil in the Education Department proved so fruitful that I transferred to do a PhD at the end of the first year, and eventually gained the qualification in 2001.

Throughout this time, my interest in ‘education’, both as a theoretical academic discipline and as a teaching practice, remained strong and I was given ample opportunities to develop skills and strategies through taking undergraduate seminars (in a number of different fields) and delivering the occasional ‘guest lecture’. Whilst I was still tempted to train as a primary school teacher (having a passion for paint and PVA glue!), the draw of a teaching career in HE proved very alluring. Towards the end of my registration as a post-graduate student, an opportunity arose for a one-year research post in the Education Department, which proved most enjoyable and a very valuable experience. Perhaps one of the major benefits of this research post was the fact that it brought me back into contact with the Welsh language, which I had not really spoken regularly since childhood. This has since had major positive repercussions for my teaching career as a bilingual lecturer – a highly regarded skill at UWA.

At the end of the research project, I was fortunate enough to be successful in my application for a three-year lectureship in the Education Department, and it is the first two years of this appointment that forms the main focus of my teaching portfolio (cf. current CV, Appendix B.1)

1.3 Present context

During the initial two-year period as lecturer in Education, my teaching workload gradually increased in line with my growing experience. At the time of assembling this portfolio, my responsibilities as module co-ordinator and sole-lecturer at undergraduate level were as follows:

1.3.1 Summary table of teaching responsibilities 

I also enjoyed a number of other teaching responsibilities, either team teaching on undergraduate modules or supervising dissertations (where my academic specialisms were required). These are summarised in the following table:

1.3.2 Summary of additional teaching duties 

The reflections and discussions presented in this portfolio are firmly embedded in the above summary of teaching responsibilities, and are based on teaching diaries, peer observations, student evaluations and feedback, and mentor advice.

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This page was last modified 12 Dec 2005