Our Teaching Internship Program Read More . . . . .

Why Create Your Teaching Portfolio?

The portfolio benefits teachers, students, and administrators because it:

• keeps a record of a teacher's accomplishments
• focuses attention on teaching and recognizes its importance
• stimulates discussion about teaching and pedagogy
• encourages the scholarship of teaching
• encourages teachers to develop and present better evidence of the quality of their teaching
• provides a better assessment tool for those who hire, promote, and evaluate teachers
• gives the teacher some control over the process as compiler and editor

More and more universities and colleges throughout Canada, the US, and the UK are using portfolios as a means of evaluating candidates for promotion and tenure; many are even requiring portfolios from applicants for tenure-track positions.

To find out more, visit the Teaching Portfolio website at the University of Saskatchewan (Herteis, 2001); just go to www.usask.ca/tlc and click on “teaching portfolios.”

To talk about your own Teaching Portfolio
Contact Eileen

Peer Consultation: A Voluntary, Personal Approach to Enhanced Teaching

What is it?

Peer Consultation is:

• designed to support teaching and teachers
• voluntary and confidential
• initiated by a teacher who is committed to on-going improvement

Why request it?

You may request a consultation for many reasons:

• to obtain feedback on changes you have made in a course
• to discover what's going well
• to improve your overall teaching skills or address a particular concern
• to discuss ideas and innovations

What is involved?

The consultant will likely:

• Meet you to discuss your needs
• Attend one or more of your classes and be introduced to the students with a short explanation
• Observe your teaching and gather information
• Give students a brief questionnaire at the end of class
• Meet you again to discuss the information that has been gathered
• Send you a confidential report on the consultation
(The consultant's report is your property, and it remains confidential unless you decide otherwise.)

All teachers, but especially new faculty at Mount Allison, are warmly encouraged to take part in Peer Consultation.

To find out more:

Contact Eileen

Back to top

Teaching Internship Program: A Unique Mount Allison Initiative
(N.B. Students interested in participating in this program should contact their professor, not the PCTC)

What do Teaching Interns do?
The goal of the program is to foster an atmosphere of experiential learning and one-on-one mentorship between the student and the faculty member. The student Intern and the supervising faculty mentor create a learning contract at the beginning of the Internship. This learning contract outlines what each hopes the student will learn from the Internship. The Internship is not just about what the student does, but about what she learns from what she does.

Teaching Interns are involved in a variety of teaching related tasks, for example:
* leading tutorials
* teaching classes
* developing outlines
* marking
* facilitating discussions

Experiential Learning Portfolios
Student Interns document their learning in an experiential learning portfolio that allows them to translate their experience into learning through reflection and analysis.
Portfolios are a complementary balance of narrative sections and evidence of learning.

Sample Table of Contents for a Learning Portfolio

Eligibility

For professors:
New applicants to the program or those who have not participated in Internship for several terms will always have priority for the limited spaces.
There will be no consecutive Internships—for example, professors who have an Intern in the winter term are ineligible to participate in the program until the following winter term.
Professors will complete an application form in which they demonstrate the following:

a) specific goals for the Internship (the anticipated instructional enhancements, learning outcomes, benefits for the students in the course, etc.)
b) how the Intern’s role differs from that of the TA, if there are TAs in the department
c) how the Intern will be chosen

For Students:
Only undergraduate students currently registered at Mount Allison are eligible for the Undergraduate Teaching Internship Program.
Students may not work as Interns for a course in which they are also enrolled; they will normally have taken the course in which they are Interns.
Students who are currently Teaching Assistants (in any course) are ineligible for an Internship in the same term.
Graduate students are ineligible.

To ensure the best possible experience for their Internship and to preclude the possibility that the Internship will compromise their own studies, students must be able to attend classes for the course in which they are interning: a timetable conflict makes them ineligible for the program.

While professors may not have an Intern for two consecutive terms, in exceptional circumstances a student may work as an Iintern in two consecutive terms provided all of the above conditions for students and professors are met.

For the 2009-2010 academic year, we have funding for 12 Undergraduate Teaching Interns per term. Each Intern will receive a $500 stipend. Interns will work between 50-60 hours during the term.

To find out more:

Contact Eileen

Back to top