Self-Reflection on Teaching

The Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce is working on building out additional materials on self-reflection. Here are a few simple resources to get you started.

Self-reflection at the end of the semester can be an important opportunity for you to look back on how your course went, what was successful, and what you may want to improve or change before you teach the course again. Here are a few prompts to jump-start your thinking:

The following questions could be helpful to guide your own self-reflection of the semester. Jot down the answers to these questions and review them prior to crafting your syllabus and prepping for the next iteration of the course.

• Which assignments worked particularly well this semester? Which assignments need revising before you teach this course again?
  • Which assignments did you think the students enjoyed the most? The least?
  • Ideas for next time
• Were you satisfied with the materials (Book(s), readings, videos, etc.) you used this semester
  • What did you hear from students about the course materials?
  • Ideas for next time
• How was the workflow throughout the semester? Were there times that felt busier than usual? Calmer than usual?
  • What did you hear from students about workload and timing?
  • Ideas for next time
• What progress did students make towards meeting the learning outcomes I set for the course? How do I know this?
  • What did students think about the learning outcomes? Were they aware of them? Did they feel like they made progress?
  • Ideas for next time

There are also many resources available that provide a more detailed self-assessment of your teaching. If you are preparing materials for promotion or tenure, or are considering significant changes to the way you teach a particular course, it could be helpful to complete a formal self-assessment of your teaching. Here are a few links to established self-assessments of teaching:

Helpful self-reflection templates:

• Teaching self Assessment form (Central Piedmont Community College)
• Instructor/Course self-rating form (St. Mary’s College)
• Instructor self-evaluation (Calvin College)

Formal assessments in which your responses are collected as part of a larger research study:

• The teaching practices inventory (geared more towards STEM fields)
• The teaching perspectives inventory