From student to teacher: Building professional development resources for sessional teaching staff

Abstract

Sessional teachers are the front line of university teaching — the staff members with whom undergraduate students have most direct contact. The quality of sessional teaching is therefore crucial in determining the overall quality of students’ learning experiences. In order to improve the quality of sessional teaching — tutoring, laboratory demonstration and marking — in key Engineering and related disciplines, we developed an induction programme that focused on helping sessional staff members approach their teaching roles professionally and develop relevant teaching skills. In this paper, we describe the structure of the induction programme, a set of flexible online resources designed to continue flexible skill development, and feedback from current sessional staff members. Preliminary results suggest an increase in sessional teachers’ confidence and awareness of the professional requirements of teaching roles.