Introduction

Introduction

Kia ora and welcome to the Foundation Skills course. This is an elective course and designed to assist you, as a new teacher, to find your way around the myriad of advice and information about tertiary teaching. The course is structured, with a number of different activities, called e-Activities. These activities are designed to get you interested in each topic and give you practical skills and knowledge that you can use immediately. For example, in Unit 1, we will start looking at adult learning theory and some practical teaching strategies.

After this unit, you will have a further 10 units to work through. These can be accessed via the StudyDesk link at the top of the menu. They are also linked from Moodle. Not all units are of equal length. It is best to pace yourself and aim to complete at least one unit per week. Also, begin planning for your assessments early.

To get the most out of the course, you are asked to share your learning with other participants in the course, and to give each other encouragement and feedback. This can be done on the Moodle discussion forums, and by attending some of the real-time web conferencing tutorials. The details will be announced on the Moodle news forum.

A starter activity

Activity

Have a think about your current teaching practice and write down: three reasons why you think that you are a good teacher; and your response to complete the statement "I hope to become a better teacher by doing these three things ...." Record your responses in a learning journal if you are keeping one. These are important statements, which you will be asked to revisit towards the end of the course. Please post your responses to the Moodle discussion forum.