Basic Vocabulary

Basic Vocabulary for Writing Your Teaching Portfolio

Students who plan to apply for Associate Fellowship of Advance HE may find the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on University Teaching, which was developed at TALIC, useful in getting yourself familiar with the pedagogical vocabulary. It discusses a wide range of teaching and learning topics that are directly relevant to the dimensions of the Professional Standard Framework (PSF). Below is a table which maps the topics in the MOOC and the dimensions and subcategories under each dimension of the PSF to facilitate the writing of teaching portfolios. HKU portal login will be requested before you can watch the videos.

How to Use this Resource Effectively

Students are strongly encouraged to watch the beginning of the videos, where the intended learning outcomes are stated, in order to choose the contents that are relevant to your writing plan. The table below is organized according to the PSF dimensions. As some videos involve contents relevant to more than one dimension, you will see some videos listed under multiple PSF dimensions. Some videos include interviews from experts, teachers and students. If you are looking for the conclusions only, you may go directly to the end of those videos to hear the summaries from the instructor. 

The dimensions and subcategories most relevant to writing the STaR Teaching Portfolio are marked with asterisks. There are no videos available for subcategories K1, V2, V4 and V5.

Areas of Activity

A1*. Design and plan learning activities and/or programmes of study

  1. Teaching and learning spaces
  2. Three domains of learning and levels of understanding
  3. Teaching and learning approaches
  4. Factors that influence student learning (I)
  5. Factors that influence student learning (II)
  6. Seven principles of effective teaching (I)
  7. Seven principles of effective teaching (II)
  8. Seven principles of effective teaching (III)

A2*. Teach and / or Support Learning

  1. Problem-based learning (I) : PBL in practice
  2. Problem-based learning (II) : Rationale, design and practical experiences
  3. Audience response system
  4. Think-pair-share
  5. Teaching large class
  6. Flipped learning
  7. Team-based learning
  8. Experiential learning

A3. Assess and give feedback to learners

  1. Purposes of assessment
  2. The impact of assessment on students’ learning and the backwash effect
  3. Decisions framework for assessment design
  4. Contexts of assessment: Learners’ characteristics
  5. Contexts of assessment: Standards-based assessment and norm-based assessment
  6. Interview with Prof. Royce Sadler on understanding standards
  7. Groupwork assessment
  8. Principles of good assessment practices
  9. Introduction of feedback and The relationship between assessment and feedback
  10. Feedback that makes a difference
  11. Small changes in feedback practices making a big difference
  12. How to make feedback sustainable?
  13. Principles of good feedback

A4. Develop effective learning environments and approaches to student support and guidance

  1. Student diversity in learning (I) : Three examples
  2. Student diversity in learning (II) : Implications for teaching

A5. Engage in continuing professional development in subjects/disciplines and their pedagogy, incorporating research, scholarship and the evaluation of professional practices

  1. What can we learn from experienced teachers? – Interviews with colleagues

Core Knowledge

K2*. Appropriate methods for teaching, learning and assessing in the subject area and at the level of the academic programme

  1. Constructive alignment
  2. Interview with Biggs and Tang
  3. Writing learning outcomes (I)
  4. Writing learning outcomes (II)
  5. Writing learning outcomes (III)
  6. Problem-based learning (I) : PBL in practice
  7. Problem-based learning (II) : Rationale, design and practical experiences
  8. Audience response system
  9. Think-pair-share
  10. Teaching large class
  11. Flipped learning
  12. Team-based learning
  13. Experiential learning
  14. Purposes of assessment
  15. The impact of assessment on students’ learning and the backwash effect
  16. Decisions framework for assessment design
  17. Contexts of assessment: Learners’ characteristics
  18. Contexts of assessment: Standards-based assessment and norm-based assessment
  19. Interview with Prof. Royce Sadler on understanding standards
  20. Groupwork assessment
  21. Principles of good assessment practices

K3*. How students learn, both generally and within their subject/disciplinary area(s)

  1. Three domains of learning and levels of understanding
  2. Teaching and learning approaches
  3. Factors that influence student learning (I)
  4. Factors that influence student learning (II)
  5. Seven principles of effective teaching (I)
  6. Seven principles of effective teaching (II)
  7. Seven principles of effective teaching (III)

K4. The use and value of appropriate learning technologies

  1. Audience response system

K5. The implications of quality assurance and quality enhancement for academic and professional practice with a particular focus on teaching

  1. What can we learn from experienced teachers? – Interviews with colleagues (some part of this video)

Professional Values

V1*. Respect individual learners and diverse learning communities

  1. Student voice: What are we looking for in university education?
  2. Student voice: What kind of teaching engages us?
  3. Student diversity in learning (I) : Three examples
  4. Student diversity in learning (II) : Implications for teaching

V3*. Use evidence-informed approaches and the outcomes from research, scholarship and continuing professional development

  1. Problem-based learning (I) : PBL in practice
  2. Problem-based learning (II) : Rationale, design and practical experiences
  3. Audience response system
  4. Think-pair-share
  5. Teaching large class
  6. Flipped learning
  7. Team-based learning
  8. Experiential learning
  9. Seven principles of effective teaching (I)
  10. Seven principles of effective teaching (II)
  11. Seven principles of effective teaching (III)
  12. What can we learn from experienced teachers? – Interviews with colleagues