Career Portfolio
Kirstie McAllum
Teaching Philosophy
I view my role as a teacher as being to change “the ways in which learners understand, or
experience, or conceptualise the world around them” (Ramsden, 2003, p. 6). This approach
means that I need to do far more than expertly transmit information through lectures and
readings. Rather, I need to facilitate learning (Kember, 1997) by listening to students’
learning conversations, expressed in class and through assessments, about what they already
know and what they still need to learn. In order to do this, I set up the classroom environment
as a community of practice (Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002).
A community of practice is a group that (1) interacts together regularly, (2) shares common
practices and tasks, and (3) sets its own goals. I achieve this as follows. First, I set up the
classroom environment so that students and I can interact in a collaborative way. Second, I
believe that learning in a university context involves approaching topics through disciplinespecific lenses. I aim to introduce students to principles and skills that enable them to
examine issues from multiple communication perspectives using diverse theoretical frames
and to become flexible thinkers who are able to decide which questions matter, what counts
as evidence, and evaluate the quality of arguments. Third, I try to foster students’
responsibility for their own learning by sharing the course goals and what students need to do
to achieve these.
Within a community of practice, more experienced members of the group help integrate
newcomers into the group’s life and practice. Since changing the ways in which students
view the world can be an emotional as well as cognitively challenging experience, I support
students’ development by teaching the skills of analysis and reflection explicitly; scaffolding
learning tasks appropriately (Reigelluth, 1999); and providing ongoing feedback and feedforward. Part of this feedback involves helping students understand and suggest connections
between the various learning components within a single course, with learning from other
courses in the university, and with workplaces, public life, and other life contexts.
Teaching and Assessment Practices
Overview of Teaching
I began teaching students in higher education at a private training enterprise specialising in
hospitality and tourism in 1999 and then taught in an applied business course at Auckland
University of Technology in 2000. After a range of teaching experiences at both primary
schools (Year 1, 2 and 5) and secondary schools (Year 12 and 13), I returned to higher
education teaching in 2010 in the Department of Management at the University of Waikato.
While there, I taught a wide range of core courses in communication theory, research
methods, diversity communication and written communication, as well as optional courses in
conflict management and negotiation and persuasion. The student body in these
undergraduate classes has been diverse, in terms of ethnicity and age. Significant numbers of
the students in the upper level optional courses were businesspeople.
These courses included two that were new courses for the department. I have convened a
course that spanned multiple faculties and team-taught three courses. I have supervised a
graduate research project.
Examples of Teaching and Assessment Practices
Linking teaching and assessment. I begin each class by explaining the learning outcomes.
Toward the end of the class, I embed an activity that requires students to self-assess their
progress by applying the skills or knowledge to a particular example or case. In the case of
knowledge application, students work in small groups to analyse the issues or develop
potential solutions. For example, first year students evaluated which communication
strategies might be useful for a case where age diversity had led to misunderstanding by
multiple parties. When a learning outcome focuses on skill development, I show a sample
text or product that requires further work and we decide jointly how to move the work
forward. Second year students, for example, coded an interview transcript, created emergent
categories and trialled various theoretical approaches that made sense of the relationships
among categories. I have linked this teaching approach with assessment practices. That is, I
show students a marked assignment that includes my comments. I provide the rubric and ask
them to grade the work, and then use the rubric to assess their own work at this point in time
(see the example on the following page). Providing criteria also de-mystifies the assessment
process. Students can then use the rubric to pinpoint areas for development and identify what
they already know (a form of recognition of prior learning).
Developing opportunities for experiential learning. In order to connect students with
communities and concerns outside the classroom, I have constructed class activities and
assessments that promote experiential learning. For example, the university’s Disability
Support Service provided me with resources to run interactive activities that explored issues
of mobility and vision impairment in daily living. I also asked first year diversity students to
identify and meet with a research participant of a different cultural background or age bracket.
Student responses were overwhelmingly positive. One student noted, “I am grateful for this
assignment as I have had the opportunity to extend my knowledge, both on diversity in
cultures and life experiences. It is good to be able to apply expert theories to actual
experiences, rather than just learning about them in a lecture environment.”
Experiential learning opportunities can also encourage students to analyse and reflect on
material with more depth. The students from a third year events and communication
management course, who designed and implemented a business breakfast for community
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leaders with celebrity speakers to fundraise for a nonprofit organisation, learnt far more about
promoting positive community development and networking than they would have from a
traditional ‘chalk and talk’ lecture.
Creating a collaborative learning environment. Part of the power differential within
classrooms stems from fear of the grading process. To create a more collaborative approach, I
now use formative assessment far more during the teaching semester. For example, several
assessments for first year written communication and diversity students have required weekly
Google doc entries to pace student work and to provide quick and timely feedback. These
tasks then build up to a more complex and longer piece of summative assessment later in the
course. In two higher level courses, I have turned assessments into teaching/learning
moments. Specifically, I asked groups engaged in semester-long projects to meet with me to
discuss both progress and problems.
Reflecting. I use many small class activities to help students evaluate their decisions about
what and how to learn meta-cognitively. For instance, I frequently get students to do a
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“Corners” exercise, where they need to physically position themselves in different parts of
the lecture theatre or tutorial room to indicate interest in a particular content area, research
method, or learning style. I then ask them to interact with others in the same ‘corner’ and note
similarities and differences. This technique also creates new links within the classroom as a
learning community.
I also use reflection as an assessment exercise: students consider what and how they have
learnt over the duration of the course, how course concepts apply to examples in other
university, work and life contexts, and how they will use this learning to shape future
endeavours. Students in a conflict and consensus course, for example, used theory to explain
why conflict had arisen or been mitigated in their own experiences of group work and
assessed the success of conflict management strategies.
Providing multiple opportunities to learn. Since students differ in their educational
background, learning styles, and disciplinary interests, I try to offer a range of options for
revisiting material in more flexible formats. One way has been the incorporation of e-learning
into my courses. For example, I have created a Google site with links to online practice
activities and explanations that students can try out to supplement class activities (see below).
I have also developed brief video podcasts to enable students to revisit concepts and skills
they need to understand in order to successfully complete assessment tasks.
Examples of Innovation
I believe that students need to access materials, process information, and represent their
knowledge in diverse ways that reflect their strengths and learning styles in ways that also
develop the skill set that they need as graduates. To achieve this, I have trialled a variety of
teaching strategies and assessment formats.
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Flipped teaching. I have utilised Panopto software in my second year communication theory
and research methods course to ‘flip’ the teaching (Bergmann & Sams, 2012): I pre-record
lectures that students watch before coming to class (see below), so that we can use the lecture
time discussing how various theoretical frameworks could be applied to research data.
Diverse learning experiences and assessment formats. Student agency is important (Leach,
Neutze, & Zepke, 2001), and so I try to offer choices to students about the type of learning
experiences and assessments. For example, third year students studying conflict management
and consensus could choose to conduct a research project or create an applied practical
exercise. This enables them to achieve paper outcomes as well as follow their own interests.
In terms of assessment, I have also experimented with less traditional formats for assessment.
For example, first year students in a diversity course worked in groups of three to create a
scripted conversation showing three distinct perspectives on a diversity issue, overturning the
tendency to adopt binary thinking. Students could present as a YouTube video, an in-class
presentation, or via XtraNormal, a web-based, 3D movie-making software. Fourth year
students used a poster format similar to that used at professional, trade and research
conferences to present their work on negotiation methods.
Evaluation of Teaching
I gather data about students’ learning needs and interests through informal conversations
before and after classes, during activity-based discussion during classes, in office hours, and
through e-mail conversations. This data enables me to provide more targeted feedback to
students, to clarify challenging concepts, and to discuss expectations about assessments. In
addition to this ongoing, informal evaluation, I use formal course appraisal data to inform the
structure, content and style of the course for the next cohort of students and also to improve
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my teaching practice in general. When teaching a course again, I let students know the
rationale for changes in assessments or learning activities, based on comments from previous
appraisals. Course appraisal data for each course that I have taught is included in the
Appendix.
Professional Development
Formal Teaching Development
In 2011, I began the Post-Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Teaching. I have completed the
first paper, “The Professional Practice of Tertiary Teaching,” and I am currently enrolled in
the second: “Tertiary Teaching Research and Development.” The course has exposed me to a
wide range of theoretical and practical perspectives on teaching, learning and assessment that
have led to me to design differently, teach more creatively, reflect more consistently, and
assess in a more integrated way. The workshops organised by the Teaching and Development
Unit at the University of Waikato provided a valuable springboard:
- Conceptions of tertiary teaching and learning (Feb 2007)
- Teaching international students (Feb 2007)
- Teaching strategies to promote the development of students’ learning skills (Feb
2009)
- Principles of assessment (Feb 2009)
- Integrating information literacy into the disciplines (Feb 2009)
- An introduction to course design (Feb 2011)
- Research and teaching (Feb 2011)
- Maximising learning in large group contexts (Feb 2011)
- Evaluating your teaching (June 2011)
- Becoming a reflective practitioner (June 2011)
Reading pedagogical material on creating active learning environments has been extremely
useful. I have also started to read from journals that deal with the scholarship of teaching and
learning such as Learning and Teaching in Higher Education to stay in touch with teaching
practices more broadly, and discipline-specific journals such as Communication Teacher and
Communication Education as a source of new ideas to teach communication concepts.
Informal Teaching Development
Over the last two years, I have participated in faculty-wide discussions about writing clear
learning outcomes, creating reliable assessment rubrics, and using peer mentoring to improve
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teaching practice. One of these sessions led me to incorporate tools such as PeerWise 1, a
student-led course review website, into several courses. I have also utilised the advice and
skill of staff from across the university. For example, library staff taught me how to create
podcasts for students. I am part of the Teaching and Learning Network which offers a
university-wide perspective on teaching and learning.
I have created networks outside the university. For instance, I have connected with Norbert
Morawetz from the University of Hertfordshire to trial the use of an online “academic matchmaking” site that helps students understand the strengths and weaknesses of group members
in research teams and networked with learning support staff from Unitec to develop ideas for
teaching written communication skills more effectively.
E-learning Development
I have also attended e-learning workshops offered by the Waikato Centre for e-Learning on
integrating social media tools such as social bookmarking, blogs, and Twitter into university
learning environments. I attended a full-day workshop organised by the School of Education
in July 2010 on the potential uses of mobile phones for learning. I have set up informal
sessions with technology specialists at the university to develop my ability to use interactive
whiteboards and Mimio software as a way of enhancing engagement and focus on process
within lecture contexts.
Teaching and Learning Goals
My teaching and learning goals for the next 18 months are as follows:
1. Research my teaching practice and publish in a refereed SoTL journal
2. Create activities that scaffold the reading of complex academic texts
3. Continue to experiment with creative, more personalised means of assessment that
create connections with contexts outside academia
4. Attend a higher education conference
Developing capacity in others
Tutor Development
For the past two years, I have recruited, trained and mentored tutors for the department,
helping them address challenges such as fairness in marking, class management, and collegial
relationships. In 2012, I also organised and ran several sessions for tutors from across the
university for the Teaching Development Unit’s tutor training day as well as facilitated a
separate day-long orientation for Management Communication tutors.
1
See an explanation about PeerWise at http://peerwise.cs.auckland.ac.nz/
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Development of Written Communication Skills
I am a member of the WMS Writing Advisory Group, which has developed a faculty-wide
approach to teaching and assessing grammar using an online software package. I organised
and convened the trial course in 2011, before implementing the programme across a large
class of 260 students in the A semester of 2012. The representative for the software supplier,
Pearson Education, has asked me to guide academics at other New Zealand universities who
are also experimenting with the use of the MyWritingLab software. In 2012, the Pro-Vice
Chancellor International has asked me to help develop the teaching programme and
supporting resources for written communication for students in China who subsequently
complete their studies at Waikato.
Collegiality and Collaboration
Part of fostering collaboration means sharing resources and ideas with colleagues. To this end,
I have shared plans and resources for experiential activities and assessment rubrics within the
department and taught others within the faculty how to create and use Google sites to support
in-class learning in their classes. Over the past three years, I have also given presentations,
facilitated workshops, and written columns to share what I have learnt about e-learning and
teaching more widely. These are listed below. I include my PhD as a source of teaching ideas
and concepts, as I have used my own learning about methodology, for example, to help
students in my research methods classes.
Pedagogical presentations and workshops
McAllum, K. (2012). Podcasts: Home videos for academic purposes. Paper presented at
WCeLFest for the Waikato Centre for e-Learning, Hamilton, New Zealand, February
2012.
McAllum, K. (2012, June). Guest column [on teaching]. Community, 2.
McAllum, K. (2012). Keeping teaching fresh. TDU Talk, 1, 9-10.
McAllum, K. (2012). Organisational volunteering: The meanings of volunteering,
professionalism, volunteer communities of practice and wellbeing (Unpublished
doctoral dissertation). University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
McAllum, K. (2011). Teaching technologies and Gen Y. Paper presented to teaching staff,
Kenvale College Hospitality and Event Management Professional Development Day,
Sydney, Australia, November 2011.
McAllum, K. (2011). Basic e-learning tools. Interactive workshop for teaching staff, Kenvale
College Hospitality and Event Management Professional Development Day, Sydney,
Australia, November 2011.
McAllum, K. (2010). Do Web 2.0 tools encourage collaborative writing? Paper presented at
the Tertiary Writing Network colloquium, Wellington, New Zealand, December 2010.
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References
Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2012). Flip your classroom: Reach every student every class
every day. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Kember, D. (1997). A reconceptulisation of the research into university academics'
conceptions of teaching. Learning and Instruction, 7(3), 255-275.
Leach, L., Neutze, G., & Zepke, N. (2001). Assessment and empowerment: Some critical
questions. Assessment and Evaluation, 26(4), 293-305.
Ramsden, P. (2003). Learning to teach in higher education (2nd ed.). London: Routledge
Falmer.
Reigelluth, C. M. (Ed.). (1999). Instructional design theories and models: A new paradigm of
instructional theory. Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. M. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice: A
guide to managing knowledge. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
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Appendix
Quantitative student evaluations for all classes taught at the Department of Management
Communication, University of Waikato
Five point scale. 1= Always, 2= Often, 3= Sometimes, 4= Seldom, 5= Never.
Course
Item
Score
MCOM 339-12A: Event
Management and
Communication
This paper was intellectually stimulating
Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this paper
This teacher was good at explaining things
This teacher was enthusiastic about what they were teaching
Overall, this teacher was effective
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
MCOM104-12A Written
Communication for Management
This paper was intellectually stimulating
Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this paper
This teacher was good at explaining things
This teacher was enthusiastic about what they were teaching
Overall, this teacher was effective
2.1
1.7
1.3
1.2
1.3
MCOM 239-12A: Event
Management and
Communication
This paper was intellectually stimulating
Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this paper
This teacher was good at explaining things
This teacher was enthusiastic about what they were teaching
Overall, this teacher was effective
2.1
2.0
1.7
1.4
1.8
MCOM 122-11B: Diversity
Management and
Communication (co-taught
across faculties)
This paper was intellectually stimulating
Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this paper
This teacher was good at explaining things
This teacher was enthusiastic about what they were teaching
Overall, this teacher was effective
2.0
1.7
1.2
1.0
1.2
MCOM 331-11A: Managing
Conflict and Consensus
This paper was intellectually stimulating
Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this paper
This teacher was good at explaining things
This teacher was enthusiastic about what they were teaching
Overall, this teacher was effective
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.0
1.1
MCOM 431-10B : Negotiation
and Persuasion (co-taught)
This paper was intellectually stimulating
Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this paper
This teacher was good at explaining things
This teacher was enthusiastic about what they were teaching
Overall, this teacher was effective
1.3
1.5
1.1
1.0
1.2
MCOM 122-10B: Diversity
Management and
Communication (co-taught
across faculties)
This paper was intellectually stimulating
Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this paper
This teacher was good at explaining things
This teacher was enthusiastic about what they were teaching
Overall, this teacher was effective
1.8
2.0
1.3
1.1
1.3
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MCOM104-10B Business
Writing
This paper was intellectually stimulating
Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this paper
This teacher was good at explaining things
This teacher was enthusiastic about what they were teaching
Overall, this teacher was effective
1.5
1.8
1.4
1.2
1.1
MCOM220-10A Communication
Theory (co-taught)
This paper was intellectually stimulating
Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this paper
This teacher was good at explaining things
This teacher was enthusiastic about what they were teaching
Overall, this teacher was effective
1.4
1.4
1.2
1.0
1.1
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