This is how I teach
This month we spoke to Associate Professor Mathew White, interim Head of the School of Education within the Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics. Mathew has a special interest in how leaders establish school cultures to encourage positive learning and wellbeing environments. He is well published in the areas of character education, international education, leading change, strategic planning, and wellbeing education. Mathew’s expertise in student wellbeing will be featured in his presentation at this year’s Festival of Learning and Teaching, where he will speak on Evidence-informed Strategies to Promote Belonging in Learning and Teaching.
What do you like most about teaching in your discipline?
I love learning and teaching. My students and mentors have all shaped who I am as a teacher. I moved into academia five years ago after a 20-year career as a secondary school English and French teacher and a decade of executive-level school experience. I teach postgraduate education courses in the leadership and wellbeing specialisations, including Introduction to Wellbeing in Education, Contemporary Issues in Wellbeing Education, Leading Positive Change, and Mentoring for Teachers, in the Master of Education. My research on wellbeing education and school climate informs my courses. My students include principals, deputy principals, directors of learning, international students, and emerging leaders. My teaching objective is to equip emerging and existing school leaders with evidence-informed strategies to lead sustainable change, support student wellbeing, and create positive learning and wellbeing cultures in schools regardless of circumstances. I have been fortunate to teach some of my MEd courses on-site in secondary schools across Adelaide. That is where the learning can be most rich. My overall goal is to light the fire of curiosity, love of learning, and leadership that I believe it exists within all of us and set my students up for success in their learning journey to share their new knowledge with others.
Associate Professor Mathew White
How would you describe your approach to teaching/your teaching philosophy?
I adopt an evidence-informed teaching approach, which influences all stages of my course design and delivery. At each stage of my teaching, I share with my students the evidence-informed teaching strategies I'm adopting and why. Six principles underpin my teaching philosophy: Active learning: Encouraging active learning via student participation in the classroom, case studies, experiential activities, skill development (e.g., teamwork, research, presentation, and critical thinking) and reflection. Andragogy: Tapping into students' expertise, all of whom bring a wealth of cultural diversity and industry experience to the cohort. Clarity and rigour: Providing clear course learning objectives and assessment requirements and selecting course material grounded in theory and research. Collaboration: Creating a collaborative and team-based approach to learning, with explicit learning intentions, objectives, and success criteria at each stage. Feedback: Providing detailed and timely feedback on students' work. Research-led teaching: Designing a course curriculum and assignments using my own research experience/examples, setting research projects for students, relating what I teach directly to the research literature, and showing that my courses are at the cutting edge of wellbeing education and educational leadership and innovation.
What is your favourite way to use technology to enhance learning?
I believe that learning should be leading the use of technology rather than the other way around. Last year the School of Education was awarded Apple Distinguished School (ADS) status for 2021-2024. With this award, the School of Education is internationally recognised for using contemporary technologies in tertiary education. I teach time poor professional teachers, often in leadership roles – here videos, video messages and video feedback have opened a world of opportunity. I like to use technology to create greater flexibility in learning and build student engagement. For example, I created an online short course and three micro-credentials nested within the Master of Education with support from LEI and PACE, including branching scenarios and animated case studies. These courses use asynchronous and synchronous learning throughout. Since 2019 I have video recorded all assessment feedback for students in my courses using the MyUni platform and a student engagement strategy. This has been a significant shift in my teaching and how I provide differentiated feedback for the cohort. In the earliest weeks, I introduce this function to my students. By the end of the course, they are recording videos with each other integrating discussion about the literature and case studies we have examined. The technology underpinning the course structure and development has challenged my teaching practice. The eLearning Program has enhanced the digital capabilities of all pre-service teachers and academics in the School of Education.
How does you teaching help prepare students for their future?
Quality evidence-informed teaching changes lives for the better. My overall goal is to find the fire of curiosity and love of learning that I believe exists within all of us. More than ever, we need quality teachers and school leaders who can interpret data to improve teaching practice. I particularly enjoy preparing emerging leaders on aligning evidence-informed teaching and leading change. We know that teachers are the number one in-school factor influencing student learning outcomes. My courses and research revolve around the following questions: How can school governance and leadership combine wellbeing and learning as strategic pillars for school improvement? How can schools take advantage of COVID-19's disruption to enhance their systems and policies to promote student wellbeing and learning? How can schools ethically engage in evidence-based approaches to professional wellbeing practice? My teaching objective is to equip emerging and existing school leaders with evidence-informed strategies to lead sustainable change, support student wellbeing, and create positive learning and wellbeing cultures in schools regardless of circumstances.