Educational collaboration, leadership and commitment to dissemination

A successful educational experience for students is the outcome of planning and input from many contributors, including academic staff, professional staff with expertise in domains such as learning design and educational technology, professional staff who provide academic support, and in some cases external partners. Exemplary educators recognise that a high-functioning teaching and learning community depends on constructive and collaborative relationships among all staff who contribute to teaching, and a willingness to show leadership. They are open to new forms of collaboration and ways of working. They also appreciate that creating a vibrant culture around teaching and learning requires commitment to collegial sharing of teaching-related learnings (both successful and unsuccessful), willingness to mentor and support peers, and preparedness to contribute to administrative processes important to teaching and learning, in the pursuit of improved outcomes for both students and staff involved in teaching.

Important aspects of practice in relation to this dimension

• building constructive professional relationships around teaching, including across disciplines
• a culture of sharing teaching-related learnings at internal and external forums
• positive and constructive contributions to teaching-related committees and teams
• mentoring and support of colleagues around teaching
• effective and collegial leadership of teaching teams
• contributions to teaching-related policies and processes
• ethical practice in all aspects of teaching

Demonstrating excellence in relation to this dimension

Historically, staff have relied heavily on scores associated with student evaluations of teaching to demonstrate educational excellence, and in particular the End of Subject Survey (ESS). Gathering feedback from students through surveys is an essential element of the evaluation of teaching, but this needs to be complemented by other measures and inputs from other people. Evidencing of educational excellence calls for a multidimensional approach that recognises the complexity of different educational activities, and allows for the student voice to be balanced by reasoned evaluations made by others, including teachers themselves, peers and external experts.

The table below provides examples of forms of evidence that could be used to demonstrate educational excellence for the dimension of educational collaboration, leadership and commitment to dissemination.

Educator evidence	Examples of constructive contribution to collaborative educational endeavours, including curriculum design and subject delivery Evidence of sharing educational learnings in blogs, media, seminars, panel discussions or workshop/ conference presentations; evidence of uptake of these by others Involvement in formal or informal mentoring of colleagues Examples of leadership roles undertaken in the teaching and learning domain Contributions to committees/ working groups focussed on education
Student evidence	Examples of collaborations with students in learning design and evaluation
Independent expert evidence	Feedback or testimony from colleagues, mentors and mentees, especially about influence on adoption or change of practice (ie impact of leadership) Department/School, Faculty, University and National teaching awards, Advance HE, Universitas 21 and GEM Scott Teaching Fellowship, grants and other esteem measures that recognise excellence in this dimension Contribution to internal, national or international processes, guidelines, policies, accreditation practices, recommendations, or standards Invited review of others' scholarship (eg as a journal reviewer) addressing this dimension, or invited keynotes or presentations Adoption of developed innovations or guidance by other educators or institutions that address this dimension