Empowering Novice Academics for Student Success

The preparation for a career in education and training cuts into all three categories of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor, and all four dimensions of competence. The implication is that effective teaching requires not only theoretical knowledge, but also practical abilities that include a range of instructional skills and techniques. The workbook therefore contains a number of activities intended to promote professional competence. The types of activities they are used to stimulate thinking (promoting reflective practice), and provide guidance in the application of knowledge, as well as developing certain instructional skills. Note that the amount of activities included here is only scratching the surface; different teaching matters should receive priority in the continuous professional development (CPD) of academic staff.Readers may perceive some of the activities as challenging, or find it difficult to relate to that, owing to being novices in higher education teaching and learning. In view of this, the reading includes comments on each activity (Activity solutions), as well as comments on the reflection activities, as a further attempt at supporting and enhancing the professional development of novice teachers.The workbook includes reading on aspects of resource design for learning enhancement. Since this particular topic involves many technical aspects, it is presented seperately from the content in the textbook, and is regarded as an enrichment opportunity.