Beyond content, and toward understanding how we teach our disciplines.
Signature pedagogies refers to the forms or styles of teaching and instruction that are common in disciplines, areas of study, or professions in a field of study. Signature pedagogies often manifest as habits of mind, hand, and heart that underpin the teaching of content in a particular course and major.
Exploring Signature Pedagogies. Eds Gurung, Regan A.R., Chick, Nancy L., and Haynie, Aeron. Stylus Publishing, 2009.
Exploring More Signature Pedagogies. Eds Chick, Nancy L., Hay7nie, Aeron, and Gurung, Regan A. R. Stylus Publishing 2012.
Benefits of understanding signature pedagogies
By understanding and then being explicit and intentional about the signatures of your discipline, you can ultimately impact student learning by conveying beliefs about the attitudes, values and dispositions in your discipline and choosing to enhance concrete operational acts of your teaching.
These in turn can provide opportunities for students to:
- clearly identify and articulate skills obtained from their education (Skill Identification)
- reflect on their learning in deeper ways that can profoundly impact their sense of themselves, their majors, and their abilities (Self-awareness)
- communicate learning from their disciplines to audiences outside of the university, including family, potential employers, and graduate or professional schools (Lifelong Skills)
- feel empowered in developing the habits of habits of mind, hand, and heart (Shulman, 2015) that pertain to their chosen field of study and career (Empowerment).
Key to students’ sense of empowerment is their ability to understand and articulate learning from their disciplines to audiences outside of the university, including family, potential employers, and graduate or professional schools. Being explicit about the signatures of your discipline will support your students’ learning and their futures.
Unlocking the benefits of your major for your students with signature pedagogies
Making the habits of hand, heart, and mind that underpin your teaching visible to students helps them better understand the expertise they are developing in your courses beyond course content. This, in turn, helps empower students to understand how they can take their disciplinary knowledge into their lives and careers after graduation.
In this short video, UBC Arts Career Strategist, Shagufta Pasta, shares data from the Gallup-Purdue Index, which demonstrates the career benefits to students of high impact classroom learning experiences.
Contact us
The Arts Practical Learning team is available for:
- Providing 20-30-minute consultations with individual faculty members about specific course outcomes in relation to Signature Pedagogies.
- Hosting a 3-hour workshop to your department to explore Signature Pedagogies in your discipline. The workshop includes time to add outcomes related to habits of hand, heart, and mind to existing course syllabus.