Course The Reflective Teacher

The course A294 The Reflective Teacher is being offered by the Graduate School of Health, Aarhus University, Autumn 2025.

Workload: The full workload of the course is 60 hours.

Criteria for participation: University degree in medicine, dentistry, nursing, or master’s degree in other fields and/or postgraduate research fellows (PhD students and research-year medical students).

Requirements for participation: This course is relevant for all PhD students who wish to improve their quality of teaching. It is not crucial that the student is affiliated to a course or has regular teaching hours. However, participants will probably benefit the most if they already teach or have teaching experience.  

Aim: To introduce pedagogical principles pertinent to being university teachers who can reflect on their own and colleagues’ teaching practices. Participants will develop both practical methods and theoretical insights into reflective practice as a teacher aiming for quality teaching and a student-centered teaching approach.

Learning outcomes: Upon completion of the course, the participant will be able to:

• Describe the characteristics of student-centered teaching towards optimal student learning.
• Discuss their identity as a teacher in order to increase motivation and reflection about the teaching role at university.
• Design learning activities around peer-feedback in own teaching as well as give peer-feedback to colleagues.
• Design and teach a specific lesson using principles of constructive alignment.
• Use a reflective teaching logbook.

Workload: The full workload of the course is expected to be 60 hours

Content: This course is relevant for all PhD students who wish to improve their teaching in the short or long-term with a view to student learning and the joys and benefits to being a reflective teacher. It is highly recommended, but not required that the participant has some previous experience with teaching.

This is a blended learning course in university teaching and learning that lays the foundation for reflective teachers at the PhD-level. It introduces to the following topics: Constructive alignment, Student-centered teaching, Learning outcomes, Feedback, Reflective teaching logbooks. Activities include reading materials, watching videos, producing texts and models, participating in individual and group activities both in-class and out-of-class, developing lesson plans and teaching logbooks, as well as giving peer feedback. Completion of the course, receiving ECTS credit, and obtaining a diploma require active online participation, completion of all activities (including peer feedback and logbook), and adherence to activity deadlines.

Instructors:  Peter Musaeus, Jens Laurs Kærsgaard

Number of participants: 24

Time and date: Weeks 43-48

Venue: Aarhus University, Aarhus.

Participation in the course is without cost for:

• PhD students, Health Research Year students from Aarhus University
• PhD students enrolled at partner universities of the Nordoc collaboration
• PhD students from other institutions in the open market agreement for PhD courses

Course dates:

• 05 November 2025 08:30 - 12:30
• 10 November 2025 08:30 - 12:30
• 20 November 2025 08:30 - 12:30
• 25 November 2025 08:30 - 12:30