Assessing Teaching

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Reviews 20 principles or steps in an effective faculty evaluation system, arguing that while most institutions’ claim that the purpose of their fculty evaluation system is the improvement of teaching, the primary purpose is actually almost always to make personnel decisions. Idea Paper no. 33, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

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The University of North Dakota provides this online “handbook” to its faculty to help them navigate the university’s teaching evaluation process. The site provides lots of helpful reminders of what to keep in mind when critically evaluating your own teaching.

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University of Texas guidebook for teacher portfolio.

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The following content and formatting suggestions have been compiled to help give you ideas about your own Teaching Portfolio. There are many possibilities, and other formation and/or content could suite your situation better. The aim is not necessarily to come up with a standardized document, but one which has coherence and simplicity and which also gives, like a good CV, the best picture of your history and experience. The Derek Bok Center is happy to help you with a Teaching Portfolio to suit your needs. Keep in mind the following possibilities and limitations of our services:

What We Cannot Provide:
Editorial advice
Packaging
Duplicating
Filing
Distribution

What We Can Provide:
Help with documentation of teaching
Help with developing teaching strategies, techniques, skills
Consultations on broadening teaching repertoire
Help in developing syllabi, special content, entire courses or aspects of courses
Help with teaching innovations, development/implementation
Templates and sample portfolios

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This report relates to the concept of teaching portfolios. It discusses the importance of accounting for institutional culture when introducing the concept of teaching portfolios. Includes information on how the department chair can help to improve teaching. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Foreword
Introduction
What is a Teaching Portfolio?
What Goes into a Teaching Portfolio?
Evaluating Portfolios
Formative Evaluation Techniques
Shaping an Institutional Definition of Good Teaching
The Organizational Culture and Teaching Portfolios
The Role of Department Chairs
Conclusion
References
Index

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Teaching portfolios: formatively, the portfolio helps you reflect systematically and regularly upon your teaching; summatively, portfolios provide a much more comprehensive and accurate picture of your teaching than any other single device.

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Describes the seven areas that should be considered when evaluating teaching: subject matter mastery, curriculum development, course design, delivery instruction, assessment of instruction, availability to students, and administrative requirements. Idea Paper no. 21, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

Additional Info:
Reviews 20 principles or steps in an effective faculty evaluation system, arguing that while most institutions’ claim that the purpose of their fculty evaluation system is the improvement of teaching, the primary purpose is actually almost always to make personnel decisions. Idea Paper no. 33, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

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Peer review provides informed considerations of a candidate’s teaching that student ratings cannot address: breadth, depth, and rigor of course objectives and materials; patterns of and procedures for course management; and a contextualized sense of the interactions between teacher and students as a whole.

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Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: This book is designed not only to provide you with a tightly focused set of strategies, selecting only the most fundamental and powerful, but also to offer you a user-friendly method to access your level of success through employment of the strategies.

With the authors’ goal of measurable self-improvement in mind, they’ve developed a set of rubrics keyed to each chapter, allowing you to assess where you currently stand as an instructor. Using a Likert scale, the rubrics ask you to evaluate such things as your attitude toward teaching, your alignment of student learning outcomes (SLOs) in your classes with those of larger academic units, and your delivery of class material. At the book’s end you’ll find a series of rubrics that replicate those in the earlier chapters. Comparison of your responses after experimenting with the various strategies offered throughout the text should provide a solid assessment of the handbook’s effectiveness.

So, you may start today on a focused, fast path to achieving teaching excellence in your classrooms. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface

ch. 1 Introduction
ch. 2 Using R.A.T.E. (a Rubric for Achieving Teaching Excellence
ch. 3 Deep Learning
ch. 4 Dispositions
ch. 5 Passion
ch. 6 Caring
ch. 7 Rapport
ch. 8 Excellence
ch. 9 Organization
ch. 10 Teaching Paradigms and Authority
ch. 11 Technology
ch. 12 Scholarly Teaching
ch. 13 Teaching Creatively
ch. 14 Synthesizing an Optimal Learning Environment

Afterword
Appendix A:  R.A.T.E.s

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Walks through the entire process, covering issues such as: peer observation versus peer evaluation; formative versus summative peer observation process, key issues to remember, recommendations, etc.

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Reviews scholarly literature to recommend how to use student evaluations effectively to improve teaching. Idea Paper no. 22, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

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Exhaustive and annotated review of the literature on student evaluation of teaching. Idea Paper no. 32, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the gender bias in student ratings of effective teaching. Students in five colleges were invited to rate instructors on three factors: interpersonal characteristics, pedagogical characteristics, and course content characteristics. We analyzed group differences based on student gender, instructor gender, and student level. Ratings of pedagogical characteristics and course content characteristics yielded significant interactions between student gender and instructor gender, but no differences were found among groups on interpersonal characteristics. We concluded that gender bias plays a role in students’ views of effective teaching in terms of how students evaluate pedagogical and content characteristics and that this bias generalizes across student levels.

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The first textbook to offer novice and experienced teachers guidelines for the “how” and “why” of self-study teacher research

Designed to help pre- and in-service teachers plan, implement, and assess a manageable self-study research project, this unique textbook covers the foundation, history, theoretical underpinnings, and methods of self-study research. Author Anastasia Samaras encourages readers to think deeply about both the “how” and the “why” of this essential professional development tool as they pose questions and formulate personal theories to improve professional practice.

Written in a reader-friendly style and filled with interactive activities and examples, the book helps teachers every step of the way as they learn and refine research skills; conduct a literature review; design a research study; work in validation groups; collect and analyze data; interpret findings; develop skills in peer critique and review; and write, present, and publish their studies.

Key Features

• A Self-Study Project Planner assists teachers in understanding both the details and process of conducting self-study research.

• A Critical Friends Portfolio includes innovative critical collaborative inquiries to support the completion of a high quality final research project.

• Advice from the most senior self-study academics working in the U.S. and internationally is included, along with descriptions of the self-study methodology that has been refined over time.

• Examples demonstrate the connections between self-study research, teachers’ professional growth, and their students’ learning.

• Tables, charts, and visuals help readers see the big picture and stay organized.
(From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Tables

Part I: The 6 Ws of Self-Study Research
ch. 1 Understanding Self-Study: What and Why
ch. 2 Overview of the Self-Study Process: What and How
ch. 3 The Self-Study Community: When and Where and Who
ch. 4 The Self-Study Research Methodology: Why and How
ch. 5 Self-Study Methods: Why and How

Part II: Your Self-Study Project
ch. 6 Design
ch. 7 Protect
ch. 8 Organize Data
ch. 9 Collect Data
ch. 10 Analyze Data
ch. 11 Assess Research Quality
ch. 12 Write
ch. 13 Present and Publish

Appendix A: Sample of a Self-Study Teacher Research Exemplar Brief Highlighting Five Foci
Appendix B: Self-Study is Not Just for Classroom Teachers

Glossary
References
Index
About the Author

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Journal Issue.

Table Of Content:
Editorial Introduction (W. Clark Gilpin)
Theological Faculties as Mentors of Ministers for the Church (Roy I. Sano)
Theological Foundations for Ethnic and Gender Diversity in Faculties or Excellence and the Motley Crew (Marjorie H. Suchocki)
Theology in the Context of the University (Stephen Toulmin)
The Future of an Illusion: An Inquiry into the Contrast between Theological and Religious Studies (Ronald F. Thiemann)
Research for a Theological Faculty (John B. Cobb, Jr.)
Emerging Issues and Theological Education (Rebecca S. Chopp)
Responses to Issues Research Seminar (Garth M. Rosell and George P. Schner)
The More Things Change—The More Things Change: Theological Education in the 1990s (Stephen L. Peterson)

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Describes strategies through which faculty can document and "go public" with their teaching - be it for purposes of improvement or evaluation. Each of nine chapters features a different strategy - from the fairly simple, low-risk "teaching circle," to "course portfolios," to more formal departmental occasions such as faculty hiring - with reports by faculty who have actually tried each strategy, guidelines for good practice, and an annotated list of resources. Offers lessons campuses can use to create more effective systems for the formal evaluation and reward of teaching. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface by Russell Edgerton
Introduction

ch. 1 Teaching Circles: Starting the Conversation; Setting a Scholarly Tone Teaching Circles in the History Department at Kent State University by John Jameson; Fostering Collective Responsibility for Student Learning Teaching Seminars in the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Mathematics Department by Charles Burnap and Miriam Leiva; Learning Together An Online Faculty Conversation About Online Student Conversation at Rio Hondo College by Susan Obler

ch. 2 Reciprocal Visits and Observations: Opening the Classroom Door; Reciprocal Classroom Visits An Experiment in the Temple University History Department by William Cutler and Howard Spodek; The Teacher Observation/Peer Support (TOPS) Program at California State University-Dominguez Hills by Kathleen McEnerney and Jamie L. Webb; The Featured Faculty Program at Eastern Michigan University byDeborah DeZure

ch. 3 Mentoring: Teachers Teaching Other Teachers; A New Faculty Mentoring Program in the Stanford English Department byDavid Halliburton;The Faculty Tutorial Program at Saint Olaf College by Jonathan Hill; The Issue of Supply Fostering Senior Faculty Leadership at The College of Saint Catherine by Marilou Eldred

ch. 4 A Focus on Student Learning; Interviewing Each Other's Students in the Legal Studies Program at the University of Georgia by Peter Shedd; Classroom Assessment as a Context for Faculty Conversation and Collaboration at California State University-Long Beach by Susan Nummedal; Making Students More Active Agents in Their Learning TQM in the Syracuse University School of Business by Frances Zollers

ch. 5 Portfolios: Putting the Pieces Together; Inventing a New Genre The Course Portfolio at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse by William Cerbin; Developing a Course Portfolio in Math A Report From the University of Nebraska-Lincoln by Steve Dunbar

ch. 6 Team Teaching and Teaching Teams; Teaching Teams in the Math Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln by Steve Dunbar; A Team Approach to Course Design and Teaching in an Integrated Arts and Humanities Course at Alverno College by Kevin Casey; Coordinated Studies A Model for Faculty Collaboration and Team Teaching in a Consortium of Washington Campuses by Jean MacGregor; Team Teaching About Teaching the Disciplines The Pedagogy Seminar at Millersville University by Barbara Stengel

ch. 7 Collaborative Inquiry and Pedagogical Scholarship; Collaborative Inquiry in the Teaching of Writing Theory and Practice at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln by Joy Ritchie; Collaborative Inquiry in an Early Childhood Education Course at the University of Wyoming by Jane Nelson; A Collaborative, Comparative Study of Student Learning in Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison by John Wright

ch. 8 Departmental Occasions for Collaboration; The Pedagogical Colloquium Focusing on Teaching in the Hiring Process in the Stanford University History Department by Richard Roberts; A Professional Development Program for Graduate Students Fostering Collaboration in the Writing Program at Northern Arizona University by Geoffrey Chase; The Departmental Teaching Library A Mathematics Course File at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte by Charles Burnap

ch. 9 Intercampus Collaboration and external Review of Teaching External Peer Review of Teaching A New Effort in the Chemistry Department at IUPUI by David Malik; Piloting Long Distance Interviews With Students as a Potential Component of the External Peer Review of Teaching by Jere Morehead

Conclusion: From Peer Collaboration to Peer Review
About the AAHE Teaching Initiative
About the AAHE’s Peer Review of Teaching Project

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One page Teaching Tactic: take home writing prompts to get mid-semester feedback on the course while simultaneously helping students to make connections to their other courses.

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An early demonstration of the value to teachers (and students) of writing the scholarship of teaching (SoTL) by defining a challenge to classroom learning, a “problem” to be investigated (much as we define a problem for our guild research to address) – in this case: learning goals and student pre-knowledge.

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Contact the Ideas Center for a pdf. Techniques for observing the classroom behavior of teachers and students are examined. These techniques provide a framework for analyzing and understanding classroom interaction, for making decisions about what should be happening, and for changing instructional behavior when it is necessary. The observation methods allow collection, analysis, and presentation of accurate, objective, useful, and persuasive data. Persuasive data contain no value judgments. One method is the selective verbatim technique, which involves having the observer record what is actually said within the confines of a category previously specified by the teacher. Some common categories for selective verbatim include: teacher questions, teacher responses to student statements, teacher directions and assignments, teacher responses to questions, verbal mannerisms, teacher reward and praise statements, teacher criticism, student responses to teacher questions, student questions, and student initiated statements. Examples are presented as illustration. A seating chart can be the basis for several types of informal records about the teachers' and students' classroom behavior. It is primarily used to measure nonverbal behavior, but it is sometimes useful for measuring verbal behavior. The basic element is a diagram, examples of which are included. Seating charts are useful for analyzing "at task" behavior: data indicating whether or not individual students were engaged in the task or tasks the teacher indicated were appropriate. A verbal flow chart is one way of analyzing how classroom procedures inhibit, encourage, or allow students to participate in classroom interactions. A list of common teaching activities and a technique for recording them for analysis is included.

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Assessment Clear and Simple is "Assessment 101" in a book -- a concise, step-by-step guide written for everyone who participates in the assessment process. This practical book helps to make assessment simple, cost-efficient, and useful to the institution, while at the same time meeting the requirements of accreditation agencies, legislatures, review boards, and others. Assessment Clear and Simple can help your institution employ assessment as a powerful instrument for improvement and provide a basis for wiser planning, budgeting, and change in curriculum, pedagogy, staffing, programming, and student support. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Foreword
About the Author
ch. 1 For Everyone: The Basics of Assessment
ch. 2 For Institution-Wide Planners
ch. 3 For Departments and Programs
ch. 4 For General Education
App. A Sample Rubrics for Evaluating Student Classroom Work
App. B Guidelines for Program Review of Departments, Incorporating Assessment
App. C Guidelines for the Evaluations of Teaching, Incorporating Assessment of Learning
App. D Sample Analysis of Audiences and Purposes for Assessment
App. E Institution-Wide Data to Assess Institution-Wide Goals
App. F Departmental Assessment Reports
App. G Matrix for Analyzing Professional Accreditation
App. H Matrix for Analyzing Institution-Wide Departmental Assessment Information
App. I Analysis of Assessment in Institution, Departments, and General Education
App. J Departmental Learning Goals
App. K Identifying Classroom Assessment in the Department
App. L Sample General Education Assessment Matrix
Resources: A Short List
References
Index

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The article is a reflection on what I perceive to be a confusion about the relation between theoretical judgments and judgments of pedagogical efficacy. My interest in the issue originated with my own confusion over persistent student resistance to certain assigned texts that I had initially felt confident would prove valuable in the classroom. The essay unfolds in three segments. In the first, I recount how this concern about the relation between theoretical judgments and judgments of pedagogical efficacy evolved out of my own teaching. I next list three tentative conclusions about the correlation or lack of correlation between theoretical judgments and judgments of pedagogical efficacy. In the concluding segment, I call for concerted resistance to the tendency of pure rationality to colonize the aesthetic and dramatic components of experience so essential to transformative teaching and learning.

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The EPAC Community of Practice provides a huge store of resources on electronic teaching portfolios, as well as a viritual community of webcasts, blogs, queries, and conferences.

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In university teachers’ hectic lives, finding space to reflect, restore, renew, and recommit can seem impossible. Jean Koh Peters and Mark Weisberg believe regular reflection is critical and have designed A Teacher’s Reflection Book to help teachers and other professionals find that space. Growing out of the authors’ extensive experience facilitating retreats and leading teaching and learning workshops, the book builds on their discoveries in those settings, supporting and promoting teachers’ self-directed development.

Inviting that development, A Teacher’s Reflection Book is a cornucopia of stories, exercises, and examples that will inspire teachers to make reflection a cornerstone of their daily lives. With its multiple suggestions and strategies, it offers something for every reader, and is responsive to teachers’ needs at all stages of their careers.

The book’s six chapters offer readers several perspectives from which to reflect. Some sections offer glimpses of teachers in the midst of their daily teaching lives, while others step away, inviting readers to reflect on what it means to have a vocation as a teacher.

The book explores how we listen, a crucial yet rarely taught skill, essential for reflecting, as well as for learning and teaching. And it invites teachers to reflect on their students: who they are, and what and how they learn. For those latter reflections, the authors turn the focus on fear, which so pervades university life and which can distort learners’ and teachers’ perspectives and responses. Throughout this book, readers will visit several classrooms and listen to the evocative voices of several thoughtful students. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Foreword
Preface
Gratitudes

ch. 1 How Does a Teacher Say Hello?
I. A Look at Several First Classes II. Exercises to Focus on Hello
II. Exercises to Focus on Hello
A. What Is the First Experience Students Have in Your Course? What Is Their First Experience in Class?
B. What Are the Dispositions of Your Classroom?
C. Fast Forward Through the Semester You’re about to Start
D. Consider “Entrainment” and the Rhythms of Your Semester
E. Think about Hellos in Popular Culture
F. How Will You Deal with Fluctuating Student Attendance During “Shopping Periods”?
G. What Will Be the Role of Technology in Your Classroom, and Will You Make Space to Express That in Your Hello?
H. Will You Know Your Students’ Names?
I. How Will You Handle Your Announcements?
J. As You Begin, How Do You Want the Central Ideas of the Course to Emerge?
K. Consider Generating Ideas by Using Beginning Rituals in Other Settings
III. Final Thoughts about Hello
IV. Conclusion Notes

ch. 2 Reflection: What It Is and How to Practice It
I. Introduction: A Reflection on the Need for Reflection
II. Essential Elements of Reflection—What Makes Reflection Work for You?
A. Identify Meaningful Elements of Reflection That Uniquely Suit Your Needs
B. Three Recommended Elements of Reflection: Starting Focal Point, Experience, Non-judgment
1. A Starting Focal Point
2. Experience
3. Non-judgment
III. A Session of Reflection: The Individual Reflection Event
A. Individual Reflection Event: The Retreat Model
B. Examples of Individual Reflection Events
1. Reflection Event — With a Group, at Our Retreat
2. Reflection Event — Alone, at a Conference, Further Reflected Upon Alone, after the Conference
IV. What a Practice of Mindful Reflection Might Look Like
A. The Spirit of Mindful Reflection — A Practice, Not a Habit
B. The Structure of Mindful Reflection — Useful Strategies
C. Additional Suggestions for Developing a Reflection Practice
1. Downshifting, Making the Transition
2. Giving Oneself Permission
3. Dealing with Technology and Time
D. Creating Conditions for Reflection
V. Conclusion
Notes

ch. 3 Experiments in Listening
I. Looking Retrospectively at Your Experiences of Listening
A. Ask Analytical or General Questions about Your Listening
1. Ten Freewriting/Brainstorming Prompts
2. Explore Your Listening on a Doubting and Believing Spectrum
B. Explore Critical Incidents from the Past
1. High Points and Low Points as a Listener
2. Profile of the Three Best Listeners I Know
3. High Points and Low Points as a Person Being Listened To
II. Looking Prospectively: Analyzing Your Listening for New Insights
A. Collect New Data
B. Experiment with Your Listening
1. Use the Doubting-Believing Spectrum: Two Variants
2. Wait Five Seconds before Responding
3. Don’t Offer Advice
4. Listen with Your Hands Occupied
5. Practice Non-judgment
6. Try a Group Exercise

ch. 4 Who Are Our Students, and How and What Do They Learn in Our Classrooms?
I. Who Were We as Students: Our Best/Worst Moments as Students
II. Student Voices
III. A Culture of Fear and Its Consequences
A. Three Classrooms, Three Nightmare Scenarios
IV. What Can We Do to Facilitate Learning?
A. Teach Non-judgmentally/Teach Non-judgment
B. Discern the Gift, Not the Gifted
C. Use Midstream, or Formative, Assessment
D. Anticipate Difficult Incidents
E. Take One More Minute
F. Trust Ourselves
V. Conclusion
Notes

ch. 5 The Teacher and Vocation
I. Discovering Vocation
A. UnderstandingVocation
B. FindingYourVocation:FourExercises
1. Write Your Obituary
2. Find and Explore a Governing Metaphor
3. Compose a Job Description
4. Visit or Write Your Future Self
C. A Life Lived in Vocation: Implications
II. Nurturing Vocation in Ordinary Times: Two Sets of Processes You Can Trust
A. Internal Processes You Can Trust
B. ExternalProcessesYouCanTrust
III. Some Elements of a Teacher’s Vocation
A. Writing
B. ClassroomTeaching
IV. Conclusion
Notes

ch. 6 How Does a Teacher Say Goodbye?
I. Introduction
II. Invitations for Thinking about Goodbye
III. Ideas for Last Classes/Meetings
A. A Closing Circle
B. Completing the Circle
C. Jean’s Goodbye and Coupon
D. Postcards and Silent Witness
IV. Goodbye: A Unique Moment of Reflection
V. Conclusion
Notes

Appendix • Resources for Reflecting
About the Authors
Index

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Don't wait for an end-term course evaluation. Find out how your course is working in time to make improvements.

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Describes an approach to faculty development that relies on faculty learning from one another through peer observation. Rather than equating such observation with evaluating a colleague's performance, faculty observers are urged to approach the assignment as "students of teaching."

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This observation guide lists 270 separate items, in checklist format, to be used for informal evaluation of classroom teachers by their peers. Items for observation are given for mechanics of teaching, scholarship, organization, classroom relationships, and miscellaneous teaching functions, as well as for preparation, topic choice, quality of interaction, quality of content and discussion, and method and efficiency of question-asking on the part of the teacher.

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Actual students weigh-in on what they like and dislike in how a syllabus is constructed.

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A quick review of the concept and basic contents of a teaching portfolio, by Boston University's Center for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching.

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Advice from students on how faculty can best reach them through email.

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Journal Issue.

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Mid-course evaluations allow students to reflect on course goals and individual progress, inform the instructor about what is working or not working in the course, and recognize that the instructor cares about their learning experience.

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Examines the author's teaching evaluations to help understand what they measure and how they may be used to make changes in classroom performance. States that teachers should view teaching evaluations as an opportunity to develop as teachers.

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Discusses the development of an effective teaching portfolio. Selecting the contents; Developing profile; Objective of portfolios.

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Very helpful overview, followed by more detailed and extended discussion as well as references.

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A brief review and annotated bibliography on designing a teaching portfolio.

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Self-assessment of instructional goals to help faculty become more aware of what they want to accomplish in individual courses, locate Classroom Assessment Techniques they can adapt and use to assess how well they are achieving these goals, and provide a starting point for discussion of teaching and learning goals among colleagues.

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Informal student evaluations of faculty were started in the 1960's by enterprising college students.(1) Since then, their use has spread so that now they are administered in almost all American colleges and universities and are probably the main source of information used for evaluating faculty teaching performance.(2) There is an enormous literature on the subject of student evaluations of faculty (SEF).(3) The following is a summary of some developments in that literature that should be of special interest to faculty, with particular emphasis on criticisms of SEF that have emerged recently. But I begin with the arguments in favor of the use of SEF.

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Asserts that the relationship between students and faculty is the result of responses to a negotiated social setting. Reports on a study of 132 college students on factors that might affect class participation. Offers four recommendations for faculty to encourage student participation and responses to questions.

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Student evaluations of teaching are a common fixture at American law schools, but they harbor surprising biases. Extensive psychology research demonstrates that these assessments respond overwhelmingly to a professor’s appearance and nonverbal behavior; ratings based on just thirty seconds of silent videotape correlate strongly with end-of-semester evaluations. The nonverbal behaviors that influence teaching evaluations are rooted in physiology, culture, and habit, allowing characteristics like race and gender to affect evaluations. The current process of gathering evaluations, moreover, allows social stereotypes to filter students’ perceptions, increasing risks of bias. These distortions are inevitable products of the intuitive, “system one” cognitive processes that the present process taps. The cure for these biases requires schools to design new student evaluation systems, such as ones based on facilitated group discussion, that enable more reflective, deliberative judgments. This article draws upon research in cognitive decision making, both to present the compelling case for reforming the current system of evaluating classroom performance and to illuminate the cognitive processes that underlie many facets of the legal system.

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Describes the seven areas that should be considered when evaluating teaching: subject matter mastery, curriculum development, course design, delivery instruction, assessment of instruction, availability to students, and administrative requirements. Idea Paper no. 21, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

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The new edition of this bestselling book builds on the author’s extensive administrative and consulting experience as well as scholarship on faculty rewards. It includes additional discussion of important foundational issues as well as practical forms and ideas gleaned from disciplinary groups and campuses throughout the nation. Like the first edition of Peer Review of Teaching, this new edition is offered in the hope that providing examples and suggestions will not reduce the important work of peer review to mere forms or rigid procedures, but will empower faculty to articulate criteria and standards, perform the reviews systematically and thoughtfully, and realize that engaging in peer review is an approachable and worthwhile professional task. Updated to reflect the emphasis on student learning as the ultimate goal of college teaching, it incorporates new ideas and references from the literature. The most notable change in this edition is a discussion of peer review within special contexts for teaching, such as clinics, studios, and practice settings. The turn to active engagement in learning has also led to increased use of problem-based learning, the case study method, and other approaches that traditional forms for peer review do not address. Similarly, the explosion of the use of instructional technology calls for an articulation of new approaches to evaluating web-based instruction. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
About the Author.
Foreword.
Preface.
Part I: An Overview of Peer review.
ch. 1 Developing a rationale and Understanding of Peer Review.
ch. 2 Setting Up a System for Peer review.
ch. 3 Major Design Elements of a Peer Review of Teaching System.
ch. 4 Roles and Goals of a Peer Review System.
Part II: Resources and Forms.
ch. 5 Peer Review of Course materials.
ch. 6 Classroom Observation.
ch. 7 Peer Review in Special Contexts
ch. 8 Leadership for Teaching: Contributions to Scholarship of Teaching and Departmental Teaching Efforts.
ch. 9 Teaching Portfolios.
ch. 10. Summary.
References.
Index.

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Exhaustive and annotated review of the literature on student evaluation of teaching. Idea Paper no. 32, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

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Reviews scholarly literature to recommend how to use student evaluations effectively to improve teaching. Idea Paper no. 22, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

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2012 bibliography compiled on the POD listserv

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Guidance on the process of university peer observation, with a selection of instruments that faculty and department can adapt for assessment of teaching. By the University of Texas at El Paso. 

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Interpreting student ratings of instruction can be challenging, but these guidelines and suggestions will help you extract useful information from your student ratings.

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This SUNY Albany site considers, the role of peer observation of teaching in both formative and summative assessment, developing a departmental plan, and choosing or designing an instrument to guide peer observation (including downloadable forms).

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An assessment tool for teachers to determine the “dominant” perspectives in their teaching. Can help teachers understand and summarize their own ideas about teaching.

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A collection of instruments for conducting peer review of teaching, provided by the university of Minnesota

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Provides a structured and practical model that combines inquiry into the intellectual work of a course, careful investigation of student understanding and performance, and faculty reflection on teaching effectiveness. This website is designed to serve as an international repository for course portfolios written by faculty who teach at postsecondary institutions. 

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While student ratings of instruction (commonly called course evaluations) are usually seen as a form of summative evaluation of a course and an instructor, they can also be used to improve a course and an instructor’s teaching.

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Podcast Series. This podcast series includes interviews with BYU faculty as well as excerpts from invited speakers. We offer them in multiple formats to make it easy to watch and listen at work, home, or on your iPod. You might even choose to use a clip from one of the presentations in your teaching.

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Student ratings of instruction are hotly debated on many college campuses. Unfortunately these debates are often uninformed by the extensive research on this topic.

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This research report interprets data from a 1902 survey of directors of Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) programs regarding the competency of faculty members viewed through the interpretive lens of peer review. According to directors, faculty members are more competent in teaching theological reflection than in teaching social science methods, despite the expectation that such methods are part of D.Min. education. The article discusses implications of the data for improving faculty performance, and suggests how the concept of critical friendship might assist those who teach in religious studies to give and receive criticism from peers. The article concludes with suggestions for further research in D.Min. education.

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Walks through the entire process, covering issues such as: peer observation versus peer evaluation; formative versus summative peer observation process, key issues to remember, recommendations, etc.

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Examines the critical subject of student evaluations of teaching, furnishing both the research base behind the use of student ratings and practical suggestions for interpreting the data they provide. Focuses on all phases of the student rating process - from data gathering methods to presentation of results. Topics include methods of encouraging meaningful evaluations, midsemester feedback, uses of quality teams and focus groups, and creating questions that target individual faculty needs and interest. With a humorous look at the popular myths surrounding student evaluations and emerging research on what is known concerning student evaluations and their use, this volume argues that the evaluation of teaching is a learning process in itself. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
EDITOR'S NOTES (Karron G. Lewis).
ch. 1. Faculty Thoughts and Concerns About Student Ratings (John C. Ory)
ch. 2. Encouraging Your Students to Give Feedback (Marilla D. Svinicki).
ch. 3. Making Sense of Student Written Comments (Karron G. Lewis).
ch. 4. Using Midsemester Student Feedback and Responding to It (Karron G. Lewis).
ch. 5. Use of Electronic Tools to Enhance Student Evaluation Feedback (Devorah Lieberman, Nancy Bowers, David R. Moore).
ch. 6. Taking Student Criticism Seriously: Using Student Quality Teams to Guide Critical Reflection (Larry Spence, Lisa Firing Lenze).
ch. 7. Making Sense and Making Use of Feedback from Focus Groups (Richard Tiberius).
ch. 8. Writing Teaching Assessment Questions for Precision and Reflection (William L. Rando)
. ch. 9. Interpreting the Numbers: Using a Narrative to Help Others Read Student Evaluations of Your Teaching Accurately (Jennifer Franklin).
INDEX.

Additional Info:
This study replicated and extended Wanzer et al.'s (2006) typology of appropriate and inappropriate teacher humor and advanced explanations for student interpretations of teacher humor. Three explanations were advanced for why teacher humor may be perceived as inappropriate by students. First, disposition and incongruity-resolution theories were used to explain the cognitive and affective elements of teacher humor, second, student communication predispositions were advanced as an explanation, and the third explanation was teacher communication predispositions. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript

Additional Info:
If you're like most instructors, this is a question that you've asked yourself many times. That's why Weimer, Parrett, and Kerns have compiled this guide–so it's easier to get the answers that you need to this crucial question.

How Am I Teaching? contains nine forms and activities that allow you to gather information about what you're doing and how well you're doing it. The authors begin with a simple diagnostic matrix to guide you to the form or activity which best suits your needs. Then they summarize each of the nine tools, highlighting the value and limitations. Make copies of whichever tool(s) you've selected and you're on your way to better teaching! (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Section 1 Classroom Environment Inventory
Section 2 Course Materials Review (Peer Version)
Section 3 Course Materials Review (Student Version)
Section 4 How Do You Teach?
Section 5 Instructor Self-Evaluation
Section 6 Made-to-Order Form for Instructional Observation (Peer Version)
Section 7 Made-to-Order Form for Instructional Observation (Student Version)
Section 8 Open-Ended Questionnaire
Section 9 Self- or Colleague-Analysis of Videotaped Teaching Sample
Section 10 Specifically, What Needs Improvement? (Instructor Version)
Section 11 Specifically, What Needs Improvement? (Student Version)
Section 12 Teacher Behaviors Inventory

Additional Info:
Presents the teaching philosophy of a Columbia University assistant professor who has learned to win good evaluations from his students. Opinion that, as of January, 2001, colleges are following a business model which allows parents and students to think of courses as services; Statement that instructors need to teach the teachable and please the unteachable, in the interest of getting high ratings.

Additional Info:
Reviews the importance of departmental evaluation of teaching and provides an overview of options for putting an evaluation process in place. References and appendices with real examples of evaluative forms and processes. Idea Paper no. 36, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: In order to make appropriate changes to improve your teaching and your students’ learning, first you need to know how you’re teaching now. Figure it out for yourself and invigorate your teaching on your own terms!

This practical evidence-based guide promotes excellence in teaching and improved student learning through self-reflection and self-assessment of one’s teaching. Phyllis Blumberg starts by reviewing the current approaches to instructor evaluation and describes their inadequacies. She then presents a new model of assessing teaching that builds upon a broader base of evidence and sources of support. This new model leads to self-assessment rubrics, which are available for download, and the book will guide you in how to use them. The book includes case studies of completed critical reflection rubrics from a variety of disciplines, including the performing and visual arts and the hard sciences, to show how they can be used in different ways and how to explore the richness of the data you’ll uncover. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface
The Author

ch. 1 Growing Your Teaching Effectiveness: An Overview

Part I - A Teaching Model That Promotes Better Learning
ch. 2 Beliefs Leading to Better Teaching
ch. 3 Essential Aspects of Effective Teachingv ch. 4 Documenting Critical Self-Refl ection of Teaching
ch. 5 Evidence-Based Approaches to Enhance Teaching
ch. 6 Finding and Using Literature to Promote Better Teaching

Part 2 - A Model To Assess Teaching To Promote Better Learning
ch. 7 Principles of Assessing Teaching
ch. 8 Model for Assessing Teaching

Part 3 - Self Assessment Rubrics
ch. 9 How to Assess Teaching Using Rubrics Based on the Assessment Model
ch. 10 What These Rubrics Assess, and How That Improves Teaching

Part 4 - Cases Showing Effective Uses For the Rubrics
Introduction
ch. 11 How a Beginning Assistant Professor Used Rubrics to Plan and Track Her Personal Faculty Development
ch. 12 How a Faculty Developer Used the Rubrics with a Pretenure Instructor to Facilitate Improvement
ch. 13 How an Experienced Professor Used the Rubrics to Document Her Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
ch. 14 How a Pretenured Professor Used the Rubrics to Assess His Mentoring Undergraduate and Graduate Students in Research
ch. 15 How an Experienced Clinical Professor Used the Rubrics to Assess His Changed Roles While Precepting or Supervising Students in Hospital Settings

Comparisons among the Cases
References
Appendix: Rubrics for Self-Assessment of Teaching: Tools for Improving Different Types of Teaching
Index

Additional Info:
Student ratings have long been the primary means of evaluating teaching in higher education, but are they sufficient to meet the increasing demands in public accountability and the changes in learning needs? This volume explores a wide range of alternative approaches to assessing teaching performance and presents methods for documenting and judging teaching that have often been overlooked in the sometimes acrimonious debate about the reliability and validity of student questionnaires. Contributors discuss the underlying issue and principals that affect all forms of evaluation - making links between teaching methods and learning outcomes. They explore the goals and applications of the teaching portfolio, a widely used alternative to the sole reliance on student ratings; and discuss the strength and weaknesses of evaluating teaching through teaching awards. They also examine technology and its importance in automated evaluation systems, the role of formative evaluation in the scholarship of teaching; the role of evaluation in the accreditation of university teachers; and the evaluation of teaching for entire programs, departments, and institutions. Presenting a concept of interpretive and critical evaluation that considers knowledge about teaching as communicative and emancipatory, this volume is a frank and invigorating analysis of the emerging theories and applications of teaching evaluation. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Editors' Notes
ch. 1 Broadening Out Approach to Teaching Evaluation (Christopher Knapper)
ch. 2 Interpretive and Critical Evaluation (Patricia Cranton)
ch. 3 Using Portfolios to Document Good Teaching: Premises, Purposes, Practices (Christopher Knapper, W. Alan Wright)
ch. 4 Evaluating Teaching Through Teaching Awards (Ellen Carusetta)
ch. 5 Using Technology to Facilitate Evaluation (Michael Theall, Jennifer Franklin)
ch. 6 Formative Evaluation and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (Ronald Smith)
ch. 7 Using Student Outcomes to Evaluate Teaching: A Cautious Exploration (Tara J. Fenwick)
ch. 8 Teaching Evaluation and Accreditation (Liz Beaty)
ch. 9 Broadening the Context for Teaching Evaluation (Robert Cannon)
Index

Additional Info:
Written by experts in teaching and administration, this guide offers practical, research-based information for faculty members and administrators in search of new approaches for assessing and improving faculty potential. By recognizing that faculty evaluation can be a difficult, time-consuming, and costly process, the authors of Evaluating Faculty Performance have distilled existing evaluation practices into useful recommendations for strengthening the overall system.

Offering numerous suggestions for improving evaluation methods, assessing program weaknesses, and avoiding common problems, the book

* Examines compelling reasons for developing effective and systematic faculty assessment processes
* Discusses how to create a climate for positive change by favoring performance counseling over performance evaluation
* Identifies the essential elements and best practices in assessment, while also revealing what not to do in evaluating performance
* Explains the value of the professional portfolio in assessment teaching, and offers advice on how to complete a portfolio
* Outlines key issues, dangers, and benchmarks for success in straightforward language

Included are field-tested forms and checklists that can be used to measure faculty performance in teaching, research, and service. The suggestions for improving faculty assessment are clear and practicable—sensible advice for strengthening a process that is of increasing importance in higher education. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface

ch. 1 Building a Successful Evaluation Program (Peter Seldin)
ch. 2 Essential Operating Principles and Key Guidelines (Peter Seldin)
ch. 3 Building a Climate For Faculty evaluation That Improves Teaching (Mary Lou HJiggerson)
ch. 4 Uses and Abuses of Student Ratings (William Pallett)
ch. 5 Institutional Service (Clement A. Seldin)
ch. 6 Peer Observations as a Catalyst for Faculty Development (Barbara J. Millis)
ch. 7 Self-Evaluation: Composing an Academic Life Narrative (Thomas V. McGovern)
ch. 8 Teaching Portfolios (Monica A. Devanas)
ch. 9 Evaluating Faculty Research (Teck-Kah Lim)
ch. 10 Teaching Evaluation Follies: Misperception and Misbehavior in Student Evaluations of Teachers (Jane S. Halonen, Geroge B. Ellenberg)
ch. 11 Using Evaluation Data to Improve Teaching effectiveness (Todd Zakrajsek)
ch. 12 Using Evaluation Data for Personnel Decisions (David Fite)
ch. 13 The Professional Portfolio: Expanding the Value of Portfolio Development (John Zubizarreta)
ch. 14 Summary and Recommendations for Evaluating Faculty Performance (J. Elizabeth Miller)

Appendix: Selected Forms to Evaluate Teaching, Advising, Research, and Service
Index