Initial Publication Date: April 25, 2023

Teaching Evaluation Workshop

Event Dates: October 28- 29, 2020

Event Start Time each day: 10:00 AM PT| 11:00 AM MT| 12:00 PM CT| 1:00 PM ET

Event End time each day: 1:30 PM PT| 2:30 PM MT| 3:30 PM CT| 4:30 PM ET

 

 

Conveners of the Workshop

This is an invitation-only workshop convened by the Network of STEM Education Centers (NSEC), the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and the TEval Project with support from the National Science Foundation (IUSE 1524832, DRL 1725946, 1726087, 1725959, and 1725956.). We also thank Emily Miller at AAU; Kerry Brenner at NASEM; and Ken Griffith at Texas Tech University for their contributions to this workshop. See the full list of workshop planners below.

 

Purpose and Goals of the Workshop

Building off of a Workshop held by the National Academies on Recognizing and Evaluating Science Teaching in Higher Education, the purpose of the workshop is to explore new models of evaluating science teaching in higher education and develop action plans for accelerating campus conversations on evaluating teaching.

 

The workshop goals are to:

  • Showcase some exemplary models from institutions who have begun this work and outline the general landscape of reforms across the country.
  • Develop action plans for accelerating campus conversations on evaluating teaching.
  • Further develop a repository of information, tools, and protocols.
  • Build intentional collaborations between campuses for on-going learning.

Expectations for Campus teams

This meeting is designed for teams of 3-7 members for the campuses that are engaging in action planning. Let us know if you would like to invite more campus team members.

 

Required Pre-work

  • Each team will be asked to make a short presentation (no more than 5 minutes) for the beginning of the meeting that addresses:
    • current status of teaching evaluation, any current and/or emerging reform efforts, any significant campus drivers or resources, and hoped for goals from this workshop.
  • Each team is asked to review their Change Dashboard prior to the workshop to get familiar with it. This is a virtual workspace that we will use during the workshop and that teams can continue to use after the workshop. Each team has their own board. We ask each team member to add one sticky note with their name to their board prior to the meeting.
  • Update your Zoom client to the most current version of Zoom.
  •  

Optional pre-reading/resources

Zoom Reminders

We'll be using Zoom to host our virtual meeting. In order to ensure you have a good experience, and to support our planning, we have a few reminders/requests:

  • Please be sure to update to the most current version of Zoom! 
  • If possible, please join via computer. If you need to use a phone for audio quality/bandwidth issues, we encourage you to use the Zoom app. You can also use the Zoom "Call Me" feature to connect your computer session to your phone audio.

 

Schedule

Pre-work: Campuses will be provided with a collaborative space that contains information, tools, and protocols developed by the TEVAL project and collected by the NASEM . Campuses will be encouraged to add relevant resources that their campus has developed. Campuses will also receive an individual virtual space to design their action plan and next steps.

October 28, 2020

1:00 pm -2:15 pm ET                Open Session: Advancing Teaching Evaluation Practices

This webinar will showcase a few institutional models of advancing teaching evaluation and will provide time for campus representatives to discuss in small groups the ways that they are evaluating teaching. The purpose of the webinar is to provide some models and insights into ways that campus change agents can support this work of reforming the evaluation of teaching. This webinar will be open to the broader community.

                                                       30 minute presentation from 3 institutions.

15 minute - breakout groups – Opportunity for campuses to share current reforms on their campus related to teaching evaluation.

20 minute questions and discussion with the presenters and broader community.

2:15 - 2:30 pm ET                      Break

2:30 - 4:10 pm ET                      Closed session with teams.

Chatham House Rules

We will move to a closed session with the 10 institutions that are part of the invitation-only workshop. We will ask each team to give a 5 minute rapid talk on the current status of teaching evaluation, any emerging reform efforts, and hoped for goals from this workshop.

We will have two rounds of 30 minute breakout discussions that pair two campuses. Each pairing will include a campus that is making progress on reforming teaching evaluation (advisory campus) and a campus that is beginning this work and wants to develop an action plan (action planning campus). During these smaller, private, and closed discussions, we encourage campuses to share: 

  • What has worked and what has not worked. 
  • What did they find surprising about trying to reform teaching evaluation? 
  • What would they do differently? 
  • What have they found to be most helpful in advancing their reforms? 
  • What advice would they give to a campus just starting out?

This is an opportunity for the action planning campus to dig into the lessons learned by the advisory campus.

Each campus will have the opportunity to learn from at least two other campuses.

3:05 - 3:35 pm ET                       Breakout 1

3:40-4:10 pm ET                          Breakout 2

4:10-4:30 pm ET                        Group discussion and reflection

Campus teams will return to a large group discussion to share any high level findings or pose questions that remain unanswered that we might address the following day.

October 29, 2020 

1:00 pm - 2:30 pm ET               Campus Team Time

We will meet in the Zoom room, and we will move teams into breakout rooms.

Campuses will have team time to develop a short-term action plan and next steps. We will provide an interactive online space with guided sections to help in this action planning. Campuses can request a consultation from any of the advisory campuses during this time if needed. Campuses may be asked to consider: 

  • What is your goal or desired end state?
  • What are your assets? (e.g. CTL, STEM Ed Center, aligned NSF project, etc)
  • Who are your allies/champions?
  • What resources do you need? 
  • Where might you start seeding reform? At the department or institutional level?
  • What is a reasonable timeline?
  • What are your next steps?

Institutional Boards: Not available

BACKUP PDF - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aUs1Kr_2K39HVvMXV5RY4v-eLSSVSc0p/view?usp=sharing

 

Campus presenters will be asked to share in the next session:

  • Campus strategy or action plan to re-evaluate teaching
    • Campuses are at different points. Some might use this time to generate an action plan while others may be most helped by considering strategies to advance this work.
  • Resources available
  • What we will do tomorrow

2:30 pm - 3:00 pm ET               Break

3:00 - 3:45 pm ET                      Two teams + an Advisor breakouts

Two teams will be grouped in breakout rooms with one advisor for 5 minute presentations of next steps. These smaller sessions will provide an opportunity for feedback on plans.

  • Discussion to address:
    • Campus strategy or action plan to re-evaluate teaching
    • Campuses are at different points. Some might use this time to generate an action plan while others may be most helped by considering strategies to advance this work.
    • Resources available
    • What we will do tomorrow

3:50 - 4:30 pm ET                      Group discussion, reflection, and wrap up

 

Institutions that are represented

Action Planning Campuses

  • Rutgers
  • Texas A&M University
  • Texas Tech University
  • University of California Los Angeles
  • University of Missouri

Advisory Campuses

  • University of Colorado
  • University of Kansas
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst              
  • University of Oregon
  • University of Southern California

 

 

Sexual Harassment Policy for APLU meetings

In order to provide a productive and safe work environment and foster the free exchange of ideas, APLU's commitment to providing a harassment-free work environment extends to the meetings it sponsors and supports. Discrimination and harassment are prohibited in any APLU activity. This commitment applies to all participants in all settings and locations in which APLU committee meetings, workshops, and conferences are conducted where employees, volunteers, sponsors, vendors, and/or guests are present. To read the policy, visit: https://www.aplu.org/meetings-and-events/expectations.html 

Workshop planners

  • Kerry Brenner, Senior Program Officer for the Board on Science Education, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
  • Debbie Carlisle, Research Associate STEM Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • Noah Finkelstein, Professor of Physics; Co-Director Center for STEM Learning, University of Colorado Boulder and co-director of NSEC
  • Ken Griffith, Director – STEM Teaching, Engagement & Pedagogy (STEP) Program, Teaching, Learning & Professional Development Center (TLPDC), Texas Tech University
  • Emily Miller, Associate Vice President for Policy, Association of American Universities
  • Kacy Redd, Associate Vice President of Research and STEM Education, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.
  • Gabriela Weaver, Chancellor's Fellow, Professor of Chemistry, University of  Massachusetts Amherst

 

 

NSF Acknowledgement

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. (1524832, DRL 1725946, 1726087, 1725959, and 1725956). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.