Learning Team 1 (LT1): Evaluate Policies
How do we change academic policies at our institutions toward more meaningful evaluation of teaching?
We propose that our institutions currently have few policies that explicitly address how to evaluate teaching to help instructors improve and to demonstrate quality teaching. The result is that quality teaching is not incentivized or rewarded. To address these issues, our first project focused on how institutions can implement policy (e.g., promotion and tenure guidelines, merit review policies, etc.) that recognizes and rewards effective teaching. The development of clear policy can be one way to create change that lasts beyond the efforts of a single person, group, or grant and is codified in institutional governance documents. The documents serve as a visible sign of an institution's commitment in this area of academic work.