IN & BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

A substantial body of research has concluded that administering well-crafted questionnaires to students is both valid and reliable, and it makes sense to survey the students, the learners themselves, as one source of information for evaluating teaching. Research has also shown that reviewing end-of-course questionnaires alone tends not to help instructors improve their teaching. . . . Improvment is more likely to come from consultations about teaching improvement and feedback given by students during the term.
                                                                      from Tools for Teaching, Chapter 60 on Stduent Rating Forms

Careful and judicious selection of materials [for your Teaching Portfolio] will help you think more critically about your teaching.
                                                                               from Tools for Teaching, Chapter 54 on The Traching Portfolio

Topic 14 - Evaluations to Improve Teaching and Learning / Teaching Portfolios

Guest Speaker:   Kyla Macario  (Office of Instruction & Assessment - OIA) on The Certificate in College Teaching Program

        Class topics:

- Teaching Evaluations - self assessment, formative vs. summative evaluation
- Ideas for developing your teaching portfolio and articulating your teaching philosophy
- The UA Certificate in College Teaching Program

READING PREPARATION:

For May 4th -- prepare for our last formal class on "Evaluations to Improve & Developing a Teaching Philosophy & Portfolio" by reviewing these readings:

• In Tools for Teaching, read chapters 52 (Early Feedback to Improve Teaching and Learning), 53 (Video Recordings and Classroom Observations), 54 (The Teaching Portfolio), and 60 (Student Rating Forms)

• Visit the website for the Certificate in College Teaching Program

          Also check out these links from Katie's Teaching Logistics Website under "Evaluation of Teaching"

           On Evaluation of Teaching:

           -- Where can I find my own TCE Teaching Evaluations online?
                - includes a link to Understanding TCE Results  and
                - an excellent guide on how to interpret your TCE ratings at:
                           http://aer.arizona.edu/AER/teaching/Guide/TCEGuide.pdf  
                -  another useful document on the teaching evaluation process is:

-- Where can STUDENTS find TCE evaluations (the Ratings Report only) for any course online?

           On Teaching Portfolios:   

           -- How do I construct a Teaching Porfolio? 
                             a sample Teachng Portfolio rubric (from K Macario)

          -- Are you curious about whether your course plan provides ways to address each of
                 your desired learning outcomes?  Construct a Table of Specifications for you course.
                    (See Katie's example for her Intro to Global Change general education course.)

           A Short Guide for Evaluating Teaching  (pdf file) -- contains a section on teaching portfolios and lots of other useful info on evaluating teaching (e.g. explains summative vs. formative evaluation, gives suggestions on how to use student's written comments, etc.)  Note that some links are outdated.  Written by Elena Berman, PhD, formerly of University of Arizona Assessment & Enrollment Research.