HILT 2017 Conference: Evaluating teaching within a research university

TL;DR

Evaluating teaching in a research university is crucial, difficult, and requires collaboration between faculty, instructors, and students. The focus should be on teaching effectiveness rather than school culture.

Transcript

So I want to make three points about the theme of evaluating teaching in a research university. It's really important, it's really hard, and it takes collaboration. So I'm going to take each one of these in turn. On the point about it being really important. One of our graduate school of education faculty members who does research on teaching effec... Read More

Key Insights

• 🧑‍🎓 Evaluating teaching is essential for a research university as teaching effectiveness has a significant impact on student achievement.
• 💄 Evaluation of teaching makes faculty vulnerable due to personal judgment and potential criticism, but it is crucial for improving teaching skills.
• 🪘 Harvard has a long history of evaluating teaching, but many efforts seem to have been reinventions of previous ideas.
• 🧑‍🏫 Collaboration and trust are necessary for making progress in evaluating teaching and improving instruction.
• 😃 Big data and digital tools can be used to collect and analyze information, but careful consideration is needed to ensure privacy and maintain the individuality of students.
• 💁 Hands-on experiences in labs and other forms of active learning are valuable for fostering critical thinking and deep engagement with the subject.
• 🧑‍🎓 Evaluating teaching effectiveness should incorporate a variety of factors, including course evaluations, peer feedback, and long-term student outcomes.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why is evaluating teaching more important than school culture in a research university?

Research comparing student achievement gains between teachers and schools has shown that the difference between teachers within a particular school is much greater than the difference between schools. This implies that teaching effectiveness has a greater impact on student achievement than school culture.

Q: How do faculty feel about evaluating teaching and what is its impact on them?

Faculty care deeply about teaching and want to do well. They feel vulnerable and exposed when evaluated, but they also see the importance of these evaluations in improving their teaching skills and understanding what works and what doesn't.

Q: What is the historical context of teaching evaluations at Harvard University?

Course evaluations have been a topic of discussion and improvement at Harvard since at least 1874. There have been various reports, surveys, and efforts to evaluate teaching effectiveness and improve instruction throughout the years. However, many of these efforts seem to have been reinventions of previous ideas.

Q: How can collaboration and trust improve the evaluation of teaching?

Meaningful evaluation of teaching requires collaboration and trust between different roles involved in education, such as academic professional staff, instructors, faculty, and deans. By building these partnerships and lines of trust, it becomes possible to make significant progress in evaluating and improving teaching.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Evaluating teaching is more important than school culture in a research university, according to research comparing student achievement gains between teachers and schools.

• Evaluating teaching effectiveness and understanding its impact is crucial for faculty, who expressed concern over how to know if their teaching methods are effective.

• Evaluation of teaching makes people vulnerable, as it involves personal judgment, feedback, and the potential for criticism. These evaluations are important to the faculty who care deeply about teaching.

• Teaching evaluations have a long history at Harvard University, dating back to 1874, and have been a topic of discussion and improvement throughout the years.