What is “modern” teaching evaluation?
College teaching has traditionally been evaluated by end-of-course student surveys. While these surveys arose in the 1920s as a way for students to swap impressions with peers, decades of research have shown that they are poor measures of teaching quality.
Modern teaching evaluations go beyond student surveys to capture the full story of an instructor’s teaching practice. Three key features of modern approaches are:
- Multiple dimensions of effectiveness: modern approaches define core elements of effective teaching that apply across a broad range of teaching contexts.
- Multiple forms of evidence: modern approaches triangulate evidence of teaching effectiveness collected from students, instructors, and colleagues.
- Tangible pathways for development: modern approaches provide constructive feedback to instructors that helps them become better teachers.
Teaching Dimension
|
Instructor Lens
|
Peer Lens
|
Student Lens
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Goals, Content, and Alignment | Grading rubrics | Observation report | |
| Teaching Practices | Lesson plan | Course evals | |
| Student Progress Toward Learning Goals | Assessment review | First/final drafts | |
| Classroom Culture and Student Perceptions | Syllabus | In-class assessment | |
| Mentoring and Advising | Teaching statement | Student letter | |
| Reflection and Iterative Growth | Teaching journal | Teaching center letter | |
| Teaching Service, Scholarship, or Community | CV | Collaborator letter |
Why use modern evaluation methods?
Relying on student surveys to evaluate college teaching is both deeply unpopular and methodologically unsound. And yet, the lack of viable alternatives has led colleges to perpetuate an evaluation system they know isn’t working.
A slate of new approaches pioneered by research teams over the last decade is now poised to change how we evaluate teaching going forward.
For Faculty
- Increased confidence in a fair and transparent faculty review process.
- Greater agency to craft one’s own teaching narrative.
- Richer feedback that can drive instructional growth.
- More nuanced evaluations for teaching-stream and adjunct faculty.
For Administrators
- Better data on instructional quality to support student success.
- More consistent evaluation processes across units.
- Streamlined accreditation and compliance processes.
- More robust opportunities for junior faculty mentoring.
- New ways to analyze teaching at the program or department level.
For Teaching Centers
- More structured programming built around a common framework.
- New avenues for valuing teaching within faculty evaluation processes.
- Better alignment between institutional incentives and pedagogical research.
- More tools to foster an open and collaborative culture of teaching.
How can we help?
If you’re curious about changing the way teaching is evaluated at your institution (or have already been working on this for awhile), we’d like to help!
Designing a new evaluation system from scratch can take years (and a big budget). We reduce the time and cost of change by adapting what’s already working at other institutions to fit your unique context.
Next Steps
- Explore the teaching evaluation tool. Modern evaluation methods require modern technologies. We built the first platform that enables faculty to quickly create and review holistic teaching portfolios.
- Read “A practical guide to modern teaching evaluation.” Not sure where to start? We spoke with 20 institutions already using modern teaching evaluations to learn what’s been working and how to avoid roadblocks along the way.
- Start a pilot at your institution. Let’s start small and see how modern evaluation could work on your campus. We run low-cost pilots for faculty learning communities, individual departments, or other trusted groups to let you get a feel for using new approaches.
Questions? Feel free to contact us at [email protected]