Over recent decades, the evaluation of teaching has undergone dramatic change. In accessible language and supportive detail, Changing Practices in Evaluating Teaching provides not only a cogent overview of these changes but also reflects on current developments to present several useful strategies for implementing new tools and methods in the evaluation of teaching. The authors are all prominent educators who have performed seminal work in the improvement of teaching evaluation. Written for university and college administrators as well as faculty, this book is a complete guidebook that supplies a wealth of case studies, examples, tables, Web sites, and exhibits that further enhance its utility. It explains how to Gain genuine faculty and administrative support Avoid common weaknesses in teaching evaluation by students, peers, and self Evaluate teaching by examining student learning Successfully combine disparate sources of data Establish a climate conducive to evaluation How to structure and use classroom visits, rating forms, electronic classroom assessment, and teaching portfolios Changing Practices in Evaluating Teaching makes evident the compelling reasons why colleges and universities must institute fair teaching evaluation systems, and explains how to do so. With a notable focus on improving student learning, this book offers readers the kind of research-based and ready-to-use information required to foster truly effective and equitable teaching evaluation at their institutions.

This book aims to help teachers and those who support them to re-imagine the work of teaching, learning and leading. In particular, it shows how transformations of educational practice depend on complementary transformations in classroom-school- and system-level organisational cultures, resourcing and politics. It argues that transforming education requires more than professional development to transform teachers; it also calls for fundamental changes in learning and leading practices, which in turn means reshaping organisations that support teachers and teaching – organisational cultures, the resources organisations provide and distribute, and the relationships that connect people with one another in organisations. The book is based on findings from new research being conducted by the authors – the research team for the (2010-2012) Australian Research Council-funded Discovery Project Leading and Learning: Developing Ecologies of Educational Practice.

This second book focuses directly on the classroom, on the challenges individual teachers face in classroom-based assessment, and how these challenges have been and are being met in a range of international contexts.

This volume focuses directly on the classroom, on the challenges individual teachers face in classroom-based assessment, and on how these challenges have been and are being met in a range of international contexts.

Since its inception in 1969, Change magazine has been the bellwether of higher education. It has framed the key issues confronting the academy, attracted the best minds, and shaped the debate. In this important collection, Deborah DeZure and a panel of contributing editors have selected landmark articles on teaching and learning in higher education published in Change from its launch to the present. Through the articles and incisive commentaries we follow the controversies, witness the reception of innovations, and trace the threads of continuity of the past thirty years. What emerges is both an indispensable set of perspectives and a rich resource of models and ideas.The book spans a period that began in the turmoil of student unrest in the '60s, and concludes at the close of 1999 with higher education grappling with the issues of purpose, accountability, technology and changing demographics.What is striking about these articles is the vitality and relevance of the voices from the past. They offer valuable insights and inspiration as we plan for the future, and consider how to foster effective teaching and learning environments.Organized by topic, the articles in each section are introduced by a recognized authority in the field. Deborah DeZure's Introduction and Conclusion offer both the context and an analysis of trends.Learning from Change constitutes both fascinating reading and an important compass for administrators in higher education, directors of faculty development, and deans, department chairs and faculty engaged in leadership roles in the academy. It is an invaluable introduction and survey for anyone who wants to familiarize him or herself with the issues and trends.

The recent trend in innovative school design has provided exciting places to both learn and teach. New generation learning environments have encouraged educators to unleash responsive pedagogies previously hindered by traditional classrooms, and has allowed students to engage in a variety of learning experiences well beyond the traditional ‘chalk and talk’ common in many schools. These spaces have made cross-disciplinary instruction, collaborative learning, individualised curriculum, ubiquitous technologies, and specialised equipment more accessible than ever before. The quality of occupation of such spaces has also been encouraging. Many learning spaces now resemble places of collegiality, intellectual intrigue and comfort, as opposed to the restrictive and monotonous classrooms many of us experienced in years past. These successes, however, have generated a very real problem. Do these new generation learning environments actually work – and if so, in what ways? Are they leading to the sorts of improved experiences and learning outcomes for students they promise? This book describes strategies for assessing what is actually working. Drawing on the best thinking from our best minds – doctoral students tackling the challenge of isolating space as a variable within the phenomenon of contemporary schooling – Evaluating Learning Environments draws together thirteen approaches to learning environment evaluation that capture the latest thinking in terms of emerging issues, methods and knowledge.

A Guide to Better Teaching is a self-help book that provides anyone teaching a college course with a thorough understanding of what it takes to be an effective teacher. Derived from the authors' extensive research, several interactive assessment tools are included that measure levels of effectiveness according to learner preferences. Each chapter is filled with detailed explanations, relevant stories, and action-driven tables that help them in understanding and applying skills. This book aims to enhance teaching skills by offering critical perspectives, practical suggestions, and techniques for improvement. Whether a new teacher, an adjunct faculty, or a seasoned professor, this comprehensive information can be used to analyze effectiveness or the effectiveness of others. The suggestions and the assessment tools are applicable to the entire spectrum of organizational leaders and managers, in education, government or industry whose work requires giving presentations or communicating in a public forum. To access the free skills assessment tools, please click here.

This volume examines the development and growing use of online student ratings and the potential impact online rating systems will have on the future of students’ evaluations of teaching. The contributors demonstrate how the preference for online evaluation is growing, even amidst challenges and doubt. Sharing their first-hand experience as researchers and administrators of online systems, they explore major concerns regarding online student ratings and suggest possible solutions. D. Lynn Sorenson and Christian M. Reiner review existing online-rating systems that have been developed independently across the globe. Kevin Hoffman presents the results of a national survey that tracks the increased use of the Internet for student ratings of instruction. At Northwestern University, Nedra Hardy demonstrates how ongoing research about online student evaluations is helping to dispel common misperceptions. Application of online rating systems can present institutions with new challenges and obligations. Trav D. Johnson details a case study based on five years of research in the response rates for one university’s online evaluation system and suggests strategies to increase student participation. Reviewing online reporting of results of online student ratings, Donna C. Llewellyn explores the emerging issues of security, logistics, and confidentiality. Other chapters explore existing online systems, highlighting their potential benefits for institution and instructor alike. Beatrice Tucker, Sue Jones, Lean Straker, and Joan Cole analyze Course Evaluation on the Web (CEW), a comprehensive online system for instructional feedback and improvement. Cheryl Davis Bullock reviews the Evaluation Online (EON) system and its successful role in facilitating midcourse student feedback. The fate of online rating may rest in the unique advantages it may – or may not – have over traditional ratings systems. Debbie E. McGhee and Nana Lowell compare online and paper-based methods through mean ratings, inter-rater reliabilities and factor structure of items. Comparing systems from another angle, Timothy W. Bothell and Tom Henderson examine the fiscal costs and benefits of implementing an online evaluation system over paper-based systems. Finally, Christina Ballantyne considers the prominent issues and thought-provoking ideas for the future of online student ratings raised in this volume. Together, the contributors bring insight and understanding to the processes involved in researching and initiating innovations in online-rating systems. This is the 96th issues of the quarterly journal New Directions for Teaching and Learning.

ATTENTION: ALL FACULTY & ADMINISTRATORS“Another book on student ratings? Are you kidding me?” “Nope, but this one is REALLY different.” Another review of the research or step-by-step on how to develop and interpret rating scales? NOT! (Berk did that with Thirteen Strategies) Designed to solve YOUR problems, conflicts, and confusion about how to evaluate teaching. Written expressly for YOU with Berk’s signature sense of humor.FLASHPOINT: a critical stage in a process, trouble spot, contentious issue, volatile hot button, or lowest temperature at which a flammable liquid will give off enough vapor to igniteThe “flashpoints” covered are the topics that pop up the most frequently and heatedly on listservs, blogs, and the literature. Each flashpoint is defined succinctly, options are presented, and then evidence-based recommendations for concrete action steps are proffered in an effort to stop the popping.The recommendations are grounded in psychometric, professional, and legal standards. The last-named, in particular, can protect you from costly litigation. If you hire, promote, demote, and fire full- and part-time faculty based on student ratings and other measures, then you are vulnerable to violations of federal anti-discrimination laws. Several flashpoints address procedures you can take to stay out of court. If you are a faculty member, you need to know whether your institution’s measures of teaching are appropriate and defensible, and what you should do if they are not.Four sample “flashpoints” and solutions:• Use of global items for summative decisions. SOLUTION: “Cease & desist” and use scale and subscale ratings• Low response rate in online administrations. SOLUTION: 20 strategies to increase rates• Scales to evaluate online and blended/hybrid courses. SOLUTION: 7 strategies are suggested and evaluated • Use of ratings for contract renewal, pay raise, teaching awards, and promotion and tenure. SOLUTION: Applying 80/20 rule for adverse impact to avoid lawsuits related to unequal pay, gender, race, ethnicity, and age discrimination

This book evaluates the impact of projects to improve teaching and learning in Higher Education, focusing on evaluative practice.