Office of Educational Assessment

UW GIFTS

UW Growth in Faculty Teaching Study

The University of Washington’s Growth in Faculty Teaching Study, conducted by researchers in the UW’s Undergraduate Academic Affairs and Educational Assessment offices, focused on change in faculty teaching. Study researchers interviewed 55 UW faculty members from across disciplines and academic statuses to answer the following questions:

  • How pervasive is change in faculty teaching?
  • When faculty members make change to their teaching, what do they change?
  • Why do they make those changes?

Primarily a qualitative study, the UW GIFTS included quantitative results from a short survey administered to interviewees as well as results of focus groups with advanced graduate students.

Inside the Undergraduate Teaching Experience (2013, Beyer, C.H., Taylor, E., & Gillmore, G. M., SUNY Press) describes the study’s methodology and findings. As David Pace said about the book:

This book captures the voices of faculty engaged in the classroom in a fashion that I have not seen before. In the midst of a cacophony of works denouncing the professoriate as insensitive to problems of student learning (generally with little evidence), this study offers a glimpse into the real attitudes of a large group of instructors.

uwgiftsbook