March 2023 update for Future of Teaching & Learning Working Group on Quality

To: Mark Richards, Provost

From: Lynn Dietrich & Darcy Janzen, Co-chairs, Future of Teaching & Learning Working Group on Quality

Re: Status Report, Future of Teaching & Learning Working Group on Quality

March 24, 2023

As established in our preliminary report dated January 27, 2023, and as detailed in our original charge, the Future of Teaching & Learning Working Group on Quality has focused our efforts on the task of “establishing a shared language, common criteria, and processes to promote and achieve quality instruction across modalities.”  To this end, we have established 3 subgroups dedicated to specific elements of this charge.

The Framework Subgroup: This group, after examining examples from other institutions with similar commitments to teaching excellence, has completed a draft framework that is now ready to share with various stakeholders to solicit feedback:

• Presenting draft
  • Associate Deans (Seattle), April 7
  • Faculty Council on Teaching and Learning, April 13
  • Council of Deans (Tacoma), April 20
  • Bothell meeting TBD
• Listening sessions
  • Tacoma faculty assembly in spring
  • Bothell TBD
  • Seattle TBD 

The Evaluation of Teaching Subgroup: This group is developing recommendations for the content and process of teaching evaluations, and their use in promotion, tenure, and merit reviews. (One element of this work, the question of peer evaluations of teaching, is being addressed by a subcommittee of the Faculty Council on Teaching and Learning in partnership with this subgroup.) They are concentrating on three different modalities of evaluation:

• Student evaluation of teaching
  • Developing survey of students (via MyUW, sponsored by ASUW) on course evaluations in the  2nd week of spring quarter to address the following questions:
    • What is the value of student course evaluations?
    • What motivates students to complete them?
    • Why does the university solicit student evaluations?
    • What messaging do students receive from faculty about completing them
  • Meet with associate deans across the three campuses (or equivalent) to gather information about policies and procedures for student course evaluations

• Self-evaluation of teaching
  • Evaluate what resources are currently available
  • Review documentation from previous efforts to address this
  • Develop recommendations for the process based on the framework principles

• Peer evaluation of teaching (Faculty Council on Teaching and Learning subcommittee)
  • Survey of responsible administrators/faculty in colleges/units
    • Questions regarding process
    • Samples of guidance for individual units
  • Develop recommendations for unified process aligned with framework

Faculty Resources and Professional Development Subgroup: This group is working to identify what resources are already available to faculty to address their teaching needs, and how widely accessible these resources are across the three campuses.  They also plan to identify needs for additional resources/support aligned with the framework principles, and provide recommendations to enhance the professional development available to faculty.

• Landscape survey of current resources
• Develop recommendations for professional development based on framework principles and evaluation results
• Develop a streamlined network of resources/PD available across campuses

We are looking forward to sharing the framework draft and receiving feedback on that proposal.  We anticipate that the refinement of the framework will continue through spring quarter, as will the work of the other two subgroups.  Because of the complexity of this project, and the importance of casting a wide net for feedback, we anticipate needing to extend the working group beyond the end of the academic year.

Darcy Janzen, Director of Digital Learning, UW Tacoma

Lynn Dietrich, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Teaching Professor, College of Education