Kudos to all of you on successfully completing yet another semester at Clemson! As you already know, every faculty member fills a unique and vital role at Clemson University. Your teaching, research and service transforms lives, impacts the citizens of South Carolina and the nation and generates new knowledge. Know that your hard work continues to impact the lives of many people around you. Now, as we change seasons and begin to turn the page, we want to encourage you to set aside time on your calendar to reflect on the achievements and challenges of this semester and, while fresh, consider documenting some aspects of your teaching experiences.
You now have more flexibility on how to document teaching effectiveness
There is ample evidence documenting both measurement and equity bias in student evaluations of teaching (as described by Kreitzer), an issue that particularly affects women and other marginalized groups. Aiming to minimize these effects, recent changes in the Faculty Manual were performed under the guiding principle that a more diverse approach to evaluate teaching effectiveness will minimize the effect of such biases. Among other changes, the 2023 Faculty Manual pivoted to a model where the evaluation of teaching must include feedback from instruction and course evaluation forms completed by students, where no single quantifier from these forms may substitute for a wide-ranging review of the responses, and that requires the inclusion of at least two additional metrics. While these changes give instructors multiple options to select what methodologies are best suited for their teaching styles, their courses, and their students, we generally recommend considering a teaching portfolio, which provides evidence of teaching effectiveness from a variety of sources and the context to analyze and interpret such evidence. These portfolios may include many of the following elements, which may be individually considered acceptable tools to document teaching effectiveness at Clemson:
- Evidence-based measurements of student learning that meet defined student learning outcomes
- Copies of all course materials (syllabus, course design, lectures, assignments, tests, communications, examples of student work, etc.) and efforts to support critical thinking and cognitive development. Keep in mind that these are key elements in documenting course rigor courses (vs grades, which are rarely associated with course rigor by faculty, administration, or future employers, as described by Johnson).
- Profile of students (enrollment, the type of student taking the class: concentrators, first-year students, non-specialists, graduate students, etc.)
- Documentation of alternative teaching approaches and special efforts invested to improve learning outcomes
- Feedback from peers (and/or administrators) related to course materials and teaching
- A statement by the faculty member providing a rational and critical account of your values, goals, methodologies, and expectations for a course
- Exit interview/surveys with current graduates/alumni
- Additional criteria as appropriate for the discipline and degree level of the students, including evidence-based teaching activities (e.g. inclusion of previous feedback, development of new courses, flipped courses, inclusion of course modules) that support the goals of Clemson Elevate.
Peer-Observation of Teaching
Aiming to provide additional options so faculty can further develop their teaching skills, OTEI, Clemson Online and the Office for Faculty ADVANCEment will be rolling out (Spring 2024) a short course so faculty can learn the basic concepts related to peer observation and provide formative feedback to peers, beyond the concepts discussed in class. The course is organized in several modules, where each module has explanations, videos, resources, activities and some reflection questions at the end of each module. Again, we aim at implementing a research-informed strategy that will make a difference and create a culture of improvements through meaningful feedback.
In the meantime…
The Office of Faculty ADVANCEment has assembled a number of resources related to effective teaching evaluation that can be used during this initial (transitional) period. The repository aims to help both faculty and administrators understand why this new approach may reduce biases in teaching evaluations of faculty and how other universities have implemented similar multi-faceted teaching assessment programs. While this is a work-in-progress and we are routinely updating the information, the available material serves as the initial steps related to the implementation of the new requirements and provides an opportunity to offer feedback related to both content and format. The material is currently available in a Canvas page and Clemson faculty can gain access by visiting this URL: https://clemson.instructure.com/enroll/TC6EDP
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
