Here are some ways to apply what you've learned ...

Professional Development
  • Self Assessment: Observe your Classroom Instruction/Start a Teaching Portfolio

    For many years, video taped lectures and portfolio development have been used by teachers to evaluate their teaching effectiveness.

    • Develop your criteria of important teaching skills by which you will evaluate yourself (rubric). Criteria could include: clarity of presentation topic (What is the muddiest point in your lecture?), lecture design, and classroom management.
    • Arrange for your Instructional Media department or Faculty Development center to video tape a lecture from a single class.
    • View your taped lecture. Using your rubric criteria, note strengths and weaknesses
    • Use your notes to develop a professional development plan. What books, seminars, or conferences can you attend to strengthen weak areas?
    • If possible, once you've strengthened a weak area or two, video tape the same lecture (in the following semester or two) and compare your lectures.

Further Reading/References

Read more about faculty self assessment, teacher portfolios, and professional development.

  • Crotty, Teri, and Russel O'Keefe. (1999) Evaluating Self-Assessment as a Means of Professional Development. http://ericae.net/ericdc/ED432563.htm . Available from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service).
  • Cerbin, W. (1994) The Course Portfolio as a Tool for Continuous Improvement of Teaching and Learning. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 5 (1), 95-105. Available online through subscription service or in library journal archives.
  • Doolittle, Peter (1994). Teacher portfolio assessment. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 4(1). Available online: http://ericae.net/pare/getvn.asp?v=4&n=1
  • Putting Your Best Foot Forward. NEA Higher Education Advocate (May 2001). Available online: http://www.nea.org/he/advo01/advo0105/feature.html
  • Setteducati, David. (1995) Portfolio Self-Assessment for Teachers: A Reflection on the Farmingdale Model. Journal of Staff Development, v. 16 n3 p2-5 Summer 1995.

In the Classroom

  • Take the Steps to Start Classroom Assessment

    Try a simple classroom assessment. The following information may be found in Angelo and Cross' Classroom Assessment Techniques:

    1. Step One-Plan: Select one class in which to try out a classroom assessment. Choose a course that you know well and one in which most students are succeeding. Angelo and Cross suggest not trying out a new assessment on a problematic class until you become experienced with a particular assessment. Choose a simple and quick assessment to apply such as one of the five listed below. For details please see: http://www.indiana.edu/~teaching/sfcats.html or purchase Angelo and Cross' book (see References below))
      • The Muddiest Point (Asseses what students are unclear about)
      • The One-Sentence Summary (Assesses student skill at summarizing a large amount of information in a highly structured, compact format)
      • Directed Paraphrasing (Assesses student understanding of a concept or procedure)
      • Applications Cards (Assesses learners skill at transference. Elicits possible applications of lessons learned in class to real life)
    2. Step Two-Implement: Let students know what you are going to do and why you are asking them for information. Make sure students understand the procedure and how much time they have to complete the assessment. Let students know the assessment is not graded. Write instructions on the board or overhead transparency.
      • Collect the responses
      • Read them quickly as soon as you can (immediately after class is best).
      • Spend one to two minutes analyzing the feedback
      • Sort responses into three piles: 1) on-target; 2) close; 3) off-target
      • Number and approximate percentage of the total class that each of the piles represents.
    3. Step Three-Respond: Let students know what you learned from the Classroom Assessment Technique and what difference that information will make. Think about how you will inform the class about their responses. For example, you could tell the class, "Fifty percent of you thought that database indexing was the 'muddiest' point."

References

Angelo, T.A. & Cross, P.K. (1993). Classroom Assessment Techniques (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Building Campus Community
  • Improve Teaching on Campus: Collaborative Peer Review

    Start collaborative peer review on your campus.

    • Using campus email, campus mail, and/or personal invitation invite faculty to start a collaborative peer review group.
    • Suggested group review items include classroom observations, videotaped class sessions, analysis of teaching portfolios, assessment of the instructor's evaluation of student work.
    • Establish a constructive, positive review environment.
    • Establish guidelines and criteria by which instructors are reviewed
    • Relate evaluations to teaching sklls
    • Link evaluations to profession development
    • Boyd suggests the following in reporting the results of an evaluation:
      • deliver the feedback in a positive and considerate way
      • offer ideas and suggest changes that make sense to the teacher
      • maintain a level of formality necessary to achieve the goals of the evaluation
      • maintain a balance between praise and criticism
      • give enough feedback to be useful but not so much as to overwhelm the teacher

    Further Reading/References

    Although the following references address the formal evaluation process. The information in the articles below may be adapted for a less formal, collaborative review environment.