Representing and Evaluating Teaching

To capture the full spectrum of teaching activities and their impact on students’ learning, a multifaceted approach is needed, one that reviews multiple dimensions of teaching practice, including the intellectual work that goes into course design and efforts to improve student learning, and draws on more than student ratings. We offer tailored resources to help instructors, peer reviewers, evaluators, and academic units implement more holistic teaching assessment. 

Our goal is to provide structure and guidance to support meaningful representation, evaluation and improvement of teaching. Whether you are preparing for promotion and tenure, seeking to enhance your teaching effectiveness, developing a peer review or teaching mentoring system, or evaluating teaching within your department, our resources are designed to guide you through the process.

At the core of our approach is the Benchmarks for Teaching Effectiveness framework. Benchmarks uses a rubric to identify expectations for seven dimensions of teaching practice that capture the teaching endeavor in its totality, including activities outside the classroom (e.g., assignment design, reviewing student work), and contributions to individual courses and the curriculum. The framework has been tested and refined through a National Science Foundation project. The Benchmarks framework:

• Recognizes the full scope of teaching work, including the intellectual work that goes into facilitating student learning
• Clarifies expectations for teaching excellence
• Promotes consistency across evaluators
• Helps identify both strengths and opportunities for growth 

To learn more about the framework and the NSF project, check out the Benchmarks project page.

Benchmarks is not meant to be prescriptive; individuals and academic units are welcome to adapt it and use it as a starting point for defining and documenting effective teaching. For evaluation purposes, the framework is designed to draw on information from three sources: the instructor, peers, and students. KU policy on the evaluation of teaching requires these multiple sources for promotion and tenure, but reviewers often struggle to integrate and make sense of the evidence. Our goal is to provide structure and guidance to support meaningful implementation. Most importantly, Benchmarks includes multiple adaptable tools and resources that can help you and your colleagues represent, review and evaluate teaching. 

For additional support or questions about representing and evaluating teaching, please contact cte@ku.edu. We’re here to help!