TLI Classroom Observation Codes
The KU Teaching and Learning Innovation Lab, led by Drs. Andrea Follmer Greenhoot and Massa Mafi, has been using adaptations of two established protocols to observe KU classroom activities and student engagement. The method involves dividing the class period into 2-minute time windows, and "coding" for a wide range of instructor and student activities in each window. Below are descriptions of the classroom activities we are recording (i.e., our activity "codes").
Codes from the COPUS (Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM)
| COPUS Student Codes | Description |
| Listening | Listening to instructor/taking notes, etc. |
| Individual Thinking | Individual thinking/problem solving. Only mark when an instructor explicitly asks students to think about a clicker question or another question/problem on their own. |
| Clicker Group | Discuss clicker question in groups of 2 or more students |
| Working Group | Working in groups on worksheet activity |
| Other Group | Other assigned group activity, such as responding to instructor question |
| Answer Question | Student answering a question posed by the instructor with rest of class listening |
| Student Question | Student asks question |
| Whole class discussion | Engaged in whole class discussion by offering explanations, opinion, etc. to whole class, often facilitated by instructor |
| Prediction | Making a prediction about the outcome of demo or experiment |
| Student Presentation | Presentation by student(s) |
| Test or Quiz | Test or quiz |
| Waiting | Waiting (instructor late, working on fixing AV problems, instructor otherwise occupied, etc.) |
| Other | Other – explain in comments |
| Collapsed Student Codes | How student codes are aggregated into collapsed codes or categories |
| Receiving | Listening to instructor (L) |
| Talking to Class | Student answering question (AnQ), Student asking question (SQ), Whole-class discussion (WC), Students presenting to entire class (SP) |
| Working | Individual thinking (Ind), Discussing clicker question (CG), Working in groups on worksheet (WG), Other group activity (OG), Making prediction (Prd), Test/Quiz (TQ) |
| Other | Waiting (W), Other (O) |
| Instructor Codes | Description |
| Lecture | Lecturing (presenting content, deriving mathematical results, presenting a problem solution, etc.) |
| Real-Time Writing | Real-time writing on board, doc. projector, etc. |
| Follow Up | Follow-up/feedback on clicker question or activity to entire class |
| Posing Question | Posing non-clicker question to students (non-rhetorical) |
| Clicker Question | Asking a clicker question |
| Answer Question | Listening to and answering student questions with entire class listening |
| Moving/Guiding | Moving through class guiding ongoing student work during active learning task |
| 1-on-1 | One-on-one extended discussion with one or a few individuals, not paying attention to the rest of the class |
| Demo/Video | Showing or conducting a demo, experiment, simulation, video, or animation |
| Administration | Administration (assign homework, return tests, etc.) |
| Waiting | Waiting when there is an opportunity for an instructor to be interacting with or observing/listening to student or group activities and the instructor is not doing so |
| Other | Other – explain in comments |
| Collapsed Instructor Codes | How instructor codes are aggregated into collapsed codes or categories |
| Presenting | Lecturing or presenting information (Lec), Real-time writing (RtW), Demonstration/Video (D/V) |
| Guiding | Follow-up/feedback on activity (FUp), Pose question (PQ), Pose clicker question (CQ), Listening to and answering student questions (AnQ), Moving and Guiding (MG), One on one discussion (1o1) |
| Administration | Administration (Adm) |
| Other | Waiting (W) or Other (O) |
Codes from the PAITE (Protocol for Advancing Inclusive Teaching Efforts) PAITE Codes
| PAITE Codes | Description |
| REAL | Real-world Connections: The instructor applies course material or learning activities beyond the classroom. |
| COM | Community Standards: Referenced by the instructor to hold community members accountable to an inclusive learning environment. |
| REL | Relationship Building: The instructor allows time for informal student-to-student or student-to-instructor conversation for relationship building. |
| NAME | Student Names: The instructor calls on students by their names during class or asks them to share their names. |
| AFFIRM | Verbal Affirmations: Instructor uses words of encouragement and praise that validate students’ contributions. |
| GROW | Growth Mindset Language: Instructor focuses on process and progress of learning rather than on outcomes. |
| EXCL | Address Exclusionary or Other Oppressive Acts: The instructor acknowledges and addresses exclusionary or oppressive acts if they occur during class. |
| EQPART | Equitable Participation: The majority of the students are engaged in an activity in which they are actively participating. Examples include polling, going around the class, think-pair-share, group participation |
| CHOICE | Student Choice: The instructor offers students the opportunity to choose between different activities or options. Instructor enables student agency (e.g., they can choose their partner, topic, materials, whether to write or type an assignment, whether to work alone or in a group) |
| O | Other: A teaching behavior not accounted for in the other codes (e.g., lecturing) |
| Additional Codes | Engagement and Device Use |
| Engagement (are students doing what instructor has asked them to do) | L Small fraction (10-20%) obviously engaged ; M Substantial fractions both clearly engaged and clearly not engaged; H Large fraction of students (80+%) clearly engaged in class activity or listening to instructor |
| Device Use (independent of whether use is appropriate or not) | L Small fraction (10-20%) are using phones, tablets. or laptops; M Substantial fractions both using and not using are using phones, ipads or laptops; H Large fraction of students (80+%) are using phones, ipads or laptops. |