Abstract
Evaluating college and university faculty teaching performance is necessary for multiple reasons, including assurance of student learning and informing administrative decision making. A holistic system of evaluating university teaching is needed due to several factors, including limitations of student evaluations and the complexity of assessing teaching performance. University faculty members were interviewed to determine their perceptions of the multi-source method of evaluating (MME) teaching performance after a revision of policies and procedures was approved. The MME is comprised of three primary data sources: student evaluations, instructor reflections describing attributes of their own teaching such as the teaching philosophy, and a formative external review. While the faculty perceived the MME as a useful tool, they believe it operates primarily to produce a summative product than work as a formative process, which counters the goal of the MME policy. A formative process would be supported by addressing several factors, including timing, accountability, and mentoring.
Highlights
Evaluating college and university faculty teaching performance is necessary for multiple reasons, including assurance of student learning and informing administrative decision-making
Higher education faculty and administrators may find the results of this study useful, as they reveal practical issues faculty members face using formative processes to improve teaching while simultaneously creating a teaching performance portfolio used for summative evaluation and personnel decision making
Participation in this research study was an opportunity for faculty to provide feedback, in a confidential manner, about how a mutually agreed upon policy for evaluating effective teaching, as a developmental mechanism, was working for them
Summary
Evaluating college and university faculty teaching performance is necessary for multiple reasons, including assurance of student learning and informing administrative decision-making. To continue support for the development of new faculty member teaching effectiveness and to improve upon the skills of experienced faculty members, the evaluation criteria at a large Midwestern university was amended and the policies and procedures utilized to evaluate teaching performance were clarified according to best practices in the literature Such clarification, the faculty believed, would support formative development of teaching while continuing to produce a summative score suitable for personnel decisions. The faculty believed, would support formative development of teaching while continuing to produce a summative score suitable for personnel decisions The result of these changes was a multi-source method for evaluation (MME) comprised of three primary data sources: student evaluations, an instructor portfolio, and reflection on formative external reviews. The proposed MME may be adaptable to assessment activities at other universities based on contextual factors that are unique to those institutions
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