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Approaches to teaching evaluations subject of forum

A November 30 forum on the UWindsor campus will explore approaches to documenting and evaluating teaching used in Canada and around the world.

Provost Douglas Kneale, who will host the event, hopes it will attract faculty and staff with a diversity of opinions and experiences.

“The goal is to open up a conversation about what we value in teaching, and how we recognize effective teaching,” he says. “We want to explore whether and how teaching evaluation achieves the range of purposes it serves efficiently, fairly, and in ways that do the most good for students, instructors, and learning.”

Colleges and universities across the country are grappling with this challenging topic, Dr. Kneale says. The forum will help inform the campus community about approaches used at other institutions and offer participants an opportunity to explore future possibilities here.

Participants will spend the day exploring some of the research on teaching evaluation as well as the perspectives of people in a range of roles, from faculty who have led teaching evaluation initiatives, to those involved in promotion and tenure committees, to early career and highly experienced faculty members, to the student perspective.

The event will also showcase efforts of campus educators to develop new ways to gather, analyze, and reflect on evidence about teaching effectiveness, both for professional development and for career advancement.

Erika Kustra, acting director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning, is helping to organize the forum. She says it will prove thought-provoking: “The highly interactive formats involved will provide many avenues for participants to explore new information and share their views.”

There are limited spaces still available for the forum. Register online at http://cleo.uwindsor.ca/workshops/ctl/91/.