Effective teaching at the University of Missouri-St. Louis creates a student-focused learning environment valuing a diverse community that is inclusive and equitable. Effective teaching relies on relevant, organized, inspired, and engaged instruction and promotes critical and creative thinking.
Effective educators use disciplinary, interdisciplinary, or professional experience to design research-informed, carefully-constructed courses. Effective educators tailor teaching strategies and assessments, use appropriate technology, and ensure timely, constructive feedback to support student learning and achievement. Their high educational standards foster lifelong, self-directed learning.
Sustained teaching effectiveness requires refinement through analysis, constructive and continuous feedback, reflection, and professional development. Effective teaching is strengthened by institutional resources, programs, and collegial support and is documented and assessed by outcomes as established by departments and instructors incorporating feedback from students, peers, and self-reflection.
We are proud of the strong tradition of teaching excellence at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. However, teaching assessment at UMSL and across the University of Missouri System currently ranges in clarity and specificity within and across academic units. Teaching that excels in achieving effective student learning must be assessed and rewarded in ways reflecting its high priority to the university, our faculty, and most importantly, our students. Moreover, resources and mechanisms for rewarding excellent teaching on our campus are limited and inconsistent. UMSL faculty and other instructional staff deserve a comprehensive, clear, and meaningful process for evaluating their teaching as it pertains to their own professional development goals and opportunities for continuous improvement, tenure, promotion, merit, recognition, and other outcomes.
To align with a more meaningful recognition and reward structure for distinction in teaching, together with the other institutions in the UM System, we are excited to announce that UMSL is advancing on a path to creating a comprehensive method for measuring teaching effectiveness. In consultation with the Center for Teaching & Learning, the Faculty Senate Academic Advisory Committee, the Faculty Senate Educational Outcomes Committee, and other stakeholders, the Office of the Provost has convened a Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce to leverage the foundational work previously started by the then-Intercampus Faculty Council (IFC), and where appropriate, adapt successful implementation models from peer institutions.
The Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce has four main goals:
To accomplish these goals, the Taskforce will ground its approach in the research literature on best practices and examples from peer and aspirational institutions, relying on the expertise and ingenuity of our own excellent instructors. A campus-wide dialogue is necessary to solicit input from faculty and instructional staff at all levels who will be affected directly by any policy changes.
Membership on the Taskforce is broadly representative and will be supported by the Center for Teaching & Learning. We are delighted to announce the following faculty members who are serving our university on this critical Taskforce in the 2022-2023 academic year, and we thank Dr. Kimberly Baldus for her willingness to serve as the Taskforce Chair.
|
Name |
College/School and Department |
Title |
|
Kim Baldus, Taskforce Chair |
Pierre Laclede Honors College |
Teaching Professor |
| Sanjiv Bhatia | College of Arts & Sciences, Computer Science | Professor |
| Michael Gearhart |
School of Social Work |
Assistant Professor |
|
Shea Kerkhoff |
College of Education |
Assistant Professor |
| Vanessa Loyd |
College of Nursing |
Associate Teaching Professor |
| Tareq Nabhan |
College of Optometry |
Assistant Clinical Professor |
| Brandon Ofem |
College of Business Administration, Global Leadership and Management |
Associate Professor |
| Paula Prouhet |
College of Nursing |
Associate Teaching Professor |
| Jennifer Reynolds Moehrle | College of Businesss Administration, Accounting | Professor |
| Kurt Schreyer |
College of Arts & Sciences, English |
Associate Professor |
| Nancy Singer |
College of Education |
Associate Professor |
| Michael Smith |
College of Arts & Sciences, Music |
Associate Professor |
| Marc Spingola |
College of Arts & Sciences, Biology |
Teaching Professor |
| Ann Steffen | College of Arts & Sciences, Psychological Sciences | Professor |
| Hiroko Yoshii | College of Arts & Sciences, Language and Cultural Studies | Assistant Teaching Professor |
|
Keeta Holmes |
Center for Teaching and Learning |
Director, CTL, and Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Innovation |
|
Jen McKanry |
Center for Teaching and Learning |
Assistant Director |
|
Erin Whitteck |
Center for Teaching and Learning and College of Arts & Sciences, Chemistry & Biochemistry |
Assistant Director and Asst Teaching Professor |
|
Amber Burgett |
Center for Teaching and Learning |
Learning Analytics Coordinator |
The Student Feedback Subcommittee is tasked with understanding ways in which we can successfully use student feedback to inform teaching and learning as laid out by the teaching effectiveness definition.
This group has identified the following goals:
The Reflective Teaching Communities Subcommittee is dedicated to designing a supportive, collaborative, non-evaluative program to guide self-reflection through visiting the classrooms of peers.
The group has identified the following goals:
The Summative Evaluation of Teaching Subcommittee is tasked with recommending a holistic system that incorporates multiple measures of teaching tied to UMSL's definition of teaching effectiveness to be used by administrators for the purposes of faculty evaluation of teaching, teaching awards, and promotion/tenure.
The group has identified the following goals:
Periodic communication will be coming from this Taskforce to solicit feedback/input from faculty and other instructional staff, share its progress, and advance the UMSL and UM System-wide conversation on this important strategic goal.
The Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce welcomes your input and feedback as part of a process to foster effective teaching that involves the entire UMSL community. You can provide feedback through an anonymous form. You can also send an email to Kimberly Baldus, Taskforce Chair at balduski@umsl.edu or Keeta Holmes (keetaholmes@umsl.edu).
If you are willing to provide us with some information about you on the form, someone on our team can provide you a personalized follow-up response. However, providing personal identity information is optional. Your honest, candid contributions to this effort are valuable, and we want everyone to be able to share without feeling vulnerable.
Thank you for your dedication to our students and for your voice in this important campus conversation. Know that you are making a difference in the lives of our students.
The Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce continues to grow through the work of our subcommittees and the Taskforce at large. Meetings, discussions, and activities inform our current work. We invite you to examine these resources as our community considers how to best assess, support, and reward teaching for learning on campus.
This slide deck was built by the UMSL Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce to provide updates across campus on one aspect of the many different areas of work it is doing, the End-of-Semester Student Feedback Survey (formerly known as course evaluations). Detailed notes and script for the slides can be found in the slide notes.
2020-2021 Interim Report of the Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce, chaired by Dr. Nancy Singer. Respectfully submitted April 2021 to the Faculty Senate Academic Advisory and Assessment Committee and to the Office of the Provost.
Meeting Notes for the Peer Feedback Committee will be posted soon.
Other resources will be posted soon.
The Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce will offer several community engagement opportunities open to the UMSL community. The purpose is twofold: to keep members of the community updated with the progress of the Taskforce's work and to solicit input and feedback from the community.
Faculty Focus Groups on the Reflective Teaching Communities program: March - April 2022
Academic Leaders Focus Groups on the Reflective Teaching Communities program: March - April 2022
Faculty, Staff, and Academic Leaders input on the common question set: April 2022
Campus Opt-In pilot to use and test the new common question set: Summer 2022, Fall 2022
Campus Opt-Out pilot to use and test the new common question set and process for additional department questions: Spring 2023
Campus wide use of the new common question set: Summer 2023
Learn more about previous efforts by the Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce to seek feedback on its ongoing work from members of the UMSL community
October 8, 2020 - Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce announcement letter from the Provost
On October 8, 2020, Provost Marie T. Mora and Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Innovation Keeta Holmes announced the formation of the Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce to the UMSL community (attached here).
November 13, 2020 - Feedback for Definition of Teaching Effectiveness
In October Provost Mora announced the convening of the Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce (see attached). Chaired by Nancy Singer, the Taskforce has been working towards its goals focusing first on crafting a carefully considered definition of teaching effectiveness using the definitions of peer and aspirational institutions and referring to teaching and learning scholarship as our foundation. We invited campus input now on our initial work through a brief form by November 13, 2020. The definition was as follows:
Effective teaching at the University of Missouri-St. Louis fosters student learning through research-informed, relevant, organized, and engaging instruction.
Using disciplinary expertise as well as current pedagogical content knowledge, effective educators are student-focused and employ strategies that promote student learning. Effective educators respect diversity by creating a community for learners that is inclusive and equitable. Effective educators model and foster lifelong, self-directed learning.
Sustained teaching effectiveness requires continual refinement through deliberative reflection and professional development. It is documented and assessed by measurable outcomes, and it is strengthened by institutional resources and programs that promote a culture of support.
Campus feedback is essential in helping us know we are on the right track and also in ensuring that the definition reflects your values and UMSL’s mission. We can continuing to work on the teaching effectiveness definition by incorporating the feedback that the UMSL community provided.
February 2, 2021 - Feedback for Next Draft on Definition of Teaching Effectiveness
In November 2020, we reached out to the UMSL community for feedback on the Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce’s definition of teaching effectiveness. The Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce took the constructive suggestions from that feedback and incorporated it into a new working definition. We invited the campus once again for input for the final working draft of the definition. We invited campus input now on our initial work through a brief form by February 3, 2020. The definition was as follows:
Effective teaching at the University of Missouri-St. Louis fosters relevant, organized, inspiring, and engaging instruction. It creates a student-focused learning environment valuing a diverse community that is inclusive and equitable.
Effective educators use disciplinary or professional expertise to design research-informed, carefully constructed courses. They employ a variety of teaching strategies and assessment measures that leverage appropriate technology and provide timely, constructive feedback to promote student learning and achievement. They promote high standards and accountability that foster lifelong, self-directed learning.
Sustained teaching effectiveness requires continual refinement through deliberative reflection and professional development. Strengthened by institutional resources and programs that promote a culture of support, teaching effectiveness is documented and assessed by measurable outcomes as established by departments and instructors.
Campus feedback is essential in helping us know we are on the right track and also in ensuring that the definition reflects your values and UMSL’s mission. We can continuing to work on the teaching effectiveness definition by incorporating the feedback that the UMSL community provided. You can find a copy of the email announcement for the next round of feedback on the teaching effectiveness definition here.
