The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

This section is paginated starting with A-1. Every page must be numbered consecutively in the upper right corner, including peer reviews.

The time span for material included in this section is from date of employment at PSU to tenure eligible position or date of last promotion at PSU . When a previous promotion occurred five or more years ago, the benchmark would be to provide evaluation for only the most recent five years. (FAQ #25)

Information listed in this section must be reported in chronological order with the most recent date first.

COURSES TAUGHT IN RESIDENT INSTRUCTION

Use table below for reporting courses taught in resident instruction and SRTE summary results. Place actual SRTE summary sheets in supporting documents.

Frequency of reviews:

• For provisional faculty (not yet tenured), all sections of all courses shall be evaluated by the SRTE every time it is taught. The SRTE results must be included in the dossier. Any absence of SRTE results must be explained (Page 28, I.11.A.1-4). The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence provides scanning and reporting of Fall SRTE results earlier for faculty members undergoing a second-year review. Submit SRTEs to The Schreyer Institute along with a Special Processing form.
• Faculty being reviewed for promotion, even when it is not coupled with a tenure review, should be able to demonstrate their teaching achievements in part through student evaluations (SRTEs) administered on a regular basis and in a variety of courses.
• Indicate with an asterisk (*) if the course was co-taught and add the details below the table.

*Co-taught with Dr. John Doe

COURSES AND WORKSHOPS TAUGHT IN SUPPORT OF OUTREACH-BASED INSTRUCTION

Use the table below to list courses and workshops taught in support of outreach instruction. This would include also include instruction through Cooperative Extension, Continuing Education, Distance Education, World Campus, or Public Broadcasting. Outreach in education includes using teaching or demonstration skills in an area of expertise to enhance the skills and/or knowledge of individuals or groups outside the University community. For example: Teaching a tradition resident course is education; teaching a customized program through Adult Learning is outreach.

ADVISING RESPONSIBILITIES

Use table below to indicate number of graduate and undergraduate advisees by degree during review period. Please list all advisees, including those doing thesis work.

SUMMARY OF STUDENT COMMENTS

In addition to the required data gained from SRTEs, other methods for assessing student responses shall include at least one of the following: (1) written student evaluations; (2) formal interviews with students at the end of the semester; (3) exit surveys (FAQ #23, page 7).

Findings from student comments from such sources listed above  should be presented in a summary statement that conveys the students' sense of strengths and weaknesses. Any summary of student comments should include the “best liked” and “least liked” quality of the instructor. These should be done by presenting a summary statement--not by inserting all or a selection of the narrative comments (FAQ#27; HR-23 Pg 4, II.C.a.1).  Actual comment sheets should be placed in supporting documents.

Do not include any unsolicited letters (letters of thanks or appreciation from students, etc.) — letters of this type belong in the supporting materials. The only letters permitted in the dossier are those solicited by the department head as an optional form of evaluation that is done uniformly within the department for every faculty member.

FACULTY INPUT CONCERNING TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS

• For provisional faculty (not yet tenured), it is recommended that peer reviews should occur at least once per year and in a variety of courses.
  
• Faculty being reviewed for promotion, it is better to have a series of peer reviews over time rather than several in the fall immediately preceding the review. (Dean Monk's memo May 12, 2005, to Department Heads.)

Evaluators are asked to review the goals below from the College P & T guidelines and provide an evaluation based on these goals.

One of the purposes of a peer evaluation of teaching is to assist promotion and tenure review committees in their efforts to make reasoned judgments about a candidate's effectiveness as a teacher. Please be attentive to the following items in conducting your evaluation: (a) suitability of the instructional program's objectives; (b) the degree to which classroom instructional activities contribute to student development and achievement or levels of performance commensurate with these objectives; (c) the maintenance of a teaching and learning environment where students are treated as welcomed contributors; and (d) the correspondence of evaluation procedures to these course objectives and instructional activities.

Please have evaluators use the suggested Peer Evaluation format: Peer Evaluation of Teaching Form (word document)

Name of Instructor:
Course:
Date Observed:
Name of Evaluator: (print name, title, and sign in full)
Comments:

List names of peer evaluators whose letters appear at the end of this section (list and insert letters with earliest letters first).

Review letters: (names)

For tenure reviews, list evaluators by review year as shown below.

2nd year review letters: (names) (these will include all 1st and 2nd year letters)
4th year review letters: (names) (these will include all 3rd and 4th year letters)
6th year review letters: (names) (these will include all 5th and 6th year letters)

STATEMENTS FROM ADMINISTRATORS

Each department has the option to include or not include more than one form of teaching evaluation in the dossier; however, optional forms of evaluation must be done uniformly within a department for every faculty member — documented and quantified. If this is a department option, simply state: “See summary results of departmental survey conducted by Department Head.” Place the summary results with the teaching evaluation letters in the appropriate order. Place a copy of the actual survey and letter of request in the supporting documents.

OTHER EVIDENCE OF RESIDENT AND/OR OUTREACH BASED TEACHING AND ADVISING EFFECTIVENESS

Examples include recipient of teaching or advising awards and/or nominations for awards; service on advising committees; participation in activities to improve teaching and/or advising (training sessions, workshops, conferences, brown bags); advising manuals/handbooks you developed; participation in advising programs for new students; presentations on advising (to incoming students, as a faculty mentor); participation in recruiting activities (visits, open houses, fairs); faculty direction of student internships, awards of academic nature advisees have won.

Outreach in education includes using teaching or demonstration skills in an area of expertise to enhance the skills and/or knowledge of individuals or groups outside the University community. Outreach would include courses, certificates, diploma/licensure programs, conferences, workshops, lectures, symposiums, teleconferences, etc., to groups external to the University. For example:

• Guest lecturing in a colleague's class is education; guest lecturing at another university or high school is outreach.
• Applying a project-based pedagogical approach in a class is education; presenting a similar lecture for managers at a local company is outreach.

SUPERVISION OF GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE DISSERTATIONS/THESES AND MEMBERSHIP ON GRADUATE DEGREE COMMITTEES

Use table below and list all appropriate students alphabetically, by degrees (Ph.D. D.Ed., M.S., M.A., and undergraduate theses), and indicate with an " X " in all categories that apply for each student using "co-" if appropriate. For example, someone chairing and advising the thesis would have 3 "Xs--one each as Chair, Thesis Advisor, and Committee Member. If student has graduated, indicate the month/year. Do not include master's papers in this table.

SUPERVISION OF MASTER'S PAPERS (if applicable)

Use table below and list all appropriate students alphabetically, and indicate with an "X" if you were the student's advisor and/or the advisor for the master's paper. If student has graduated, indicate the month/year.

SUPERVISION OF OTHER UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

Faculty direction of undergraduate research projects.

TEACHING MATERIALS AVAILABLE AS SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

List case studies, course material developed, course portfolios, and/or teaching portfolios developed. and place actual material in the supporting documents. (Page 5, II.C.1.5)

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Insert any Statement from Administrators
here beginning with the earliest reviews first.

Insert Teaching Evaluation Letters here beginning with the earliest reviews first.
Peer reviews should be dated and signed by the evaluator.

Continue numbering every page consecutively.