Recognition and Evaluation of Teaching in Higher Education: A Workshop

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Student ratings have long been used by many institutions of higher education as a primary form of summative evaluation of teaching. In recent years, studies have brought into question the validity of student ratings, highlighting the need for more effective evaluation methods that recognize and reward evidence-based teaching practices. To begin to frame the national conversation around the reform of teaching evaluation, the Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education convened a 2-day workshop September 11-12, 2019, to discuss issues around recognizing and evaluating science teaching in higher education. Participants included experts in the fields of teaching and learning, as well as faculty from a range of institutional types, engaged in evaluation reform. This publication highlights the presentations of the workshop

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12 pages · 8.5 x 11 ·
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-67199-X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/25685

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Recognizing and Evaluating Science Teaching in Higher Education: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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Ann E. Austin

ANN E. AUSTIN is a professor of higher, adult, and lifelong education at Michigan State University, recently on leave for almost two years to serve as a program director in the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C. On October 1, 2016, she returned to Michigan State University, where she has been on the faculty since 1991. She has held the Mildred Erickson Chair in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education at Michigan State for two terms. She is currently serving as associate dean for Research in the College of Education and Assistant Provost for Faculty Development--Career Paths. Her research concerns organizational change in higher education, faculty careers and professional development, teaching and learning in higher education, the academic workplace, doctoral education, and reform in science, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. She is a fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and she has been a council member for AERA. She is a past-president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), and she was a Fulbright Fellow in South Africa (1998). She has also served for more than a decade as the Co-PI and Co-Leader of the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL), funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), and has been the principal investigator of an NSF-funded grant to study organizational change strategies used in NSF ADVANCE grants to create more inclusive academic environments and support the success of women scholars in STEM fields. Currently, she is the principal investigator of two NSF projects, one to study the use of organizational networks to foster change in STEM undergraduate education and one to study how new developments in teaching evaluation encourage change in the culture around teaching within universities. She earned a B.A in history from Bates College, an M.S. in higher/post secondary education from Syracuse University, a M.A. in American culture from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Michigan.

Christine Broussard

CHRISTINE BROUSSARD is a professor of biology at the University of La Verne. She has two main foci, teaching and learning in the sciences and developmental immunotoxicology. The ultimate goal of her research in teaching and learning is to develop a highly effective, dynamic teaching approach that has the highest probability of student learning, that encourages all students to participate in science, and that is translatable to other types of educational institutions. Her second research focus is developmental immunotoxicology. This field studies the impact of environmental toxicants on the embryological development of the immune system. She focuses on the class of molecules termed endocrine-disruptors (EDCs). Research in teaching and learning in the sciences enables her to improve curriculum on a local and national level, inspires her to continue innovating and reforming biology education, and provides a means to learn from the students themselves how people learn in the sciences. Dr. Broussard earned a B.S. and M.S. from Louisiana State University, and a Ph.D. at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Noah Finkelstein

NOAH FINKELSTEIN is a professor of physics at the University of Colorado Boulder and conducts research in physics education. He serves as a director of the Physics Education Research (PER) group at Colorado. Dr. Finkelstein is also a director of the national-scale Center for STEM Learning at CU-Boulder, which has become one of eight national demonstration sites for the Association of American Universities’ STEM Education Initiative. He is in charge of a new initiative designed to create and study a national network of STEM education. Finkelstein’s research focuses on studying the conditions that support students’ interest and ability in physics – developing models of context. These research projects range from the specifics of student learning particular concepts, to the departmental and institutional scales of sustainable educational transformation. This research has resulted in over 100 publications. He is increasingly involved in education policy. In 2010, he testified before the U.S. Congress on the state of STEM education at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He serves on many national boards including chairing the American Physical Society’s Committee on Education and PER Topical Group. He serves on the board of trustees for the Higher Learning Commission, and since 2011 is a technical advisor to the Association of American University’s STEM Education Initiative. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, and a Presidential Teaching Scholar
for the University of Colorado system. Dr. Finkelstein received a B.S. in mathematics from Yale University and a Ph.D. in applied physics from Princeton University.

Andrea Greenhoot

ANDREA GREENHOOT is a professor of psychology and director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and Gautt Teaching Scholar at the University of Kansas. Her research in psychology focuses on cognitive development with a special focus on memory development. Most of her research looks at how children and adults come to remember both good and bad experiences in their lives, and how these memories are related to well-being. In addition to her memory research, she studies the applications of cognitive and developmental science to questions about teaching and learning in higher education. She received her doctorate in developmental psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona before joining the faculty at the University of Kansas in 1999.

Mark Lee

MARK LEE is an associate professor in the biology department at Spelman and is committed to STEM education for underrepresented groups, especially women scientists. He was a scientist at Emory University School of Medicine in the Winship Cancer Center (1996-1999) before joining the research faculty in the pathology and laboratory medicine department (1999-2002) where his basic science research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Lee joined the Spelman biology department in 2002, and he served as chair from 2009 - 2016. In the science education community at large, Dr. Lee has collaborated with the Emory Fellowships in Research and Science Teaching (FIRST) Program, Albany State University, Michigan State University, Atlanta Public Schools, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), New York University Faculty Resource Network, Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network, Stanford Asilomar Conference for Online Education, and the National Academies Summer Institutes for Science Education. His science education research is currently funded by the National Science Foundation, and he is a member of the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Dr. Lee has a B.S. in chemistry from Morris Brown College and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Clark Atlanta University.

Emily Miller

EMILY MILLER has served at the Association of American Universities (AAU) since November 2012. As the Associate Vice President for Policy, she has primary responsibilities for collaborating with member campuses on institutional policy efforts related to undergraduate and graduate education. She directs the AAU Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative, the Ph.D. education initiative, and other grant-funded projects. She also staffs AAU’s STEM Network and Association of Graduate Schools constituent groups and serves as liaison to the AAU Arts & Science Deans group. Previously, she was a research and curriculum specialist for the Association for Community College Trustees, an assistant director of career services at Tufts University, worked in alumni relations at Harvard Business School, and collaborated with the Association of Governing Boards. Dr. Miller has published on the topics of post-secondary institutional leadership, specifically as it relates to governance and administration; organizational change in universities and colleges; and higher education policy. She is also a professional lecturer of higher education at The George Washington University. Dr. Miller earned her Ph.D. in higher, adult, and lifelong education from Michigan State University; M.A. in education policy and management from Harvard Graduate School of Education; and B.A. in political science from Gettysburg College.

Barbara A. Schaal

BARBARA SCHAAL (NAS) is dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Mary-Dell Chilton distinguished professor at Washington University in St. Louis. As dean of the faculty, she is responsible for the appointment, promotion, recommendation of tenure,
and salary of all faculty members, as well as the appointments of the deans of the College, the Graduate School, and University College. She oversees all academic, financial, and administration aspects of Arts and Sciences, including the development and implementation of strategic plans for faculty, students, and facilities. In her scientific career, Dr. Schaal is a nationally recognized plant evolutionary biologist. She uses DNA sequences to understand evolutionary processes such as gene flow, geographical differentiation, and the domestication of crop species. Dr. Schaal was among the first plant scientists to use molecular biology-based approaches to understand evolutionary processes in plants, and she has worked to advance understanding of plant molecular systematics and population genetics. Dr. Schaal has been president of the Botanical Society of America, the Society for the Study of Evolution, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, where she served as vice president for 8 years. She was appointed as a U.S. science envoy by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Dr. Schaal has served as chair of the Division on Earth and Life Studies at the National Research Council and was a member of President Obama’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology from 2009-17. She graduated from the University of Illinois, Chicago, with a degree in biology, and received master’s and doctoral degrees in population biology from Yale University.

Gabriela C. Weaver

GABRIELA WEAVER is a professor of chemistry and Special Assistant to the Provost for Educational Initiatives at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She previously served as vice provost for Faculty Development, and director of the Center for Teaching and Faculty Development. In her early career as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Colorado at Denver she shifted the focus of her research work from physical chemistry to STEM education. From 2001 to 2014 she served on the faculty at Purdue University as associate professor and professor of chemistry and science education and later as the Jerry and Rosie Semler Director of the Discovery Learning Research Center. In 2012, she was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for distinguished contributions to transforming science education at the undergraduate and pre-college levels through the use of inquiry-based pedagogies and innovative technologies. She has been a co-author on two different first-year chemistry textbooks, and numerous book chapters on topics in science education and the 2015 book Transforming Institutions: Undergraduate STEM Education for the 21st Century. From 2004-2012, she served as director of the NSF-funded multi-institutional CASPiE project (Center for Authentic Science Practice in Education) dedicated to involving first- and second-year undergraduate students in real research experiences as part of their regular laboratory course curricula. Her research interests include the development, implementation and evaluation of instructional practices that engage students and improve their understanding of science, and the institutionalization of such practices through the transformation of cultures and processes in higher education. She earned a B.S. degree in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in chemical physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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Recognition and Evaluation of Teaching in Higher Education: A Workshop

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Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education

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Suggested citation

My Academies

Recognition and Evaluation of Teaching in Higher Education: A Workshop

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Featured publication

Recognizing and Evaluating Science Teaching in Higher Education: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief

Description

Collaborators

Committee

Sponsors

Staff

Parent projects

Board on Science Education

Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education

Major units and sub-units

Contact

Contact us

Provide feedback

Request materials

More like this

Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education

Transportation Research Board Executive Office

Review of the draft United by Nature assessment

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Prevention of and Response to Sexual Harassment in Higher Education: Tools for Department Chairs and Principal Investigators: A Workshop

Enhancing the Reach and Contributions of Informal STEM Learning