This chapter proposes the need to define the qualities of effective teaching in higher education and introduces a framework to assess teaching effectiveness (FATE) that can be adapted by other institutions for evaluating teaching, with the goal of promoting instructor development and growth.

This chapter describes a successful approach for the preparation of future faculty to implement and advance effective teaching practices for diverse learners, currently implemented at nearly 40 graduate universities in the United States and Canada.

This chapter compared views of US- and foreign-educated faculty who teach in American universities on what represents excellent teaching using an online version of the teacher behavior checklist (TBC). Demographic criteria (including prior graduate training in teaching, rank, and teaching experiences) were used as bases for comparison. Both groups…

The advent of faculty development centers that focus on the improvement of teaching skills and better understanding of student learning concepts dates back to the 1960s. These centers were initiated from a realization that the effectiveness of a faculty member resulted from growth and maturity over time and that certain support systems were…

Superior college teachers can make valuable contributions to both their institutions and one another when their institutions help them form communities of expertise, modeled on national academies for outstanding individuals in the sciences and arts. The small number of such teaching academies in the United States has varied structures, goals, and…

Suggestions on how to develop comprehensive systems of instructional improvement and evaluation are offered. In order to measure and evaluate instructional effectiveness accurately, criteria and guidelines for that evaluation must be set up. This first step is accomplished most effectively at the departmental level. (MLW)

Getting faculty to accept specific suggestions and put them into practice is discussed. Creating a pool of good ideas about teaching and using experienced consultants to help faculty adopt some of these ideas are suggested. Student and faculty questionnaires and an example of a teaching idea packet are included. (MLW)

An annotated bibliography on instructional evaluation and improvement is presented. The bibliography was compiled with an explicit bias toward the inclusion of articles that applied methodological techniques that are relatively uncommon in the instructional literature. (MLW)

New Jersey and Washington have developed novel and different approaches to supporting faculty development by bringing faculty members, including many senior members, together to work on revitalizing the teaching experience. The program models are described, and the reasons they have been effective are explored. (Author/MSE)

A means of documenting exemplary college teaching is the teaching portfolio, which offers a wider range of evidence than single measures. A proposed faculty development program has teachers prepare portfolios individually, discuss teaching issues as a group within the academic unit, and design and test a system for evaluating teaching. This…

This chapter describes Clemson University's Laptop Faculty Development Program and its assessment, offering the program as one model for designing faculty development to successfully implement laptop mandates. The chapter also acquaints readers with the many types of in-class, laptop-based activities that meet best-practice criteria for effective…