New dimensions with evidence-1
Observation dimension 1:
Does the teacher clearly
convey the learning aims
and objectives?
Alternatives based on
literature review:
Does the teacher clearly
define explicit, realistic
and challenging yet
achievable aims and
learning objectives?
Do the students appear
to understand the
learning aims and
objectives?
Examples of evidence
This has been changed to reflect a focus on the student such that it
looks at learning objectives rather than teaching objectives
 Lists learning objectives as planned transformations of student
understanding, ability, performance, achievement.
 List is detailed rather than general
 List is challenging but achievable within the time and learning
environment
 Learning aims include achievable standards and expectations
of excellence
 Learning aims and standards are supported by exemplars of
outcomes and assessment requirements
 Learning objectives are linked to assessment items,
professional standards, etc.
 Learning objectives are contextualized within curriculum
structure for the year, semester, week, etc.
 Learning objectives are made clear by using multiple
communication channels (verbal, slideshow, web page, LMS,
etc)
 Learning objectives are clarified through formative assessment
activities
 Learning objectives are clarified by summarizing the objectives
at the end of the lesson
 Learning objectives are NOT a list of topics to be covered
 Understanding leads to engagement with learning activities in
a purposeful way
 Understanding in a lecture may be exemplified by
attentiveness, note-taking, problem solving, pairing-andsharing, etc.
 Understanding in a lesson with an applied focus is exemplified
by being able to be immediately productive
 Understanding of learning aims and objectives is ultimately
demonstrated by student progress towards reaching objectives
correctly
 Understanding of aims may be demonstrated by outcomes of
or approaching the stated standard of excellence
 Lack of understanding is characterized by apparent confusion,
lack of engagement in a timely or purposeful way
 Lack of understanding is characterized by the number and
nature of questions asked of the teacher
Observation dimension 2:
Does the teacher
demonstrate an
advanced level of content
knowledge?
Alternatives based on
literature review:
Does the teacher
demonstrate advanced
content knowledge to
create clear explanations
and address student
questions?
Do students respond
positively to or seek
examples from teacher’s
content knowledge?
Examples of evidence
This dimension has been separated from pedagogical skill in Nulty’s
original dimension 2 to be considered as distinct from pedagogical
skill/knowledge and technological skill/knowledge.
 Teacher is able to explain their cognitive model of
understanding in a structured and connected manner
 Teacher is able to relate and explain their knowledge in a way
that assists student understanding
 Teacher is able to adapt their strategies and explanations to
suit the context and student needs
 Teacher’s explanations are detailed and comprehensive
 Teacher is able to form accurate and appropriate answers to
student questions
 Teacher is able to demonstrate their knowledge by putting it
into practice (demonstration)
 Teacher is able to demonstrate knowledge by using a range of
appropriate metaphors and examples to assist student
understanding
 Teacher is able to demonstrate their knowledge by relating it
to other areas of knowledge in the universe of discourse
 Teacher is able to relate implications of knowledge to effects
on community, profession, research, etc.
 Teacher is able to demonstrate scholarly approach by citing
appropriate literature
 Teacher is constantly unavailable because they are doing
keynote speeches and attending research seminars 
 Students ask questions of the teacher in the lesson to clarify
their understanding
 Students ask questions of the teacher in breaks and between
sessions
 Student understanding is enhanced by the breadth and depth
of teacher’s content knowledge
 Student understanding is enhanced by the quality of the
teacher’s explanations
 Students refer to the teacher as the primary source of
knowledge before books and other resources
2
Observation dimension 3:
Does the teacher use
effective pedagogical
techniques for the
teaching and learning
activity?
Alternatives based on
literature review:
Does the teacher
demonstrate a teaching
style supported by
appropriate strategies for
creating interest and
effectively engaging
students in learning
activities?
Do students respond
positively to or engage
effectively with
pedagogical techniques
employed?
Examples of evidence
This dimension is the second part of Nulty’s original dimension 2
and considers the pedagogical techniques separately from content
knowledge
 Gets students to reflect and analyze their understanding
 Gets student to relate their understanding to their existing
knowledge
 Gets students to apply their understanding to new domains
 Uses methods such as questioning, review, summarization
 Uses effective organizational techniques, sequencing,
grouping, repeating, deciding, to order and structure activities
and materials
 Uses communicative devices, such as metaphor, story-telling,
scenario, to enhance the understanding of new material
 Explanation (effective, clear, comprehensive, supported)
o Uses slideshow, images, movies, websites, etc
o Uses object of learning
o Uses demonstration
o Refers to scholarly sources
 Experiential learning
o Gets students to participate in learning activities
o Gets students to engage with authentic learning
experiences and assessments
o Gets students to experience the object of learning
o Gets students to experience the process of learning
 Problem based learning
o Students are shown the process of problem solving
o Students engage with original information sources
o Students share approaches and understanding to
solutions with others
 Collaborative learning
o Students engage in activities in groups and pairs
o Students engage with peer teaching or peer tutoring
 Provides regular informal formative feedback to develop
correct understanding
 Students attend classes
 Students prepare for activities
 Students attend to information and explanations
 Students refer to notes relating to explanations
 Students engage in practical activities
 Students exhibit extended time on tasks
 Students exhibit interest in the learning activities
 Students extend activities to experiment with new knowledge
 Students engage with the teaching staff
 Students actively engage with collaborative learning
 Students actively engage with experiential learning
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Observation dimension 4:
Does the teacher
demonstrate personal
characteristics that
engage, stimulate,
encourage, inspire, etc?
Alternatives based on
literature review:
A - Does the teacher
exhibit personal
characteristics that
engage, stimulate,
encourage and inspire
students to learn?
B - Does the teacher
appear to be dynamic,
pragmatic, amicable, and
highly intellectually
competent?
C - Does the teacher
demonstrate concern for
individual students and
their learning needs?
Students actively engage with problem-based learning
Students respond to formative assessment procedures to test
and develop their understanding
Students ask questions
o Procedural – how do I do this?
o Cognitive – do I understand correctly?
o Metacognitive – how do I come to understand
correctly?
Examples of evidence
This dimension expands upon Nulty’s dimension 3 that looks at
“suitable personal characteristics” and articulates how they might
be perceived. As part of a teacher’s personal characteristics is how
they consider others it now incorporates Nulty’s dimension 4 that
considers a teacher’s concern for student learning.
 Teacher exhibits respect for students
 Teacher exhibits concern for student learning
 Teacher exhibits generosity of person by offering opportunities
to assist students with learning difficulties
 Teacher displays a benevolent attitude towards students and
accommodates their successes, failures and learning needs
 Teacher demonstrates humility in their role
 Teacher shows an interest in their teaching role
 Teacher engages enthusiastically and passionately with
teaching
 Teacher adopts a collegial role in order to develop a rapport
with students
 Acts as a facilitator to assist and guide student learning
 Teacher uses charisma to engage students with learning
 Teacher is pragmatic in their approach to teaching
 Teacher is dynamic in their teaching practice
 Teacher is amicable and friendly towards students
 Teacher appears highly intellectually competent
 Teacher does not display arrogance by maintaining an
intellectually elevated position
 Teacher does not ignore student needs
 Teacher does not treat student questions dismissively or
contemptuously
 Teacher does not try to embarrass students
D - Does the teacher
exhibit a generosity of
person, benevolence
toward students, humility
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in their role, interest in
teaching, and availability
to students to render
assistance?
Do students respond to
teacher’s approach by
being engaged,
stimulated, or enthused,
etc?
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Observation dimension 5:
Does the teacher
implement effective
formative assessment
techniques or
procedures?
Alternatives based on
literature review:
Does the teacher engage
with activities in class that
test student
understanding and adapt
or adopt teaching
strategies to further
develop that
understanding?
Do students appear to be
learning through
formative assessment
techniques used by this
teacher?
Students are confident to engage with the teacher for their
learning needs
Students develop a friendly rapport with the teacher
Students engage enthusiastically with questions, tasks, quizzes,
etc.
Students seek to please the teacher through their
achievements
Students appear to be interested in the activities and
discoveries of knowledge suggested by the teacher
Students seek to emulate the teacher’s apparent interest in
their topic area
Students trust the teacher to develop activities that will assist
their learning
Examples of evidence
This dimension is directly from Nulty’s dimension 5 but focuses on
the observable aspects of formative assessment practice
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Teacher regularly undertakes to determine student
understanding and to provide information or activities to
reform that understanding as necessary.
o Determines present understanding (assessment)
o Challenges the veracity of incorrect understanding
o Helps students develop a new understanding
o Tests new understanding (assessment of
development).
Uses regular Q&A in discussions
Administers minute tests
Administers concept tests
Shows and explains clicker/quiz results
Administers verbal multiple choice quizzes
Student responses and apparent understanding move towards
completeness and correctness in formative assessment
exercises.
5
Observation dimension 6:
Examples of evidence
This dimension is directly from Nulty’s dimension 6 and has two
aspects that relate firstly to higher level learning outcomes as
identified in SOLO (Biggs&Collis), and on designing curricula with
activities that emphasize active learning. This crosses over into
dimension 3 regarding effective pedagogy
Does the teacher focus on  Teacher encourages student reflection on understanding
encouraging deep
 Teacher encourages student reflection upon how they most
learning outcomes?
effectively learn (metacognitive development)
 Teacher encourages discussion and sharing to develop
Alternatives based on
understanding amongst peers
literature review:
 Teacher encourages students to explore the relationships
A - Does the teacher
between new knowledge and related concepts that have been
encourage students to
covered
reflect and share what
 Teacher encourages students to use new knowledge to
they already know about
develop hypotheses and arguments about previously
the topic, discuss how it
unexplored concepts, problems, cases, etc.
relates to other things
 Teacher provides learning experiences that are authentic to
that they know, and
practice in the profession, workplace, community
hypothesise about its
 Teacher provides learning experiences that are relevant to
implications for particular
assessment, degree completion, other activities, professional
problems and cases?
requirements, etc
 Teacher provides learning experiences that allow students to
B - Does the teacher
take an active role in learning
engage students in
 Teacher provides learning experiences that allow significant
activities that provide
interaction with academics
authentic learning
 Teacher provides learning experiences that allow significant
experiences, with high
interaction with peers
levels of active student
 Teacher provides learning experiences that allow significant
participation, with
interaction with industry leaders and professional experts
learning outcomes that
 Teacher designs activities that maintain student interest
are relevant, that involves
significant interaction
with the academic,
sustains student interest,
and allows students to
collaborate to generate
outcomes?
C – Does the teacher
Do students engage with
activities that promote
deep learning outcomes?
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Students undertake reflective practice to investigate what and
how they know
Students undertake reflective practice to investigate how they
learn most effectively
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Observation dimension 7:
Does the teacher
demonstrate effective
curriculum design that is
structured and coherent?
Alternatives based on
literature review:
Does the teacher organize
learning activities and
assessments in a
structured and coherent
manner that assists
students to achieve the
stated learning
objectives?
Do students appear to
perceive curriculum
structure and use it to
develop their
understanding?
Observation dimension 8:
Students engage in exploring relationships between concepts,
and between concept areas
Students engage in the development of arguments and ideas
for the application of new knowledge to other domains
Students productively interact with teachers,tutors
Students productively collaborate to develop understanding
Students adopt active learning strategies
Students exhibit a high level of interest in the learning
experience
Examples of evidence
This dimension is directly from Nulty’s dimension 7 which
considered curriculum design, learning environment, and teaching
aids and resources as one dimension. This dimension focuses on
the structure and coherency of activities.
 Teacher shows structured curriculum design at the course level
 Teacher shows curriculum design that complements other
courses in the program of study
 Teacher shows structured and coherent approach to
curriculum within the lesson
 Teacher has a lesson plan
 Teacher sequences activities so that incremental development
towards key or difficult learning objectives is supported
(scaffolding)
 Learning activities are designed to meet learning objectives
which are assessed through associated formative and
summative assessment (constructively aligned)
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Students are able to succeed at (proceed through) incremental
steps in the learning process
Students are able to demonstrate understanding gained
through formative assessment or learning task outputs
Examples of evidence
This dimension is directly from Nulty’s dimension 7 which
considered curriculum design, learning environment, and teaching
aids and resources as one dimension. This dimension focuses on
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appropriate use of the learning environment.
Does the teacher
demonstrate effective
use of the learning
environment?
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Alternatives based on
literature review:
Does the teacher use
techniques and strategies
that adjust to any
limitations of the learning
environment?
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Does the teacher make
effective use of the
available features of the
environment to enhance
their teaching and the
student learning
experience?
Do students appear able
to make effective use of
the learning
environment?
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Observation dimension 9:
Does the teacher
demonstrate effective
use of teaching aids and
resources?
Alternatives based on
literature review:
A - Does the teacher make
Teacher ensures that environmental factors affecting student
comfort and ability to learn effectively are appropriately set
(temperature, lighting levels, noise levels, etc.)
Teacher ensures that equipment and features in the learning
environment are used effectively
Teacher designs activities that are appropriate for the learning
environment
Teacher seeks feedback from students about their perceptions
of the learning environment
Teacher adjusts strategies to suit limitations and affordances
of the environment
Students appear to be comfortable in the learning
environment
Students are able to effectively complete the learning activities
within the learning environment
Students are able to take effective advantage from
technologies and environment design to assist learning
Students provide positive feedback to the teacher about the
quality of the learning environment for their learning needs
Examples of evidence
This dimension is directly from Nulty’s dimension 7 which
considered curriculum design, learning environment, and teaching
aids and resources as one dimension. This dimension focuses on
appropriate use of teaching/learning aids and resources.
 Teacher makes effective use of tools and properties to assist
presentation and explanation (see dimension 3)
 Teacher makes effective use of properties for demonstration
and for experiential learning activities
 Teacher uses resources and aids in such a way that students
can actively engage in the learning process
 Teacher makes effective use of whiteboard by ensuring text is
large enough and of sufficient contrast to be read by students
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use of appropriate
teaching materials and
aids?
at the back of the class
Teacher uses teaching materials and aids in an appropriate
manner for the learning activities in that learning environment
Teacher uses teaching materials and aids to their full designed
potential to assist student learning
Teachers uses appropriate learning aids and resources for the
learning activities
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B - Does the teacher make
appropriate use of
teaching materials and
aids?
C - Does the teacher use
appropriate teaching
materials and aids and
make use of them in an
appropriate manner that
assists students to reach
the learning objectives?
Do students appear to
engage with teaching aids
and resources in ways
that enhance learning?
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Students are able to make effective use of teaching materials
and aids
Students are able to engage actively with the teaching
materials and aids
Student interaction with teacher, learning aids and resources is
appropriate for the given learning objectives
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Observation dimension 10:
Examples of evidence
Does the teacher reveal a
scholarly approach to
teaching and seek to
improve teaching
performance?
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Teacher reflects upon the quality of the lesson and teaching
in a way that will lead to improvement (post-observed
lesson)
Teacher adjusts approach to teaching based on reflection of
previous lesson (pre-observed lesson)
Teacher cites (engages with) literature that informs teaching
practice and curriculum design
Teacher engages in peer observation and evaluation of
teaching in a way that will lead to improvement
Teacher engages in a continuous development pattern (PIRI)
to improve practice
Teacher engages with peers to develop aspects of teaching
other than classroom practice (curriculum design,
evaluations, assessment design, etc.)
Teacher engages with professional development activities
that enhance knowledge of teaching and student learning
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Do students engage in
activities to provide data
for course, teaching, or
assessment improvement?
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Students engage in discussions, feedback, surveys, focus
groups in a manner that will assist the teacher to improve
teaching practice and performance
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