Striving for Excellence in Teaching:
A Case-Study of the Multi-Strategy Approach at the
University of Washington
Tyler Blake Davis & Ziad Zaghrout
PhD Students
Evans School of Public Affairs
University of Washington
Outline:
I. Introduction
II. Theory and Research Agenda
III. Context and Validity
IV. Research design & methods
V. Findings
VI. Conclusions
I. Introduction and Terms:
Many universities have developed institutional
mechanisms to aid in providing quality instruction
Institution: Norms, rules, traditions that govern
behavior (Ostrom 1990, 1994)
Mechanism: Systematic method for achieving output
I. Two advantages of this topic:
1) Institutionalized mechanism facilitate replication
▫
▫
Clear rules and/or norms
Mechanisms are often replicable
2) A case study allows one to identify strengths and
weakness of several methods
▫
▫
Identify appropriate norms to adopt
Identify appropriate mechanisms for context
II. Theory and Research Agenda:
Education theory:
1. Multiple intelligence theory : Individuals have diverse
intellectual strengths (Gardner 1993)
 Suggests that providing diverse types of instruction is
superior to a single type of teaching (Armstrong 2009,
Coreil 2003).
II. Theory and Research Agenda:
Education theory:
2. Leadership skills theory: identifies skills within
teaching approaches (Waters, Marzano, and McNulty
2003)
 Suggests leadership skills are key for success in
teaching to types of intelligence
II. Theory and Research Agenda:
Education theory:
3. Ordered change theory: typology of learning (Waters,
Marzano and McNulty 2003)
 “First-order” change is consistent with prevailing values and
norms and uses existing knowledge and skills.
 “Second-order” requires people to learn new approaches, or it
conflicts with prevailing values and norms.
II. Theory and Research Agenda:
Research Agenda:
Our research goal is to identify types of institutional
mechanisms that acknowledge multiple
intelligence theory and promote first and second
order learning.
III. Context:
 The University of Washington (UW) in Seattle is a Tier 1
research institution
 Annual operating budget of over $3.1 billion and an annual
research budget of $1.15 billion
 In 2009 the UW had 43,000 students comprised of 32,000
undergraduate students, and 11,000 graduate students
 3,900 full time faculty equivalent positions teaching over
6,000 different courses every year in three different campuses
III. Context:
External Validity?
The UW has many resources for research agendas
Research advantages may not imply teaching advantages
To address these challenges the UW has created
institutions with mechanisms for improving teaching
III. Context
Voluntary and mandatory review of instruction
1. Professional Teaching Improvement Consultation
(voluntary) conducted by the UW Center for
Instructional Development and Research (CIDR).
2. Professional Evaluations (voluntary) conducted by
the UW Teaching Academy.
3. Student Evaluations (mandatory) conducted by
the UW Office of Educational Assessment (OEA).
IV. Research Design:
Our research goal is to identify types of institutionalized
mechanisms within the UW and to explore how those are
used.
Our conceptual research question is: How does the
University of Washington promote excellence in
teaching?
IV. Research Design:
Systematized research questions:
a) What mechanisms does the UW provide for evaluating
teaching that may be replicated?
a) In what replicable way does the UW use the data from
the mechanisms to improve teaching?
IV. Research Methods:
1. Key informant interviews: targeted informant
interviews with both participants and administrators
▫
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Background interviews
Semi-structured interviews
2. Review of public documents
▫
▫
Physical documents, reports
Web-pages, online resources
Teaching is a complex activity involving multiple
intelligences
Necessitating multiple methods to assess teaching
Students’ perceptions comprise only one
dimension
This holistic approach can be systematized into a
source of data for evaluation of instruction
Each Dimension will become even more useful
when considered in light of other sources.
The Center for Instructional Development and
Research (CIDR) at the University of Washington
approach to improve instruction
V. Findings: Instructor Self-Assessment
a) Developing a Teaching Portfolio
A teaching portfolio is a coherent set of material that
represents an instructor’s teaching practice as related
to student learning.
Teaching Practice: extends beyond activities that go into
teaching a course to include all activities that enrich
student learning
V. Findings: Instructor Self-Assessment
b) Reviewing a Video of their teaching
1. Microteaching: is a group process involving several
instructors. In microteaching instructors view and
discuss videotapes of each other giving 3-5 minute
presentations.
2. Video-Critic :an instructor reviews a videotape of a
class she/he is or has been teaching with a consultant
or colleague.
V. Findings: Instructor Self-Assessment
c) Reviewing and Assessing academic courses
Assessment can take place at three stages of a course:
1. while an instructor designs his/her course
2. during the course
3. at the completion of the course
V. Findings: Instructor Self-Assessment
d) Faculty fellows program
Program is a week-long retreat for new faculty and is
guided by senior faculty.
It includes the preparation of mock lessons which forces
participants to reflect upon their strengths and
objectives.
V. Findings: Student Perceptions
a) Discussing Students’ Ratings (confidential
time series analysis)
 identify patterns and themes
 distinguish between student comments
 offering perspective on the effectiveness of changes
made
 compare median scores
V. Findings: Student Perceptions
b) Designing a Customized form for collecting
students’ feedback
collecting in-class written feedback, getting feedback
online, and using classroom assessment techniques.
 to inform decisions about what to address in subsequent
class sessions, see how students are experiencing the
course, and to help students judge their own progress in
learning the course material
V. Findings: Student Perceptions
c) Arranging for a midterm class interview
an open-ended, mid-course oral interview process
students discuss their perceptions of the effectiveness of
a course, including both its strengths and potential areas
for change
helps instructors in making decisions about their
teaching during the remainder of the quarter
V. Findings: Student Perceptions
d) Office of Educational Assessment (OEA)
OEA utilizes one of 13 different multiple choice forms for
most classrooms on the UW campus.
The OEA prepares statistical analysis on student
responses to provide information on the course and the
instructor
V. Findings: Teaching & Learning
a) Consulting in Teaching and Learning
 customized, confidential services for UW departments,
faculty, and teaching assistants who have questions
related to teaching and learning.
V. Findings: Teaching & Learning
b) CIDR resource collection (Reading Room)
CIDR provides research materials in a centralized
reading room that includes a collection of books,
periodicals, and videos on teaching and learning.
It includes materials on teaching in specific disciplines
such as math, science, engineering, and the humanities.
V. Findings: Teaching & Learning
c) Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
engages the instructor in fundamental questions about
learning and challenges them to approach instruction
with the same dedication as research
It encourages instructors to systematically examining
the phenomena of learning
V. Findings: Administrative Perspective
 Teacher efforts are assessed within the general
strategic objectives of the department.
 teaching effectiveness is a two-way process that
involves both the instructor finding ways to
demonstrate his teaching effectiveness and the
department leadership developing ways to promote
more effective teaching in the department
V. Findings: Administrative Perspective
a) Administrative guidelines and resources for
evaluating teaching
 In a confidential consultation, CIDR offers to clarify
and interpret departmental guidelines on teaching
standards.
V. Findings: Administrative Perspective
b) Evaluative teaching portfolios (promotion and
tenure)
Instructors present these portfolios to their dean to
provide evidence for a decision about their careers.
V. Findings: Administrative Perspective
c) Program or curriculum assessment
CIDR consultants are available to consult with
departments on the assessment of academic programs
and curriculum to:
i.
develop overall program assessment strategies
ii.
identify sources of evidence for demonstrating
program effectiveness
iii.
provide help in gathering program assessment data
V. Findings: Peer or Colleague Review
a form of assessment in which instructors give feedback
to one another
Instructors share leadership skills and identify strengths
of their peers
share strategies to approach diverse learning styles, and
share learned leadership skills
New faculty members can tap this wealth of resources to
develop their own skills and approaches
V. Findings: Student Learning
a) Consult on course, syllabus, or assignment
design
 consultants help teachers in systematically think
through their priorities for a course and articulate
those priorities in their syllabus in a clear and
compelling way
 help in crafting assignments

work with teachers to devise appropriate and efficient
strategies for giving students feedback
V. Findings: Student Learning
b) Learn more about diversity and inclusive
teaching practices
Inclusive teaching “begins with the premises that
learning starts where the students are, and that
effective teaching is responsive to the various
experiences, backgrounds, and identities that students
bring to the classroom” (CIDR)
V. Findings: Student Learning
Inclusive teaching means “intentionally
bringing student experiences into the
classroom, and recognizing the different
experience, power, and privilege of diverse
populations in relation to the subject matter
being taught”.
V. Findings: Student Learning
c) Using writing as a teaching strategy
CIDR helps instructors in :
• designing writing assignments
• responding to student writing
• assessing student writing
• creating alternatives to papers
VI. Conclusions:
• The use of multiple methods of communicating
to instructors is superior to a single feedback
mechanism.
• individual institutions within a university may
specialize in one or more of the six feedback
mechanisms, but not all.
What are the specific challenges to
replicating U.S. strategies in Palestine?
The Palestinian academic environment has its own unique
characteristics that may inhibit the application of some
of the methods presented in this paper:
- lack of administrative polices and guidelines for
ensuring teaching excellence
- Lack of funding
Yet, the current situation is not that
gloomy
many of the previous identified mechanisms do
not require huge sums of investments
The availability of local professionals and the
widening pool of PhD graduates
Questions