College Teaching Quality: A Bird’s-Eye View of Two Research Institutions

• In Event: Teaching Quality and the Culture of Teaching

Abstract

Institutions care about good quality teaching, but to date, there are few systematic ways to benchmark good teaching across institutions. Using data from a random stratified sample of courses at two research institutions, this pilot study used a new conceptual framework (Neumann, 2012) and new methods (quantitative teaching observation and syllabus analysis) to glimpse a different vantage point on college teaching at the institution-level. The initial pilot results demonstrated that most faculty at these two research institutions were able to comprehensively facilitate subject-matter teaching, but the other two facets of Neumann’s framework were left wanting. This study has further implications for new ways to assess and benchmark teaching quality across institutions.

Authors

• Corbin M. Campbell, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Marisol Jimenez, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Jessica Ostrow, Teachers College, Columbia University