What Is Teaching Excellence? Who's Asking and Why?

• In Event: Accepting Responsibility for Designing Equitable Student Supports

Abstract

How we define teaching excellence, or how it is defined for us, is consequential for individuals and institutions. The purpose of this study was to explore the range of possibilities, It offers a review of recent literature and suggests a model for thinking about teaching excellence. Then, it pivots to an empirical look at the ways in which a representative sample of higher education teacher-scholars think about teaching excellence. It concludes with a discussion of implications. Data collection and analysis are ongoing. Preliminary findings suggest that teaching excellence takes on different meaning for the academics in this study depending on the context in which it is applied. Three contexts are most frequently cited: personal vocational identity, teaching practice, institutional needs.

Author

• James H. Nehring, University of Massachusetts - Lowell