Framework for Effective Teaching
The University of Alberta is dedicated to providing transformative learning experiences. The Framework for Effective Teaching, aligned with the SHAPE: Strategic Plan and grounded in research, offers comprehensive guidelines to enhance teaching quality. It promotes reflection, evaluation, and improvement of teaching practices to boost student outcomes and foster inclusive, engaging learning.
A key element is its multifaceted evaluation process, combining student feedback, peer reviews, and self-reflection to provide a holistic view of teaching effectiveness and support continuous improvement.
The Five Domains
Outlined in the Teaching, Learning and Evaluation Policy, Appendix B the framework includes five domains, with decolonization, equity, and inclusivity embedded throughout:
- Course Design: Emphasizes coherent learning objectives, constructive activities, and assessments
- Instructional Practices: Involves teaching methods, facilitation, and student engagement
- Reflection, Growth, and Leadership: Encourages self-reflection, professional development, and leadership in teaching
- Expertise, Content, and Outcomes: Focuses on learning objectives, course content, and alignment with current research and trends
- Learning Environments: Focuses on creating physical and virtual spaces that support diverse learning styles
By reflecting on these domains, the framework helps you improve your teaching practices and align them with the university’s goals for high-quality, inclusive education. The framework will help you consider:
- How can you improve students' learning experience in our courses
- Aspects of your teaching practice that are effective, and what could be improved
- Methods to facilitate the continual development of your teaching practice
- How will you know if your newly learned interventions have impacted learning
The course design domain examines the constructive organization of course objectives, resources, assignments, and assessments. Domain indicators:
Coherent Design of Instruction
- Clearly communicates detailed learning objectives, outcomes, and activities
- Plans and organizes activities that actively support student learning
- Chooses course activities that align with and promote achievement of learning outcomes
- Maintains quality by regularly reviewing and updating outcomes, activities, and materials
Questions to get you started
- How effectively do the pace, organization, variety, and number of activities, resources, and assessments support student learning?
- Can students easily understand what is required for success, or do they frequently need clarification after instructions?
- Are your course activities diverse, and do they align well with the intended learning outcomes?
Constructive Assignments and Assessment Strategies
- Utilizes diverse assessment methods to comprehensively evaluate students
- Assesses and analyzes student learning with clear, well-defined standards
- Incorporates both formative and summative assessments throughout the course
- Delivers feedback that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely
Questions to get you started
- How timely, clear, and meaningful is the feedback students receive before, during, and after assessments?
- How do you engage students with the feedback provided by you or their peers?
- Are students assessed through diverse methods, and do these assessments align with course outcomes?
- How innovative and creative are your assessment strategies?
- How clearly are the evaluation criteria for students’ skills, knowledge, and attitudes communicated?
Useful Learning Resources and Materials
- Develops and curates high-quality, intellectually robust content and materials
- Incorporates guest speakers or media to enhance student learning experiences
- Delivers course materials through diverse formats (e.g., audio, video, text) to accommodate different learning needs
Questions to get you started
- Do the curated course resources effectively support students in achieving the learning outcomes?
- Where applicable, do your activities incorporate authentic case studies, industry experiences, or partnerships?
- Are your instructional materials high-quality, regularly updated, and continuously improved?
- How suitable, diverse, and cost-effective are your course materials?
- Are the course resources multi-modal (e.g., visual, auditory, text) to accommodate different learning needs?
Explore strategies to help you collect evidence to reflect on your teaching in the course design.
The instructional practices domain focuses on teaching preparation, methods, and approaches to facilitate learning. In other words, how instructors interact with their students and the quality of their instruction. Domain indicators:
Effective Facilitation of Course Delivery
- Demonstrates and communicates the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students are expected to develop
- Effectively handles unexpected challenges during teaching (e.g., technology issues, student preparedness)
- Establishes and maintains clear classroom structure, including expectations, goals, rules, and feedback processes
Questions to get you started
- How do your teaching practices, planning, and facilitation of classroom interactions promote student learning?
- How effectively are the expected knowledge, skills, and attitudes conveyed to students?
- Do you use a variety of teaching methods and adapt your approach to fit students’ needs and the classroom context?
- How well do you convey enthusiasm, passion, and confidence in your teaching?
Student-centered Instruction and Learning Activities
- Employs a diverse range of instructional strategies and effective teaching practices
- Tailors explanations to match the course level and students’ understanding
- Actively engages students and fosters perseverance through course challenges
- Respects and values students’ contributions to the learning process
- Integrates Indigenous pedagogies, ways of knowing, and student-centered approaches into the course
Questions to get you started
- How do you encourage students to take initiative and responsibility for their own learning?
- What types of student-to-student interactions do you promote, and what are their goals?
- How do you motivate and support students in tackling challenging learning tasks?
Approaches to Facilitating a Productive and Supportive Climate for Learning
- Fosters proactive and effective collaboration with and among students
- Creates opportunities for students to take ownership of an inclusive environment
- Treats students with respect and promotes mutual respect among them
- Implements equitable and inclusive teaching practices that cultivate a sense of belonging, influencing all aspects of the course—outcomes, content, activities, and assessments
Questions to get you started
- How committed are you to fostering and maintaining collaborative relationships with and among students?
- What strategies do you implement to create a respectful, equitable, and inclusive learning environment?
- How do you structure expectations, processes, and feedback to encourage student engagement, risk-taking, and intellectual growth?
- How do you acknowledge and support each student’s unique abilities, challenges, and contributions as learners?
Mentoring and Supervision
- Shows care and implements practices that foster students’ academic productivity and intellectual growth
- Establishes and upholds clear behavioral expectations to support effective teaching and learning
- Provides high-quality advising and mentorship that encourages student development
Questions to get you started
- How timely and consistent is the feedback you provide during and outside of instruction?
- What mentorship and supervision practices do you use for graduate and undergraduate students, and how do you measure their success?
- How constructive are your interactions with students, and how accessible and approachable are you to them?
Explore strategies that help you collect evidence in the instructional practices domain.
The reflection, growth, and leadership domain describes the efforts to contribute to growth in self and others’ teaching practices, including personal and collaborative efforts instructors engage in to contribute to growth in self or others to improve the learning environment. Domain indicators:
Engagement in Self-Reflection and Continuous Improvement
- Encourages self-reflection using feedback from multiple sources, such as students, peers, external experts, and benchmarks, including insights on student perceptions, learning interactions, and performance measures
- Adapts teaching based on lessons learned from past experiences and feedback
- Articulates personal values, beliefs, and perspectives on teaching and learning through a teaching philosophy statement
- Demonstrates an understanding of various learning theories and effective teaching methods
Pursuit of Teaching and Learning Professional Development
- Investigates a variety of current research and methods in teaching and learning
- Shows evidence of keeping up with reports or literature on effective teaching practices
- Works with university educational experts to develop teaching skills, knowledge, and practices
Educational Leadership
- Takes on a leadership role in departmental or institutional teaching committees and curricular decisions, contributing to improvements in teaching (e.g., curricular planning, assessment)
- Facilitates peer mentoring, consultations, and reviews to foster a positive teaching culture within the institution
- Seeks and creates opportunities for securing resources (e.g., grant funding) to support a positive teaching culture for self and peers
Contributions to Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
- Pursues teaching and learning awards, grants, or funding with a solid theoretical and scholarly foundation
- Conducts, applies, and shares research related to teaching and learning practices
- Engages in systematic inquiry and investigation of teaching practices, sharing findings with others
- Informs teaching and course design decisions through research and scholarship in education
Explore strategies to help you collect evidence to reflect on your teaching in the reflection, growth, and leadership domain.
The expertise, content, and outcomes domain examines what students are expected to learn and the expertise that instructors require to facilitate this learning. Domain indicators:
Rigour and Relevance of Learning Outcomes
- Clearly defines and communicates detailed course learning objectives and outcomes
- Aligns outcomes, content, and assessments with course descriptions, curriculum, and institutional standards
- Ensures course content is current, reflecting the latest trends, findings, and research in the field
- Promotes student awareness of the research culture and key skills in the discipline
Questions to get you started:
- Is the scope and depth of the knowledge appropriate for the course level and context?
- Does the course effectively equip students with the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes for the discipline?
- Does the course incorporate innovative approaches in the field of study?
Relevance of Instructor Expertise
- Holds deep knowledge of instructional units, course content, and the broader subject area, including current research and related topics
- Recognizes and addresses common student challenges with course material
- Exemplifies professionalism by sharing knowledge, examples, and personal experiences
- Displays enthusiasm, passion, and confidence in teaching
Questions to get you started:
- How well are your teaching practices aligned with evidence-based methods and conventions in your discipline?
- How well do you understand the challenges students face in acquiring the required knowledge, skills, or attitudes?
- What core beliefs or principles shape your teaching approach?
- How frequently do you reflect on and revise your teaching assumptions?
- How current and comprehensive is your knowledge of the subject matter, including relevant research and interdisciplinary connections?
Explore strategies that you might use to collect evidence to reflect on your teaching in the expertise, content and outcomes domain.
The learning environments domain describes the physical and virtual support systems where the classroom is viewed as a complex, dynamic, physical and digital system of opportunities for sustained teaching and learning interactions and relationships. This domain is largely the operational responsibility of the university, not individual instructors. The learning environment an instructor fosters in their course is captured in instructional practices, particularly the class climate sub-domain. Domain indicators:
Infrastructure
- Uses communication and technology tools to enhance student engagement and facilitate learning
- Maintains a physical, virtual, or hybrid learning environment that fosters active student participation
- Evaluates the effectiveness of support for diverse learning styles across all learning environments
Questions to get you started
- Does the physical or virtual environment enhance or hinder learning?
- How effectively is the classroom’s physical or virtual space utilized?
- How innovative and interactive are the technologies supporting learning?
- How is technology leveraged to boost student engagement and facilitate learning?
Support
- Offers resources and accommodations to reduce or eliminate barriers to student learning
- Supports student wellness by sharing information on relevant campus resources and mental health services
- Trained teaching assistants are available to aid student learning
- Provides co-curricular programs that address diverse learning needs
Questions to get you started
- What learning supports are in place to help students overcome common course-specific challenges?
- What accessibility strategies have you implemented to ensure success for all students?
- How well-trained, informed, responsive, and empowered are your teaching assistants?
Scheduling
- Ensures courses are scheduled to facilitate academic career progression
- Provides clarity about the teaching modality(-ies) of required courses in programs
Explore strategies that help you collect evidence to reflect on your teaching in the learning environments domain.
The content on this webpage was generated with the assistance of OpenAI's ChatGPT (OpenAI, 2024).