Dear Aggie, how do I document my teaching?

Dear Aggie,

 The semester is flying by. Before I know it, I will be working on my annual performance report and reporting on my teaching. Do you have any tips?

 ~Reporting

 

Dear Reporting,

Kudos to you for getting this important activity on your radar! I have talked a little about the four forms of evidence for teaching effectiveness in the past. And you can read the official policy in the NMSU ARP 9.31, Part 3 (yes, a little light reading ;). As some of the evidence is coming from others (students or peers) and therefore somewhat out of your control, I’d like to spend a little time considering the evidence that you provide, specifically, the self-reflection. This is your opportunity to show that you have reflected on the student evaluations, on any feedback from peers, the impact of any changes you have made, and your impressions of student learning in your course. Ideally, you’ll be able to do this in a way that tells a story and demonstrates your commitment to continuous improvement.

One way to develop your teaching story is to focus on just one aspect of your teaching.

• Maybe, like many of us, you are working towards the responsible use of AI, balancing assignments that embrace AI with assessments that are more AI-resistant. You could use your self-reflection to discuss changes you made to your course or assignments, your impressions of how those changes worked, identify remarks from students about new assignments or the course structure as it relates to responsible AI, and review any feedback from colleagues about your materials.
• Or, based on experience, what are the concepts that students struggle with? How could you make course adaptations to help students master these concepts? How will you evaluate the impacts of those changes?
• Or, maybe you have been struggling with timely grading, and really want to turn that around (perhaps by using rubrics). Bake your specific area of improvement into your course planning, and then really use your teaching evidence to evaluate the impact of your changes. Then tell that story in your self-reflection.
• Maybe you are going to use predictions to inspire curiosity and increase student engagement in your course. Make a plan for using predictions, then think about how you can capture the impact. Perhaps you could schedule a peer evaluation and ask your observer to pay particular attention to prediction activities and student engagement during these activities. Then reflect on their feedback (as well as student evaluations) as part of your self-reflection.

Another useful self-reflection tool is the NMSU R.I.S.E DIY tool. You can use this both as you prepare your course and as you review the course at the end of the semester. It focuses on the R.I.S.E. core values of responsiveness, informed, supportive and engaged teaching. Particularly useful in this context is the “my next steps” section. This is a perfect way to identify areas to work on and make a concrete commitment (in those next steps) to do so. The readers of your annual reports will look forward to hearing how you have implemented those next steps and the impacts in your next year’s report. They will also value the thoughtful engagement you will be demonstrating.

If you’d like to learn more about successfully documenting your teaching, plan to attend a Teaching Academy workshop on this topic: November 12^th, repeated on November 13^th.