The "Survival Guide for New Faculty Members: Outlining the Keys to Success for Promotion and Tenure" provides new faculty members with practical, down-to-earth wisdom and suggestions for successfully working through to tenure and promotion. The authors--both successful and experienced administrators and experts in higher education--have provided…

Conditions that can enhance college teachers' acceptance and productive use of feedback about instruction are outlined, including understanding of the purposes of evaluation, who provides the feedback, the message itself (form, timing, sources, and subsequent messages), characteristics of the recipient, immediate environment, and consequences…

To be approached realistically, improvement of college teaching must be viewed from a faculty perspective. The real world of college teaching offers little information about objectives and outcomes. The situation can be changed most effectively by increasing available information and stimulating communication among faculty about instruction. (MSE)

Assessment of college teaching is viewed broadly as the gathering of information for understanding and improving teaching as well as judging its quality. It is seen to play a crucial support role at each stage of instructional development: problem clarification, instructional design/redesign, and field testing and implementation. (MSE)

For student rating data to be useful in improving college teaching, consultants and faculty need to know how different evaluative purposes effect evaluation results, and they must be able to interpret and use the data at hand. A series of steps should be followed to help ensure valid data interpretation. (MSE)

Describes seven principles for developing a workable system for evaluation of college teaching, and provides both process and decision matrixes for groups interested in building such a system for their own evaluation. Argues that the system must be safe, explicit, manageable, formative, and satisfy environmental demands for accountability and…

Research with 96 undergraduates investigated interpretations of a global-evaluation item common to student evaluation forms. Through narratives and semistructured interviews, students described classroom experiences, beliefs about good teaching, and aspects of the evaluation process that influencing their ratings. The item produced multiple…

Examines military and industrial research on peer assessment and discusses relevance to peer review of college teaching. Gives special attention to practical issues in assessing reliability and validity of peer evaluations, and discusses three characteristics of academic institutions (personal teaching styles/definition of "peer"/nature of…

Examines use of collaborative college faculty peer review for instructional improvement. Establishes rationales for formative evaluation of teaching, peer review in instructional improvement, and comprehensive faculty evaluation that includes peer review. Examines roles faculty might play in assessing colleagues' teaching; describes five methods…

Proposes a broader concept of college faculty peer evaluation, in which perspectives of teacher, learner, and observer are considered. Argues that three basic principles (intention/interpretation, advisement/appraisement, acceptability/accessibility) must necessarily and minimally guide peer evaluation. Presents a four-part, multidimensional peer…

Teaching portfolios provide college faculty and department chairs with the means to recognize good teaching and promote the values of the discipline. Portfolio content should include information on what is taught and why, documentation of teaching strategies, evidence of teaching effectiveness, and a teaching improvement plan. (MSE)

Two types of research, general theoretical and specific practical, are involved in the evaluation and improvement of university teaching. Not all faculty members can or will carry out general theoretical research, although they can benefit from its findings. However, all can and should carry out specific practical research on their own teaching.…

After preparing their own teaching portfolios, four Georgia Southern University instructors designed a study to investigate what happens when neither follow-up workshops nor mentoring are provided by the institution. Results indicate that without institutional support, especially mentoring, faculty use teaching portfolios primarily for tenure and…

This booklet is designed to assist faculty members in serving on promotion and tenure committees. Part 1 focuses on the general process and the role of the Promotion and Tenure Committee. It provides basic principles for Committee members to consider, raises significant issues, and introduces a comprehensive approach to documenting and assessing…

A series of five self-study seminars, held by eight full professors of an English department for the purpose of post-tenure review and resulting in professional renewal and improved peer relationships, is described and discussed. (MSE)