A New Approach to the Evaluation of Teaching – NSF Funded Pilot Project (TEval Project)

UMass Amherst is the lead institution on a 5-university grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) on the subject of changing the evaluation of teaching and studying that change process: “Transforming the Evaluation of Teaching: A Study of Institutional Change” (TEval). A rubric identifying various teaching effectiveness dimensions has been devised as a part of the project. Gabriela Weaver, Special Assistant to the Provost for Educational Initiatives and Professor of Chemistry, is Principle Investigator (PI).

The TEval project was included in the organizing committee for a workshop convened at the National Academies in DC on September 11-12, 2019, on the topic of teaching evaluation.  There were approximately 40 attendees from organizations and institutions across the country, plus one from Australia and one from Canada.  The workshop described in this report is a collaboration among TEval, AAU, ASCN and the National Academies to bring together a broad group of institutions and individuals working on this same topic.  It is exciting that UMass is able to be among the leaders of this vanguard.

Many UMass Amherst departments are helping to shape TEval. You can learn more about how each department is addressing TEval goals by clicking the links below:

• Participating Departments (Year One)
  • Environmental Conservation
  • Information and Computer Sciences
  • Linguistics
  • Music and Dance
  • Physics
• Participating Departments (Year Two)
  • Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • Judaic and Near Eastern Studies
• Participating Departments (Year Three)
  • Art
  • Nutrition

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1725946.  Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

• A New Approach to the Evaluation of Teaching – NSF Funded Pilot Project

Teaching Evaluation Working Group Recommendations (Fall 2017)

In order to provide more complete descriptions of faculty teaching and, thereby, more robust approaches to evaluating that teaching, a faculty Working Group was formed in spring 2016 to study such approaches and provide suggestions that could be applicable to the UMass Amherst campus. The Group’s final report includes both a review of current teaching evaluation practices (at UMass Amherst and nationally) and a set of recommendations based on that review.

• Teaching Evaluation Working Group Recommendations (Fall 2017)