Author: Brita Harrison

  For immediate release July 19, 2023 CHEVY CHASE, Maryland – Participants from more than 25 U.S. and Canadian institutions have agreed to combine their efforts to transform the way teaching is evaluated at colleges and universities. Their goals include expanding use of more meaningful evaluation processes to recognize and reward high-quality teaching, to draw more instructors into the use of evidence-based teaching practices, and, ultimately, to make colleges and universities … [Read more...]

A Resource for Academic Departments and Centers for Teaching and Learning Drawing on combined decades of practical experiences across six research universities in the United States and Canada, this concise resource describes a variety of ways that centers for teaching and learning (or CTLs) and academic departments can partner around long-run assessment initiatives. From the perspectives of both CTL and departmental leadership, we identify the unique goals, expertise, and roles that together … [Read more...]

by Mary Taylor Huber and Pat Hutchings One of the Bay View Alliance’s main goals is to explore strategies that leaders can use to make evidence-based teaching practices the “new normal” in higher education. Yet, as we point out in two new reports (Huber and Hutchings, 2021a; Huber and Hutchings, 2021b), getting to this new norm involves two kinds of shift.1 One is to arrive at a point where faculty are teaching better. The other is to build a departmental culture that supports ongoing … [Read more...]

By: Annabella Melvin Indiana University’s Center for Learning Analytics and Student Success (CLASS) recently hosted “Data-Informed Stories, Transformational Journeys: Indiana University’s 3rd Annual Learning Analytics Summit” on May 12-14, via Whova. According to George Rehrey, Director of CLASS, the purpose of the annual summit is to bring together faculty, staff, and administrators who share an interest in fostering student success through the use of big data and analytical … [Read more...]

Andrea Follmer Greenhoot, a professor of psychology and director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Kansas, has been named director of the Bay View Alliance. She succeeds Lorne Whitehead, a professor of physics and astronomy and a special advisor on entrepreneurship, innovation and research at the University of British Columbia, who had led the BVA since its founding in 2011. Whitehead has assumed the role of immediate past director and will remain a member of the … [Read more...]

By Annabella Melvin University of Kansa (KU) faculty members Dea Follmer Greenhoot and Caroline Bennett were keynote speakers at this year’s Annual Learning Analytics Summit, held each year at Indiana University Bloomington. Now going into its 4th year, the purpose of the summit is to bring together faculty, staff, and administrators who share an interest in fostering student success through the use of big data and analytical tools at the course, program and institutional levels. During … [Read more...]

by Mary Taylor Huber and Pat Hutchings What is a departmental teaching culture and how does it change? This is an important question for advocates of pedagogical reform. Opportunities for individuals and small groups to learn and improve teaching are now widespread. Most universities have centers of teaching and learning that provide help for faculty in their role as teachers, and many disciplinary societies also sponsor workshops, conference sessions, journals, and other resources on … [Read more...]

The assessment of student learning is a theme running through much of the BVA’s work. Over the last year, it has also become the centerpiece for a BVA working group in which members discuss assessment challenges and share promising developments on their own campuses. In the linked article, from the April newsletter of the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, Joshua Potter, a leader and organizer of the working group, describes how the Center for Teaching Excellence at the … [Read more...]

Over the last month, BVA campuses have been collaborating to develop a concise resource for assessing student learning online, as many faculty will be doing this coming fall—and perhaps beyond. Online assessment presents a number of challenges but also opportunities to explore alternative approaches that provide rich information about what students know and that also deepen and extend their learning. The COVID pandemic makes these approaches especially timely, but they are relevant as well in … [Read more...]