Getting Started

What are Teaching Squares?

• Teaching Squares is a program designed to help you gain insights for improving your teaching. Participants form a community of practice and provide feedback to one another during a series of classroom observations.

• The four faculty in a square visit each other's classrooms during the course of one semester and discuss what was learned from their observations.

• This program consists of reciprocal, non-evaluative observations and self-reflection based on peer feedback.

Teaching Squares can be customized to better meet the participants' needs and may be designated with a special focus for specific contexts, instructional methods, and/or challenges. For example, a TS might be designated for participants who have redesigned their online course. Other examples would include TS focused on engaging students in large courses, or courses that are designated as writing intensive. We have also had discipline specific TS with participants that teach similar content or in the same department or program.

What are the goals of the TS program?

The primary goal of the TS program is to provide faculty with an opportunity to learn from watching colleagues teach, and to engage in conversation about teaching. It’s an opportunity for faculty to reflect on their own teaching in light of colleagues’ teaching examples. It’s a constructive way to consider current teaching practices in light of some potential alternatives.

What are the benefits of Teaching Squares?

• Participate in professional development that is directly connected to classroom practice.

• Receive feedback on your teaching and gather ideas from your peers that may be used to improve your instruction.

• Participate in conversations about instruction in a non-evaluative setting.

• Work with instructors across colleges, departments, and disciplines to strengthen teaching and learning.