Many faculty teach as they were taught or they follow the conventions of their department, program or school. Our approaches of teaching are informed by our prior experience as learners and teachers; our background, identities, values and personalities; our assumptions and biases about ourselves as teachers and our students as learners, institutional, school and department culture; professional and discipline-specific expectations and standards; student expectation; workload, time, support, and other personal and professional obligations. Reflecting on why and how we teach is critical for developing ourselves as educators, as well as for deepening our capacity to enhance our students’ learning.
In what ways can I reflect critically on my teaching?
Prior to practice: Reflecting ahead of a course or session will allow you to consider your prior experience, be aware of the environment, and reflect on your approaches, strategies, skills and knowledge. Questions might include: What do I already know and how can that help me in this new situation? Will my teaching space and context impact what I hope to do?
During practice: Reflecting during a session involves: noticing what is occurring (e.g. interactions, responses); not interpreting prematurely; intervening as appropriate to notice and meet your goals.
Following practice: Reflecting after a session involves: Returning to an experience; examining feelings, identifying what worked well and what could be improved in the future; what we learned as educators from the experience.
Resources:
Ashwin, P., Blackie, M., Boud, D., Calkins, S., Coate, K., Hallett, F., Howson, C. K., Light, G., Luckett, K., MacLaren, I., McArthur, J., McCune, V., Mpamhanga, K., Schendel, R., & Tooher, M. (2026). Reflective teaching in higher education. Bloomsbury Academic.
Brookfield, S. D. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. Jossey-Bass.
60 Seconds to Better Teaching Learning Modules, Created by Nutan Vaidya, MD & Joshua Polanski, PhD
Teaching a course together can be a wonderful way to bring together different perspectives, areas of expertise, and teaching approaches. Educators who teach together often find that they learn a great deal from the experience, particularly when they communicate well ahead of the course, throughout its duration, and debrief when the course has concluded. Ideally, when educators teach a course together they will systematically share their thoughts and ideas about how the course should be designed, implemented, and evaluated. Creating a Collaborative Teaching Agreement can help co-teachers share their thoughts and approaches around teaching and their students’ learning. Many educators prefer to go through their questions on their own first and then discuss them together.
Resources:
Creating a Collaborative Teaching Agreement (pdf)
Understanding how students experience an educational context, including the instructional methods, the assessments, the classroom climate, as well as their sense of satisfaction and perceptions of learning, is critical for enhancing teaching and learning.
Quick strategies include:
Minute papers: Students write out quick responses to a prompt.
Muddiest point: Students identify areas where they are confused or need clarification.
Critical Incident Questionnaire: Students describe what they were most and least engaged.
Polling: Students answer questions about what helped or hindered their learning
Mid-course checks (quick surveys about how class is gong)
Standard end-of-term student ratings (collects information about student satisfaction)
More in-depth strategies include:
Focus group or Small Group Analysis (SGA) conducted by outside expert
Targeted feedback from former students to systematically change curriculum or instruction
Input from students about curricular or pedagogical innovations before implementation
Resources:
There are many ways to evaluate teaching, so it is important to first establish the goal or purpose of the evaluation. Is this part of a formal (more summative) process to determine a faculty member’s promotion, tenure and/or retention? Or is this a more formative and reflective activity, to help an educator develop awareness of what is working (or not working) and how they might improve? Who is participating in the evaluation–a chair, a committee of peers, students, or perhaps an outside expert?
Structured Observation Many faculty, when asked to observe a classroom session, will focus primarily on how well the instructor delivers or transmits content to students, with performance as the primary indicator of effectiveness of teaching. Many observers will enter a teaching context with assumptions about how certain material should be taught, or even what it means to be a good teacher. These assumptions may unfairly limit an evaluation. For this reason, we recommend that observers focus on a set of defined areas, that are communicated to the faculty member ahead of time, including learning objectives, instructor-student engagement, classroom climate, use of inclusive and active learning strategies, the role of critical and creative thinking, organization, and any instructional materials used during the session. A structured observation can be used formative and/or summative purposes:
Formative: The observer shares their observations with suggestions for the faculty member to consider. The faculty member might try out some of the recommendations the next time they teach. They could write a written reflection about their experience for later performance conversations.
Summative: The observer, ideally with a partner, will observe the same session and provide combined feedback and recommendations to the faculty member. If improvement is required for promotion, tenure or retention purposes, the observers must provide guidance and expectations. The faculty member would have a chance to incorporate their feedback. In the next term, the same observers would return and determine to what extent the recommendations were implemented. Observations should not be a surprise and should occur at an agreed-upon date.
End-of-Term Teaching Evaluations (student ratings): Teaching evaluations are a common, and often useful, means to systematically collect information from students about their experience in a course. Generally, they measure student satisfaction with different aspects of the course, including content, methods and activities, assessment, and classroom climate, and the instructors themselves. They do not measure student learning. Research has long shown evidence of bias, particularly around gender, race and age, that can negatively influence ratings, although behavior-based instruments that emphasize specific teaching practices can mitigate that bias (Cornejo-Happel et al 2026).
Outside review of course materials: Educators can opt to have their materials reviewed by individuals or groups with different types of expertise. For example, they could ask previous students to weigh in on curricular or pedagogical changes. They could share their materials with peers and discuss areas to clarify. They could reach out to colleagues at other institutions with subject matter expertise, to understand how the same topic might be taught at other institutions. They could also ask for feedback from learning and teaching experts, such as colleagues in the Nexus for Faculty Success.
Resources:
Cornejo Happel, C., Barbeau, L., Rohrbacher, C., Korentsides, J., & Keebler, J. R. (2026). Rethinking bias in student evaluations: a multivariate analysis of observable instructional behaviors. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 51(1), 82–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2025.254892
When a traumatic event has occurred (or is still unfolding), faculty often feel uncertain about whether to address the event with their students. They may think, ‘It’s not my place,” or “That kind of discussion doesn’t belong in my class,” or “I don’t feel I have the skill to address such a difficult topic.” Despite these valid concerns, we recommend that faculty be prepared to respectfully acknowledge traumatic events and sensitive topics that may be impacting their students and also direct them to available resources. See Guidance for Teaching During Difficult Times to identify different levels of response and engagement that faculty might take.
Resources:
Guidance for Teaching During Difficult Times (pdf)