National Dialogue on Transforming STEM Teaching Evaluation in Higher Education

January 14-27, 2021

Organized by the Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education

of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

The National Dialogue is hosted by the NASEM/BOSE Roundtable on Systemic Change on Undergraduate STEM Education in collaboration with partners. The goals are to contextualize the critical importance of effective and inclusive teaching today; understand the broad array of models and approaches to improve the evaluation of teaching; and examine strategies on how to address cross-cutting challenges to reform processes for evaluating teaching.

Schedule overview:

Jan. 14: Opening Plenary with panel on Campus Context for Efforts to Transform Teaching Evaluation

Jan. 14-17: Discussion Forum on Teaching Evaluation Project Posters

Jan. 19-22: Interactive Project Showcase

Jan. 27: Closing Plenary

Campus Context for Efforts to Transform Teaching Evaluation

January 14, 12:00-1:30 pm EST

The word cloud to the right was created from the discussions held in the Zoom chat during the opening plenary, highlighting key themes from the plenary sessions.

Following the opening plenary, there will be a pair of interactive & asynchronous activities for participants to explore, the Discussion Forum and the Interactive Project Showcase.

January 14-17

Share your ideas on the Project Showcase Posters and engage in National Dialogue conversations in the Discussion Forum.

More information on posters below.

IIb. Interactive Project Showcase

January 19-22

Choose which of the one hour sessions you want to attend. Schedule posted on the Interactive Project Showcase page.

More information on posters below.


Following the interactive activities, the National Dialogue will conclude with a Closing Plenary on January 27.

III. Closing Plenary

Cross-cutting Challenges and Opportunities to Improving Teaching Evaluation

January 27, 1:00-4:00pm EST

Final details forthcoming

Poster Symposium

As part of the Interactive Project Showcase, the National Academies made an open call to researchers, teams, and institutions to share their teaching evaluation projects.

There are three categories of posters to choose from:

Please visit the Discussion Forum to discuss the posters and the Interactive Project Showcase office hours schedule if you're interested in talking to any of the researchers or teams behind the featured posters.

Additional Resources


  • September 2019 Workshop on Recognizing and Evaluating Science Teaching in Higher Education: Participants discussed issues around recognizing and evaluating science teaching in higher education in an attempt to frame the national conversation about the reform of teaching evaluation. Participants included experts in the fields of teaching and learning, as well as faculty from a range of institutions, engaged in evaluation reform.

  • Proceedings of the 2019 Workshop: Student ratings have long been used by many institutions of higher education as a primary form of summative evaluation of teaching. In recent years, studies have brought into question the validity of student ratings, highlighting the need for more effective evaluation methods that recognize and reward evidence-based teaching practices. To begin to frame the national conversation around the reform of teaching evaluation, the Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education convened a 2-day workshop September 11-12, 2019, to discuss issues around recognizing and evaluating science teaching in higher education. Participants included experts in the fields of teaching and learning, as well as faculty from a range of institutional types, engaged in evaluation reform. This publication highlights the presentations of the workshop

  • Flash Talks from September 2019 Workshop: Slides with brief descriptions of the 14 Flash Talks during the Workshop on Recognizing and Evaluating Science Teaching in Higher Education.