Our Services
- Student Ratings of Instruction
- Assesses effectiveness by focusing on learning and curricular objectives.
- Feedback for Department Chairs
- Comprises the only nationally normed tool for evaluating chairpersons.
- Chair Coaching Service
- Guiding chairs through an individualized process of professional discovery and reflection.
- Feedback for Administrators
- Considers impressions of stakeholders on 10 pivotal characteristics.
Using Interactive Student Focus Groups to Assess and Strengthen Teaching
with Barbara J. Millis
Barr and Tagg's influential article, "From teaching to learning—A new paradigm for undergraduate education," states: "The place to start the assessment of learning outcomes is in the conventional classroom: from there, let the practice grow to the program and institutional levels." As individuals, departments, and institutions become more accountable, faculty are increasingly involved with assessment activities. This workshop will train participants to conduct interactive focus groups. The model uses three structured activities as well as open-ended questions, capturing a large amount of data in an hour or less. The workshop will emphasize practical issues such as transcribing sessions, interpreting data, and sharing feedback constructively. Enormously popular at the United States Air Force Academy (over 30 a semester), focus groups have been used by individual faculty members for teaching improvement, but as importantly, carried out over time, they have impressed accrediting bodies such as NCA, ABET, AACSB, etc.
