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Office of the Provost

Advisory Council to the Future of Teaching & Learning Working Group on Defining Instructional Quality 

Charge Letter

December 6, 2023

  • A.J. Balatico, president, Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS)
  • Kima Cargill, associate dean for Academic Affairs and Planning, Graduate School and professor, Social, Behavioral and Human Sciences, division of School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington Tacoma (member of FCFA)
  • Alison Crowe, teaching professor, Biology and member of the Faculty Council on Teaching & Learning
  • Sean Gehrke, director, Office of Educational Assessment, Undergraduate Academic Affairs
  • Daniel Grossman, professor and vice director, Computer Science & Engineering, College of Engineering
  • Keith Harris, assistant teaching professor, Urban Design & Planning, College of Built Environments
  • Lisa Hoffman, professor, School of Urban Studies, UW Tacoma
  • Stephanie Kerschbaum, professor and director, Program in Writing and Rhetoric, English, College of Arts & Sciences
  • Bill Mahoney, associate professor, School of Medicine and director, Molecular Medicine and Mechanisms of Disease
  • Louisa McKenzie, vice-chair of faculty senate and Associate Professor, Comparative History of Ideas
  • Becca Price, professor, School for Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UW Bothell
  • Maya Smith, associate dean for Equity, Justice and Inclusion and associate professor, French and Italian Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
  • Libi Sunderman, teaching professor, School for Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UW Tacoma

Dear Colleagues, 

Last year the Future of Teaching & Learning initiative was launched to build on instructors’ increasing familiarity with instructional modalities and the importance of creating equitable learning experiences for students. Two working groups were tasked with addressing issues of access and instructional quality, respectively, and each provided recommendations in the Spring 2023.

The working group on Instructional Quality was charged with a variety of topics, tactics, and implications to explore to “develop means to promote, aid and assess efforts to maintain/improve instructional quality for ALL modalities of student learning.” The working group focused its efforts on “Establishing a shared language, common criteria and processes to promote and achieve quality instruction across modalities.” They determined that a shared understanding of what the UW means by quality instruction will facilitate a shift to more reflective teaching practices. It will enable future conversations about how teaching is valued and decision-making about how teaching is supported, and evaluated. This foundational work makes it possible to create a more cohesive, UW-wide approach that evolves and aligns evaluation mechanisms, assessment strategies, and instructional support services based on a common set of criteria. 

To that end, last year the group developed a draft definition based on faculty input, peer benchmarking, and existing UW definitions. They gathered preliminary feedback from academic leaders and instructors on all three of UW’s campuses and refined the draft. Finally, they recommended the work continue in AY 2023-24 to finalize the draft definition of teaching excellence based on broad instructor input, to share a final version along with recommendations for implementation with the Faculty Council on Teaching and Learning (FCTL), and to support the work of faculty governance partners to incorporate this definition of instructional quality into existing processes and policies.

This year, we are charging a working group to do just that – gather broad input to create a truly shared understanding of quality instruction at the UW and, once finalized, provide bold yet practical recommendations to FCTL around how to implement a coherent, aligned approach to supporting instructional quality at the UW. 

We ask you to serve as that working group’s advisory council – to be their sounding board, to help ensure their work is truly representative and results in realistic, transformative recommendations, and to advise them as they develop recommendations and work with FCTL on the next steps.

You will participate in monthly meetings to advise the working group on strategic issues to ensure that the working group develops a truly shared language around teaching excellence at the UW, one that has broad buy-in and is well-positioned for future implementation by faculty governance groups. This includes advising the working group on actions that will: 

  1. Identify risks to this effort. What about this work might instructors dislike, fear, or not understand?
    • Review the FAQ the working group developed based on early feedback and discuss how to add to or update it as work progresses
  2. Ensure the successful vetting and refinement of a shared language around teaching excellence at the UW by:
    • ensuring the working group is collecting broad feedback from instructors of all ranks and titles on all three UW campuses
    • identifying any groups at risk of being left out
  3. Ensure that the shared language is customizable at the unit level so that, when customized, it reflects both the common core elements of good teaching at the UW and aspects of good teaching that are specific to the discipline or teaching contexts of the unit.
    • Help the working group identify 1-3 units to pilot customizing the common core elements. This can be your own units or others you suggest.
    • Review pilot outcomes and suggest how the working group and FCTL might facilitate the customization of the shared language.
  4. Ensure that the recommendations the working group develops for the FCTL around how to incorporate the shared language are both bold and practical. 
    • Provide input on how the working group revises the draft definitions based on instructor feedback
    • Provide input on the recommended next steps:
      • Are the actions proposed likely to result in meaningful change in the area of instructional quality? 
      • Are they likely to be adopted? 
      • How could they be improved? 
    • Consult with and advise FCTL representatives on implementation 
  5. Help the working group, FCTL and other faculty governance representatives think strategically about incorporating the shared language into existing evaluation processes and preparing for legislation that could result from this effort. This includes:
    • How best to align evaluation processes (self, peer, and course evaluations) to the shared understanding of good teaching practices, once finalized
    • How best to pursue legislation
      1. Which class of legislation to pursue
      2. Who to involve in the process 
      3. What groundwork to lay to ensure it passes (e.g., involving key groups, identifying benefits, addressing concerns, supporting materials, etc.)
    • The timing and sequence of activities (pilots, drafting, communications, etc.)

As you undertake this work, we ask that you:

  • Review past charge letters and reports to familiarize yourself with work to date 
  • Complete the feedback form on the draft core elements of good teaching at UW to become familiar with the current draft.
  • Take a broad view – the good of the UW community as a whole across our three campuses – rather than that of a particular group, school, college, or unit.
  • Represent the groups of which you are a member, gathering their feedback as needed and taking responsibility for communicating back with them, as and when appropriate.
  • Be prepared to champion the recommendations the group puts forward. This is not merely a recommending body. In order for this work to be successful, we will need your leadership and advocacy.
  • Adopt a bias toward action and continuous improvement, both for this committee’s work and resulting recommendations and actions. It is preferable to recommend an idea that can be piloted than to get bogged down in perfecting it.  
  • Keep UW’s diversity and equity goals in mind when making recommendations.

Thank you for your willingness to join this group and engage in this important work.

Sincerely,

Tricia R. Serio
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Professor, Biochemistry

Cynthia M. Dougherty
Faculty Senate Chair
Professor, Biobehavioral Nursing & Health Informatics

cc: Phil Reid, Vice Provost, Academic and Student Affairs