Appendix D: Addressing Standards

Defining Teaching Expectations
Guiding Principles for Quality Peer Review of Teaching.
UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
Retrieved from https://pharmacy.unc.edu

All teaching faculty at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy are expected to meet basic teaching competencies. Assessment of these competencies includes consideration of (1) student activity and achievement, (2) instructor attributes (3) instructor-student interactions, and (4) instructional methods and materials (Palmer & Collins, 2006; Chickering & Gamson 1987), with evidence drawn from a variety of sources (e.g. self, student and peer review and evaluation). The process of defining, documenting and assessing whether faculty meet basic teaching expectations should be developmental to the individual instructor, viewed as continuous progression (i.e., formative assessment of teaching), and judged according to explicit and agreed upon indicators and sources of evidence, including self, student and peer review and evaluation of instruction and instructional materials.

Student activity and achievement:
As a result of effective teaching and learning practices, students should:

  • Be actively engaged in the learning process and responding to learning experience (demonstrating positive anticipation, interacting, completing tasks, concentrating)
  • Achieve defined learning outcomes, including discipline-specific and general education outcomes (e.g. critical thinking, communication, ethical decision-making, self-learning, social and contextual awareness and responsibility)
  • Provide feedback regarding their learning

Instructor attributes and instructor-student interactions.
Instructors should:

  • Be enthusiastic for the subject
  • Be approachable
  • Possess and apply good organizational and administrative skills to their teaching
  • Keep abreast of their subject discipline
  • Articulate clear expectations to students
  • Actively engage students in the learning process
  • Utilize teaching methods that address multiple learning styles and preferences
  • Encourage student effort and achievement
  • Provide students constructive feedback
  • Commit extra support to less able students
  • Reflect on and change practice

Teaching methods:
Instructional design, methods and materials should:

  • Provide students with explicit, challenging but achievable, and positive learning goals
  • Be 'pitched' at the appropriate level, based on assessment of students' prior learning (knowledge and abilities)
  • Be well aligned with defined learning outcomes
  • Focus attention on key learning points / concepts
  • Organize information in ways that are meaningful to students and relate new knowledge and concepts to prior knowledge
  • Provide learners with opportunities to practice and receive constructive feedback
  • Use teaching environments (in- and out-of-class time) to maximize student learning opportunities (i.e., interaction with the material, other students, instructors, etc)