CTAAR Launches Teaching Improvement Program Pilot

The Center for Teaching Advancement and Assessment Research (CTAAR) is pleased to announce the Rutgers University pilot program for the American College and University Educators (ACUE) Course in Effective Teaching Practices. This course has been available at Rutgers University-Newark for a few years and has been very well-received. Chancellor Cantor purchased and implemented ACUE and set a goal to certify 70% of teaching faculty in the next several years. In a statement, Bonita Veysey, Vice Chancellor for Planning and Implementation, said that the program was "exceptionally useful" and "already proving to be a source of positive change in both student and faculty outcomes". We hope that it will prove equally valuable for the faculty in Camden, New Brunswick and RBHS, both as a way to enhance our teaching, but also to provide material than can be made useful for a robust and meaningful evaluation of teaching. 

Senior Vice President Barbara Lee has funded a pilot of this program for a select group of New Brunswick, RBHS, and Camden instructors. Sixty faculty participants have been selected by their deans to participate in the pilot and receive the nationally-recognized Certificate in Effective College Instruction endorsed by the American Council on Education (ACE). The Center for Teaching Advancement and Assessment Research will coordinate the pilot project for the University.  

The program is an online course with high-quality video training sessions which offers a comprehensive exploration of scientifically vetted teaching methods. It consists of 25 modules that will be completed online with a cohort of faculty, guided by a facilitator from CTAAR. The modules include five units of study: Designing an Effective Course and Class, Establishing a Productive Learning Environment, Using Active Learning Techniques, Promoting Higher Order Thinking, and Assessing to Inform Instruction and Promote Learning. You can learn more about the Course and the content of each module here: http://acue.org/course/ 

Early evidence assessing the ACUE program at other universities and colleges suggests that it is effective. Johns Hopkins Center for Research and Reform in Education studies evaluating implementation in Miami Dade College showed that faculty who completed the course received significantly more positive student feedback than those who had not. The majority of faculty reported that they learned new skills, increased their enjoyment of teaching, and would recommend the course to their colleagues (Morrison, et al, 2017).  

ACUE will kick off the program with an in-person Course Launch on Friday, September 21st. The Course will run through May 4th, 2019 with participants completing approximately one online module every one or two weeks. Faculty who complete the course will receive a badge of recognition during the concluding ceremony, and the reflections produced during the course will be appropriate for use in a teaching portfolio.