Documenting Teaching Excellence

This book takes a practical view of documenting teaching excellence by addressing three broad questions: How is teaching excellence defined and assessed? How can instructors demonstrate their teaching excellence? How can colleagues and administrators support instructors in documenting teaching excellence? These overarching questions frame the book’s content, which contributes answers to further questions, such as the ones below:

LITERATURE REVIEW / DOCUMENT ANALYSIS

• How is teaching excellence defined in institutional documents? How is it measured / assessed at various institutions of higher education?
• What do we know about undergraduate students’ assessment of excellent teaching?
• What do we know about graduate students’ assessment of excellent teaching and mentoring?
• Why documenting teaching excellence is a unique genre and how you can learn to write it

INSTRUCTOR INITIATIVE

• What is a teaching philosophy and why does it matter?
• What is the function and role of student evaluations in documenting teaching excellence, and why are they sometimes viewed as problematic?
• Beyond the end-of-semester student evaluations: Four ways to assess your teaching (incl. instructor peer evaluations, review of an online course, video reflection, SCOTs)
• How does one demonstrate intentionality and impact of innovations?
• How is instructor creativity a co-requisite for teaching excellence? 
• How to be strategic about making your service about teaching
• Practical ways to continue learning about teaching (incl. digital badging), and why they matter
• Getting past “I just don’t have time” for instructor professional development opportunities

COLLEAGUES & ADMINISTRATORS

• The colleague and the college: How does a promotion committee balance the interests of the instructor with the interests of the department and the university?
• How do department heads assess teaching excellence?
• How does a Dean / Provost / university’s Promotion & Tenure committee evaluate the teaching portion of a promotion dossier?

Intended Audience:

This book serves as a guide and inspiration for all who consider teaching a vital part of their university role. This includes not only tenured and tenure-track faculty members, but also lecturers and graduate instructors, as well as temporary and part-time instructors. Those who are committed to teaching at a university will benefit from reading this book and learning how to showcase their accomplishments as teachers. Documenting one’s teaching excellence is a transformative habit that will support instructors’ applications for awards, grants, and promotions. This peer-reviewed, open-access volume forms part of the Open-Access Book Series published by Utah State University’s Center for Empowering Teaching Excellence.

Organization, Format, & Style

• 13-16 chapters, along with a foreword, introduction, and conclusion will make up Documenting teaching excellence: Promoting the university’s vital mission. Chapters will be organized into three distinct parts:
• Part I: What we already know – Literature review & document analysis
• Part II: What to document – The many aspects of teaching excellence
• Part III: How colleagues and administrators can support – Promoting success
• Chapters may be framed around proven strategies and effective approaches, widely recognized standards, institutional policy, and/or personal experience. 
• Chapters will be 3,000-5,000 words in length. A range of styles may be considered, from professional / academic to anecdotal / personal narrative. Chapter proposals that report on an IRB-approved research protocol must clearly indicate where and when approval was granted. 
   

How to propose a chapter:

Before writing a formal proposal, prospective authors have the option to request a meeting with the editors via Zoom, on the phone, or in person to discuss an idea for a chapter. This is not a requirement. The editors are happy to provide guidance and help prospective authors refine topic ideas.

All prospective chapter authors must use the submission form to submit a chapter proposal for review. The deadline for chapter proposal submissions is September 15, 2024. The editors will review chapter proposals and make decisions on the table of contents after receiving all proposals. Please note that submitting a proposal for review does not guarantee inclusion in the book.

The submission portal will ask prospective authors to enter the following information:

1. Email address
2. Email address (again)
3. Preferred name (first, last)
4. Position title, institution, city, state (country, if outside the US)
5. Co-author name, email, position title, institution, city, state (country)
6. Co-author name, email, position title, institution, city, state (country)
7. Co-author name, email, position title, institution, city, state (country)
8. An attention-grabbing title and descriptive subtitle (max. 15 words)
9. Chapter proposal (300-500 words), which includes
   • a clearly stated goal or objective of the chapter
   • a narrative overview of what the chapter will cover
   • a minimum of three relevant and sufficiently recent citations
10. List of references cited in the chapter proposal.
11. A question asking whether original data will be presented in this chapter. If the answer is ‘yes’, the next question asks whether data was collected from human subjects. If the answer is ‘yes’, the next question asks about IRB approval. (The editors are neutral about this type of chapter -- they just want to know, as seeking IRB approval can take some time)
12. Brief author bio (max. 200 words)
13. Current CV or resume (max. 4 pages).

Style:

APA style for citing and referencing is expected. For those unfamiliar with APA, see the OWL Purdue website for tutorials.

Timeline For Publication

• July 31, 2024 - Call for Proposals open
• September 15, 2024 – Chapter proposals due to editors
• September 30, 2024 – Initial feedback from editors
• December 31, 2024 – Chapter due – early submissions welcome ;)
• January 15 thru February 15, 2025 – Peer review occurs; detailed feedback to authors by February 15, 2025
• March 31, 2025 – Revised final drafts due
• April 2025 – Copy editing
• May 15, 2025 – Book publication