Defining Competence and Excellence in Teaching

Both Divisional and Provostial Guidelines include criteria for the assessment of teaching effectiveness, which are helpful to you in selecting and contextualizing the information in your dossier. These criteria will be assessed based both on the information in your dossier, as well as the information provided by your department. Always refer to Divisional Guidelines when determining the appropriate criteria to target when preparing a teaching dossier for career advancement. To help provide a sense of what these criteria might include, below are the more general criteria included in the Provostial Guidelines.

A faculty member demonstrates capabilities as a teacher in lectures, seminars, laboratories and tutorials as well as in less formal teaching situations, including directing graduate students and counselling students. The Divisional Guidelines for tenure review, continuing status review, and promotion prescribe in detail the procedures to be followed in the evaluation of teaching activities. The level of achievement deemed necessary will depend on the rank being sought. Accordingly, there will be some variation in the components and emphases of the documentation collected for each process, reflecting the different stages of an academic career.

A) Evaluation of COMPETENCE in teaching requires demonstration of:

Success in stimulating and challenging students and promoting their intellectual and scholarly development
Strong communication skills
Success in developing students’ mastery of a subject and of the latest developments in the field
Success in encouraging students’ sense of inquiry and understanding of a subject through discovery-based learning
Active engagement with students’ learning progress and accessibility to students
Promotion of academic integrity and adherence to grading standards of the division and, as appropriate, the ethical standards of profession
Creation of opportunities which involve students in the research process
Creation of supervisory conditions conducive to a student’s research, intellectual growth and academic progress consistent with the School of Graduate Studies Guidelines for Graduate Supervision

B) Evaluation of EXCELLENCE in Teaching Requires, in addition to the requirements for teaching, demonstration of some combination of the following:

Superlative teaching skills
Creative educational leadership
Successful innovations in the teaching domain, including the creation of new and innovative teaching processes, materials and forms of evaluation
Significant contribution to the technological enrichment of teaching in a given area, for example, through the development of effective new technology or the use of new media to fullest advantage
Publication of innovative textbooks and/or teaching guides
Development of significant new courses and/or reform of curricula
Development of innovative and creative ways to promote students’ involvement in the research process and provide opportunities for them to learn through discovery-based methods
Significant contribution to pedagogical changes in a discipline

** See Table 2 and 3 (below) for ways in which materials included in a dossier can be reviewed in relation to evaluation criteria.

TABLE 2 – TEACHING COMPETENCE: EVIDENCE & SOURCES

(Table is available in full PDF)

Competence in teaching: success in stimulating and challenging students and promoting their intellectual and scholarly development

Possible evidence includes:

responses to relevant questions on course evaluations
inclusion of teaching beliefs and strategies related to student development and learning goals in narrative statements

Source:

Instructor
Students

Competence in teaching: strong communication skills

Possible evidence includes:

relevant questions on student and peer evaluations
guest lecturing and additional invited teaching activities

Source:

Instructor
Students
Colleagues

Competence in teaching: success in developing students’ mastery of a subject and of the latest developments in the field

Possible evidence includes:

teaching materials (e.g. syllabi include up-to-date readings and topics)
examples of student success in narrative statements (e.g. undergraduate students who significantly improved their academic performance)

Source:

Instructor
Students
Colleagues

Competence in teaching: success in encouraging students’ sense of inquiry and understanding of a subject through discovery-based learning

Possible evidence includes:

teaching materials (e.g., examples of inquiry-based assignments and resulting student work)
inclusion of goals and strategies related to inquiry- and discovery-based learning in narrative statements

Source:

Instructor
Students

Competence in teaching: active engagement with students’ learning progress and accessibility to students

Possible evidence includes:

teaching goals and strategies related to active and student-centred learning
responses to relevant questions on course evaluations

Source:

Instructor
Students

Competence in teaching: promotion of academic integrity and adherence to grading standards of the division and, as appropriate, the ethical standards of profession

Possible evidence includes:

teaching materials (e.g. statements and policies on syllabi about avoiding plagiarism)
grading and assessment examples and strategies
professional development activities (e.g. seminars or workshops on ethical teaching)

Source:

Instructor
Students

Competence in teaching: creation of opportunities which involve students in the research process

Possible evidence includes:

teaching experience (e.g. the development of or participation in research-oriented courses)
teaching materials (e.g. research based or experiential assignments)

Source:

Instructor
Students

Competence in teaching: creation of supervisory conditions conducive to a student’s research, intellectual growth and academic progress consistent with the School of Graduate Studies Guidelines for Graduate Supervision.

Possible evidence includes:

examples and strategies for graduate teaching and research in narrative statements
graduate teaching materials (e.g. examples of feedback provided on graduate student work)
examples of graduate student success (e.g. job placement, published work)

Source:

Instructor
Students
Colleagues

TABLE 3 – TEACHING EXCELLENCE: EVIDENCE & SOURCES

(Table is available in full PDF)

Excellence in teaching: superlative teaching skills

Possible evidence includes:

student and peer evaluations with sustained high ratings in multiple types and levels of courses

Source:

Students
Colleagues

Excellence in teaching: creative educational leadership

Possible evidence includes:

teaching experience (e.g. as a course coordinator)
professional development activities (e.g. offering seminars or workshops about teaching in the department or institution-wide)

Source:

Instructor
Colleagues

Excellence in teaching: successful innovations in the teaching domain, including the creation of new and innovative teaching processes, materials and forms of evaluation

Possible evidence includes:

teaching materials (e.g. descriptions of new courses and assignments)
descriptions of the effect of experimenting with new teaching techniques on student learning
grants for teaching

Source:

Instructor
Students
Colleagues

Excellence in teaching: significant contribution to the technological enrichment of teaching in a given area, for example, through the development of effective new technology or the use of new media to fullest advantage

Possible evidence includes:

teaching materials and strategies that incorporate the use of technology
grants for the development of/use of educational technology

Source:

Instructor
Students
Colleagues

Excellence in teaching: publication of innovative textbooks and/or teaching guides

Possible evidence includes:

examples of textbooks or guides and reviews
examples of the use of teaching materials in instructor’s or others’ courses

Source:

Instructor
Colleagues

Excellence in teaching: development of significant new courses and/or reform of curricula

Possible evidence includes:

teaching experience highlighting new or redesigned courses
teaching materials (e.g. course syllabi)
professional development activities (e.g. participation in departmental or divisional curriculum committees)

Source:

Instructor
Students
Colleagues

Excellence in teaching: development of innovative and creative ways to promote students’ involvement in the research process and provide opportunities for them to learn through discovery-based methods

Possible evidence includes:

teaching experience with research-based courses
teaching materials (e.g. research-based assignments)
description of teaching strategies that incorporate inquiry-based learning

Source:

Instructor
Students
Colleagues

Excellence in teaching: significant contribution to pedagogical changes in a discipline.

Possible evidence includes:

peer evaluation attesting to contributions to curriculum, courses, or teaching approaches in the department or discipline
professional development activities (e.g. sharing pedagogical ideas and innovations in professional societies related to teaching)
teaching materials that demonstrate pedagogical innovation

Source:

Instructor
Colleagues

Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation

Defining Competence and Excellence in Teaching

MORE LINKS TO RELEVANT POLICIES, GUIDELINES & PROCEDURES

TABLE 2 – TEACHING COMPETENCE: EVIDENCE & SOURCES

TABLE 3 – TEACHING EXCELLENCE: EVIDENCE & SOURCES