Executive Committee Secretary David Bjorkman agreed to draft a resolution for consideration at the February meeting. Among the themes are that the Senate and administration should foster excellence in teaching, but primary responsibility must remain at the departmental level, and that multiple assessment tools should be used to evaluate teaching quality, because any one method, such as student evaluations, has flaws. Bjorkman said his motion will ask for feedback from departments on what they are doing to improve teaching, and will point out resources available to help them. The idea of centrally administered teaching criteria received little support. Prof. Chuck Wight, Science, said his constituents are concerned about any shift of resources away from graduate education and research, and he was the first of many to express reservations about applying general teaching criteria throughout the University.
Minimum standards are a powerful incentive to perform at a minimum level.
Another frequent comment was that teaching quality is generally very good, but all must admit that there are individual examples to the contrary. Prof. Bill Whisner, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, said his center is already offering a great deal to foster good teaching, and it should be used as a resource by individuals and departments. However, the center should not be seen as having a monitoring or policing role, he said. Student senator Joseph Burggraaf, Fine Arts, along with Prof. Cliff McIntosh, Humanities, and Prof. Linda Ralston, Health, asked if a resolution in support of rewarding teaching excellence would address only half of the question. Burggraaf said students would like to see some minimum guarantee of teaching quality.