Nicholas Yanes’ Post

"Think back to your own time as an undergraduate—chances are you can easily recall both your best and worst instructors. Students often express frustration, wondering why certain faculty members remain in the classroom despite consistently poor teaching performance. This speaks to the broader issue: while we can recognize bad instruction, higher education lacks a consistent mechanism for addressing it. However, it’s crucial to note that effective teaching is not synonymous with an easier, less rigorous experience. In fact, the most impactful instructors are often those who set high academic standards while still fostering an engaging, supportive learning environment. Their success lies not in lowering the bar but in helping students rise to meet it. Professional development in teaching should be a required component of faculty training, and performance should be regularly evaluated through both formative and summative assessments. Tying salary increases to measurable improvement and teaching effectiveness is a crucial step toward ensuring accountability and fostering growth in instructional quality." ~An esteemed management professor told me years ago that financial awards are short-term sugar highs that often do not have lasting performance effects. Never mind the fact that financial awards in this instance are paying faculty extra for what they should already be doing.

"Why aren’t faculty trained to teach?" This is the question that Nicholas Ladany asks in his recent Forbes article. He covers a number of reasons why teaching tends to be treated as an ancillary endeavor in higher education before concluding that "the most fundamental reason for the lack of teaching training is that we lack a standardized definition of what effective teaching looks like." This friends, THIS, is exactly why the Critical Teaching Behaviors (#CTB) project exists and why it matters. Before we can support faculty in becoming effective instructors, we have to know what good teaching is. Before we can develop metrics to evaluate and reward it, we need to have a common language in which to discuss it. The #CTB framework does that. In one page, it summarizes a vast body of research on teaching strategies that support student success. It gives you definitions, strategies, and artifacts to collect all on that one page. The aligned peer observation and student feedback instruments move us toward an evaluation of teaching that includes the valuable perspectives of peers and students while also making space for instructor voices to be heard in these reports. When we don't start with a shared understanding of what good teaching is and we jump to develop evaluation tools without ensuring we're grounding those tools in evidence-based practice, we risk inadvertently stunting teaching innovation on our campuses or replicating biases we're working hard to eliminate. The #CTB project gives you the tools you need to have more productive conversations about how to evaluate and reward teaching. This is why Claudia and I are so passionate about this work. Like Ladany, we believe that "higher education must evolve to prioritize teaching excellence, not just for the benefit of students, but for the future of academia itself." And that evolution must start with establishing a shared understanding of what constitutes good teaching.

My pedagogical training consisted of a two day workshop and a semester long one hour per week practicum that focused mainly on sharing writing activity ideas to use in the composition classes we were teaching. It wasn't until I signed up for the Auburn University Biggio Center Course ReDesign that I learned how to design learning experiences that leveraged the expertise I had developed through my studies and research. I gained so much more confidence and was able to use design to solve my biggest issues and disconnects with students (e.g. spending all my time grading essays without a clear sense of how my feedback was being taken). It was such a transformative experience I changed my career from teaching to teaching other faculty how to teach. Not much has changed in terms of our higher ed systems but so much has changed in terms of the integration of technology and teaching (thanks to Covid, social media, and AI). There's never been a bigger need for institutions to define teaching excellence in their context and support faculty and students to better understand the science of learning and design principles. As breakthroughs in cognitive science and educational research make clearer the link between effective teaching and lasting learning, I look forward to a day where great teaching and great teachers are celebrated at the institutional level as much as great research and great researchers!

In a recent Forbes article, contributing writer and San Francisco Bay University President Nicholas Ladany explains that while most college professors agree that education is essential for learning and performance, many still need formal training in effective #teaching practices. He emphasizes that teaching is more than mastering content—it requires communicating, inspiring students, and adapting to their diverse learning needs. We know that effective teaching is critical for #studentsuccess and among the many levers colleges can pull to improve student outcomes, effective teaching is often overlooked. This can be highly detrimental, as evidence-based teaching practices can make the difference between failure and success for many students. What happens when teaching isn’t overlooked? Students, faculty, and institutions thrive. How do we know? We’ve seen the outcomes among our 560+ #college, #university, and system partners with faculty certified in ACUE’s Effective Practice Framework—the nation’s only teaching certification endorsed by the American Council on Education. These outcomes show that effective teaching increases retention, lowers DFW rates, reduces equity gaps, and can boost institutional revenue by over $600,000 in just one year. And what do faculty have to say? Instructors certified in ACUE’s Framework report greater self-efficacy, confidence, and a growth mindset in themselves and their students. Explore the results and impact in our Great Teaching Movement Toolkit (https://lnkd.in/gwtAqFAa).

GOT TEACHING? Interesting perspective on teaching effectiveness within institutions of #highereducation https://lnkd.in/dx3UJ5eZ

Weekend Read "Instead of evaluating faculty based on their teaching ability, institutions often rely on scholarly output as a proxy for professional competence. Metrics such as securing grants or publishing research are typically the benchmarks of success. However, these measures, while important, fail to account for a professor’s ability to foster a meaningful learning environment or engage students effectively." #highered #highereducation #studentcentered https://lnkd.in/eZfMAsw4

Full article: Unlocking academic success: the impact of teaching strategies, instructor support, and student innovation on learning outcomes in public administration https://lnkd.in/en5U9mTw Overview: Factors Influencing Learning Outcomes in Public Administration This study examined the effects of teaching strategies, instructor support, and student innovation on learning outcomes in public administration. Researchers concluded that varied teaching methods, coupled with strong instructor support, significantly boosted student creativity and problem-solving skills, encouraging practical engagement. Interestingly, the findings indicated that student innovation did not play a significant mediating role between teaching methods and learning outcomes. This suggests that additional factors may need to be explored to better understand the interplay between these elements. Kulachai, W., Benchakhan, K., & Homyamyen, P. (2025). Unlocking academic success: The impact of teaching strategies, instructor support, and student innovation on learning outcomes in public administration. Cogent Education, 12(1), 2454122. https://bit.ly/3WAt0RX

TILES TEACHING UPDATE - Isabelle Bartkowiak-Théron & James Dwyer will have their Teaching Matters SHOWCASE PRESENTATION, "How tertiary education makes a difference in policing: what 'curriculum co-design' means and looks like in the context of an operational industry" on Wednesday the 27th of November.   'Co-design' has become a buzz word in many contexts. But what does it actually imply? This presentation critically analyses what 'curriculum co-design' means and looks like in tertiary education, focusing on the articulation of tertiary partnerships with the policing industry. Co-design in the police education environment goes beyond the mere involvement of educators, industry professionals, and students in creating relevant and practical curricula. The approach also goes beyond enhancing teaching practices and student engagement. In stepping back and critically observing the success of our partnership with Tasmania Police, we ask and answer the questions of what exactly contributed to successful curriculum co-design and delivery. This presentation session showcases innovative teaching strategies, improved student outcomes and impact on the industry itself. We discuss the challenging articulation of methodologies for effective co-design across organisations (sometimes at odds with each other), fostering collaboration, continuous improvement, and excellence in learning. Attendees will gain practical tools, warnings, and insights to implement curriculum co-design in rapidly changing political, policy and operational contexts. This conference is held yearly by the University of Tasmania. More information, including past conferences can be found at https://lnkd.in/dTUtsgdJ. Watch this space for more news and updates!

In our most recent blog post, Instructional Connections highlights and reviews pertinent research into the Academic Coach/Virtual TA model. Read the full review here: #research #academiccoach