Evaluation for Teaching Excellence Toolkit: Introduction
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Introduction
To see the entire Evaluating for Excellence toolkit click here.
The aims of the Evaluating for Excellence toolkit are threefold:
- To evidence excellent teachers and pedagogic practise
- To identify individuals who need additional support and development to ensure that their teaching practice is of the highest quality
- To provide a reflective evaluative toolkit to explore aspects of teaching and learning from different perspectives in order to create a culture of continuous improvement and striving for excellence.
This toolkit consists of a set of evaluation ‘recipe cards’ that provide a quick introduction to different approaches to evaluating teaching, when a particular approach might be useful, and an overview of the process. Underpinning this approach is the notion that using multiple evaluative lenses provides a clearer picture than one alone, and allows for the triangulation of evidence.
For example, a mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches can explore the big picture as well as understanding the detail; combining peer and student feedback allows a variety of different perspective to be taken into account.  
We hope that by using some of the techniques described on the cards it will enable you to gain a more informed insight into their teaching practices and use this evidence to affect positive changes to the way they teach and assess their courses. We hope that by engaging in evaluation staff will gain a greater appreciation of the diverse needs of their students, which will, in turn, lead to improved student satisfaction and outcomes. Evidencing evaluation of practice will make it more straightforward for staff to show excellence in teaching and learning through, for example, the UKPSF, National Teaching Fellowships, and the promotion round.
Links to Online Resources
This is a useful guide to a range of evaluation techniques and case studies.
Harvey, J. (ed) (1998) Evaluation Cookbook. Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, Learning Technology Dissemination Initiative (LTDI) Institute for Computer Based Learning (ICBL). Downloadable PDF available here: http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/ltdi/cookbook/cookbook.pdf
Links to Papers/Books
Robson, C. (2016) Real world research : a resource for users of social research methods in applied settings. 4th Edition. Imprint Chichester, West Sussex : Wiley Available from the Library
Cohen, L. & Manion, L. (2018) Research methods in education. London, England : Routledge Available as e-book from the Library