The Teaching Quality Framework helps to structure discussions about teaching at Appalachian State. Intended as a framework and not a prescription, it directs our attention to three components of the teaching and learning process: the learning environment, course design and implementation, and a reflective stance toward our disciplines and pedagogies. It also encourages us to reflect on our teaching using information from a variety of sources, including ourselves, our students, and our colleagues. When we use this general framework to situate our pedagogical discussions, we provide a strong foundation for the maintenance and growth of the wide range of effective teaching approaches that App State is known for.
The Teaching Quality Framework is the work of a 2020 Teaching Quality Taskforce, which was convened to identify characteristics, values, and processes to support the development and evaluation of quality courses across all modalities. The task force was led by members of the Center for Academic Excellence (now named CETLSS) Leadership Team and consisted of representatives of each college who were nominated by the Deans. For additional context, including the composition of the Task Force, please see this Origins document.
For a text-based explanation of the graphic, please click here.
Helpful Teaching Quality Framework Tools:
- Teaching Quality Values Statement - articulates core beliefs related to dimensions of teaching excellence that foster effective learning experiences, based on the pedagogical literature and connected with our institutional mission to foster transformative learning for all students.
Teaching Quality Growth Guide - sample instructor behaviors that align with the three dimensions of teaching quality. The behaviors in the guide are samples from the literature intended to spur discussion about effective teaching.
Teaching Quality Lenses of Inquiry - examples of evidence or information instructors might consider as they reflect on the maintenance and growth of their teaching
Teaching Quality Reflection Tool - a tool that instructors may find helpful in organizing the information they have collected about their teaching, as aligned to the three dimensions of the framework and three data sources.
Tools by Programs and Departments:
These tools were produced by groups that received a Teaching Quality Framework Grant. If you are interested in applying for this grant, please see our grant page.
Peer Evaluation of Teaching using the Teaching Quality Framework (Department of Child Development, Literacy, and Special Education) - A peer evaluation process and protocol designed to work across modalities, aligned to the various domains of the framework.
Architectural Technology and Design Curriculum (Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment) - A redesign of a degree program to reflect a competency-based approach to learning
Suggestions/Best Practices for Teaching Asynchronously (Department of Mathematics) - A handbook of math-specific examples of how to communicate and create assessments for an asynchronous course.