Comprehensive, institution-wide efforts to
improve teaching quality are highly effective at helping to improve
graduation and retention rates and are also linked to higher student
satisfaction, improved faculty morale, and higher pass rates, according
to several case studies presented in a new ACE white paper.
Instruction is most effective when
institutions focus on evidence-based practices that encourage
collaboration, active learning, faculty development, assessment, and
first-year student achievement, finds Effective Teaching: A Foundational Aspect of Practices That Support Student Learning (5 MB PDF), which was commissioned by ACE as part of the Council’s collaboration with Strada Education Network to examine higher education instruction and assess the connections between quality teaching and student success.
The paper focuses on the effectiveness of
pedagogical practices at three public colleges and
universities–California State University, Fullerton; Indiana
University-Purdue University Indianapolis; and Housatonic Community
College in Connecticut. It also explores the challenges and strategies
associated with implementing those practices.
Effective Teaching: A Foundational Aspect of Practices That Support Student Learning is part of ACE’s work to elevate the important role
that teaching plays in helping students and institutions succeed and
that faculty development plays in improving teaching practice by
identifying connections between instructional quality, student outcomes,
and institutional efficiency.
It is the fourth in a series of papers released in collaboration with Strada. The first three were Instructional Quality, Student Outcomes and Institutional Finances (2 MB PDF), Unpacking Relationships: Instruction and Student Outcomes (1 MB PDF), and Institutional Commitment to Teaching Excellence: Assessing the Impacts and Outcomes of Faculty Development (6 MB PDF).
The paper is co-authored by ACE’s Brice
Struthers, academic innovation program manager; Steven Taylor, ACE’s
director of academic innovation and initiatives; and Penny MacCormack,
chief academic officer at the Association of College and University
Educators (ACUE). ACE is invested in ACUE’s success and works in collaboration with ACUE to dramatically expand the use of effective teaching practices to benefit students, faculty, and institutions.