Using Classroom Observations to Provide Instructors with Formative Feedback

Dr. Michelle Smith, Ann S. Bowers Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education at Cornell University and this year’s Hanson Center Visiting Scholar, will join us virtually via Zoom on Thursday, February 1 at 4:15 to present “Using Classroom Observations to Provide Instructors with Formative Feedback.” 

Abstract: Instructors, and the teaching practices they employ, play a critical role in improving student learning in college courses.  Consequently, there is increasing interest in collecting information on the range and frequency of teaching practices at department-wide and institution-wide scales.  To help facilitate this process, I will present the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS): a protocol that allows individuals, after a short training period, to reliably characterize how instructors and students are spending their time in the classroom.  I also will discuss how classroom observation data can be used to guide individual and institutional change.

Dr. Smith’s presentation is part of a series of presentations on “Peer Evaluation of Teaching: From Research to Practice” co-organized by the Hanson Center for Inclusive STEM Education, the Center for the Integration of Teaching, Learning and Scholarship, and the Provost Office.

Please register using this link to receive the Zoom link to attend Dr. Smith’s presentation.