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Media
Contact:
Paul K. Mueller,
News Services, 919/515-3470.
Nov.
13 , 2002
Fox Co-Authors
Research Council Report on Undergrad Teaching
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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North
Carolina State University Chancellor Marye Anne
Fox is co-author of a report released Nov. 13
by the National Research Council (NRC) of the
National Academy of Sciences calling for improvements
in how colleges and universities evaluate teaching
in science, engineering, mathematics, and technology.
Dr. Norman Hackerman, Rice University president
emeritus and distinguished professor emeritus
of chemistry, currently with the Robert A. Welch
Foundation of Houston, co-authored the report
with Fox. They serve as co-chairs of the NRC committee
charged with recognizing, evaluating, rewarding
and developing excellence in teaching undergraduate
science, engineering, mathematics, and technology.
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Chancellor
Marye Anne Fox
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The
report says that while "academia and government
have established rigorous peer-review systems to evaluate
faculty research in science, engineering, mathematics
and technology…the evaluation of teaching in these
fields has been haphazard and less exacting." Faculty
members and administrators sometimes believe that it's
difficult, if not impossible, to objectively gauge the
effectiveness of teaching skills, according to the authors,
"but fair strategies for evaluating undergraduate
teaching and learning…do exist, and they deserve
wider appreciation and use."
Acknowledging that scientific disciplines, as well as
colleges and universities, vary considerably, the report
emphasizes that "no single path to high-quality
evaluation of professors or academic departments is
clearly superior." But both teaching and program
effectiveness should be judged by the extent of student
learning, say the authors, and too often "evaluations
leave this key variable out of the equation."
The report suggests combining a broad range of evidence
about student learning - including such assessment tools
as quizzes, standardized tests, portfolios, presentations
of research and student journals - with ongoing feedback
from students and colleagues as a "useful approach
for judging and boosting teaching skills and departmental
curricula."
Other avenues for improving teaching in the more technical
fields include support centers for faculty professional-development;
focusing on teaching methods based on scientific evidence
about how students learn; and recognizing - through
endowments or other rewards - faculty members who make
significant contributions to teaching.
Fox,
a noted organic chemist, is an elected member of the
National
Academy of Sciences and a member of the President's
Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
The report was sponsored by the National
Research Council, the principal operating agency
of the National
Academy of Sciences and the National
Academy of Engineering.
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Raleigh,
NC 27695
