Teaching Evaluation

Teaching Evaluation Faculty Support Resources

About Teaching Evaluation at UO

Teaching is evaluated at the University of Oregon for a variety of reasons, including for promotion and tenure, contract renewal, and assignment of merit raises. Because these applications are so important to faculty members and the university, evaluation instruments and processes must be as equitable and transparent as possible.

Members of the UO community will be familiar with research on bias inflecting teaching evaluation, particularly the student evaluation of teaching. To mitigate bias and ensure that evaluation supports the development of UO’s teaching culture, the University of Oregon, led by the University Senate and Provost’s office, has launched a new Continuous Improvement and Evaluation of Teaching System.

UO's framework for the Continuous Improvement and Evaluation of Teaching aims to more transparently evaluate teaching with 1) a clear definition of teaching quality and 2) evidence from three sources: peers, students, and faculty themselves. The system also captures and honors the process of teaching improvement, core to the ethos of the Teaching Engagement Program.

In these pages, TEP offers guidance and resources for instructors and departments to support the work of teaching evaluation. The Provost's office outlines policies and procedures for teaching evaluation.

Teaching Quality Standards

To mitigate bias and ensure evaluation supports the development of UO’s teaching culture, the University of Oregon, led by the University Senate and Provost’s office, developed a holistic Continuous Improvement and Evaluation of Teaching System. The system aligns evidence from multiple sources to UO's Teaching Evaluation Standards (Professional, Inclusive, Engaged, and Research-informed). 

The Office of the Provost’s webpage has a page detailing the development and implementation of our teaching evaluation system.

Evidence Sources for Teaching Evaluation

Each individual unit at UO is responsible for establishing the process used for peer reviews of teaching in the unit. Our page offers general guidance for peer review but  you should contact your unit head for specifics to your department.
UO collects feedback as Student Experience Surveys at both the midterm (M-SES) and the end-of-term (E-SES). E-SES results are automatically included as part of teaching evaluation files, but both are valuable tools to help faculty identify places for growth.
Instructor self-presentation are materials that you craft to include in your evaluation file. These must include a candidate statement, but may also include instructor reflections or a teaching portfolio.