“Every Teacher a Teacher-Scholar: Learning Assessment as a Way to Build Teacher Knowledge of Effecti

by Edna Pressler

Claire Major, Professor of Higher Education Administration at the University of Alabama

On May 6, 2019, I (Edna Pressler) attended the “Excellence in Teaching Day: Making Learning Visible” offered by the Boston College Center for Teaching Excellence. Claire Major, Professor of Higher Education Administration at the University of Alabama, gave the keynote entitled, “Every Teacher a Teacher-Scholar: Learning Assessment as a Way to Build Teacher Knowledge of Effective Teaching.” All of you who have taken Best Practices for Online/Hybrid Teaching or who have worked with an instructional designer in the Center for Instructional Innovation know the importance of incorporating evidence-based strategies. The main point of Professor Major’s keynote was that it’s not enough to rely on evidence derived from other students, teachers, disciplines, or institutions. We need to supplement that evidence with our own learning assessments to determine what works in our specific contexts.

Fortunately, Professor Major has developed resources to help us teach/assess. Written with Elizabeth Barkley, Professor Major’s excellent (2016) book, “Learning Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty” helps us identify what students need to learn; implement activities to ensure learning; and, provide evidence that learning has occurred. Many of the techniques in the book are illustrated in the library of free videos offered by the K. Patricia Cross Academy (where Professor Major serves as the Executive Information Officer). If you browse through the videos, you will see why Professor Major says, “Done well, students won’t know whether they are being taught or assessed.” What students will know is that they had a great instructor!