This document discusses effective educational practices and benchmarks for quality teaching and learning. It outlines five national benchmarks: academic challenge, student interaction with faculty, active and collaborative learning, enriching experiences, and supportive campus environment. It also discusses seven principles for good practice: contact between students and faculty, reciprocity among students, active learning, prompt feedback, emphasizing time on task, communicating high expectations, and respecting diverse talents. Resources are provided for implementing these principles effectively in the classroom.

1. Effective Educational Practices
✤ for quality teaching and learning

2. *Five National Benchmarks of Effective
Educational Practice
Level of Academic Challenge
Challenging intellectual and creative work is central to student learning and
collegiate quality. Colleges and universities promote high levels of student
achievement by setting high expectations for student performance.
Student Interactions with Faculty Members
Students learn firsthand how experts think about and solve practical problems
by interacting with faculty members inside and outside the classroom. As a
result, their teachers become role models, mentors, and guides for
continuous, life-long learning.
Active and Collaborative Learning
Students learn more when they are intensively involved in their education and
are asked to think about and apply what they are learning in different settings.
Collaborating with others in solving problems or mastering difficult material
prepares student to deal with the messy, unscripted problems they will
encounter daily, both during and after college.
*Adapted from the 2004 Annual NSSE Survey Report

3. Five Benchmarks Continued...
Enriching Educational Experiences
Complementary learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom
augment the academic program. Experiencing diversity teaches students
valuable things about themselves and other cultures. Used
appropriately, technology facilitates learning and promotes collaboration
between peers and instructors. Internships, community service, and senior
capstone courses provide students with opportunities to
synthesize, integrate, and apply their knowledge. Such experiences make
learning more meaningful and, ultimately, more useful because what students
know becomes a part of who they are.
Supportive Campus Environment
Students perform better and are more satisfied at colleges that are committed to
their success and cultivate positive working and social relations among
different groups on campus.
*Adapted from the 2004 Annual NSSE Survey Report

4. Putting the benchmarks into practice
✤ What are the principles for great teaching and learning

5. The 7 Principles for Good Practice
encourage contact between students and faculty,
develop reciprocity and cooperation among students,
encourage active learning,
give prompt feedback,
emphasize time on task,
communicate high expectations, and
respect diverse talents and ways of learning.
Chickering, A. W., & Gamson, Z. F. (1987, March). Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education.
AAHEBulletin 39: 3-7, March 1987

6. Two thoughts....
1. While these 7 principles can stand on their own, if we put them
together we arrive at some very powerful forces for effective teaching
and learning....just think about the following
words...activity, expectations, cooperation, interaction, diversity, and
Responsibility.
2. Think of effective teaching and learning like the mechanics of a clock.
We can picture in our minds the gears, cogs and wheels, and how
these move together so that time can be represented on the outward
part of the machine - the clock face. This is a universal
image, represented and replicated throughout our world...but the
capturing of time is a profound concept...Just as the mechanics of
teaching and learning, nebulous and profound requiring symbiotic
movement, just as in the workings of a clock!

7. The 7 principles explained...

8. Encourage contact between faculty
and student
Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of classes is
the most important factor in student motivation and
involvement.
Faculty concern helps students get through rough times and
keep on working.
Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students'
intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about
their own values and future plans.

9. Encourages Contact Between
Students and Faculty
Provide multiple ways for students to contact you
Hold Office Hours and Virtual Office Hours (and encourage
appointments)
Provide guidelines for communication – i.e. how and when to best
reach you, when to reasonably expect a response from you
Send class emails regularly (whole class, individuals)
Assign Reflective journals
Provide feedback quickly – tell them what your turnaround will be.
Encourage them to follow-up with you

10. Develops Reciprocity and
Cooperation Among Students
Learning is enhanced when it is within the context of a
team.
Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and
social, not competitive and isolated.
Working with others often increases involvement in
learning.
Sharing one's own ideas and responding to others'
reactions sharpens thinking and deepens understanding.

11. Develops Reciprocity and
Cooperation Among Students
Model expectations Case Studies
Form small learning teams Note sharing
Problem based learning Peer editing/reviewing
Book discussion groups Team Discussion facilitation
Collaborative (team) learning Debate
and assignments
Collective resources and
Wikis (Google Docs) bookmarks
Presentations

12. Encourages Active Learning
Learning is not for spectators.
Students do not learn much just by sitting in
classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-
packaged assignments, and spitting out answers.
They must talk about what they are learning, write
about it, relate it to past experiences and apply it to
their daily lives.
They must make what they learn part of
themselves.

13. Encourages Active Learning
Clickers (polls, surveys) Ask “Why is this relevant to
Case Studies, Critical you?”
Incidents, Problem Based Stump your classmate
Learning exercise
Model critical questioning Concept mapping
Then “assign” them to Notes/Resource Sharing
challenge each other during Metacognitive journal
class discussion
What? So what? Now
what?

14. Gives Prompt Feedback
Knowing what you know and don't know focuses learning.
Students need appropriate feedback on performance to benefit
from courses.
When getting started, students need help in assessing existing
knowledge and competence.
In classes, students need frequent opportunities to perform and
receive suggestions for improvement.
At various points during college, and at the end, students need
chances to reflect on what they have learned, what they still
need to know, and how to assess themselves.

15. Gives Prompt Feedback
Regular formative assessment Check for understanding
(in and out of class) quizzes
Information and With permission, use student
acknowledgement feedback samples
Comment: Provide detailed rubrics for
assignments
During and end of discussion
Use them also for self and peer
On reflective journals
assessment
On assignments
KWL exercise to open and
close new content

16. Emphasizes Time on Task
Time plus energy equals learning. There is no substitute for
time on task.
Learning to use one's time well is critical for students and
professionals alike. Students need help in learning effective
time management.
Allocating realistic amounts of time means effective learning
for students and effective teaching for faculty. How an
institution defines time expectations for
students, faculty, administrators, and other professional staff
can establish the basis of high performance for all.

17. Emphasizes Time on Task
Be organized and prepared for class
Include objectives throughout the course
Require groups to submit a task analysis with
timelines and responsibilities (Learning Contracts)
Estimate for students how much time they should
spend on things
Focus learners attention on provided
resources, reading assignments, etc.

18. Communicates High Expectations
Expect more and you will get more. High expectations are
important for everyone -- for the poorly prepared, for those
unwilling to exert themselves, and for the bright and well
motivated.
Expecting students to perform well becomes a self-
fulfilling prophecy when teachers and institutions hold high
expectations for themselves and make extra efforts.

19. Communicates High Expectations
Clearly defined syllabus and Authentic and problem based
assignments learning
Include learning objectives with units Publicly praise quality and insight
and assignments (know your
Learners publish their work
taxonomy!) Link feedback to
objectives. Invite the library in (to work with you
in setting up scholarly
Post samples of assignments
assignments, and into your class
Provide detailed rubrics session for your students.)
Give challenging assignments (and Require scholarly resources and
avoid "busy work") references

20. Respects Diverse Talents and
Ways of Learning
There are many roads to learning. People bring different
talents and styles of learning to college. Brilliant students
in the seminar room may be all thumbs in the lab or art
studio. Students rich in hands-on experience may not do
so well with theory.
Students need the opportunity to show their talents and
learn in ways that work for them. Then they can be pushed
to learn in new ways that do not come so easily.

21. Respects Diverse Talents and
Ways of Learning
Vary your content delivery Invite the learner's experience
(imagery, illustration, audio, video,
Take the VARK inventory and ask
reading, writing, websites)
your learners to. Post results.
Choices of assignments and Create a chart.
delivery
Pursue own area of interest within
Vary your assessments (and more content
subjective than objective)
Frequent Formative assessment
Provide materials to provide
Integrate new knowledge about
background and "for further study"
under-represented populations into
Show value and relevance for your content
learner contributions

22. A few resources
Chickering, A., Gamson, Z. (1987) Seven Principles For Good
Practice In Undergraduate Education. The American Association
for Higher Education Bulletin, March 1987. Accessed online:
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guideb
k/teachtip/7princip.htm
VARK: http://www.vark-learn.com/
Problem Based Learning Clearinghouse:
https://primus.nss.udel.edu/Pbl/
Second Story productions (interactive websites):
http://secondstory.com/portfolio