Bvufaculty Self-Evaluation Instructions

BVUFaculty Self-Evaluation Instructions

Purpose Statement The quality of the academic program at BVU rests on the quality of our faculty. Your continuing development as a Buena Vista University faculty member is critical to achieving our mission of academic excellence. The self-evaluation process has been designed to provide an important framework within which to develop, record, communicate, and evaluate your annual contributions to the institution’s mission. The faculty self-evaluation is a tool that permits you to identify your goals and achievements in four areas. Please review the four areas of contribution described on the pages of these self-evaluation instructions: teaching effectiveness, academic advising, service, and professional engagement. Use these descriptions to spark your own specific, thoughtful, and reflective evaluation of the preceding academic year. Present your completed self-evaluation to your School Dean for review and commentary. Your Dean will forward your self-evaluation to the VPAA along with a merit pay recommendation. You may wish to share your self- evaluation with your Peer Review Team (if you are a non-tenured faculty member who has such a team). Also, you may wish to share this with other colleagues whom you have asked to evaluate your work in order that they have an appropriate context with which to begin that evaluation. As you complete your self-evaluation, you ought to review the annual plan that you created for the year under review. Ask yourself, “How ought my annual plan inform this self- evaluation?”

For the self-evaluation instructions, form, and an example of a completed self- evaluation, see http://FAPP.bvu.edu

Buena Vista University’s Mission Buena Vista University is an independent, regionally acclaimed, comprehensive teaching institution dedicated to “education for service.” Buena Vista University aspires to become the nation’s leading “New American College” while retaining its Presbyterian heritage. The University prepares students for leadership and service in an information-driven, global society. The traditional disciplines provide a framework for a curriculum that prepares students for the professions and life-long learning.

Buena Vista University Faculty Self-Evaluation Instructions Page 1 of 4 Category #1Teaching Effectiveness In keeping with the mission of Buena Vista University, teaching is the most important area of faculty performance. Effective teaching stimulates students’ interest, increases their knowledge, requires them to engage in critical analysis, respects their scholarly efforts, and assesses those learning objectives. Excellent teachers can articulate their teaching philosophies, align appropriate teaching strategies with those philosophies, define learning outcomes, develop and use effective delivery methodologies, and assess the success of those strategies and methodologies. Many ways exist to structure, deliver, and assess educational experiences, especially across the wide array of academic disciplines. BVU expects that all faculty members will demonstrate and document activities and behaviors—in and outside the classroom, lab or studio—that are consistent with the values of effective teaching, and result in positive learning outcomes for students. Your self-evaluation permits you to document and reflect on how you demonstrate these activities, behaviors, and outcomes. High quality teaching extends to activities outside of the classroom, which support excellence in teaching in the classroom. Examples of such activities are, but are not limited to, encouragement of the use of the Center for Academic Excellence, development of student tutor programs and student help sessions, and extended discussions using new information technologies such as CourseInfo.

Examples of teaching activities may include but are not limited to: . Teaching load—number and nature of courses. . Participation in curriculum development, in interdisciplinary courses and programs, in Peer Review teams, and in pedagogical conferences, field trips, and workshops. . Development and implementation of new teaching strategies and techniques.

Evidence of teaching effectiveness may include but is not limited to: . Personal analysis of teaching growth and achievement. . Peer analysis of course development and student achievement. . Student evaluation of classroom effectiveness. . Pre- and post-test results of student values, skills, and knowledge. . Alumni analysis of classroom experience.

Buena Vista University Faculty Self-Evaluation Instructions Page 2 of 4 Category #2Academic Advising Academic advising is another key faculty contribution to the success of our institution. Students should expect that they may contact their faculty advisors for mentoring in their chosen fields, for guidance in planning their academic careers, for assistance in choosing a course of study suited to their needs, and for explanation of graduation requirements. Effective faculty advisors successfully assist their students in these activities. Examples of academic advising activities may include but are not limited to: . Academic advising of students. . Mentoring of students. . Advising a co-curricular activity. Evidence of advising effectiveness may include but is not limited to: . Number of advisees and advisee graduates. . Personal analysis of advising success. . Peer analysis of your development of advising materials and strategies. . Student analysis of advising achievement. . Alumni analysis of advising experience.

Category #3Service The vitality of an institution of higher learning rests in large measure on the commitment of faculty members to participate in the governance process as well as to use their expertise by engaging in activities both on and off campus. By its collegial nature, Buena Vista University relies upon the involvement of faculty, including contractual administrative duties as well as outreach activities to further college partnerships. Service—such as part-time directorship of an academic program or activity, faculty governance, meeting with prospective students, interviewing scholarship candidates, and participating in committee work—is an essential responsibility of the faculty. All faculty members are expected to demonstrate that they have played an effective part in their schools, the university, the community and the world at large. Service activities may include but are not limited to: . Participation in on-campus committees or off-campus organizations. . Election or re-election to public office. . Appointment or reappointment to campus leadership positions. . Directorship of an academic program or activity. Evidence of service effectiveness may include but is not limited to: . Personal analysis of service success. . Internal or external peer analysis of service achievement. . Alumni analysis of service experience.

Buena Vista University Faculty Self-Evaluation Instructions Page 3 of 4 Category #4Professional Engagement The University recognizes that professional growth, scholarship, and other kinds of creative activity can take a variety of forms. At a New American College, faculty members are involved in the scholarships of Discovery, Integration, and Engagement (as well as the Scholarship of Teaching), which create new knowledge as well as link work in the disciplines both to the classroom and to the community.1 The Scholarship of Discovery takes the form of traditional research with subsequent publication of results, or in the production of new works of art, theater, music or the like. The Scholarship of Integration takes the form of faculty overcoming the isolation of the disciplines, making connections within and between disciplines, altering the contexts in which students view knowledge—interdisciplinary course offerings and collaborative teaching are examples of Integration. The Scholarship of Engagement connects the theory of the classroom with the practices of the community, applying knowledge in ways that seek to improve community practices— service learning is an example of Engagement. Other forms of scholarship and professional growth, unspecified here, may also develop, and are welcome developments in a faculty career. Professional engagement activities may include but are not limited to: . Scholarly presentations. . Participation in scholarly meetings as program chair or moderator. . Professional consulting in your academic discipline. . Fellowship or research awards including grants. . Reviewer or editor of professional publications or productions. . Construction or performance of creative works such as painting, photography, music, and plays. . Scholarship resulting in published work or resulting in tangible, yet unpublished work. . New interdisciplinary course offerings or significant new connections across disciplines. . Course offerings that connect the classroom to the community, offering students an opportunity to practice theory in ways that permit them to improve community life such as student participation in literacy programs or student development of environmental improvement projects. Evidence of professional engagement effectiveness may include but is not limited to: . Personal analysis of professional success. . Internal and/or external peer analysis of professional achievement.

1 Glassick, Charles, Huber, Mary, and Maeroff, Gene. Scholarship Assessed, Evaluation of the Professoriate. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, 1997. Buena Vista University Faculty Self-Evaluation Instructions Page 4 of 4