Teaching Excellence Guidelines

Compiled by
The Faculty Mentoring Committee

Course Design

Syllabus is designed to include all elements as required by college Use MSMC Syllabus Guidelines

• Course objectives and goals are clearly and fully stated.
• Assignments and requirements for course are clearly and fully stated.
• Expectations are clear to all students.
• Regular and multiple means of student progress and evaluation are provided.
• Students are given adequate lead time for assignment deadlines and test dates.
• Course outline and content are presented in a coherent and organized manner.
• Assignments encourage analytical thinking, writing, & connection of theory to practice.

Teacher-Student Relationship

• Engage students through providing a positive, dynamic learning environment.
• Promote active participation of every student.
• Treat student input with respect and regard.
• Apply teaching methods that promote student collaboration and dialogue.
• Use visual aids (of high quality).
• Strive to apply new and effective methods, technology, and applications to teaching.
• Demonstrate knowledge and enthusiasm of course content and for teaching.
• Fairly assess student work.
• Maintain approachability as a teacher so that students will feel comfortable expressing their perspectives, concerns and questions.
• Recognize diverse cognitive and communication modalities and teach so as to provide multiple ways of grasping course content.
• Demonstrate compatibility with and ability to teach students who differ with respect to culture, race, ethnicity, gender, language, and socio-economic status.
• Provide students opportunity to improve their performance.
• Show direct links between in-class activities/materials and assessment instruments.
• Encourage students to strive for excellence.
• Strive to motivate and inspire student interest and involvement.

Classroom Skills

• Adequately prepare lesson plan for each class session.
• Give attention to pacing so that comprehension and analysis of course content is maximized.
• Provide appropriate practice to enable students to attain course objectives.
• Apply a variety of presentation modalities of course content.
• Use terminology in a clear and understandable manner.
• Present learning as a process, not only acquisition of a body of knowledge.
• Use examples and illustrations that increase understanding of concepts and processes.
• Do you allot adequate time for each component of the course content?
• Establish and maintain necessary routines.
• Sustain appropriate student conduct through efficient management techniques.
• Come to class on time and ready to teach.

Professional Development

• Each time you teach a course, reflect on and assess course objectives strategies, activities, materials, and assessment plan in order to optimize teaching-learning experience.
• Attend professional development opportunities to remain current in your field.
• Interface with colleagues and join in teaching forums/training workshops (at MSMC and elsewhere) to advance the teaching and learning process. Be involved in the dialogue.