CIDR consults with hundreds of faculty and TAs every year on questions related to teaching and learning. To help us assess the value of our consulting, we recently surveyed a sample of faculty, TAs, and former TAs who had worked with CIDR during the preceding five years.
We received 170 replies from individuals in sixty UW departments, and their most frequent suggestion was that our work should be more widely known. In response to this suggestion, this issue of the Bulletin identifies the primary benefits of consulting with CIDR that were identified by faculty and TAs who responded to the survey.
The most frequent benefit identified by faculty and TAs was getting practical input on questions or strategies related to teaching.
“CIDR helped tremendously when I needed to convert my small-class teaching style to serve the needs of a large lecture class – assignment design, syllabus design, articulation of learning goals, test design [and] ideas for making a large lecture (100+) class interactive with opportunities for active student participation.”
“I rethought my assignments to make them both more challenging for the students and also less time consuming for me to grade.”
“When I came up with ideas for different classroom strategies or when I was trying to incorporate a new strategy, the people at CIDR … helped me modify something new to fit my teaching strengths.”
One of the most highly valued benefits that many faculty and TAs reported was the chance to learn from CIDR consultants what other instructors were doing in their courses.
“Having CIDR experts share the depth of their expertise and their knowledge of what other instructors and programs have done successfully in the past. The CIDR consultants listen to individual instructors’ needs and adapt solutions accordingly, i.e. we don't simply get a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution.”
“It was great to talk with someone who'd visited lots of different classes and seen how they worked or didn't work. It made me feel less alone in some of the problems I was having, and also helped me work to improve my teaching.”
“Since they had worked with people in my field before, they knew what common problems were and … more importantly, they were able to tell me what people in other fields were doing in their classes and how their experiences could help me.”
A number of survey respondents also reported that they valued CIDR as a point of contact for interaction with the UW teaching community.
“I think the main positive is that I could bounce ideas off of knowledgeable individuals who could also give me an idea of what is done in other courses. It is wonderful to have this resource of information so you don't feel alone in the sea of teaching!”
“CIDR has shown me that we have a culture of dedicated instructors here … who are interested in having students learn and in researching ways to improve student learning.”
“I benefited from the sense that I was not teaching ‘in isolation’ and that I was part of a larger community that cared about what was going on in the classroom.”
For some instructors, the primary benefit of working with CIDR came in the form of renewed energy and ideas that helped them make best use of their time.
“I don't think [other] faculty always know just how much benefit can come from talking to a consultant at CIDR. A little bit of time with a consultant saves enormous time/energy/sometimes misery(!) later.”
“New ideas for lectures, resources to improve style and efficiency for teaching, seeing teaching not as a burden that takes away from research.”
“The primary benefit … was working with individuals who were also excited and informed about teaching. CIDR is an oasis to which I would go to get refreshed.”
Finally, a number of instructors credited CIDR with helping them find greater enthusiasm for their teaching.
“CIDR has increased my confidence in the classroom. As a result, I have also come to really enjoy teaching … I will focus on research in my career, but to me it is essential to also be a good educator.”
“Consulting with CIDR made me realize that - regardless of what research and writing I do - my time in front of a class is a large part of my academic experience and, in order to fully enjoy that time, I can focus on the joy of sharing ideas with my students.”
“Staff at CIDR … seemed to have great confidence that I could be a good teacher, so I believed them!”
We can’t say that everyone who consults with CIDR experiences all these benefits, but it is clear that many at UW have found CIDR to be a valuable resource for making teaching a vital component of their academic life.
For more information about consulting at CIDR, see http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/consulting/. To arrange an appointment with a CIDR consultant, call 543-6588 or send a message to cidr@u.washington.edu.
For a more complete discussion of survey methods, responses, and analysis, see Jacobson, W., Wulff, D., Grooters, S., Edwards, P., & Freisem, K. (2008). Reported Long-Term Value and Effects of Teaching Center Consultations. To Improve the Academy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
