How do you define teaching excellence in higher education?

One thing to add to the description of dimensions of teaching excellence is the need to understand not just the content knowledge and pedagogical competencies, but how learners approach -- and often struggle with -- the content. This is what Lee Shulman first termed 'pedagogical content knowledge'.

This discussion reminds me of a timeless quote that I believe should be the fundamental consideration when we think about what teaching is and how it works: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn” (Benjamin Franklin).

It is important to accept that excellence requires learning in order to improve (making small changes) and transform (making big changes). Learning is therefore a key ingredient in achieving excellence. Sources of learning can varry but they must include: own reflections, feedback from students and peers as well as ability to learn from other contexts.

In my experience, the most impactful indicator of teaching excellence is the lasting impact on students' lives. When students return years later to express their gratitude or when they credit their successes to the lessons learned in a particular teacher's class, it speaks volumes about the teacher's excellence. These intangible indicators can be the most meaningful and enduring. Teaching excellence is not a static achievement but a dynamic journey. It's about constant reflection, adaptation, and a genuine passion for helping students learn and grow. The personal and professional growth of students counts! This is why the curriculum and assessment patterns and styles as per the students' learning style needs to be reviewed and updated.

I measure my teaching excellence by student engagement, their academic progress, and feedback from peers and students. I constantly update my teaching approach with new research and professional growth. Awards and curriculum contributions are benchmarks of my effectiveness. At the heart, my reflective practice and the supportive learning atmosphere I create are the real indicators of my educational impact.

Teaching excellence goes beyond just the quality of teaching; it very much depends on the impact it leaves on students. While factors, like inspiring critical thinking and skill development, contribute to measuring teaching excellence, the hallmark of an outstanding educator lies in delivering informative, and interactive sessions which inspire lifelong learning and will resonate with students for many years to come.

In my perspective one of the key indicators of teaching excellence is your students success stories! How well your students are performing in their careers tells a lot about teaching and learning at an institution. At early stages, students performance in competitions, competitive exams, their confidence to participate in inter collegiate events also are the indicators

I think student feedback is important in assessing teaching excellence together with assessing the teaching process by the seniors in the institutions. We can strengthen the point of weaknesses in some educators and encourage and reward the excellent ones. Student feedback should be hold in each module and carefully reviewd

Many ways of measuring TE. For instance one could measure the efficiency of methods used to improve teaching such as instructional methods, use of digital tools, use of supporting materials, using student based methods and so on. Secondly, We could as well measure the impact of TE on student learning (which is far more complex and hard to do). And thirdly, could measure also measure the TE on organisational reputation, or even measure the impact on students quality of life (not only learning) and on the society at large.

For me, this section would be better titled “Challenges of measuring teaching quality”. The challenge here is in recognizing and compensating for the many variables not in the teacher’s control. Here are just a few examples recently encountered: ? A class populated with unusually unmotivated students. ? Current political events affecting students’ performance and exam results. ? Students grading a teacher based on cultural and appearance factors. The real value of measuring teaching quality is to understand where professional development training should be applied in a relentless effort to improve institutional teaching quality. And if the accuracy of the measuring system is flawed, the effort is not supportable.

More and more universities now are investing in an approach to developing teaching known as third party observations. These enable input from a range of stakeholders rather than just the traditional line manager, who may not even be a teaching focused academic. Therefore, by inviting guidance and feedback from a range of people, including those beyond your specialism and thematic topic, you can gain a wider and more interdisciplinary perspective on the delivery of your teaching and learning. This can empower you with new ideas and perspectives, as well as promotes open reflective practice that can benefit your learning and the progress of your students.

I agree that including the learner as an equal partner in the teaching process is key. For example, assignments that prompt the students to reflect on their life experiences and aspirations seem to result in greater buy-in and participation. Next, activities that engage the student in their surroundings to encourage real-world connection between content and community. Rapidly developing technologies demand a pivot away from passive learning to focus on active/engaged learning whereby the faculty member is a guide through real-world experiences in specific roles: 1. Curator- a curator of a vast sea of knowledge, 2. Mentor- partner with the learner to make sense of information in both a historical context and future-focused.

In an individual level, teaching is an art developed through in-depth understanding and with application in daily life at-least mentally in concept building. Receiving student's agreement/interest signal by continuous eye contact is the key of physical class rooms. In terms of evaluation, significance of the ingredients to be looked for and therefore evaluated for it. For example, if equations are written in every text book, memorizing them for evaluation process is useless act, needs to be forbidden by providing them with the questions or a open book exam is suitable conduct. Importantly, teachers need to be self developers of the evaluation practices and question papers, not copying it from elsewhere and most alarmingly from class note

In 27 years of teaching, I have begun every single class, no matter the level or size with the words, "Colleagues, we have a lot of work to do this semester so welcome, I am glad you are here."