Goal 4: Elevate how we teach

Purpose

In response to a changing world — and an evolving teaching and learning landscape — the time is right for UCLA to modernize its instructional practices to stay at the forefront of excellence in education. Leveraging expertise and motivation, UCLA is well positioned to advance inclusive teaching practices by strengthening programs that support and incentivize continuous improvement and innovation in instruction, making intentional, research-informed, and equity affirming changes to our teaching and learning enterprise, and re-envisioning how we evaluate and celebrate teaching excellence.

Priorities

Some of the priorities for this goal include: 

• Enhance teaching excellence by improving the evaluation of the teaching process to better incentivize, recognize, reward, and foster teaching excellence and innovation — and to support a culture of continuous improvement in pursuit of equitable teaching.
  • Launch new educational innovation grants program based on Subcommittee recommendations
  • Expand the teaching awards program based on Subcommittee recommendations
  • Continue to expand the Holistic Evaluation of Teaching (HET) rollout (currently up to 12 total departments), and feature the work of participating departments at events like the HET symposium and among national peers
  • Revise Student Experiences of Teaching 
• Transform UCLA’s teaching practices and strengthen programs supporting effective, innovative, and inclusive instruction across the entire campus.
  • Launch new TLC programs and expand successful offerings, including the New Instructor Teaching Institute (NITI), campus conversations workshop series, and the 10+10 pop-up series
  • Engage UCLA instructors in national student success initiative to improve sense of belonging and community on campus through interventions shared through the Student Experience Project
• Modernize learning spaces to enrich student success and keep pace with innovative teaching practices.
  • Propose a plan for the systematic modernization of UCLA classrooms based on Subcommittee strategy:
    • Inventory of the current state of all UCLA general assignment classrooms using Educause Learning Spaces Rating System
    • Administer survey of UCLA instructor to assess both current and future instructional needs as it relates to classroom infrastructure
    • Submit to Academic and Learning Spaces Subcommittee for review and feedback; route to Space Oversight Committee 
  • Develop and disseminate recommendations from the Teaching and Learning Center Ad Hoc Committee on Learning Spaces Pedagogy that include:
    • Principles to guide design and use of UCLA classroom spaces in support of learning-centered, engaged, and equitable teaching in response to needs and pedagogical priorities of UCLA instructors
    • Programming to advance teaching excellence and innovation in ways that leverage institutional investments in improved classroom infrastructure 
• Explore greater online and hybrid course options to address some of the challenges of enrollment growth, reduce reliance on physical classroom space, embed inclusive teaching in all courses, and expand accessibility at UCLA.
  • Innovate courses by leveraging AI and other forms of academic technology (e.g., pilot course-specific coded AI for on-demand student support)

Expected Outcomes

Elevating how we teach will: 

• better prepare, support and evaluate instructors;
• enhance the training and mentoring of graduate students as teaching assistants;
• improve and assure equity in student learning outcomes;
• brand UCLA as a leader and innovator in education; and
• build the perceived value of a college education to the public.

Measures of success

Ways that we will define progress against this goal include: 

• Recognition of new Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) as a hub of expertise in effective, student-centered, and inclusive teaching practices, pedagogical research, and instructional innovation
• Increase in the number of instructors who redesign courses in ways evidenced to improve learning and equity in instruction
• Entire departments and academic programs transforming their curriculum to promote coherence and positively impact student success
• Greater awareness, knowledge, and widespread adoption of inclusive teaching practices
• Creation of incentives, acknowledgement, and rewards for teaching excellence
• Modernized learning spaces and an ecosystem of educational technology tools that improve accessibility and student engagement in the learning process

Implementation Committees

Subcommittee #1: Evaluation of the Teaching Process

Melissa Paquette-Smith, Psychology (Chair)

Robert Gould, Statistics

Adrienne Lavine, Engineering

Marc Levis-Fitzgerald, TLC

Glory Tobiason, TLC

Committee Support Analyst: Anita Han, TLC

______________________________________

Subcommittee #2: Innovating Instructional Practice

Muriel McClendon, History (Chair)

Anya Booker, Arts & Architecture

Sylvia Hurtado, Education

Rachel Kennison, CEILS

Ted Robles, Psychology

Committee Support Analyst: Marjorie Llanera & Milinda Tabarez, TLC

______________________________________

Subcommittee #3: Modernizing Learning Spaces

Joe Way, ITS (Chair)

Allison Benedetti, Library

Kim DeBacco, TLC

Chris Dutton, TLC

Jeff Maloy, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology/LS Core

Michael Samojlik, Anderson

Committee Support Analyst: Lucia Tabarez & Candice Thomas, TLC

______________________________________

Subcommittee #4: Diversifying Modalities of Instruction

Debra Pires, Life Sciences (Chair)

Ava Arndt, TLC

Ilana Intonato, ITS

Kate Jakway Kelly, Registrar

Travis Lee, Disabilities & Computing Program

Kerry Schutt Nason, TFT

Committee Support Analyst: Serge Chenkerian, TLC

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Implementation Planning Group

Co-lead: Adriana Galván, Dean, Undergraduate Education 

Co-lead: Erin Sanders O’Leary, Inaugural Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning

Eliza Aiken, UCLA Student

Anya Booker, Associate Dean and Executive Director for Anti-Racism, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture  

Allison Benedetti, Director, UCLA Arts, Music and Powell Libraries

Caroline Kong, Instructional Designer and Technologist, UCLA Teaching and Learning Center 

Jamal Madni, UCLA Alumnus

Cecilia Rios Aguilar, Professor and Associate Dean, UCLA School of Education & Information Studies 

Ted Robles, Professor and Vice Chair of Graduate Studies 

Shanna Shaked, Senior Associate Director, UCLA Center for Education Innovation & Learning in the Sciences

Eileen Strempel, Inaugural Dean, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music  

Glory Tobiason, Research Scientist, UCLA CRESST