The L&S Framework for Advancing Teaching Excellence is a college-wide resource created in collaboration with our Teaching & Learning Advisory Council to support L&S units in pursuing our shared commitment to teaching excellence.
The framework provides a comprehensive approach through four connected components.
L&S Statement on Teaching Excellence establishes our shared set of principles at the foundation of great teaching.
Activity Guide offers practical strategies for building teaching-focused cultures and supporting instructors.
Support Networks engage departmental liaisons in cross-college collaboration and provide access to instructional design capacity.
The Goals and Planning Guide helps units translate the framework into actionable, context-specific plans.
These components enable L&S departments to advance teaching excellence in ways that reflect their unique disciplinary contexts while contributing to a college-wide culture that deeply values student-centered learning.
References & Resources
L&S Statement on Teaching Excellence
An articulation of what we value in teaching and course design across L&S.
The College of Letters & Science is committed to the continual pursuit of teaching excellence. We view this as an ongoing process that honors the diverse talents and experiences of the many individuals comprising the L&S teaching community. To guide this process, we emphasize six facets of effective instruction:
- Outcomes-Based Design: We value systematic approaches to course design that align student learning outcomes with engaging instructional content, structured learning activities, and meaningful assessments.
- Student-Centeredness: We place students at the heart of our teaching by thoroughly considering their needs, maximizing their engagement, and allowing them to connect their learning with future aspirations.
- Evidence-Based Practice: We embrace formal and informal evidence in defining the effective pedagogies, designs, and instructional strategies that enhance student learning outcomes. Specific techniques include, but are not limited to, active learning, formative feedback and assessment, structured reflection, metacognitive practice, scaffolding, collaborative learning, and interactive lecturing.
- Inclusivity: We actively design learning environments that celebrate diversity as an asset and employ intentional strategies to build a classroom culture in which all learners feel they belong.
- Innovation: We value innovative and imaginative teaching approaches where instructors can develop novel solutions for teaching challenges.
- Reflection & Growth: We engage in reflective practices to learn, grow, and improve in our approaches to pedagogy and craft of teaching.
Through these interconnected principles, we seek a vibrant UW L&S educational experience that prepares our students for the complexities of a rapidly evolving world.
Teaching Excellence Activities Guide
A collection of ideas for pursuing teaching excellence as a department
The guide is structured into three key sections: (1) Department and L&S Culture Building, (2) Professional Practice & Development, (3) Administrative Practices.
Each section outlines specific activities and resources to support faculty, instructional staff, and teaching assistants in pursuit of teaching excellence. This guide is not intended as a checklist but as a set of ideas from which departments can take inspiration while pursuing continuous improvement over time.
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Section 1: Department and L&S Culture Building
Each L&S academic unit has unique cultural norms. This diversity is a strength for L&S. The activities in this section help departments proactively establish practices that ensure excellent teaching is visible and working in support of a College-wide culture of teaching excellence.
1. Align Departmental Vision and Values with Teaching Excellence
Clearly articulating your unit’s vision and values provides a foundation for discussing, evaluating, and evolving in all dimensions of teaching excellence.
Ideas & Examples:
- Describe and document your department’s vision and values for teaching excellence. For example, the English Department developed an Excellence in Teaching Statement & Assessment Guide to ground their priorities and decisions.
- Consider how your values align with the overarching principles of the College of Letters & Science’s statement on teaching excellence.
Resources:
2. Build Teaching-Focused Discussions in Departmental Routines
Regular teaching discussions help instructors share experiences, build community, and think strategically about how they individually and collectively support student learning.
Ideas & Examples:
- Establish places and times for all instructors to engage in low-stakes conversations about timely and relevant topics. Consider how you might integrate teaching-focused discussion into: Faculty meetings, Departmental TA training, Teaching team meetings. For example, Integrative Biology TA meetings regularly include discussions of learning theories, developing a teaching philosophy, etc.
- Informal gatherings
- Create designated meetings to focus on teaching conversations, such as lunch-and-learn sessions. For example, the Chemistry department organizes a bi-weekly series called Teachers Tea that includes department presentations, conversations, and Q&A sessions about teaching topics.
- Establish a department teaching symposium.
Resources:
- L&S Mini-Discussions offer an easy way to add a 10-minute discussion about teaching to an existing meeting.
- L&S Exchange Podcast features perspectives on teaching from L&S instructors with ready-made conversation starters
- The L&S Design for Learning Series explores teaching topics featuring research literature, practical tips, and examples from
3. Establish Student-Centered and Inclusive Teaching as a Departmental Expectation
Inclusive and student-centered teaching methods support student learning and achievement.
Ideas & Examples:
Proactively explore and adopt inclusive methods that foster a sense of belonging and address diverse learning needs. This includes (but is not limited to) practices such as:
- Using a representative syllabus
- Ensuring all course materials are accessible
- Learning and using students’ names
- Incorporating alternative assessments (e.g., formative writing instead of tests)
- Fostering a classroom environment that prioritizes mutual respect and community
Resources:
Resource for Instructors Working with TAs provides recommendations for establishing expectations in teaching teams.
4. Challenge Teaching Practices That Create Barriers to Success
Shaping a department’s teaching culture involves critically assessing and challenging traditional practices known to perpetuate inequity. By openly identifying these practices, departments can actively work to foster a more equitable and supportive learning environment for all students.
Ideas & Examples:
Take time to critically examine teaching philosophies and course design features that may contribute to inequitable outcomes. This includes practices such as grading on a curve, using introductory courses to “weed out” students, over-reliance on high-stakes assessments, or other methods rooted in tradition rather than inclusivity.
5. Recognize and Reward Outstanding Teaching
Formally and informally recognizing individuals for their commitment to teaching excellence can foster a positive culture that values and motivates continuous improvement.
Ideas & Examples:
- Establish departmental practices for recognizing teaching achievements. For example, the Math Department, Physics Department, and Integrated Liberal Studies established their own TA Award programs.
- Informally highlight innovative and exceptional efforts within regular meetings or events.
- Formalize internal procedures to nominate instructors for teaching awards, ensuring that excellence is celebrated and processes are transparent.
Resources:
- Distinguished Teaching Awards for tenure-track or tenured faculty members
- Academic Staff Teaching Excellence Award Program
- TA Awards
- L&S Teaching Mentors
6. Foster a Culture of Innovative Teaching and Course Design
Encouraging innovation in teaching keeps instructional practices dynamic and responsive to evolving student needs. Departments can cultivate an environment where faculty, instructional staff, and teaching assistants are supported in exploring and adopting innovative, evidence-based teaching practices.
Ideas & Examples:
- Set aside department meeting time for instructors to share new teaching experiments.
- Dedicate funds for instructors to test new technologies, assessment methods, or course formats. The Language Institute’s Instructional Innovation Grants are a good model.
- Create regular forums for instructors to discuss their teaching experiments and how they did or did not work as planned.
- Connect with other departments facing similar teaching challenges.
- Support instructors in experimenting with flipped classrooms, project-based learning, authentic assignments, or interdisciplinary approaches.
- Share successful innovations with the L&S Instructional Design Collaborative for inclusion in the L&S Design for Learning article series or L&S Exchange Podcast.
Resources:
- The L&S Instructional Design Collaborative team is available to support innovation projects with coordination and planning, design collaboration, and technology integration.
- CTLM’s Include Engage Challenge program supports substantive and sustainable course renewal
Section 2: Professional Practice & Development
Continuous professional growth is essential for sustaining teaching excellence. Departments play a critical role in fostering an environment that supports faculty, instructional staff, and teaching assistants across all career stages.
The following activities are intended to help departments establish practices that encourage individual goal-setting, provide access to meaningful feedback, offer targeted support, and promote ongoing professional development internally and among the broader teaching & learning community at UW-Madison.
7. Define Practices for Teaching Reflection and Growth
Reflection and subsequent actions are integral to continuous improvement by supporting instructors in regularly reflecting on their teaching successes and challenges.
Ideas & Examples:
- Support reflection on teaching by integrating personal goal setting into annual reviews and aligning individual goals with broader departmental objectives.
- Build teaching reflection into standard TA practices. For example, Spring semester TAs for Communication Arts 100 complete reflections on their Fall semester course evaluations and on a video of their own teaching.
Resources:
8. Implement Teaching Observations
Teaching observations provide valuable formative feedback that can reveal significant insights and opportunities for targeted improvement. Observations should be designed to benefit both the observer and the observed to foster a culture of mutual learning and improvement.
Ideas & Examples:
- Initiate peer observations focused on constructive, non-evaluative feedback, separate from tenure, promotion, and performance reviews.
Resources:
- Peer Observation Program for Teaching Assistants
- CTLM Class Observation Program
9. Arrange Departmental Workshops
Departmental workshops open a collaborative space for all instructors to come together and deeply explore locally relevant pedagogical approaches, assessment strategies, and technology solutions.
Ideas & Examples:
- Plan and initiate periodic workshops in coordination with support units to combine internal and external expertise. Tailored sessions can support unique needs and offer opportunities for deep engagement and practical application on contextually relevant topics.
- For example, Political Science, History, Sociology, and Philosophy either require or strongly recommend that their Teaching Assistants participate in The Discussion Project.
Resources:
- CTLM can create a workshop, department meeting discussion, or other form of engagement for your unit. They can generally create a customized version of any topic they offer in their campus-wide workshop series.
10. Support Conference Participation
Attending teaching and learning-focused conferences is a valuable way for instructors to stay current with educational trends, share their experiences, and connect with a broader community about teaching-related topics. By supporting conference participation, departments not only invest in the professional growth of their instructors but also open opportunities for them to bring new ideas and practices back.
Ideas & Examples:
- Dedicate funds, provide time, and encourage instructors to participate in relevant conferences.
- For example, the Language Institute offers Academic Staff Professional Development Grants that award funds for teaching-related activities.
Resources:
11. Support New and Early Career Instructors
Expanding new instructor onboarding processes can help find community and establish pathways for growth and success.
Ideas & Examples:
- Strengthen onboarding processes by providing new instructors with space and time to connect with peers, experienced instructors, and the campus network.
- Build mentorship into onboarding processes. Several L&S departments, including Latin and German, have structured TA peer mentorship systems where experienced TAs are selected to mentor new TAs.
- Provide opportunities for professional development and structured feedback to promote continuous improvement in teaching practice, ensuring new instructors feel valued and supported.
- Departments can also consider onboarding a two-way dialogue, where the new instructor’s prior classroom experiences and perspectives are harnessed as an asset that adds to the department’s overall teaching culture.
Resources:
- MTLE (Early Career Faculty)
- L&S TA Training & Support (Graduate Student Instructors)
- CTLM Teaching Fellows (Academic Staff)
- Teaching & Learning Welcome Event (Academic Staff)
- LSA support programming [website coming soon]
12. Open Avenues of Development for Mid/Late Career Instructors
Mid and late-career instructors have great capacity to advance the instructional mission of a department by directly applying their expertise in the classroom, sharing their experience with colleagues, and pursuing leadership opportunities. Encouraging development opportunities for these groups ensures they remain engaged, pursue innovative teaching, and offer leadership for departmental initiatives.
Ideas & Examples:
- Offer targeted development pathways that focus on leadership growth, advanced pedagogical strategies, and mentoring opportunities. For example, German offers a teaching practicum for interested TAs. Participants work closely with an experienced instructor to observe lesson planning and delivery, develop and teach class sessions, and share reflections and feedback on the course.
- Encourage strategic investment in leadership development and opportunities to engage in service to the instructional mission of the department and College.
Resources:
- L&S Large Enrollment Instructor Community (All Instructors)
- The Discussion Project (All Instructors)
- Teaching, Learning & Technology Consultations (All Instructors)
- Writing Across the Curriculum (All Instructors)
- L&S Teaching Mentors (Teaching Assistants)
- Morgridge Fellows Program
- First-Year Interest Group Seminars
- L&S Teaching & Learning Liaisons
Section 3: Administrative Practices
The final section outlines administrative activities that surround teaching excellence. The guide underscores the importance of creating a structured, consistent flow of information, maintaining alignment with departmental standards, and using data-driven approaches to improve student experiences and instructional approaches.
13. Communicate
Establish communication channels to ensure faculty, instructional staff, and TAs are regularly informed about available teaching-focused resources, support opportunities, awards, and events. Communications can help connect opportunities to departmental and L&S values for teaching excellence.
Ideas & Examples:
- Curate relevant teaching-focused resources and opportunities from the Learning Forward newsletter, L&S Teaching & Learning newsletter, and other campus teaching communications.
- For example, Economics sends a weekly newsletter to members of the department that includes information about teaching resources.
Resources:
- Learning Forward: The L&S TA Training and Support Team emails a biweekly newsletter to everyone with a TA appointment in L&S.
- The L&S Teaching & Learning monthly newsletter is sent to all L&S faculty and instructional staff.
14. Monitor DFW Rates
Regularly review D, F, and withdrawal rates in courses. Engage with experts in your academic field, the department, the college, and relevant campus units to identify concerning patterns and underlying causes. Pursue strategies to address these issues, focusing on improving student success while maintaining academic standards.
Ideas & Examples:
- For example, Math reviews DFW rates for introductory courses and collaborates with L&S partners to investigate and address contributing factors.
Resources:
- Undergraduate Course D/F/Drop Rates (Tableau)
- L&S Teaching, Learning, & Academic Planning staff can partner with your department to gather data, explore root causes, and pursue evidence-based interventions.
15. Facilitate Consistency Across Sections
Establish reasonable expectations for consistency across each section of a course. Open internal dialogue about learning objectives, assessments, and instructional methods to maximize opportunities for a consistent and equitable learning experience for all students.
Ideas & Examples:
- For example, the Introduction to Speech Composition program in the Department of Communication Arts facilitates consistency across approximately 70 sections by providing instructors with a common lesson plan, weekly teaching team meetings, classroom observations, and dedicated time for teaching-focused self-reflection.
Resources:
- Resource for Instructors Working with TAs offers approaches for
- Course Design Templates. L&S offers course design tools to support the process of mapping course learning objectives, calculating credit hours, unifying orientation practices, and optimizing a Canvas course for inclusivity and efficiency.
16. Conduct Periodic Syllabus Reviews
Create and communicate procedures to regularly review and update syllabi, ensuring alignment with departmental and accreditation standards, inclusiveness, and cultural norms for teaching excellence (as outlined in the Culture Building section).
Resources:
17. Gather Formative Student Feedback
Implement additional methods to collect ongoing, formative feedback from students throughout a course or program of study. This feedback can provide timely insights into student learning experiences.
Ideas & Examples:
- For example the Department of Planning & Landscape Architecture hires student representatives to serve on the curriculum planning committee, write questions for the end-of-program exit survey, and more.
Resources:
Support Networks
The people who can support teaching excellence activities
Every L&S department has ways to move work forward. This framework doesn’t change that or attempt to interfere. In service of this effort, the College has structures and resources to help.
The L&S Departmental Teaching & Learning Liaisons
Teaching & Learning Liaisons are experienced faculty or instructional academic staff members designated by each L&S academic unit to champion teaching excellence within their departments. They serve as the primary connection between their units and College-wide teaching initiatives, sharing resources and opportunities while providing feedback to help L&S better support teaching excellence. Liaisons participate in regular gatherings to exchange ideas and collaborate with peers, and they assist with department-level teaching excellence planning. The role adapts to the unique structures and needs of each department, ensuring flexible support for diverse academic units across the College.
L&S Instructional Design Collaborative
L&S Instructional Design Collaborative partners with departments and liaisons to extend their capacity for advancing teaching excellence priorities. The IDC team offers specialized expertise in evidence-based learning design, instructional technology, and media creation to support departmental initiatives. They develop programming and outreach that builds on the collective expertise of the L&S teaching community, helping create more effective, equitable, and engaging learning experiences. Rooted in collaborative relationships and continuous learning, the IDC is available to work with academic units on projects that align with their specific teaching excellence goals and departmental contexts.
Planning Guide
A structured process to plan and assess your departmental goals
Coming Soon