Changes in the Duquesne University Promotion and Tenure Criteria to Recognize Utilization of Educational Technology

April 1996

Background

Duquesne University's general Promotion and Tenure criteria are structured so that faculty need to document level of performance in teaching and scholarship. Each applicant is rated in each area (teaching and scholarship) as "excellent" or "effective" (or, possibly, "ineffective"!). Applicants are provided with examples of achievements that would serve as indicators of "excellence" or "effectiveness."

As Duquesne became a leader in use of educational technology to support teaching, learning, and research, we thought it important to be quite clear that faculty accomplishments in this area would be recognized in the promotion and tenure process. The changes which were made did not substantially alter the promotion and tenure criteria, but made explicit that achievement in the creation or use of educational technology would be recognized within the context of teaching or of scholarship, depending upon the nature of the work. Also, it was noted that simply using educational technology would not suffice; "excellence" or "effectiveness" would need to be documented by measures such as student learning, publications about the innovation, or peer evaluations by experts in the field.

Amendment to Promotion and Tenure Criteria

The statement below was proposed by the Duquesne University Promotion and Tenure Committee and, after due consideration by faculty, was approved by Academic Council and President Murray on April 15, 1996. It should be inserted after the sections on Service, pages 34 and 39 of the Faculty Handbook on Promotion, Tenure and/or Third-Year Review.

Evaluation of the creation and application of educational technology products for classroom use or research for purposes of promotion and tenure (To be inserted as part of the "General Criteria for Promotion, Tenure, and Third Year Review," bottom of page 38 of the Faculty Handbook.)

Multimedia instruction as well as the utilization of the computer in instruction may fall into three different categories.

1. Technology which is used to enhance one's own teaching. For example, a faculty member develops CD materials to demonstrate the impact of transportation technology on the development of the city. The CD materials help the instructor to explain complicated but known principles of urban design to students.

This should be considered to be part of one's classroom teaching activities for promotion and tenure purposes. Evaluations should determine whether this technology enhances one's teaching performance and whether it is effective in helping students to fulfill the objectives of the course. Faculty producing such material should be encouraged to submit their findings to journals or the electronic media which focus upon teaching within their disciplines.

2. Technology which is packaged and marketed in such a way as to assist instructors in other educational settings (elementary, secondary or higher education) in the delivery of knowledge, skills, or values. Such technology products are most similar to textbooks or other instructional materials and should be judged in the same manner. One should determine their quality, the extent to which they make a valued contribution to teaching and learning, and the extent to which they represent a new synthesis of knowledge or actually reveal new knowledge from the research of the author or other scholars in the field.

3. Technology or computer products which produce new tools for research or which provide complex simulations of experiments which allow students or scholars to perform experiments that could not have been done before (e.g., they were too dangerous, took too long, were too expensive, or required the manipulation of massive amounts of data). Such products should be considered for their ability to assist the scholar or student to create new knowledge and should be valued as scholarly contributions.

Duquesne University encourages this type of activity and accepts these products which result thereof as desirable efforts which should be recognized for tenure and promotion purposes. Such activities shall be evaluated in the same manner as all other teaching, research, and service. All of the traditional evaluation methods currently in operation at Duquesne should apply. Empirical evidence of improved student learning should apply to applications such as those described in number 1 above. Peer evaluations and testimony by experts in the field should be used to verify the quality and importance to the discipline of those products described under numbers 2 and 3 above.