Step 2: Read over the prompts and decide on two points for the Teaching Self Reflection:

• One (1) course taught over the past calendar year that will be the focus of this year’s Self Reflection.
  
  You may select any course in your teaching load that you like. It could be one that is your primary teaching responsibility. Alternatively, it could be a course that you teach less frequently, a newly developed course, or a course that provides challenges that you would like to address.
  
  When choosing, consider how intentional reflection on that course might help you continue to improve it and/or your teaching work in general. For subsequent annual reviews you might select different courses as the focus for self reflection, or select the same course and consider different aspects of it that are useful to examine.
  
  
• One (1) of the four Dimensions of Inclusive and Effective Teaching that will be the focus of the relevant prompt in the Self Reflection.
  
  Explanations for all four Dimensions are available on this Review of Teaching website. While you may select a Dimension that you believe is pursued successfully in your chosen course, consider selecting a Dimension that poses challenges for your teaching in your chosen course, or that perhaps you haven’t yet pursued regarding that course. Remember, the ultimate purpose of the Teaching Self Reflection is intentional and thoughtful professional development for growth and improvement in teaching.

Step 3: Reflecting especially on the course you have selected, write responses to the following prompts:

• Course I am reflecting on. If you do not have a course to reflect on, describe your instructional context.
  
  Here, “your instructional context” refers to your teaching-related responsibilities that do not involve a specific course. If you are evaluated by your academic unit for teaching but do not actually teach specific courses, you can elect to reflect on such teaching activities as conducting student workshops, clinical supervisions, or peer professional development sessions.

Step 3: Reflecting especially on the course you have selected, write responses to the following prompts:

• Student Feedback: Please note that your student feedback scores are displayed in each of the 5 data constructs, which are “Collaborative”, “Supportive”, Structured”, “Cognitive Engagement”, and “Inclusion”. Use the space below to contextualize your student feedback data. See the Review of Teaching webpage (linked at top of this form) for additional guidance.
  
  This prompt provides you with an opportunity to construct a brief narrative interpretation of your student feedback results. Your explanation for why you received the results you did, making sense of strength and challenge areas based on relevant variables, can help your department chair or other faculty evaluators assess the data within a broader context. Such variables to consider in your interpretation can include (but are not limited to):

• Observations made during the course (e.g., student dynamics, classroom climate, student experiences with specific activities or assessments, self-observation of teaching practices, etc.)
• Level of personal teaching experience
• Experience teaching specific courses
• Course characteristics (e.g., undergraduate or graduate, in-person or online, large- or small-enrollment, for majors or for general education, required or elective, etc.)
• Student characteristics (e.g., undergraduate or graduate, majors or non-majors, level of academic experience in the discipline, etc.)
• Disciplinary or subject-matter characteristics (e.g., limited prior student exposure, unique challenges or difficulties, student misperceptions, etc.)
• Unique external factors that might influence student responses (e.g., time of course meetings, teaching space, external environmental or social conditions that might impact student engagement, personal life circumstances that might impact teaching practice, etc.)

Step 3: Reflecting especially on the course you have selected, write responses to the following prompts:

3. Inclusive Teaching at Mizzou: Inclusive teaching is a foundational principle of effective teaching at Mizzou. Thinking about your class and the resources in the description, reflect on at least one of the following: [see below]
   
   Please note: reflecting on more than one of these three options is not required, but is recommended for continuing development in this area. For the Teaching Self Reflection, you might consider the following points when selecting an option:
   
   In what specific ways are you practicing inclusive teaching?
   
   You might select this option if you are already implementing successful inclusive strategies, or if you are attempting to do so but have room for improvement.
   
   or
   
   What elements of inclusive teaching would you like to try for your upcoming course(s)?
   
   You might select this option if you are not yet actively implementing inclusive teaching practices. Check out the linked resources below to get some ideas for inclusive teaching elements that might be easily implemented and/or seem important to develop for the classes you teach.
   
   or
   
   What support do you need for supporting inclusivity in your course(s)? See the Review of Teaching (linked at top of this form) webpage for additional guidance.
   
   Whether or not you are already implementing inclusive teaching practices, you might select this option if there are particular aspects of inclusive teaching you have not yet tried that you would like to learn more about before trying them in your classes. You might also select this option if you perceive that implementing inclusive teaching practices may be difficult for your classes or discipline, and/or if you just need to develop a better general understanding of inclusive teaching practices. Whatever the reason, this prompt option gives you an opportunity to identify and explain what specific support resources from your department, academic unit or the university might help you implement inclusive teaching practices successfully.
   
   To get a sense of the possibilities for inclusive teaching, you might check out this resource from the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Step 3: Reflecting especially on the course you have selected, write responses to the following prompts:

4. Course Learning Objectives: For the course(s) you have selected to reflect upon, please list your Course Learning Objectives and reflect on how your learning activities and assessments align with up to three of these objectives.
   
   This prompt requires you to first identify the Course Learning Objectives (CLOs) for the course you have identified to reflect upon this year.
   
   Then, for each CLO, you should discuss at least two things:

• First, the assessments you use to determine if a student has achieved the CLO. “Assessments” are the primary summative evaluation activities that determine the bulk of a student’s course grade. These usually include exams and high-stakes quizzes, essays, oral presentations, and other significant projects or evaluative activities that are relevant to your discipline (e.g., multimedia presentations, creative works, clinical or lab practicals, etc.).
  
  You will want to discuss the extent to which your current assessments align with your CLOs; that is, you want to answer the questions, “Are my assessments actually designed to demonstrate student learning that is relevant to my objectives?” and “Am I requiring or evaluating elements of student work that are not actually directly related to my objectives?”
  
  
• Second, the learning activities you implement so that students can complete and succeed at the course assessments you require. Alignment on this level is about answering the question, “Have my students been provided learning resources and practice opportunities that will prepare students to successfully complete the required assessments?”
  
  Learning activities require student engagement with a wide variety of relevant materials and opportunities, such as (but not limited to): course readings, instructional audio or video recordings, class discussions, small group exercises, early drafts of later assessments, practice problems and other low-stakes opportunities to apply course concepts, etc.
  
  In addition, you might take your reflection further, beyond mere course alignment to evaluate your implementation of course assessments and activities – which approaches seem to be working, and which might require some adjustment, revision or replacement.
  
  Alignment of Course Learning Objectives, assessments and learning activities is often discussed as the central principle of “backward course design.” To learn more about backward design and alignment of learning objectives, assessments and learning activities, check out this resource from the Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University.

Step 3: Reflecting especially on the course you have selected, write responses to the following prompts:

5. Dimensions of Inclusive & Effective Teaching: The University of Missouri identifies four Dimensions of Inclusive and Effective Teaching:
   
   1. Welcoming and Collaborative
   2. Empowering and Supportive
   3. Structured and Intentional
   4. Relevant and Engaging
   
   Please select one of the four dimensions to reflect on for this past year of teaching. Consider how your current teaching involves this dimension and how you might explore it further. For more information on each Dimension, including specific elements of each that can provide ideas for reflection, please reference the links available in the top instruction form section.
   
   Use the links above to find explanations and examples for each of the four Dimensions. Select just one (1) of the four as the basis for your response and reflect on how your teaching in the course you have selected for the Teaching Self Reflection addresses this Dimension.
   
   While this prompt might be answered in a variety of ways, consider using a structure like this to guide your response:

• Describe how 1 to 3 aspects of your course design, instruction, and/or assessment strategies in the course are intended to address the outcomes suggested by the Dimension.
• Reflect on whether and how each of these teaching aspects succeeds in addressing the Dimension. Remember, discussing elements of your teaching that do not work as successfully as you expect is part of effective reflection, and can be even more important for your professional development than discussing areas of strength and success. Discussing both strengths and challenges will be useful to you as you continue to grow and improve in your teaching work.
  
  Alternatively, if you believe that your teaching approach for the course you have selected does not yet address the Dimension you selected, you may reflect on and discuss why that might be the case and what future actions (if any) you might take to develop your course and/or your teaching in this area.

Consult the myVITA page on the Provost’s website to confirm how to access and submit the Annual Teaching Self Reflection on myVITA.  

The Teaching Self Reflection component of the annual review process should be completed as part of the myVITA self-evaluation form, located in the “Teaching” section. The precise location may vary depending on the format of the self-evaluation form required by your academic unit.

Once you have located the Teaching Self Reflection section in your self-evaluation form, copy and paste your responses to the five prompts in the appropriate form fields.