Evaluating Teaching Practices in Graduate Programs

This book proposes a method to evaluate the work of teachers acting in a very specific educational context: graduate programs at higher education institutions. There are many publications on the field of measurement and evaluation of teaching practices, but these studies are usually conducted at the undergraduate level and ignore the nuances of teaching practices at the graduate level.

• Should professors demonstrate the same skills when they teach in undergraduate programs as they do when they teach in graduate programs?
  
• Is it appropriate to use the same assessment tools both at the undergraduate and the graduate levels?
  
• Do the teaching practices evolve the same way at the graduate and undergraduate levels?
  

The book intends to answer these questions by introducing a methodological approach to find the relevant variables that are the foundation of professional practices at the graduate level as determined by the scientific community and through the analysis of the stakeholders’ perceptions.

The proposed methodological approach combines quantitative and qualitative research techniques to identify and explain, within a mixed-method framework, the most important factors that lead to teaching quality at graduate level. Therefore, How to Evaluate Teaching Practices in Graduate Practices will be a valuable resource for students, university professors and educational administrators interested in quality assurance processes in higher education institutions.

Jesús Gabalán Coello: Jesus Gabalan Coello studied Industrial Engineering at the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente in Cali – Colombia. He has a Master in Industrial Engineering at the Universidad del Valle in Cali – Colombia and a PhD in measure and evaluation in education at the Université de Montréal in Montréal – Canada. Professor Gabalán has participated as a consultant and academic pair, in quality assurance processes with the Ministerio de Educación Nacional, the Colombian Institute for Education Evaluation, COLCIENCIAS and CNA. He has published several papers and scientific articles nationally and internationally, on measurement and evaluation of programs and institutions. He has been professor of quantitative methods, statistics, operations research and evaluation in graduate and undergraduate programs; as well as training of university teachers in fields: assessment, evaluation and research at national and international contexts.

Michel Laurier: PhD in Curriculum from the University of Toronto. He works in the field of measurement and evaluation, and is particularly interested in the development of instruments to assess language competence. He worked in the development of policies on learning assessment. He also studied the evolution of higher education programs and the use of information and communication technologies in learning assessment. He published several articles and books in this field. He has been professor and Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Montréal in Canada. He is now at the University of Ottawa where he has been Dean and Vice-President Academic.

Fredy Eduardo Vásquez-Rizo: Social Communicator-Journalist from the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente-UAO, Colombia; Master in Information Sciences and Knowledge Management from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey -Itesm, Mexico, and PhD student in Information and Communication Management in Organizations from the University of Murcia, Spain. His work experience has revolved around the field of education, in the areas of information management, communication, research and knowledge management. He has participated in different research projects, as well as in the elaboration of several articles in national and international journals and has been a speaker in different audited events. He has also published several short stories and essays in university magazines, six books and nine book chapters. He's an evaluator for Colciencias. He is currently a full-time lecturer at the Faculty of Communication and Social Sciences of the UAO and coordinator and active member of the research groups on Knowledge Management and the Information and Education Society, respectively, attached to the same institution.