Teaching Support Team

The Teaching Support Team (TST) consists of faculty dedicated to advancing the College’s teaching-related strategic goals, and promoting teaching excellence throughout the College. Our goal is to make the College’s teaching more effective, efficient, and engaging to improve student learning. Our audience is all instructors within the College, including teaching assistants and faculty. TST provides structured training programs for groups and 1:1 assistance for instructors, while responding to immediate instructor needs and topics that assist instructors throughout the College.

Structured Training Programs

Environment Faculty Fellows

A 2-quarter annual program aimed at new faculty, focused on delivering teaching best practices in a concentrated, group-oriented, and supportive “studio” format. Participants learn and practice evidence-based teaching strategies that improve student learning across all demographics and lived experiences of students; they also receive support as they create a syllabus and Canvas site for the course they are planning to teach.

C ENV 555 Teaching Right: Teaching Right: Best Practice Pedagogy in Environment Courses

Taught each quarter, this course examines best practice pedagogy with peer support for graduate students serving as teaching assistants in the College of the Environment. Faculty mentor students in creating inclusive classrooms, implementing evidence-based teaching, using technology to support pedagogy, and best practices for teaching and learning. Designed to help students thrive in their teaching assistant positions and facilitate their growth into better instructors.

Individual Coaching

  • Course redesign. Courses need regular updates to reflect changing technologies and meet the dynamic needs of students. Whether these are tweaks or complete overhauls, TST can help the instructor incorporate active learning approaches into their redesign.
  • Course observation and evaluation. While peer teaching evaluation is already an important part of faculty development, these evaluations serve multiple purposes (i.e.., promotion and merit vs. constructive criticism) and therefore the feedback may be less direct and actionable than desired. TST can provide a tailored evaluation of your courses, focused solely on improving the educational experience. We can work with you to address your specific needs.
  • Teaching technology support. TST can demonstrate ways that technology can enhance teaching, recognizing that no individual course can or should use all technologies. Examples include:
    • Canvas
    • PollEverywhere
    • Panopto
    • Active learning exercises
    • Tailored workshops. Faculty-driven, occasionally disciplinary-specific topics that address emerging, shared needs of instructors and foster a community of practice.

Other Resources

  • Emerging evidence-based techniques: The Teaching Support Team has an extensive library of resources on pedagogy and teaching technology compiled on our Canvas website (sign up required – click “+ Join the Course”), through the TA “scholarly snacks” and through TST Memos.
  • Course visits: The Team can provide you opportunities to observe courses where evidence-based teaching methods are being applied.
  • TST hosts quarterly opportunities for all levels of teaching professionals (Peer TAs-to-Professors) to gather and learn from each other. Check the calendar for upcoming events.

For more information, email coenvolt@uw.edu or contact an TST member:

Dean's Office Contacts: