Learning Outcomes
CIRTL@UIC Learning Outcomes
CIRTL program participants take a student-centered approach to their teaching, focusing on supporting the needs and achievement of the diversity of students in their classrooms. They do this by employing reflecting teaching practices including using the literature on learning and teaching to inform their classroom choices, and asking questions about their teaching with a focus on improving student learning and their teaching practice. CIRTL participants do not view teaching and learning as a solo endeavor, rather as one that is improved by working with and learning from others. They create opportunities in their classrooms for students to learn from and with each other, and contribute to conversations about teaching within their departments, universities, and broader disciplinary communities.
CIRTL Associates, Practitioners and Scholars Heading link
There are successive levels of CIRTL program outcomes: CIRTL Associate, CIRTL Practitioner, and CIRTL Scholar, that allow participants to demonstrate their commitment to implementing effective teaching practices to support diverse learners:
- CIRTL Associate: Recognizes the role of the CIRTL core ideas in effective teaching and learning.
- CIRTL Practitioner: Uses scholarly teaching, informed by the CIRTL core ideas, to improve students’ learning through a teaching-as-research (TAR) project.
- CIRTL Scholar: Advances teaching and learning through a formal presentation of their TAR project to the broader educational community.
These learning outcomes are designed in a way to allow UIC community members from all disciplines, teaching development needs, and past instructional experiences, to engage in our professional development opportunities. Explore our learning outcomes by level below or our Learning Outcomes Handout for more details.
Associate Heading link
CIRTL Associate learning outcomes emphasize describing the role and recognizing the value of the CIRTL core ideas in effective teaching and learning.
Evidence-Based Teaching
- Describe and recognize the value of realistic well-defined, achievable, measurable and student-centered learning goals.
- Describe several known high-impact, evidence-based effective instructional practices and materials and recognize their alignment with particular types of learning goals.
- Describe several assessment techniques and recognize their alignment with particular types of learning goals.
Learning Communities
- Describe and recognize the value of learning communities, and how they impact student learning.
- Describe several techniques for creating a LC within a learning environment, including strategies that promote positive interdependence between learners so as to accomplish learning goals.
- Describe several techniques and issues of establishing LCs comprising a diverse group of learners.
- Recognize the value of and participate in local professionally-focused learning communities associated with teaching and learning.
Learning through Diversity
- Describe the scope of diversity in learning environments, of both students and instructors.*
- Describe the impact of diversity on student learning, in particular how diversity can enhance learning, and how inequities can negatively impact learning if not addressed.
- Describe how an instructor’s beliefs and biases can influence student learning.
- Describe and recognize the value of drawing on diversity in the development of teaching plans (including content, teaching practices and assessments) to foster learning.
- Describe several learning-through-diversity (LtD) techniques and strategies.
* Including but not limited to backgrounds, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, cognitive skills, ethnicity, and neurotypes.
Teaching-as-Research
- Describe how to access the literature and existing knowledge about teaching and learning issues, in a discipline or more broadly.
- Define and recognize the value of the Teaching-as-Research process, and how it can be used for ongoing enhancement of learning.
- Describe a “full-inquiry” cycle.
- Describe how the integration of Evidence-Based Teaching, Learning Communities and Learning-through-Diversity within Teaching-as-Research can be integrated to implement and advance effective teaching practices for diverse learners.
Practitioner Heading link
CIRTL Practitioner outcomes emphasize using scholarly teaching, informed by the CIRTL core ideas, to improve students’ learning through a teaching-as-research (TAR) project. Practitioners engage with all of the Teaching-as Research learning outcomes, and accomplish many learning outcomes in all other areas below in doing their TAR project.
Teaching-as-Research
- Develop and execute a Teaching-as-Research plan for a limited teaching and learning project*
- Find and critically consider the literature and existing knowledge associated with the teaching and learning project.
- Create a realistic well-defined question, and achievable, measurable, and student-centered learning goals for the teaching and learning project.
- Identify and plan assessments to collect evidence to answer a teaching question. Develop a teaching plan to accomplish learning goals.
- Implement the teaching plan and collect some data regarding achievement of learning goals.
- Analyze the data and draw evidence-based conclusions about the impact on student learning.
- Complete a full-inquiry cycle for the teaching and learning project by using findings to suggest improvements to the above actions
- Integrate Evidence-Based Teaching, Learning Communities, and Learning-through-Diversity to accomplish learning goals as appropriate for the project.
* Often this will be a first TAR effort, and need not be extensive or intended for public presentation. The project should be a coherent, complete experience of the full-inquiry cycle, but opportunities and situations vary from student-to-student.
Evidence-Based Teaching
- Access the literature and existing knowledge to develop a deeper understanding of existing evidence-based knowledge concerning high-impact, evidence-based teaching practices.
- Integrate one or more evidence-based teaching strategies into a teaching plan so as to accomplish learning goals.
- Implement one or more evidence-based teaching strategies for students in a learning experience.
Learning Communities
- Access the literature and existing knowledge to develop a deeper understanding of the knowledge concerning LCs and their impact on student learning.
- Integrate one or more LC strategies into a teaching plan so as to accomplish learning goals and learning-through-diversity.
- Implement one or more LC strategies for students in a learning experience.
- Contribute to local professionally-focused learning communities associated with teaching and learning.
Learning through Diversity
- Access the literature and existing knowledge to develop a deeper understanding of diversity and its impact on accomplishing learning goals.
- Examine and describe their own beliefs and biases, including how they may influence their students’ learning.
- Determine the diverse backgrounds among a group of students, and consider the opportunities and challenges of the findings on each student’s learning.
- Create a teaching plan that incorporates content and teaching practices responsive to the students’ backgrounds.
- Integrate one or more LtD techniques and strategies in a teaching plan so as to use students’ diversity to enhance the learning of all.
- Implement one or more LtD strategies in a teaching experience.
Scholar Heading link
CIRTL Scholars add to community knowledge about teaching and learning. They design and implement a Teaching-as-Research project, and share their findings with the broader educational community. The significance of CIRTL Scholar Teaching-as-Research work is established through presentation and/or publication of the findings to all-university, regional, national, or international audiences.