Evaluation in the time of crisis: evidencing value at a centre for teaching and learning during the Covid-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

As is the case with many Centres for Teaching and Learning, prior to the global health crisis in 2020 our Centre primarily obtained feedback to inform its programming based on participation and satisfaction. As a result of the crisis, we could not rely on previous sources of information and needed to implement new strategies for evidencing the value that our Centre was providing. In this article we describe how our Centre adapted our services and resources due to the demands of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ways in which we modified our feedback processes to evidence the value of the services we provided.

KEYWORDS:

• CTL evaluations
• evidencing value
• evaluation in crisis
• academic development
• educational development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

L. F. Marin

L. F. Marin, Ph.D. is a seasoned higher education professional. At the time of writing this article, he worked as a Research Coordinator at the University of Alberta Centre for Teaching and Learning. Fernando's academic work focuses on understanding effective teaching and mentorship practices, how to better promote students’ growth, and finding ways to use data to help students and teachers improve their understanding of their teaching and learning relationships.

B. A. Valgardson

B. A. Valgardson, M.A. is a data analyst at the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Alberta. Brandon primarily focuses on centre evaluation and student evaluation of teaching.

E. Watson

E. Watson, Ph.D. is an assistant professor at Brandon University. At the time of writing this article, she worked as a Lead Educational Developer at the University of Alberta Centre for Teaching and Learning. Ellen’s focus at the time was on assessment in classrooms, assessment of teaching, and centre assessment.