Category 1: Helping Students Learn
Processes
1P11 ~ Expectations for Teaching & Learning
In the past year, a joint committee of full- and part-time faculty, in conjunction with members of administration, devised our first set of Standards of Teaching Excellence (see Figure 1.4). For years, these had been assumed but never fully articulated. These guiding principles, based on Wisconsin state standards but 
adapted for our college, clearly define the expectations for effective teaching. The standards will be the foundation for the new coaching and tied to ER&D course offerings.
Coaching (see 4P10) remains an important communication tool for defining and documenting effective teaching. The coaching cycle incorporates methods from SOA into its process and offers an optional student feedback evaluation for faculty to use in their self-assessment. A variety of other feedback sources (including classroom observations) can be used to create a professional growth plan with the coach serving as a facilitator. It is the coach’s responsibility to assist and guide the faculty in the implementation and necessary modifications of the growth plan.
ER&D is designed to be a 'one stop' resource for effective teaching strategies (4P8), and in conjunction with the Professional Development Department, faculty and staff are provided many continuing education that help disseminate our teaching expectations. The curricula of these courses reflect the standards for successful teaching and learning at MATC. Certification courses are state mandated and 
several are designed to give the faculty background and tools to better reach the MATC student. Figure 1.5 offers a description of some of these courses.
We gauge effective learning in the classroom indirectly through the success of our transfer students, our graduation rates, and our employer satisfaction surveys (see 1R2, 1R3, & 1R4).