Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Fostering Reflective Teaching: Using The Student Participation Observation Tool (Spot) To Promote Active Instructional Approaches In Stem, Cara H. Theisen, Cassandra A. Paul, Katrina Roseler

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The Student Participation Observation Tool (SPOT) is a web-based classroom observation protocol developed for higher education STEM courses and based on research on evidence-based practices. The low-inference and objective nature of the SPOT and visual outputs make it an optimal tool for teaching professional development. The SPOT allows novice users to use data from their own classes to reflect on, and make data-driven changes to, their teaching practices. In particular, the SPOT was designed to present faculty with objective data related to their use of active instructional approaches, be easy for practitioners to use, and provide data outputs that are …