The Office of Teaching and Learning at DU fosters innovation and strengthens practices in teaching, course design and curriculum development to improve learning across the university. To that end, the OTL must ensure a trustworthy environment with those it serves, and has established policies regarding confidentiality that are in alignment with best practices as developed by the national association of faculty development (see Ethical Guidelines for Educational Developers) and existing DU policy statements.
- All consultations with OTL staff are confidential, formative in nature and completely voluntary. Any documentation created as the result of a consultation is provided directly to the faculty member.
- Participants in one of the OTL’s intensive development programs (short courses, institutes, student feedback sessions, mini-grants, etc.) will receive a letter or certificate of completion after the requirements associated with the program are completed.
- OTL staff can write letters upon request for faculty members, commenting on the individual’s engagement in professional development with the OTL. We do not provide formal evaluations of teaching.
- The OTL encourages the sharing of good practice and discussion of teaching issues and we often connect instructors across disciplines who share mutual teaching interests. We often share general teaching ideas and strategies, and are sometimes asked to comment broadly about teaching practices at the university.
- We rely on and engage in education research in accordance with IRB policies.