The resilient educators behind every resilient student.
What’s left to say? 2020 was unprecedented. Time and again our partners persevered, got creative, worked tirelessly, and were fonts of inspiration. Among them all, we’re so proud of:
- The University of Colorado Denver, which strengthened the quality of their online and introductory “influential courses”
- Amherst College, which ensured that faculty could provide the personal, dynamic, and rigorous experience student expect, online
- College of Lake County, whose faculty adopted and reflected on the impact of evidence-based practices
- Vance Granville Community College, which became North Carolina’s first community college ACUE partner, quickly followed by the NC Community College System
- Salt Lake Community College and Norfolk State University, whose faculty sustained meaningful connections with students
- OpenStax, which continues to provide a wealth of open educational resources to educators and students, including free access to homework and courseware
- Our friends Flower Darby, Mike Wesch, and Kevin Kelly, who freely shared their online expertise in our Online Teaching Toolkit. They were joined by Kevin Gannon, April Mondy, Viji Sathy and others, along with 12,000 faculty across 1,500+ institutions globally for Effective Online Instruction webinars
- Active Minds, which published a valuable resource on student and faculty wellbeing and mental health
- Our podcasting colleagues at Teaching in Higher Ed and Tea for Teaching, who kept showcasing stories of quality teaching, inclusion and equity, faculty resilience, and student success.
- ACUE faculty Andrew Ishak and Benny Ng capturing national attention with ‘viral’ videos
Equity
Our partners redoubled efforts to create inclusive and equitable learning environments, to ensure every student, including Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students, have the opportunities necessary to succeed. For example:
- MSU Denver linked effective teaching practices with anti-racist pedagogy,
- California State University Los Angeles math faculty closed equity gaps through evidence-based teaching, use of OERs, and a redesigned co-requisite math curriculum,
- NC Central University’s Shauntae Brown White discussed how she helps all her students thrive,
- The University of Missouri-St. Louis co-developed our Inclusive Teaching Practices Toolkit, which was amplified by inclusive online teaching webinar series, delivered in collaboration with AASCU, APLU, CIC, NASH, ACE, Every Learner Everywhere and Strong Start to Finish, and
- ACUE’s Inclusive and Equitable Curriculum Crosswalk, which makes clear links between great teaching and equity, showing the hundreds of equity-promoting practices recommended in ACUE courses.
Impact
We all know that quality instruction leads to stronger, more equitable student outcomes. We also know how important it is to make the proof plain, with compelling evidence. This year,
- A study with Broward College found that students were more likely to complete and pass courses when taught by ACUE-credentialed faculty, with the impact significantly larger on outcomes for Black and Pell-eligible students,
- Broward’s Provost, Marielena DeSanctis, discussed these findings to a national audience on ACE Engage,
- Laurell Malone, NC Central University’s coordinator of faculty development, emphasized the value of impact data on institutional decision-making,
- The University of Texas System’s Rebecca Karoff discussed with the American Council on Education how the system prioritized quality teaching and faculty development to meet student success goals during a crisis,
- Change magazine featured six years of ACUE research on the links between effective teaching, improved academic achievement, and closed equity gaps, among students taught by ACUE-credentialed educators, and
- EdWeek’s Rick Hess discussed the importance of demonstrable impact, and why investment in faculty matters, with ACUE’s Jonathan Gyurko and with historian Jon Zimmerman.
Scale
Plus, our partners won’t rest until every faculty member has the support they seek, to deliver the evidence-based instruction that every student deserves, in person or online.
- CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez penned a forceful opinion about the need for effective pedagogy and practice, across CUNY, now and beyond the pandemic. He emphasized his vision in a talk with ACE and the importance of funders like the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
- Strong Start to Finish helped to bring support to developmental education faculty across Arkansas and Ohio
- Every Learner Everywhere partnered with Jobs for the Future, ACUE, and ATD to support faculty and strengthen online instruction delivered by faculty across North Carolina and Ohio, and
- The National Association of Systems Heads (NASH) is leading “Scaling Instructional Excellence for Student Success,” through generous support from the Charles Koch Foundation. System and campus leaders have embraced this opportunity, and the program is empowering nearly 1,500 professors with the evidence-based teaching skills they need and want to be more effective educators—in person and online. Their students are receiving a better education, with particular benefits for first-generation, low-income, and underserved students.
Our 2021 Resolution
As an unfathomable year ends, we’re so proud to share that nearly 15,000 ACUE faculty members across more than 200 colleges are making a difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of students.
Our catalog of offerings continues to expand, with courses in online teaching and career guidance, delivered through full and microcredential courses to cohorts at institutions and through open enrollments to individual faculty.
And more is on the way, with new courses focused on guided pathways, equitable learning, and digital courseware.
Your passion and commitment invigorates our work, and we promise to remain steadfast in our pursuit of student success and equity.
Happy holidays, from all of us at the ACUE team.
