Teaching Practices Inventory
Component 1 of the Drake Institute Teaching Support Program
A validated instrument developed by a Stanford University 2001 Nobel Prize winner and his colleagues at the University of British Columbia, the Teaching Practices Inventory (TPI) allows faculty members to reflect on effective practices they currently use and provides a baseline as their teaching practices evolve.
The TPI was originally designed to characterize teaching practices used in math and science undergraduate courses. It has been adapted for use in social science courses as well, and it will be further refined with input from Ohio State faculty to accommodate all disciplines.
A number of inventories of instructional approaches were reviewed before the TPI was selected for use at Ohio State. The TPI has been iteratively developed and tested with input from hundreds of faculty and lecturers from several institutions over 6 years. The TPI will not only help Ohio State instructors reflect on and take stock of their own teaching practices, but it will also help the institution to gain a unique, university-wide perspective on teaching practices at Ohio State.
Completing the Inventory
The TPI will ask you about your course learning goals and outcomes, supporting materials provided, in-class activities, assignments, feedback and testing, training and guidance of graduate teaching assistants, and collaboration or sharing in teaching. It takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete.
The inventory is scored using a rubric that awards points (of varying quantity) for practices documented by research to improve student learning. According to its developers, “although the ETP score is useful for making general comparisons, the detailed information contained in the individual inventory responses by course is more useful for guiding improvements of teaching. The inventory can be valuable for instructors to use on their own for evaluating and improving their teaching; they can identify practices that they are not using and that have been shown to improve learning.” (Weiman & Gilbert, 2014, p. 560).
The TPI is available for use by anyone teaching at Ohio State.
Go to Teaching Practices Inventory
Additional Resources
The following resources provide further information about the research and findings associated with the TPI:
- Carl Wieman Science of Education Initiative (CWSEI): The goal of the CWSEI is to achieve highly effective, evidence-based science education for all post-secondary students by applying the latest advances in pedagogical and organizational excellence.
- Wieman, C., and Gilbert, S. (2014). The teaching practices inventory: A new tool for characterizing college and university teaching in mathematics and science. Cell Biology Education—Life Sciences Education, 13 (Fall), 552-569.
Questions?
If you have questions or feedback on the TPI, please email drakeinstitute@osu.edu
