SUTQ Background & Principles

SUTQ Objectives

Implementation of a SUTQ at the University of Twente contributes to a continuous development of the UT education. The SUTQ contributes to the following objectives:

  • More attention to (-the importance of-) the quality of education within educational programs.
  • University/Faculty recognition of achievements of experienced teachers.
  • Promotion of the development of educational expertise by experienced teachers.
  • Community building among experienced teachers.
  • Improvement of the quality of peer guidance of beginning teachers and UTQ teachers.
  • Knowledge sharing between educational programs in the field of education.

SUTQ Principles

The following princples are charaterizing the SUTQ:

  1. Peer Review: during the research process the SUTQ candidate involves peers for feedback on products or research/design choices.
  2. Evidence Informed: for answering the educational question the SUTQ candidates uses scientific sources to justify insights, approaches and choices made.
  3. Project based approach: the SUTQ project contains a (relevant) question which is elaborated in a project proposal, including a planning (who and when), methods, relevant resources and intended project deliverables.
  4. Student Driven Learning; the learner (here: ‘the SUTQ candidate’) takes control over his own learning process, searches for answers on self-formulated learning needs and determines his own learning path.

Models of inspiration

On the basis of the SUTQ lay two sources of inspiration:
In the first place “the Lund- model” for teaching excellence. The emphasis of this model lays on the scientific approach of education in the form of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).

In the SUTQ several aspects of this approach are being recognized: a research question, peer review, dissemination of knowledge. This vision also reflects in the SUTQ assessment criteria, see Figure 1.

The second model of inspiration in designing the SUTQ at the UT was the thought of Ruth Graham (the Royal Academy of Engineering) a source of inspiration.
Ruth Graham distinguishes in her model between different levels of teacher performance and corresponding valuation.
The model of Lund for Teaching excellence is located at the level of the teacher Skilled and collegial

Assessment criteria (Lund University - Engineering)

  1. A clear focus on student learning
    1. a practice based on a learning perspective
    2. an integrated relation between theory and practice
    3. a practice based on a sound relation to students
  2. A clear development over time
    1. an effort to, over time, consciously and systematically develop students' learning
    2. an idea for continued development
  3. A scholarity approach to teaching and learning
    1. a reflection on practice based in educational theory relevant for the applicant's discipline
    2. a search for and creation of knowledge about student learning in the applicant's discipline
    3. an effort to make findings public with a purpose of collaboration and interaction