SCOTs

What are SCOTs?

The Student Collaborators on Teaching  (SCOT) program enhances student learning by providing instructors feedback from an informed student perspective. SCOTs strive to contribute to the culture of engaged teaching and learning excellence at UVU through faculty-SCOT partnerships that promotes exploration of teaching practices. 

Vision

The SCOT program will be vital to cultivating teaching and learning excellence on UVU campus; it will contribute to knowledge and scholarship on faculty-student partnerships; and be known as program that contributes to teaching and learning excellence on campus.

Values

The success of the SCOT program rests one several key values:

  1. Confidentiality: All SCOT services are confidential and results are not shared with others on campus, including faculty, administrators,  and students.
  2. Professionalism: SCOT interactions with instructors and others are professional and respectful, and SCOT reports are timely, well written, and practically useful.
  3. Voluntary: SCOT Services are provided on a voluntary basis to interested faculty.
  4. Collaborative: Instructors and SCOTs work together to determine the purpose of the request and to develop an effective way to assess the class and provide input.
  5. Team-based: The SCOT program relies on the supportive interaction of SCOTs, management, and instructors; innovations and new ideas are welcomed and evaluated.

History

The SCOT program is a unique and exciting program that began at Utah Valley University in 2008 under the guidance of the UVU Faculty Center for Teaching Excellence, now part the Office of Teaching and Learning. The program is offered to all instructors at the university at their request.

The UVU SCOT program signed an agreement with Teikyo University in Tokyo, Japan on November 7, 2013 at the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Teikyo University created their own SCOT Program, modeled after UVU's SCOT program. The agreement included:

  • Exchanging SCOTs, staff and professors
  • Collaborative research and academic meetings
  • Conducting lecture and symposia
  • Exchanging information

Request a SCOT

Are you ready to transform your teaching and engage with your students? Get started today with the SCOT program by submitting a SCOT Request Form below. Allow one week before the date of request and make separate request for each class. 

 

Request Form

What Can a SCOT Do For You?

Faculty can request a SCOT for the following services. If you have an individual need outside the listed services please contact Trevor Morris or Laurie Toro and we will try to accommodate your request

Observations 

(F2F & Synchronous)

A SCOT attends your class and looks at how you are teaching and gives ideas and suggestions. Student Collaborators take minutes, breakdown classroom time, look at room layout, and give overall observations. They will also meet with you to discuss specific things you would like them to look for during the class. SCOTs can do a SPOT observation that gives you a detailed time report that breaks down how class time was spent.

Focus Groups

A SCOT gets anonymous feedback by interviewing your class. This requires 15-20 minutes or longer for a larger class. SCOTs find out what helps and hinders their learning and what suggestions they have. This feedback is compiled in a report for you along with SCOT suggestions. We can also do focus groups for online and livestreaming classes.

Canvas Review

A SCOT can look over your canvas site to give you some ideas about organization, clarity, and offer a student perspective.

Syllabus Review

A SCOT can look over your syllabus to give some ideas about organization, clarity, and offer a student perspective.