During the spring 2019 semester, the Visualizing Instructional Practices service will pilot the Teaching Dimensions Observation Protocol (TDOP), which places greater emphasis on instructional technology and pedagogical strategies.
Housed at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, TDOP can be used to "produce robust and nuanced depictions of the dynamics that unfold among teachers, students, and technologies in the classroom." It has been extensively field-tested and informed by scholarly research, and it is currently used by over 300 researchers, program evaluators, and professional developers to create detailed descriptions of what happens inside classrooms. TDOP captures real-time variations in classroom dynamics, addresses multiple dimensions of teaching, and documents more finely grained descriptors of teaching activities as compared to other observational protocols. The data collected can be used to document teaching practices, provide formative feedback for peer mentoring or self-evaluation, and evaluate the effects of instructional interventions, among other applications.
For more information, contact Shane Schwikert, ASSETT’s Educational Technology Researcher, or submit the online request form to schedule an observation.
