Down with the SGID! Long Live the QCD!

Authors

Barbara J. Millis, University of Texas at San Antonio
Jose Vazquez, University of Texas at San Antonio

Date of this Version

2011

Citation

Essays on Teaching Excellence Toward the Best in the Academy (2010-2011) 22(4)

Editor: Elizabeth O’Connor Chandler, University of Chicago

Comments

Copyright 2010-2011, Millis and Vazquez. Used by permission

Abstract

No one knows better than faculty developers the difficulty of change. Numerous clichés such as “Old habits die hard” or “The more things change, the more they stay the same” express the proverbial wisdom regarding such entrenched rituals. Many faculty developers routinely use an assessment tool called Small Group Instructional Diagnosis (SGID) developed by Joseph Clark (Clark & Redmond, 1982) during his tenure as FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education) project director at the University of Washington, Seattle. The authors challenge our colleagues to re-think these old habits and consider replacing—or at least supplementing—the SGID with a far more efficient and effective tool called a Quick Course Diagnosis (QCD).