Instructional Leadership Routines
Protocols
Teaching Dimensions Observation Protocol (TDOP)
2.1 Users Guide
Summary
The Teaching Dimensions Observation Protocol (TDOP) is a descriptive classroom observation protocol that provides robust and nuanced depictions of instructional behavior. Classrooms and lecture halls are complex learning environments, and descriptions of what actually happens during a class period can provide valuable insights into the nature of these environments for a variety of purposes including institutional assessment, professional development, and research/program evaluation. This protocol is designed to provide descriptions of teaching practice rather than an evaluative judgment of the quality of teaching.
-
The Teaching Dimensions Observation Protocol is a customizable observation protocol that can be used to produce robust and nuanced depictions of the dynamics that unfold among teachers, students, and technologies in the classroom. Instructional leaders might want to use the data produced with this protocol for a variety of purposes including:
~To document the types of teaching practices being used in your department or organization, especially those known as “active learning” techniques
~To support professional development by providing an objective source of formative feedback for peer mentoring or self-evaluation
~To evaluate the effects of instructional interventions by conducting per- and post- observations of instruction, and
~To carefully specify the different teaching practices that distinguish between control and experimental conditions in research studies.
-
The TDOP is available to use free of charge. Users will need to register to create an account for access.
-
Hora, M., & Ferrare, J. (2014). The teaching dimensions observation protocol (TDOP) 2.0. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin-Madison. Wisconsin Center for Education Research.