University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Associate Dean, College of Business Administration, and Professor of Political Science and Public Administration 
Wisconsin Teaching Fellow (UW-Green Bay), 2011-12
From Lecture to Learning
My engagement with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) through the Wisconsin Teaching Fellows and Scholars program profoundly influenced my approach to being a college professor. Like many of us, I began my academic career believing that the job of a college professor was simply to disseminate knowledge. That is, to be good at this job, one simply needed to sift and winnow knowledge through disciplinary lenses, and then present this knowledge to students with efficiency and thoroughness appropriate for different levels of study. Having approached my faculty position with this view, the WTFS experience was nothing short of a paradigm shift for me. My “conversion” to the SoTL framework (through the patient guidance of the facilitators and mentors) provided the intellectual foundation for a new approach to being a professor, emphasizing the importance of inquiry, reflection, and evidence-based practices in teaching. The process of becoming a good professor, it turns out, looks much more like the process of being a good researcher: it is an iterative process of discovery, failure, feedback, and practice that sustains an ongoing effort to make each project (semester, course, assignment) better than the one before.
I applied to be part of the WTFS program with the question of how I might incentivize my students to talk more in class, knowing that meaningful student participation is essential for deeper learning. Beyond the scope of my initial question, however, the WTFS experience encouraged me to critically examine my teaching methods and to explore a range of innovative approaches to student engagement.
As it evolved, my main project in the program involved developing a new rubric and grading system for in-class participation in my upper-level Political Science courses. The participation system I designed sought to encourage high-quality engagement by giving students ownership of the evaluation process. Initially, I developed a detailed rubric to assess participation. However, after reflecting on student performance and feedback, I decided to involve students in the rubric’s creation. This collaborative process resulted in a simpler, student-generated rubric that enhanced their sense of ownership and investment in their learning. The result was a noticeable increase in both the quantity and quality of student contributions, as students felt more compelled to engage meaningfully with the course material.
This experience demonstrated to me the power of involving students in the learning process, a principle that has since become a cornerstone of my teaching philosophy. One of the key insights I gained from my SoTL work is the necessity of making learning experiences transparent and intentional. Students should not only engage in learning activities but also understand the purpose behind them. This transparency fosters a partnership between students and instructors, where students become active participants in their educational journey. The iterative process of involving students in developing, implementing, and revising the participation rubric also taught me valuable lessons about adaptability and responsiveness in teaching.
The WTFS program and my SoTL work also reinforced the importance of assessment in teaching. Effective assessment is not merely about assigning grades but about understanding and improving the learning process. The WTFS program helped me to see that assessment is not simply an exercise required for institutional accountability, but an iterative process that is personally valuable as a tool for reflecting on and improving my teaching practices. Simply conducting and reporting assessment results is not enough when the learning process requires that we constantly review and revise our content and teaching practices to respond to what we discover through these assessments.
Reflecting on my SoTL journey and thinking back to my “conversion” in the WTFS program, I am struck by the parallels academics should find between our approaches to teaching and research. The obvious connections are that both involve asking questions, seeking evidence, and drawing conclusions. At a deeper level, we should recognize that we are all students in these processes. As professors, we should challenge ourselves to learn new things when it comes to teaching and reflect on failures and weaknesses as part of the process toward constant improvement. The WTFS program encouraged me to be a scholar of teaching, where I continuously seek to improve my methods based on evidence and reflection.
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning has been instrumental in shaping my career in higher education. Through my participation in the WTFS program and my ongoing engagement with SoTL, I have developed an evidence-based approach to both teaching and service. This approach has not only enhanced my effectiveness as an educator but also deepened my commitment to student learning and success. By viewing teaching as a process of continuous improvement, I now understand that a college education is more than just the accumulation of knowledge, but about transformative learning experiences that equip students with the skills and perspectives they need to navigate an ever-changing world. I have deep appreciation for the experiences I had and the people I met through the WTFS program, and these continue to inspire me and many others who have shared this experience.
Biography:
Tim Dale is the Associate Dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, and a Professor of Political Science and Public Administration. Prior to his current administrative role, he served as General Education Coordinator, First-Year Seminar Program Coordinator, and chair of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration. His research interests include political theory, civil society, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. His publications include coediting the collection Radical Reimagining for Student Success in Higher Education (Stylus 2023), Political Thinking, Political Theory, and Civil Society (Routledge 2021), and Homer Simpson Marches on Washington: Dissent in American Popular Culture (University Press of Kentucky, 2010).
Publications:
Radical Reimagining for Student Success in Higher Education (edited with Jo Arney, Glenn Davis, and Jillian Kinze), New York: Routledge, 2023.
“Reimagining personnel processes: Supporting instructors committed to student success,” Timothy Dale and Joseph Foy, in Jo Arney, Timothy Dale, and Glenn Davis, eds. Radical Reimagining for Student Success in Higher Education, New York: Routledge, 2023.
“Discussions that Matter: Encouraging and Assessing Student Participation in the Classroom,” Sociological Imagination, Vol. 47, No. 2, 2011.
“Electric Engagement: The Use of Classroom Response Technology,” with David W. Marlow, Pamela D. Walsh, Jeannie M. Chapman, Currents in Teaching and Learning, Fall 2009.
Presentations:
“It’s in the Syllabus…or Is It?: First Year Seminars and the Importance of Transparency,” workshop presentation (with Vincent Lowery, UW Green Bay) at the UW System Student Success Summit Series: Engaging and Retaining Students Conference, October 19, 2021.
“Finding big pieces of the student success puzzle: belonging, mindset, and resilience,” keynote presentation at the Wisconsin Academic Advising Association annual meeting, UW-Platteville, September 13, 2018.
“Utilizing data and strategic planning to bring student success to scale,” panel presentation (with Betsy Morgan, Enilda Delgado, Natalie Solverson, and Tesia Marshik) at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities summer academic affairs conference, Seattle, WA, July 26, 2018.
“Instructors’ Beliefs, Practices, and Feedback Relevant to ‘Re-Imagining the First Year’,” research poster presentation (with Tesia Marshik) at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities summer academic affairs conference, Seattle, WA, July 27, 2018.
“Fixer Upper: First Year Seminar Edition,” research poster presentation (with Natalie Solverson) at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities summer academic affairs conference, Seattle, WA, July 27, 2018.
“Re-Imagining the First Year High Impact Practices Workshop,” presentation (with Jo Arney) at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities summer academic affairs conference, Seattle, WA, July 28, 2018.
“Fostering student engagement in the classroom,” presentation for “The Future of Higher Education” conference sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Education at UW Madison, Madison, WI, May 31, 2018.
“Creating a Student Belonging Intervention: Capturing the student experience,” presentation (with Nathan Warnberg) at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities summer academic affairs conference, Baltimore, MD, July 21, 2017.
“The Elephants in the Room: Facilitating Conversations About Controversial Issues Around Student Success,” presentation at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities winter academic affairs conference, San Diego, CA, February 3, 2017.
“Fine Tuning Communication with Students about the Academic Probation Process: Mindset Awareness 101,” conference presentation (with Betsy Morgan) at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities summer academic affairs conference, Denver, CO, July 23, 2016.
“The AAC&U VALUE Initiative in Theory and in Practice,” Workshop: Association of American Colleges and Universities Faculty Collaboratives Meeting, February 16th-18th, 2016, New Orleans, LA.
“Extreme Makeover: Assessment Edition (How one program is trying to better understand its goals and how it accomplishes them),” Workshop: Assessment Commons Conference, January 20th, 2016, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.
“Embedding Equity into Curricular Initiatives,” Workshop: UW System Faculty Collaboratives Conference, September 24-25, 2015, Middleton, WI.
“From the Classroom to the Assessment Committee: A practical tour of the Association of American Colleges and Universities VALUE Rubrics,” Workshop: UW System Faculty Collaboratives Conference, September 24-25, 2015, Middleton, WI.
“Discussions That Matter: Encouraging And Assessing Student Participation In The Classroom,” UW System OPID Spring Conference, April 19, 2013, Madison, WI.
“Workshop: Scoring Points with Class Discussion: Encouraging and Assessing Student Participation in the Classroom,” UW-La Crosse Conference on Teaching and Learning, August 28, 2012.
“Faculty Workshop: Tested Teaching Tips (Student Engagement),” facilitator/presenter, Wisconsin Political Science Association, La Crosse, WI, October 14, 2011.
“Active Learning in Political Theory: Incorporating civic engagement in political theory curricula.” Conference presentation: American Political Science Association Teaching and Learning Conference, February 2007: Charlotte, NC.