In general, research has found student evaluations of teaching to be a valid and reliable means to evaluate instruction. However, it is necessarily true that student evaluations reflect the students' perceptions and points-of-view. Therefore, it is important to view course evaluations as just one measure of teaching effectiveness-a set of data that can be used alongside peer evaluation of teaching, instructor self-evaluation, and other measures.
In "hybrid" classes, a significant amount of the course learning activity has been moved online, sometimes making it possible to reduce the amount of time spent in the classroom. The University of Wisconsin has a detailed website that outlines examples, best practices and questions to ask when designing a blended course
Ask for multiple mentors so you can get the benefit of experts in more than one topic. Many professors are overworked and overassigned, so getting a single, good mentor can be a pretty tall order. Instead, work with your chairman to determine four or five topics on which you would like to receive guidance from several mentors.
Some suggestions: Find out who the whizzes are at teaching the various kinds of courses in your department and ask to meet with them. Believe me, most good teachers will find time to talk about their own approaches to teaching; it's quite flattering. Ask to be linked with someone who can help you to understand how to balance scholarship and good teaching, or how to make the service expectations of the institution jibe with the teaching expectations. After you meet with your colleagues, talk about these things with your chairman.
Cloudworks allows you to find other people's learning and teaching ideas, designs and experiences as well as sharing your own.
You can also get access to many learning design tools and resources to help you create learning designs.