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TOOL DESIGN PROTOCOL

Tool Audit: What Is This Tool Actually Doing?

A protocol for examining how a tool shapes learning, authority, and agency

A structured audit for any assignment, rubric, observation form, coaching protocol, or checklist—used to examine what the tool makes visible, what it silences, and who it positions as the authority.

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Photograph accompanying this toolkit
FORMAT
Protocol
TOPICS
Tool Design, Reflection
DESIGNED FOR
Methods instructor, Instructional coach, Clinical faculty / supervisor
COLLECTION
Practice
Tools are not neutral. Every tool directs attention. It signals what counts, whose thinking matters, and how authority circulates.
At a glance
  • What's Inside — 12 audit dimensions; 1 redesign test; 2 pages
  • Designed For — Mentors, coaches, clinical supervisors, methods instructors, and program teams
  • Grounded In — Tool design and professional agency
  • Format — Fillable protocol for individual or team use
How to use this toolkit

Why audit a tool

Every tool directs attention. It signals what counts, whose thinking matters, what kinds of responses are expected, and how authority circulates. A tool can support inquiry and agency—or unintentionally reduce professional learning to compliance.

Begin by choosing one tool to examine: an assignment, rubric, observation form, coaching protocol, checklist, or other artifact. Name who uses it and who is affected by it. Then work through the dimensions below.

The twelve audit dimensions

  1. PurposeWhat is this tool intended to help people learn, notice, decide, or do?
  2. AttentionWhat does the tool make highly visible? What does it direct users to notice?
  3. SilenceWhat important features of practice are difficult to see because the tool does not ask about them?
  4. AuthorityWho defines quality? Who asks the questions? Who gets to interpret what happened?
  5. AgencyDoes the tool invite users to generate explanations, questions, or next steps—or mainly respond to someone else's categories?
  6. ValuesWhat conception of good teaching, learning, mentoring, or supervision is embedded in the tool?
  7. RelationshipHow might the tool position the people using it: evaluator/evaluated, expert/novice, collaborator/inquirer, monitor/complier?
  8. EquityWhose experiences, ways of knowing, or contextual realities are centered? Who may be constrained or misread by the structure?
  9. AffectHow might the tool make users feel: curious, supported, exposed, rushed, compliant, defensive, agentic?
  10. AdaptabilityCan the tool respond to context, or does it assume one version of practice fits everywhere?
  11. One revisionName a single revision you would make—and what it would change about the learning the tool supports.
  12. Design questionIf someone used this tool exactly as written, what kind of teacher or teacher educator would it help them become?

The redesign test

If the tool currently emphasizes……a growth-oriented alternative might emphasize
ComplianceInterpretation and professional judgment
CompletionLearning and revision
Evaluator authorityShared sense-making
Fixed categoriesContext-sensitive noticing
Correct answersReasoned possibilities
MonitoringSelf-assessment and inquiry
GET THE FILE
Download the protocol (PDF)
Free to use and adapt with attribution.
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