Instructors who are interested in formative evaluation or who are required to submit summative evaluations for retention, promotion, and/or tenure, are encouraged to consider which instructional sessions, activities or materials they would like reviewed early in the semester (formative) or the semester before (summative). Of course, faculty who are interested in very informal feedback on instruction are welcome to invite peers or staff into their classrooms/laboratories/clinical settings at any time, and the Office of Teaching & Learning staff are able to respond quickly to such requests.
Important to a helpful peer review is providing your reviewer with course materials and documents that indicate goals and outcomes, course schedules, assignment instructions, assessments, etc.
Prior to an observation of instruction, you should plan to provide your reviewer with the following:
- A copy of the syllabus (digital or hard copy)
- A copy of presentation materials for instructional session(s) being observed (digital or hard copy)
- Learning outcomes for the instructional session(s)
- Assessment materials for the instructional session(s) (assignment descriptions, test questions, lab report forms, etc.)
You will also want to engage in self-reflection about your teaching and, perhaps, update your teaching portfolio and teaching philosophy for more formal reviews. Ask yourself what you believe about how students learn, and how that affects what you do in the classroom. Does the way you teach reflect your philosophy? How has what you believe about how students learn changed over time?
Other areas for consideration
- TEACHING EXCELLENCE: How do you define teaching excellence? What areas are you seeking to develop, refine, or improve? Some qualities and characteristics of an excellent teacher are included in this table:
Content Expertise
Obviously, faculty must be knowledgeable in their content field in order to teach it. However, content expertise, although necessary is an insufficient quality for teaching excellence.
Affective Traits/Skills
- Enjoys teaching as much or more than they enjoy working in their field.
- Models the best characteristics of an accomplished practitioner in the field they are teaching.
- Models the best characteristics of a lifelong learning.
- Is demanding but fair.
- Is ethical and honest.
- Is comfortable admitting ignorance.
Performance Skills
- Speaks clearly.
- Is organized when making a presentation.
- Uses personal/professional examples when teaching.
- Uses humor effectively.
- Creates an appropriate psychological environment for learning.
Cognitive Skills
- Instructional design: Develops and uses learning objectives/outcomes in designing effective learning experiences.
- Instructional delivery: Skill in presenting information in a variety of delivery modes.
- Instructional assessment: Skill in the design and use of a variety of tools and procedures to assess student learning.
Arreola, R.A. (2007). Developing a comprehensive faculty evaluation system (3rd ed). Bolton, MA: Anker. - DISCIPLINARY CONSIDERATION: How have your and/or your discipline approached instruction of this course and/or its topics?
- DESIGN: Are the learning outcomes associated with this course/session reflected in the experiences you design or provide? Did you design this learning experience from the ground up or have you taken on the material/content from another instructor? What have the challenges associated with either been? How have you made the design of presentations/activities, etc., your own?
- STUDENT ENGAGEMENT: What instructional approaches do you implement (evidenced in the session to be observed) that promote student engagement with you, other students, and the material?
- USE OF TECHNOLOGY/MEDIA: Is there specific media or technology you use to improve student learning or content delivery?
- STUDENT EVALUATION OF TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS: How have past offerings of this course/instructional session been received by students? Have you made changes to your instruction as a result? What are they?
- ASSESSMENT: How do you ensure students have learned the content you present? How do you know they achieved the learning outcomes of your session or the course? How do you determine or select test question content? Do you use another means of assessment?
