How can you positively influence student learning by conducting peer review of teaching (PRT)? In what ways do you support colleagues who ask you to sit in on their classes and provide them with feedback?
Chism (2007) defines PRT as a form of evaluation designed to provide feedback to instructors about their teaching in order to foster improvement or make personal and/or career decisions. PRT occurs along a continuum from informal to formal. Informal peer review, usually conducted for developmental purposes, is often defined as formative peer review. Formal peer review, usually conducted for evaluation purposes, is defined as summative. The two terms formative and summative evaluation, first introduced by Scriven (1973) within the context of program evaluation, have now been widely adopted in the evaluation of teaching.
Classroom PRT can be a transformative process for both reviewee and reviewer. Cassidy & Johnson (2006) designed and first implemented a three-part PRT process at the University of British Columbia (UBC). The model involves a pre-observation meeting, class observation, and a post-observation meeting. Notes taken at each of the three stages comprise a report that is provided to the reviewee. They may wish to include it in their teaching dossier or application for a job, promotion and/or tenure.
Based on the Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) model, the process is reviewee-focused and currently informs both formative and summative peer review of teaching processes at UBC. We recommend that peer reviewers participate in a 4-hour training workshop to practise techniques they will use in a peer review. Each Faculty at UBC has developed and implemented a procedure suited for their own individual needs.
In this interactive session intended for people who have conducted Peer Review of Teaching, we will begin by role-playing a typical interaction between reviewer and reviewee in the pre-observation meeting. We will then briefly describe the other two parts of the process. Using classroom peer review challenges that you contribute, the group will identify potential solutions. We’ll cap the session with a co-created list of best practices. You will leave this session having explored classroom peer review of teaching from a variety of perspectives, and will be able to help your colleagues enhance student learning.