Peer Review of Teaching

Peer review is one way to address multifaceted evaluation of teaching. It can include not only peer observations, but also assessment of a teaching portfolio which could consist of curricula vitae, student evaluations, syllabi and other course artefacts, and reflections on teaching. There are two very different forms of peer review: formative and summative.

Formative evaluation is oriented solely towards the improvement of teaching and is part of instructional mentorship and development. CTL supports formative evaluation through our Peer Consultation Program.

Summative evaluation is typically tied to decisions related to reappointment, promotion, or tenure. If initiating a peer review process, it is important to be clear about the purpose and to have different peers involved in each form of assessment.


CTL's Peer Review of Teaching Document
  • includes procedures, guidelines, resources and references for developing a summative peer review of teaching protocol

Peer Review of Teaching: What is it, and why should I do it?

Other Resources
References
  • d'Apollonia, S., and Abrami, P.C. (1997). Navigating student ratings of instruction. Am. Psychol. 52, 1198-1208.
  • Boring, A., Ottoboni, K., and Stark, P.B. (2016). Student Evaluations of Teaching (Mostly) Do Not Measure Teaching Effectiveness. Sci. Res. Open. https://www.scienceopen.com/document?id=25ff22be-8a1b-4c97-9d88-084c8d98187a
  • Carrell, S.E., and West, J.E. (2008). Does Professor Quality Matter? Evidence from Random Assignment of Students to Professors (National Bureau of Economic Research).
  • Gormally, C., Evans, M., and Brickman, P. (2014). Feedback about Teaching in Higher Ed: Neglected Opportunities to Promote Change. CBE-Life Sci. Educ. 13, 187-199. http://www.lifescied.org/content/13/2/187.full
  • Macfadyen, L.P., Dawson, S., Prest, S., and Gašević, D. (2015). Whose feedback? A multilevel analysis of student completion of end-of-term teaching evaluations. Assess. Eval. High. Educ. 0, 1-19.
  • Spooren, P., Brockx, B., and Mortelmans, D. (2013). On the Validity of Student Evaluation of Teaching The State of the Art. Rev. Educ. Res. 83, 598-642.
  • Stark, P., and Freishtat, R. (2014). An Evaluation of Course Evaluations. Sci. Res. Open. https://www.scienceopen.com/document?id=ad8a9ac9-8c60-432a-ba20-4402a2a38df4