Peer Collaboration: Improving Teaching through Comprehensive Peer Review

Abstract

This article includes a brief rationale and review of the literature on peer review of teaching (PRT). Based on that literature review, it offers a proposal for an optimal formative review process that results in a teaching portfolio that would reflect a faculty member's efforts and successes in a critically reflective PRT process, and contributes to ongoing teaching improvement. It then looks at potential areas of faculty resistance and concern and offers a discussion of potential strategies to overcome those concerns.

Teaching excellence and how it is awarded: A Canadian case study

“…If institutions wish to reward and enhance the quality of teaching and the student learning experience, we suggest it would be worth the institutional investment of time and resources to discuss and devise clear criteria and evidence guidelines to guide instructors in their reflection and portfolio preparation. To reduce reliance on students' perceptions of teaching, systems for peer review of teaching also need to be developed and supported, which would require opportunities and training for classroom observations and other forms of peer review including both formative as well as summative evaluations; these would serve the dual purposes of not only assessing teaching but also facilitating conversations about teaching, thus strengthening the teaching culture (Smith, 2014). We recognize this is no small task and depending on institutional context, could require significant effort in terms of financial support, policy development, incentives, and professional development for faculty (Hunt, 2006).…”