Peer Review of Teaching: Multiple Raters

Abstract

Peer review of teaching is relatively new in many academic programs. Primarily focused on formative, rather than summative, assessment, peer reviews differ in types of artifacts and teaching behaviors observed during the review. The purpose of this study was to begin a preliminary investigation of peer review of teaching among internal faculty. Two faculty members in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) at Wichita State University participated in this study. Both instructors agreed to have one class session each videotaped within the same week. Two comparable 10-minute presentation segments were selected and edited from the recordings. The recordings were then viewed and rated in counter-balanced order by 17 faculty peers in CSD programs. Ratings were collected using a 5-point Likert scale rating form, which was created for the study. Results were found to be generally positive with mean ratings of 2.23 (s.d = 1.19) and 2.41 (s.d. = 1.19) for the two instructors. Interestingly, both videotapes exhibited an order effect when low responses were removed. These findings are presented as well as questions to be examined in future studies.

Peer reviews of teaching as appreciative inquiry: learning from “the best” of our colleagues

“…Multiple studies have detailed how educators in diverse disciplines can benefit from PRs of teaching (Prezas et al, 2009). PRs represent a valued source of feedback on teaching practices (Hatzipanagos & Lygo-Baker 2006), particularly relating to teacher immediacy: how teachers' communication can reduce psychological and/or physical distance between teachers and students, for example (Nixon et al, 2010;see Christophel & Gorham 1995).…”