A guide for how to conduct a peer review

A peer review of teaching includes many potential elements, including: 

• A classroom observation (whether in person, on Zoom, or asynchronously on a learning management system)
• Review of teaching artifacts related to observed class (e.g., lesson plan, syllabus, slide deck, etc.)
• One or more conversations with peer being reviewed
• A reviewer-authored memo (developmental or evaluative depending on the goal of the review) 

Consult with your collegiate and/or department leadership to learn about the specific policies and procedures for peer review in your context. 

Before you complete a peer review of teaching 

• Faculty may need to complete peer reviews for multiple reasons ranging from mutual learning to formal evaluation. The strategies you use for your peer review depend on its purpose. Before you begin, identify your goals and the process you will use.
• The faculty member being observed may want to notify students that a guest is coming. Students are likely to be curious about a visitor. Discuss ahead of time whether and how the reviewer would like to be introduced. Some instructors like to offer a brief explanation such as, “I care a lot about your learning in this course, so I sometimes invite a colleague into the classroom to help me think about my teaching. Please just engage as you always do."

Conducting a useful pre-observation meeting 

A classroom observation captures an important snapshot of an instructor’s teaching. A brief pre‑observation meeting in which the instructor can provide context for what happens helps round out the picture, and reviewing relevant materials like syllabi, assignments, or lesson plans during that meeting can further enrich the observation. A pre-observation meeting also provides space for instructor goal-setting.  Through relationship-building and the creation of shared expectations, the pre-meeting can help to allay nerves that impact the observation process. Here are some topics you might discuss at an observation pre-meeting: 

• What’s most on your mind about your teaching that you’d like me to pay attention to?
• How does the class I am observing fit into the arc of your course?
• Can we review your lesson plan together so I understand your goals for the day?
• Here’s what to expect from this process.... 

Gathering useful data 

Every instructor has a set of preferences, values, and customary practices. When observing a peer informally or for formal evaluation, it’s critical to separate effective practices from your preferred practices. The goal of feedback and goal-setting is to help the person being observed build their own effective practices, not transform them into a teacher more like yourself. This requires gathering concrete evidence during review. 

Effective feedback is first based on close observation (noticing) rather than reacting. One way to prioritize noticing is to divide observations into descriptions and reflections. Description can include what the instructor is doing, what the students are doing, and what content is being conveyed. Your reflections are your reactions to what is happening in the class (you can write these both during and after the class). One possible process to capture information is noting down the time at which something happened, what happened, and your reflections, in a table-like format:

This information contributes to teaching assessment through analysis by the reviewer, delivered in a post-observation meeting and sometimes in an evaluative memo. Find below some potential categories you might consider during an observation. These don't constitute a checklist, but suggestions for places to start.

Conducting a useful post-observation meeting 

It can be difficult to fully understand what happened in a class without speaking with the teacher. This dialogue will allow you to contextualize your data, enabling you to synthesize information in preparation for writing an evaluative memo. If you conducted a pre-observation conversation or review of materials, you may return to those here. As part of the review process, you should also help your peer set goals for a future review period based on the feedback you provide. If desired, this may also be a useful space for open-form feedback and brainstorming about current challenges and opportunities. 

People invest a lot in their teaching, and may be uncomfortable hearing feedback from peers; come prepared with strategies to help your peer navigate the experience. For example, focusing on neutral observation data (e.g. “I noticed that when you entered the second half of the lecture, students stopped taking notes. Did you notice that?”) rather than reactions (“The second half of the lecture felt more dull what will you do about it?”) can help your peer brainstorm a potential response or plan. While critical feedback is appropriate, keep in mind the roles of empathy and respect in framing feedback. Here are some topics you might discuss at a post-observation meeting:  

• Was this a standard class period for you? If not, how was it different?
• What do you think went well about the class?
• What would you change if you were to teach this session again?
• Do you have ideas about how to revise the course?
• “I noticed thing X. Could you say more about why you think X happened?” 

This conversation will help you to write a more holistic and representative review memo. 

Documenting your review 

Summative review documentation, such as observation letters provided for tenure and promotion, is evaluative by nature and destined for audiences in addition to the instructor. It should help instructors improve or further hone their teaching by pointing concretely to strengths and areas for development and growth; it should help evaluators gauge progress and future development plans. Therefore, the writer should support assertions with evidence gathered from the instructor's syllabi or other teaching documents as well as specific actions and behaviors captured in the notes from observations of teaching. The document will often be written as a letter. The letter should include: 

• A description of the process you undertook (What materials did you review? What goals did you set during the pre-observation meeting? Etc.)
• Evidence you wish to highlight showing how the instructor approaches student learning (things you noticed during the observation, parts of a syllabus that stood out in your conversation, etc.).
• Major strengths.
• Areas for growth and development.
• Concrete goals and next steps the instructor has agreed to undertake for the next review period.