Peer Review of Teaching

You can learn a great deal about how your students are learning in a course and what adjustments both you and your students might make by asking your students to give your course a mid-term evaluation or periodic feedback.

• Using a formative course feedback tool creates an excellent opportunity to discuss the shared responsibility for teaching and learning in a course by describing what changes you will (or will not) implement due to their feedback and why. Discover ways to implement the Plus/Delta feedback tool (docx). When implementing feedback tools, you can also teach your students how to Provide Constructive Feedback (PDF).
• End-of-course ratings are a tool that can improve teaching and learning, benefiting future students who will take the classes. They are not perfect measurements of teaching effectiveness but can elevate the teaching and learning environment by:
  • Creating an opportunity for students to reflect on their perceptions of the learning and the classroom environment.
  • Providing instructors with constructive feedback, enhancing teaching effectiveness.
  • Supporting an ongoing dialogue about teaching and learning between instructors and administrators.
• CELT’s Student Ratings Analysis Worksheet is designed to help instructors interpret students’ course evaluation comments and identify meaningful, actionable next steps. It can be used individually, with a mentor or colleague, or as part of an annual teaching reflection. Student feedback is most helpful when paired with course materials, learning outcomes, assessments, and peer observations to identify patterns over time.

Explore more ways to prepare for the course ratings process and improve course ratings.

Another method of documenting your teaching is through a process of peer observation of teaching. Peer observations provide opportunities for instructors to visit, share, and learn from one another’s classroom practices, which can enhance quality of teaching. The evidence generated from peer observations can be used in personnel decisions (P&T), publicity, and oversight in accreditation processes.

• The peer observation process can be either formative (focused on improvement; ongoing) or summative (used for personnel decisions; evaluative), and includes preparation for documenting the observation, pre- and post-observation conversations, and an after-observation documenting process.
• As part of the professional development process, faculty may also request a CELT teaching observation conducted by an experienced CELT staff member. CELT observations of teaching are formative and focused on teaching strategies, rather than on discipline-specific content. See below for ‘Example Evaluation Templates’.
• The Teaching Visits Program is an informal, peer-to-peer observation process that is for exploration and discovery, not evaluation or critique. The program is meant to be a companion to the more formal CELT observation of teaching process.
  • A Visiting Teacher is matched with an experienced Host Teacher who teaches with a modality and/or strategy that the Visiting Teacher wants to learn more about.
  • The Visiting Teacher completes a form reflecting on what they learned from the process and meets with the CELT Instructor Development Coordinator to discuss strategies they would like to try in their own class.
  • To request a visit, please fill out this form.

Teaching Philosophy

The final source of evidence in evaluating effective teaching is from the instructor themselves, through course content and learning materials created for their course and through reflection.

• The teaching philosophy statement reflects the instructor’s personal values and beliefs about teaching that provides concrete examples of what is done in the classroom to support those beliefs. Teaching philosophies are used to articulate teaching beliefs, values, and practices to students, peers, and committees.
• Along with the teaching philosophy, there is a wide variety of other methods that can be used to document evidence of effective teaching.

Teaching Portfolio

Along with the teaching philosophy, demonstrating your teaching effectiveness can be accomplished through documentation of your teaching and of student learning in the form of a teaching portfolio. Iowa State University values teaching, which is reflected in the requirements of many awards, as well as in evaluations and promotion processes.

As the Faculty Handbook states, “When teaching is part of the faculty assignment, effectiveness is an essential criterion for advancement. Faculty must demonstrate command of their subject matter, continuous growth in the subject field, and an ability to create and maintain instructional environments to promote student learning.”

Documenting Evidence of Effective Teaching (docx) provides a list of ideas for different approaches to documenting effective teaching from the perspective of the instructor, colleagues, and students.