Individualized Support for Your Teaching
The Peer Feedback Program of the Center for Teaching Excellence is designed to provide individual assistance to faculty members wishing to evaluate and improve their teaching. Devised primarily for new faculty, but open to any full-time faculty member who requests it, the program provides a comprehensive and confidential review of classroom performance and syllabus construction. The observer will NOT be a member of the same academic department as the requester.
Upon receipt of your request, CTE will locate an appropriate observer for your teaching. You and the observer will be given the information needed to contact each other. From this point on, the procedure will be defined by the two parties in complete confidence.
The scope of a Peer Feedback process can vary from person to person, but it will generally include these elements:
Initial interview. The observer will conduct an initial interview with the requestor. This interview will explore such personal views as teaching goals and philosophy, teaching experience and history, balance of undergraduate and graduate teaching, range of courses offered, and the like. For this interview, the requestor will submit syllabi and class rolls for current classes, and the two will agree upon specific class meetings to be visited. The requestor's teaching goals for the visited class will be identified before the visit.
Class meetings. The evaluator will agree to visit one class for each course currently being taught by the requestor, or of a selected course.
Student meetings. CTE encourages the inclusion of student feedback as part of the process. For at least one class, by prior arrangement, the evaluator may conduct an informal feedback session with class members during the final 20 minutes of class, in the absence of the instructor. Alternatively, the evaluator and/or requestor may use a different method to gather student assessments of their learning.
Written report. The written report will remain confidential. CTE will keep only a record of the names of the candidates and evaluators, and the dates, for archival purposes.
