Peers are a useful source of information about the whole teaching and learning cycle from curriculum design and development, through planning and preparation, and teaching and learning interactions, to critical review to improve and enhance teaching.
What and when can peers evaluate?
Peers are able to comment on:
- philosophy and approach to teaching
- presentation skills
- group work and facilitation skills
- course material and resources
- assessment methods
- curriculum development
- aims, objectives and content
- identifying opportunities for professional development
Peers are able to provide feedback on the elements of teaching and the relationships and alignment between them, before, during and after teaching and learning activities. Peer evaluation can be used in the following ways to enhance teaching practice:
- gaining feedback on teaching from a colleague which adds another dimension to feedback collected from students and through self-reflection.
- as a mechanism for collecting evidence to support both promotion and teaching awards applications.
- as an input to discussion and reflectionon:
teaching strategies
assignments
learning outcomes
assessment methods
monitoring of student learning - class and/or syllabus review
- addressing problems in a topic
- discussion and reflection on new ideas on teaching.
Peer evaluation is not:
- ‘novice learning from expert' - it should be collegial and directed towards honing skills not cloning skills
- for training people in a particular way of teaching.
