A Critical Friend: Peer Review of Teaching at AUS

1. A Critical Friend: Peer Review of Teaching at AUS Daniel Kirk dkirk@aus.edu Daniel Kirk: dkirk@aus.edu: Oct 2007

2. Why Peer Review? For Improvement -- Mentoring Function -- Collegiality -- Personal / Professional Development For Personnel Decisions -- Multiple kinds of evidence -- Professional Governance Daniel Kirk: dkirk@aus.edu: Oct 2007

3. Arguments for Peer Review of Teaching Acknowledges complexity of teaching Peers well-placed to judge some aspects of teaching – Critical Friend Supports Shulman’s ‘Community Property’ theory for teaching Multiple data sources for sound evaluation Professionalization allows monitoring by peers Daniel Kirk: dkirk@aus.edu: Oct 2007

4. Reservations about Peer Review Norms of privacy and egalitarianism of teachers Peer selection and definition Time commitment Reduction of risk taking in practice Standardization across academic units Daniel Kirk: dkirk@aus.edu: Oct 2007

5. What Can We Review? Course goals / content Instructional materials & methods Evaluation of students’ work Knowledge base of teacher Academic unto commitment to teaching Development of teaching practice Classroom practice Daniel Kirk: dkirk@aus.edu: Oct 2007

6. Kinds of Evidence Classroom performance Instructional materials Instructor’s record Records from others Daniel Kirk: dkirk@aus.edu: Oct 2007

7. Classroom Practice Least reliable, but most prevalent Important to agree on criteria and approach Critical Friend – focused approach Multiple reviewers and points in time needed for reliability Prompt, personal feedback necessary for development Unit / Institution-wide reporting format Daniel Kirk: dkirk@aus.edu: Oct 2007

8. Instructional Materials Syllabi Course guides, policy documents Course packets, textbooks Course handouts Assessment criteria / policy Assignments, tests, exams Feedback to student work Daniel Kirk: dkirk@aus.edu: Oct 2007

9. Instructor’s Record Extent and quality of scholarship on teaching Contributions to development of teaching in academic unit Non-teaching duties and activities Portfolio and reflection on teaching growth Daniel Kirk: dkirk@aus.edu: Oct 2007

10. Records Provided by Others Student evaluations on teaching Administrative reviews Student tracking data Conference and publication papers related to teaching Daniel Kirk: dkirk@aus.edu: Oct 2007

11. Implementing Peer Review Establishing need Discussion and collaboration with faculty Preparing peers Distributing responsibilities Monitoring progress Evaluation plan of peer review process Policy and instrument creation and adoption Daniel Kirk: dkirk@aus.edu: Oct 2007

12. What next…? Discussion and dialogue with all stakeholders Peer review committee formation and staffing Policy and practice guidelines Implementation schedule Professional development Instrument creation and trials Timeline for process Daniel Kirk: dkirk@aus.edu: Oct 2007

13. Now over to you…………….. What concerns do faculty have regarding Peer Review? Has anyone experienced such a system in the past? How do we feel having a Critical Friend in our classroom? What benefits can we see with this scheme? What problems / issues to we envisage? Do we, as faculty, feel Peer Review would help us both professionally and personally? Daniel Kirk: dkirk@aus.edu: Oct 2007