Full course description
About the course
With IU’s increasing demand for high quality peer reviews of teaching, the need for faculty who are qualified to conduct peer review informed by best practice has increased significantly. Drawing on best practice for peer review, this course will help you master a comprehensive conceptualization of peer review as part of a process to improve teaching and student learning. The course is self-paced, self-enrolling, and free. It is designed to serve as a resource for those conducting peer reviews of teaching and as preparation to serve IU as a qualified FACET Peer Reviewer.
These modules begin by focusing on the peer review process itself (Module 1 Performing a peer review). They then address ways to enhance a peer review by looking beyond the actual teaching that takes place in the in-person or online learning environment (Module 2 Enriching your review). Finally, the modules consider documentation of formative and summative review (Module 3 Documenting your review). Throughout the course, you will encounter examples, reflection questions, and other activities that support best practice in peer review.
Learning outcomes
After completing the modules, you will be able to:
- Conduct complete professional teaching observations including pre-observation meetings, full class observations, and post-observation discussions.
- Review and evaluate key course documents such as the syllabus and the Canvas site.
- Review and evaluate asynchronous courses as well as synchronous online courses.
- Write evidence-based formative memos for yourself (reflections) and for those you review.
- Write evidence-based summative letters suitable for inclusion in tenure and promotion dossiers, award applications, or other places where evaluation of teaching is requested.
Module topics
- Performing a peer review
- What is peer review?
- The pre-observation process
- The observation
- The post-observation meeting part 1
- The post-observation meeting part 2
- Process considerations for modalities
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Enriching your review
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Course site use and design
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Teaching philosophy in action
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Reviewing the syllabus
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Readings, materials, and resources
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Assessment
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- Documenting your review
- The peer review documentation continuum
- Formative documentation
- Summative documentation
Meet the designers
Creators Michael Morrone (Director, the Faculty Academy on Excellence in Teaching (FACET)), Lisa Kurz (Principal Instructional Consultant in the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, IU Bloomington), and Eric Metzler (Instructional Support & Assessment Specialist at the Kelley School of Business, IU Bloomington) designed this course built on FACET’s prior peer review of teaching training courses. These prior courses included the contributions of many IU faculty members, including FACET members, FACET office staff, and teaching center staff. This course’s design also reflects the valuable insights and advice of UITS e-Learning and Design Services.