Peer Observation of Teaching

Peer obser­va­tion of teach­ing is a for­ma­tive process offered  to pro­vide feed­back to instruc­tors about their teach­ing and to guide pro­fes­sion­al growth. Peer obser­va­tion is a reflec­tive and col­lab­o­ra­tive process in which an instruc­tor works close­ly with a col­league or group of col­leagues to dis­cuss teach­ing. A rec­i­p­ro­cal peer obser­va­tion process is rec­om­mend­ed where instruc­tors observe each oth­er’s teach­ing, reflect on what they have learned, and pro­vide valu­able feed­back to each oth­er. How­ev­er, it is pos­si­ble to com­plete the process in a uni-direc­tion­al man­ner if pre­ferred (i.e., an observ­er giv­ing feed­back to an instruc­tor).

The instruc­tor being observed will select and meet with an observ­er. The observers should be famil­iar with peer obser­va­tion of teach­ing at NIC by hav­ing com­plet­ed at least one work­shop offered by the CTLI (Cen­tre for Teach­ing and Learn­ing Inno­va­tion) or through com­mu­ni­ca­tion with CTLI to ensure they are famil­iar with all com­po­nents required.

The peer obser­va­tion process is typ­i­cal­ly orga­nized around the instruc­tors’ goals and a struc­tured class­room obser­va­tion. In such a case, peer observ­er will meet with you before the obser­va­tion, observe you teach a class and then pro­vide you with for­ma­tive feed­back based on your goals and what they observed dur­ing the class.

Teach­ing is com­plex and mul­ti-faceted. An obser­va­tion of teach­ing can poten­tial­ly include a focus on any­thing from sen­si­tiv­i­ty and atten­tion to stu­dent diver­si­ty, to the artic­u­la­tion of learn­ing out­comes, to the clar­i­ty of one’s pre­sen­ta­tion slides, to the design of one’s syl­labus (and/or many oth­er ele­ments). In a for­ma­tive obser­va­tion, you, the per­son request­ing the obser­va­tion, gets to decide what aspect of your teach­ing you most want feed­back on based on your goals for growth as a teacher.

A for­ma­tive peer obser­va­tion of teach­ing aims to encour­age dia­logue about teach­ing amongst instruc­tors of all lev­els of expe­ri­ence at NIC. By talk­ing with your observers, you will like­ly gain new insights into your teach­ing and infor­ma­tion about dif­fer­ent teach­ing strate­gies or ideas; you can use these in your cur­rent teach­ing or incor­po­rate them into les­son and course plan­ning in the future. Observers also learn a lot about teach­ing by par­tic­i­pat­ing in the process.

If your observers pro­vide writ­ten feed­back and they agree that you can share it, you may choose to use it as evi­dence in your teach­ing port­fo­lio and/or in your case for future appli­ca­tions or pro­mo­tion.

The CTLI will offer work­shops and sup­port to any­one want­i­ng to par­tic­i­pate in peer obser­va­tion of teach­ing. Cus­tomized work­shops and con­sul­ta­tions are avail­able for indi­vid­ual depart­ments upon request

The peer obser­va­tion process is gen­er­al­ly orga­nized around a struc­tured class­room obser­va­tion. A peer observ­er will observe a par­tic­i­pat­ing edu­ca­tor teach a class and pro­vide the instruc­tor being observed with for­ma­tive feed­back based on what she or he observed dur­ing the class.

Process

Any­one inter­est­ed in par­tic­i­pat­ing in the peer obser­va­tion of teach­ing may con­tact the CTLI to start the process. Your goals for growth as a teacher are at the cen­tre of this process and they will influ­ence who you approach as well as how you struc­ture your obser­va­tion. The fol­low­ing describes what hap­pens before, dur­ing and after the class­room obser­va­tion:

  • The instruc­tor being observed reflects on their goals for peer obser­va­tion.
  • The instruc­tor being observed decides which course will be observed and pre­pares a list of class­es the observ­er can choose from when sched­ul­ing an obser­va­tion.
  • Before the class­room obser­va­tion, the instruc­tor being observed should plan and pre­pare for the class as they nor­mal­ly would. In addi­tion, the instruc­tor being observed must also pre­pare to brief the peer observ­er about their goals for the obser­va­tion, as well as any details rel­e­vant to the course and the class that will be observed. This pre-obser­va­tion ques­tion tem­plate (MS Word doc — Chrome — right click and “save links as” to Down­loads fold­er) will help the instruc­tor being observed pre­pare in advance of the first meet­ing with the peer observ­er.
  • Approx­i­mate­ly one week before the class­room obser­va­tion, the peer observ­er and instruc­tor being observed meet for approx­i­mate­ly one hour to set goals for the peer obser­va­tion process and to dis­cuss the course, their plans for the class to be observed and any oth­er rel­e­vant infor­ma­tion.

Video: Reviewer’s First Steps

Video: preparing fore a pre-observation meeting

Video: the pre-observation meeting

  • The instruc­tor being observed teach­es their class.
  • The peer observ­er attends the class and is guid­ed where to sit. The peer observ­er does not take part in the class. Their job is to observe and col­lect infor­ma­tion on the spe­cif­ic goals that have been out­lined.
  • The observers’ notes are guid­ed by an obser­va­tion form and set of ques­tions (MS Word doc Chrome — right click and “save links as” to Down­loads fold­er) and any goals set from the pre-obser­va­tion meet­ing.

Video: The Classroom Observation

  • The peer observ­er pre­pares a writ­ten report (MS Word doc — Chrome — right click and “save links as” to Down­loads fold­er) based on the goals indi­cat­ed by the instruc­tor being observed as well as the notes from the class­room obser­va­tion.
  • The instruc­tor being observed reflects on the class­room obser­va­tion using the post-obser­va­tion dis­cus­sion ques­tions (MS Word doc Chrome — right click and “save links as” to Down­loads fold­er)
  • Approx­i­mate­ly one week after the class­room obser­va­tion, the instruc­tor being observed, and peer observ­er will meet to dis­cuss the class­room obser­va­tion and the peer observer’s report.
  • Fol­low­ing the meet­ing, the peer observ­er will make any nec­es­sary revi­sions to their report and send it to the instruc­tor.
  • The instruc­tor being observed will apply their learn­ing to future pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment, peer obser­va­tions, course design, and les­son plan­ning. (We hope the observ­er will do the same!)
  • The instruc­tor being observed may include the report in a teach­ing port­fo­lio and/or future oppor­tu­ni­ties (please ensure the observ­er has agreed).

Video: The Classroom Observation