Peer review of teaching is an intentional observation process where faculty are encouraged to engage critically with their own and a colleagues’ teaching practice. Faculty who use peer review find that both reviewer and reviewee benefit and are able to identify areas for improvement. At least part of the growing emphasis on peer review is the recognition that student ratings are a necessary, but incomplete, method of evaluating instruction. Student evaluations are an unreliable measure for teaching effectiveness and can be heavily influenced by gender and racial biases. The problems with existing methods of assessing instruction demonstrate the need for a system of formative and summative peer review focused on instructor development. By drawing on existing models, the co-authors propose a system of formative options for reviewing instruction (across all faculty ranks) to empower faculty to identify and address gaps in their abilities as instructors, while supporting promotion and tenure, and lastly strengthening student learning outcomes. This system is comprised of multiple options which include the following:
• Attend workshop on some aspect of teaching
• Have a faculty member with a similar area of content expertise review the course syllabus and schedule, course materials, or course-related website materials
• Develop/refine teaching philosophy
• Observe another teacher
• Have a class period video recorded
• Have a class observed
• Publish scholarly textbooks, chapters in books used as texts, and other publications designed primarily for classroom and instructional settings
• Mentor advisees and other students on teaching
• Engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning, publishing best practices and/or pedagogy
This paper describes the process of developing and piloting a peer review system offering faculty professional development opportunities for varied, robust feedback on multiple aspects of teaching. The goal is to enhance teaching effectiveness and serve as a model for other engineering departments.
Dr. Jennifer Herman is an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Engineering Education at the Ohio State University, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses in technical and research communication.
Ann D. Christy, PE, is a professor of Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering and a professor of Engineering Education at the Ohio State University (OSU). She earned both her B.S. in agricultural engineering and M.S. in biomedical engineering at O
Lynn Hall is a Senior Lecturer and Assistant Chair for Academic Administration in the Department of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University. She received her Ph.D. in English from Miami University (Ohio)..
Dr. David A. Delaine is an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University Department of Engineering Education. Within this newly formed department he strives to creatively impact engineering education and society through investigating community-based le
William Cohen is a Lecturer for the Fundamentals of Engineering program at The Ohio State University: a 2 semester course sequence for first-year engineering students focusing on programming in MATLAB, computer aided drawing in SolidWorks, and a semester long design-build-test project. William has also received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering and M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Ohio State.
James Toney earned the Ph.D. in physics from Carnegie Mellon University in 1998 and the B.S. in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1984. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Engineering Education at Ohio State and Senior Research Scientist at SRICO, Inc. in Columbus, OH, where his research focuses on electro-optics. He is the author of the book, Lithium Niobate Photonics (Artech House, 2015).
Dr. Lisa Abrams is currently the Associate Chair for the Department of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University (OSU). She received her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Mechanical Engineering and PhD degree in Industrial Engineering from Ohio State. She has seven years of industry experience in the areas of Design and Consulting. Her research focuses on the recruitment, retention, and success of undergraduate students, especially those populations who are under-represented in engineering. She has developed and taught a wide variety of engineering courses in First Year Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at Ohio State. She has received numerous teaching awards in the last five years at both the College and the Departmental level at OSU.
Alan Kalish, Ph.D., Assistant Vice Provost, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Educational Studies, The Ohio State University, works to support faculty efforts on academic program assessment, implementation of a revised general education program, and institutional accreditation. He also oversees the Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in University Teaching and chairs the Student Evaluation of Instruction Oversight Committee.
Previously, he directed the University Center for the Advancement of Teaching at Ohio State for 18 years, as well as founding the Center for Teaching and Learning at California State University, Sacramento, and servicing as associate director of Teaching Resources Center, Indiana University, Bloomington, where he earned his Ph.D. in English.
His research includes transitions from graduate school to faculty life, teaching and learning in higher education, and course and curriculum design. A leader on peer review of teaching, preparing future faculty, scholarship of teaching and learning, course and curriculum design, and assessing academic support units, he co-edited Teaching & Learning in the College Classroom, 3rd Ed. (2010), and Mapping the Range of Graduate Student Professional Development. (2012). Studies in Graduate and Professional Student Development 14. and has been PI or Co-PI on many grants, including U.S. Department of Education Fund for Improvement of Post-Secondary Education and Ohio Board of Regents.
Melinda Rhodes-DiSalvo, Ph.D., is associate director for strategic partnership and operations at the Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University, where she supports the future growth, stability and productivity of the institute. Her responsibilities range from instructional/policy creation support and initiative management. She is charged with contributing to and promoting the inquiry and scholarship mission of the institute. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Higher Education Curriculum and Instruction and has served as a director of teaching and learning at Ohio State's College of Veterinary Medicine and the University of Cincinnati's Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, as well as a faculty member at various private liberal arts, community college, and research universities.
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