Peer Feedback on Your Teaching
Crystal Tse, CATE Associate Director
June 13, 2022
WHAT? Heading link
Good instruction involves using data to assess the impact of, and inform improvements to your teaching, known as “reflective teaching” (Brookfield 2017).
One aspect of reflective teaching is peer feedback. The best known form of peer feedback is peer teaching observations, but it can take on many forms.
1
Peers (colleagues, mentors, and other instructors) can give you valuable feedback on different facets of your teaching:
- Instruction in the classroom: This is where a colleague will visit one of your class sessions and provide feedback on your teaching strategies demonstrated in the session.
- Course materials: Your peers can also review your course syllabus, assessments (e.g., assignments, tests, quizzes), and materials you use during course delivery (e.g., powerpoint slides, assigned readings, videos)
- Learning management system course site (i.e., Blackboard) and online teaching materials: If you are teaching portions of, or all of your course online, a peer can review your course site (e.g., organization and design of the course) as well as your use of educational technology and opportunities you have provided for students to interact with you and each other.
- Teaching portfolio: Your peer can also provide feedback on broader aspects of your teaching beyond the classroom (e.g., teaching statement, student evaluations, scholarly teaching activity, etc.)
2
In this teaching guide, you will learn more about:
- Benefits of getting feedback from peers on your teaching
- Best practices and recommendations for getting peer feedback
- Different instruments for conducting peer observations
- Principles of giving and receiving effective feedback
WHY? Heading link
Engaging in peer review of teaching comes with several benefits.
You can:
1
- Gain a sense of community: Instructors may often feel as if they are teaching and dealing with the challenges of this work in isolation. Soliciting and giving feedback to your peers can help to break down silos and create community by sharing things that have worked well and lessons learned with your colleagues (Hutchings, 1996).
- Go beyond student course evaluations for feedback: Recent research has called into question the validity of, and common practice of solely using course evaluations to measure teaching effectiveness (see Spooren et al., 2013 and Stark & Freishtat, 2014 for a review). It is important to consider collecting data from different sources to ensure that all the feedback you are collecting reveals a similar story and outcomes. You may also consider reviewing your student course evaluations with a peer, with a focus on qualitative feedback, to gain another perspective on the feedback you are getting from students. See CATE’s teaching guide on Student Feedback for further reading on this topic.
2
- Leverage peer feedback to improve your teaching: Peer review can help to increase critical reflection of teaching and can motivate and encourage you to experiment with new teaching methods. Research has shown that instructors who participate in peer review incorporate more active learning strategies in their courses, increase the quality of their feedback to students, and report enjoying discussing teaching with their colleagues (Bernstein, 2000).
- Observing your peers can also help enhance your teaching: If you take on the role as a peer reviewer, observing your colleague’s teaching techniques can spark new ideas for your own teaching. One way to do this is engaging in teaching squares, a program that typically involves a group of 4 instructors (in the same or different disciplines) who visit each other’s classes during the semester (Haave, 2018). The instructors meet regularly to discuss their observations – not to provide evaluative feedback but to gather ideas that they might want to implement in their own courses.
HOW? Heading link
Best Practices/Recommendations:
1
- Set goals for using peer feedback. How do you intend on using this feedback? For example, will this feedback be used informally to improve your teaching? To provide evidence of your growth and excellence as an instructor for promotion and advancement purposes? To be used with your department on setting norms for what effective teaching looks like?
- How do you and your department define effective teaching? The approach to peer feedback on teaching varies widely by department and college, and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. One question to consider is how your department defines effective teaching – what are your department’s expectations on teaching? Consider looking to the literature and evidence-based teaching practices to create this definition. Department members may need to come to consensus, establish expectations, and develop a classroom observation instrument together as a department. By creating a shared definition of effective teaching and the process by which to provide feedback, you ensure that the process is fair, rigorous, and constructive for the instructor.
2
- Evaluative and non-evaluative peer feedback: Expectations should be set in the department prior to peer review about how the peer observation report will be used. Peer review of teaching can be non-evaluative, where the focus is on improving and developing one’s teaching, or evaluative, where materials are used for promotion and tenure and advancement decisions. Questions to consider are: Who will own the final peer review report? What will the report and feedback be used for?
- What other sources of data do you want to collect? A classroom observation provides just one snapshot of your course during one semester of your teaching. Consider doing a classroom observation more than once, and conducting observations across multiple courses and over time, to help you reflect on how you have developed your teaching. The evaluation of teaching should be holistic and include multiple forms of data (feedback from students and peers, self-assessment, and looking at the education research literature) that tell a coherent narrative about your teaching.
Example Peer Observation Protocol Heading link
Example Peer Observation Protocol
The peer observation protocol will differ by department and/or college, depending on their departmental norms and processes that are in place. We show one example of a peer observation protocol with best practices and recommendations adapted from the University of Oregon, Indiana University Bloomington, UC Berkeley, and Vanderbilt University. Think about how you might adapt this protocol to suit the needs of your teaching and/or your department.
-
Pre-classroom observation meeting
Meet with your peer prior to the classroom observation. During this meeting, you can orient your peer to the course and your goals for the observation:
1
- What are the questions you want answered? These questions will drive the peer review process. Do you want feedback on:
- A specific teaching technique, or an issue arising in the classroom?
- How you have engaged with students, or your assessment practices?
- How you have handled technology in the classroom (online or in-person)?
- Course goals and logistics: Giving your peer this information can let them better understand the context for your course.
- What are the intended learning objectives of the course
- How is the physical classroom space structured?
- How does the class session fit with the rest of the course?
2
- Student characteristics: This information can be gathered from an anonymous questionnaire administered at the beginning of the course asking your students questions such as:
- Prior knowledge and experience with the course content
- Motivation to take your course
- Concerns or expectations about taking your course
- General interests and academic and career goals
- Instructor characteristics: Identifying your teaching philosophy and how it informs your teaching practices will be helpful to your reviewer to better understand how you have structured your course. This could include:
- Theories used to inform your teaching and teaching practices you typically use
- Your strengths and areas where you want to make improvements
- What are the questions you want answered? These questions will drive the peer review process. Do you want feedback on:
-
Classroom observation
When taking on the role as the observer, we recommend you:
1
- Use a structured observation instrument (please see the next section for examples of instruments). Having structure will help guide your observations and feedback that you want to note down for your peer.
- Arrive at the class session ahead of time to ensure you are prepared and ready to take notes, and stay for the whole class session.
- Don’t intervene during the class session – be an impartial observer.
During the class session, what do you want to observe and take note of? Here are some examples:
- Course alignment: Does the course content match students’ prior knowledge and skills? Are the course activities and assessments aligned with the course learning objectives?
- Instructor to student interaction: Does the instructor foster a welcoming classroom climate? Does the instructor provide students opportunities to ask questions and contribute to the class?
- Student engagement: Does the instructor use multiple methods of student engagement (individual and/or group activities)? Do students actively participate in class by asking questions or interacting with other students?
2
- Organization: Does the instructor explicitly state the purpose of each class activity? Does the instructor help to prepare students for the next class session?
- Presentation: Is the instructor’s pace and volume of speaking appropriate to the course content? Does the instructor vary lecturing with active learning strategies?
- Outside of a classroom observation, consider other sources of data on teaching:
- Assessment of student learning (e.g., student coursework and artifacts)
- Student course evaluations (paying attention to qualitative comments for common themes)
- Student academic advising and other teaching service activities
- Awards and recognition of teaching
- Engagement in teaching professional development (e.g., attending CATE programming)
- Engagement in scholarly teaching activities (i.e., conducting research on teaching and student learning)
-
Post-classroom observation meeting
1
Consider setting up a meeting after the classroom observation to talk about how the class session went. Bring your own questions and reflections on how you believe the course session went to this meeting to see if there are any differences or commonalities, and to provide a starting point for your discussion.
2
- What does your peer think went well?
- What areas do they recommend that you work on?
- With your peer, create goals and next steps you want to take in your teaching
-
Feedback letter/report
1
As the reviewer, you may be asked to write a feedback letter or report based on the classroom observation that can be placed in the instructor’s file, or to be used for feedback to improve teaching depending on your departmental norms. When writing this letter or report, consider doing the following:
2
- Outline the steps taken in the peer review process and instrument(s) used to conduct the observation
- Use information collected from the observation instrument you used to summarize the instructor’s teaching approach
- Provide the instructor with constructive and actionable feedback
Example observation instruments Heading link
Example observation instruments
When selecting, adapting, or creating your peer observation instrument, consider what will work best for you for the kind of feedback you wish to receive – what questions do you have about your teaching? What are your departmental norms for how observations are typically conducted? Observation instruments vary in their structure, and can be based on a rubric or checklists of teaching strategies, measure the frequency of student and instructor behaviors, or be open-ended.
-
Rubric-based
1
University of Kansas Benchmarks for Teaching Effectiveness: This rubric aims to provide an instructor with holistic feedback on their teaching by including a range of activities and sources of data on teaching, such as alignment of course goals and instructional practices, creating motivating and inclusive learning climates, reflecting on how instructors’ teaching practices have changed over time, and involvement in student advising and scholarly teaching activities.
2
In addition to using it as a peer observation/review instrument, it can also be used as a self-reflection tool for instructors. The creators of this rubric encourage departments to modify the rubric as needed for their specific contexts.
-
Checklist-based
1
You can create or adapt a checklist of teaching strategies and behaviors, where your peer can look for evidence of the use of these strategies during the classroom observation.
2
For example, the CATE Inclusive Teaching Toolkit contains several different checklists specific to teaching strategies for inclusive teaching, building community, and culturally-responsive instruction.
-
Open-ended
You can use an open-ended observation instrument, that is based on answering specific questions or addressing specific themes on teaching. Here are some examples:
1
- UIC LAS Sample peer teaching evaluation review questions: Resource from UIC’s College of LAS with example questions you can answer during a peer observation.
- University of Oregon: This instrument contains specific evidence-based teaching practices (see a References list at the bottom of the document). As the reviewer, you would perform a “fact-based” observation, recording what instructors and students do with specific examples, and adding comments with your feedback and suggestions for improvement.
2
- University of California, Los Angeles: You can address specific themes on teaching (e.g., student engagement, class organization) in this tool. There is also a fact-based supplementary tool where you can note observations for every 5-10 minute segment of the class by looking for specific teaching strategies used. These notes can then be used to populate the open-ended section when giving the instructor feedback.
-
Frequency of behaviors
1
The Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS) (Smith et al., 2013) is an observation instrument used in real-time to give you data on the frequency and range of teaching practices happening in the classroom. The COPUS was designed for undergraduate STEM teaching, but can be used for non-STEM classrooms as well to collect information on teaching practices being used. After a brief training period (1.5 hours) to use the tool, as an observer you can note what students are doing (e.g., listening, problem-solving, asking questions) and what instructors are doing (e.g., lecturing, writing, posing clicker questions) during the class session.
The GORP tool (Stains et al., 2018) is an app you can download to integrate COPUS onto mobile and desktop devices, giving you immediate access to quantifiable data.
2
The Protocol for Advancing Inclusive Teaching Efforts (PAITE) is another teaching observation instrument used in real-time to give you data on different observable inclusive teaching strategies. Observers can become trained on the PAITE observation codes (e.g., using diverse examples, incorporating growth mindset language, ensuring equitable participation, etc.) and practice coding with provided vignettes. The resource includes an observation template form, a data visualization tool for observers to create visualizations of inclusive teaching practices, and a post-observation report template.
Considerations for Your Course Context Heading link
Considerations for Your Course Context
When making your plan to get peer feedback on your teaching, consider the following questions:
1
- What questions do you want answered about your teaching? Are you looking for support on troubleshooting a specific issue arising in the classroom? Feedback on a new teaching strategy you are using? Depending on the questions you have about your teaching, what peer observation instruments (existing, or that you would like to adapt) make most sense for you?
- What course modality are you teaching in? If you are teaching fully online, do you want feedback on your course site’s design and organization, or your class session materials (e.g., videos)? If you are teaching parts of your course online with in-person components, do you want feedback on how you handled technology (e.g., live streaming) or how you have incorporated educational technology tools to increase student engagement? See these examples of peer review protocols and rubrics for online teaching:
2
- How much time and resources do you have? Engaging in the peer review process can take a significant amount of time (e.g., choosing an observation instrument, meeting with your colleague prior to the classroom observation). Consider doing this once or twice during the semester that works best for your schedule.
- Who would you like to ask to provide feedback? Instructors typically ask for feedback on their teaching from those in their department, but you can also consider asking a colleague from a different department to provide feedback (see the teaching squares model). Consider asking a peer who is familiar with your course content, or has significant teaching experience. Importantly, consider asking a colleague whom you trust and who will be able to provide you with constructive feedback on your teaching (Bandy, 2015).
Giving and Receiving Effective Feedback Heading link
Giving and Receiving Effective Feedback
When serving as a peer reviewer, how should you frame your feedback to your peer so that this feedback is heard and understood as well as possible?
-
Principles of Effective Feedback
Consider how your comments will best serve to develop your colleague’s teaching. Your feedback should be:
1
- Prioritized. Prioritize comments that will serve to develop your colleague receiving feedback. For example, what do they need to work on most? How will your feedback help them improve upon for example, specific teaching strategies, classroom management, or the design of their formative and summative assessments?
- Specific rather than general. Giving feedback with concrete examples will help your colleague reflect on their teaching practices and behaviors, whereas feedback that may be more general or vague may be confusing and difficult to implement in a practical way. What are a few concrete changes that the instructor can implement right away in their course, or the next time they offer the course?
2
- Descriptive rather evaluative. We encourage you to avoid judgmental terms such as “good” or “bad”, and focus on the teaching content or practices. When giving feedback, refer to what the instructor is doing, rather than suggesting reasons for their actions.
- Balanced. Provide both positive feedback on things that the instructor is doing well, in addition to suggestions for improvement.
- Manageable. The feedback you provide should not overwhelm your colleague. Focus on a few key areas that the instructor can work on and realistically change in their next offering of the course.
-
Types of Feedback
There are a few different types of feedback you can give to your peer, including warm, cool, and hard feedback (taken from the School Reform Initiative resource):
1
- Warm: Warm feedback highlights your peer’s strengths in teaching. It recognizes specific strategies, actions, or behaviors that you saw your peer engage in in their classroom. Example: “I appreciated how you engaged with your students using a variety of polling and group activities.”
2
- Cool: Cool feedback analyzes and probes your peer’s teaching. Example: “I think I know your intention for this learning activity, but I’m not sure that was what the actual outcome was for your students.”
- Hard: Hard feedback presents challenges for your peer and is meant to extend what your peer is doing. Example: “Who does this learning activity benefit? Who might this activity present barriers to? How might you change the activity to reach all students?”
-
Giving and Receiving Feedback
1
When giving feedback to a peer, consider:
- Giving positive feedback first. Let your peer know both their strengths and areas for improvement. Positive feedback will allow your peer to continue to build on their existing teaching skills.
- Focusing on behaviors that are observable and changeable. How will your feedback serve your peer in making concrete changes to their instruction that will benefit students?
- Prioritizing comments that will serve to enhance your peer’s teaching.
2
When receiving feedback from a peer, consider:
- Focusing on the positive feedback. It may be challenging or upsetting to receive critical feedback. Allow yourself the time and space to process this feedback.
- Confirming your hearing of specific suggestions. Do you understand your peer’s feedback and suggestions? Do you know what your next steps are, if you are to make any changes to your teaching practice?
- Prioritizing the feedback based on importance and feasibility. Taking into consideration your time and resources, think about what is most important to you, and what is realistic to change in your teaching (now, or in the next offering of the course).
CITING THIS GUIDE Heading link
-
CITING THIS GUIDE
Tse, Crystal (2022). “Peer Feedback on Your Teaching.” Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence at the University of Illinois Chicago. Retrieved [today’s date] from https://teaching.uic.edu/resources/teaching-guides/reflective-teaching-guides/peer-feedback-on-your-teaching/
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Heading link
-
1
1
Peer review best practices and example procedures:
- Guide to peer review (University of California, Berkeley)
- Best practices for peer review of teaching (Vanderbilt University)
- Peer review of teaching process and general guidelines (Indiana University Bloomington)
- Peer review of teaching resources and example instruments (University of Minnesota)
2
Example checklist of teaching strategies and self-assessment tool:
- Teaching Self-Reflection Tool (pgs 6-7) and Skills Checklist (Thomas Jefferson University): Open-ended questions and a checklist of teaching practices
REFERENCES Heading link
-
REFERENCES
1
Bandy, J. (2015). Peer Review of Teaching. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching.
Bernstein, D. J., Jonson, J., & Smith, K. (2000). “An Examination of the Implementation of Peer Review of Teaching.” New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 83, 73-86
Brookfield, S. (2017). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. (2nd ed.). Jossey Bass.
Hutchings, P. (1996). The peer collaboration and review of teaching. American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Occasional Paper No. 33.
2
Smith, M., Jones, F., Gilbert, S., & Wieman, C. (2013). The classroom observation protocol for undergraduate stem (COPUS): A new instrument to characterize university STEM classroom practices. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 12(4), 618-727
Spooren, P., Brock, B., & Mortelmans, D. (2013). On the validity of student evaluation of teaching the state of the art. Review of Educational Research, 83(4), 598-642.
Stains, M., et al. (2018). Anatomy of STEM teaching in North American universities. Science, 359(6383), 1468-1470.
Stark, P. B., & Freishtat, R. (2014). An evaluation of course evaluations. ScienceOpen Research.