Opening the Peer Review Conversation
Peer review was simply not done when I was a secondary school English teacher. When that classroom door closed, we were each the sole ruler of the domain within. Many of us were friends outside the classroom. Department chairs came in, with plenty of advance warning, observed us for a 55 minute period, checked off items on their “objective” checklist and so crafted an evaluation which had little impact on our teaching.
I know good teaching when I see it. I know effective instruction when I experience it. With the educational profession under deepening scrutiny, it is imperative that we enhance the process of instructor evaluation. How, then, can we do that?
How can we move a department at a college or university toward a collaborative effort to improve teaching with peer review as one primary component? At a research university, the instructors in many cases hold doctorate degrees and win grants. They research and publish so they will not perish. But they may be remarkably ineffective in the undergraduate classroom and that is a shame.
Let’s consider an ideal scenario. A small department has taken on the task of crafting a peer review process that honors the integrity of the profession and moves the quality of teaching forward in a significant way.
I’d begin by opening a conversation with the group. I’d start by asking, “What happens in a dynamic, effective classroom?” We’d describe that interaction, that climate, and those relationships. And from this detailed description, we might be able to create consensus on what characteristics of teaching a peer review should examine.
Here’s the characteristics I’d contribute to the discussion:
• Enthusiasm
• Eye contact with students
• Attempts to reduce the impersonality of higher education
• Clarity of voice
• Pacing of instruction
• Use of available technology
Those details could then be transformed into criteria. Evaluation criteria must be measurable. Many of the details would, nevertheless, be subjective. But teaching that changes a student’s world vision and self-perception always contains some additional magic. With the right leadership and expert facilitation, a group can move toward an understanding of peer review that can begin a transformation.
