Peer review resources

 

Peer review of teaching can be used for a range of different purposes. The resources on this site have been designed to support different types of peer review.

  • Formative peer reviews: The intention of formative or developmental peer review is to provide the reviewee with feedback on a range of aspects of their teaching or subject that can be used for reflection and improvement
  • Short, targeted formative peer reviews: The intention of a short formative review is to provide feedback on a specific aspect of teaching or a subject, such as design and facilitation of an online learning activity or specific assessment task
  • Summative peer reviews: The intention of summative peer review is to provide evidence about the reviewee's teaching or subject for purposes that involve judgements about teaching, including performance reviews and applications for promotion or teaching awards.

Peer review process

An effective peer review process involves several stages: preparation prior to the review, pre-review briefing, review, debriefing and reporting and post-review action. These stages can be simplified or expanded for different types of review, but are useful in all reviews

Preparation for peer review

Preparation before the review can enable the reviewee to gain more from the process. Preparation should include:

  1. The reviewee informing students that peer review of teaching will be taking place. It's usual to inform students if a reviewer will be observing a face-to-face class but it's also important to advise students about online reviews or reviews of materials that they may have created. This sample student information statement (doc 22kb) can be used or adapted to suit the context.
  2. The reviewee will benefit from firstly thinking about the main purpose of the review and which aspects of their teaching and subject that will be focused on. Completing this briefing template (pdf 78kb) OR briefing template (doc 53kb) prior to meeting with the reviewer was found to be important for a successful review by teachers doing reviews in this project.

The review

Reporting

 

Annotated bibliography

Ten Peer Review Resources

Here are our top ten choices – five books and five papers which are useful for Peer Review of any type. (Please let us know if you have others you think should be here).

BOOKS:

1. Scholarship Assessed: Evaluation of the Professoriate, 1997

Glassick, C.E., Huber, M.T. & Maeroff, G.I., A Special Report on Faculty Evaluation, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, US.

This book has been a key resource for the scholarship of teaching and learning since it was published following the influential ‘Scholarship Reconsidered’, which outlined four realms of scholarship - including the scholarship of teaching. Glassick and colleagues argue that in order to accord teaching the same recognition and rewards as research six standards should be applied: clear goals; adequate preparation; appropriate methods; significant results; effective presentation and reflective critique. Because these qualities of scholarly work are helpful in communicating standards to both reviewers and academics being reviewed (in any type of scholarly activity), they have been used as the basis of the framework developed in this project. There are numerous links to these widely used standards to be found in the literature (see Literature Review), highlighting their value for scholarly peer review in a wide variety of contexts.

2. Making Teaching and Learning Visible: Course Portfolios and the Peer Review of Teaching, 2006

Bernstein, D.J., Burnett, A.N., Goodburn, A. & Savory, P. Anker Bolton, MA, US.

This book has been written based on a four-year project that started in 1994 by University of Nebraska Peer Review of Teaching Project team members as a pragmatic guide to implementing peer review using ‘course portfolios’. Their ‘course portfolios’ (either benchmarking or developmental) emphasise teachers investigating, reflecting and systematically working through a defined process to “make visible the intellectual work of teaching”, and what has been documented available to others for online review. Although our project had a different focus (on the process of reviewing with a peer to clarify intentions for teaching, how these worked, reflecting ‘together’) this book along with resources on the website provide an important scholarly resource for reviewing in online environments, as well as many well documented examples and a repository of course portfolios.

3. Peer review of teaching: a sourcebook, 2007

Van Note Chism, N. & Chism, G.W. 2nd edn, Anker Pub. Co., Bolton, Mass, US.

The new edition of this popular book argues strongly for the need to expand the use of peer review, clearly outlining its potential for the improvement of teaching, as well as for recognising and rewarding good teaching. With chapters on different aspects of peer review, it draws on Chism’s experience and expertise to provide a wealth of useful examples from across the US. Some consideration is given to peer reviews in specialised contexts, such as laboratories, studios, and online in this edition and a variety of tools for peer review are provided, including many forms that could be adapted to local contexts.

4. Peer Review of Teaching in Australian Higher Education: A Handbook to support institutions in developing and embedding effective policies and practices, 2008

Harris, K.-L., Farrell, K., Bell, M., Devlin, M. & James, R. (eds), Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne & Centre for Educational Development and Interactive Resources, University of Wollongong, Melbourne, Australia.

This popular handbook developed by an Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) funded project provides a useful scoping resource for those wanting to gain an overview of the peer review ‘landscape’ in Australia. It identifies important considerations for implementation of peer review in programs and institutions, drawing on a national survey of peer review of teaching activities in Australian higher education. The framework developed for peer reviews in this instance sets out principles, potential benefits and required conditions for the successful implementation of peer review within programs. The core aspects of teaching utilised for the ALTC Awards for University Teaching have been suggested in the handbook as a basis for creating criteria for peer reviews. Several useful Australian case studies developed as part of the study are also described.

5. Peer Observation Partnerships, 2005

Bell, M., Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia Inc. (HERDSA)

This Green Guide from the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia is an authoritative and concise guide to collaborative peer observation, based on the long-term work of Maureen Bell in this field. Although this guide does not specifically address peer review in online and blended environments, the best practices described make it particularly useful for those exploring teaching in face to face contexts. It provides a clear outline of useful theoretical frameworks and the process of peer observation, including observation techniques and several templates, for individuals and teams introducing peer review into their practice. The emphasis is on the value of partnerships and purposeful conversations for enhancing teaching the guide is a good resource for those supporting or conducting reviews.

PAPERS:

6. ‘Peer observation of teaching in the online environment: an action research approach’, 2008

Swinglehurst, D., Russell, J., & Greenhalgh, T., Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 24 ( 4), 383-393.

This article specifically considers peer review in online contexts and builds on Swinglehurst’s previous research in this area. The action research project described mapped experiences of peer review and identified the particular opportunities and challenges of online learning environments, as well as the critical differences between peer observation in a face-to-face environment and online learning and teaching. Notable amongst these are both the record and the nature of the online interactions taking place. The authors have developed and implemented a successful peer review process (Peer-to-peer Reflection On Pedagogical Practice) based on their research. They importantly identify the critical success factors for peer review in online contexts. These include: a focus on collaborative reflection (social practice); discussion; flexibility and reflection to enable links to be made between teaching and research. The success of their programme underlines the value of peer review for the empowerment of teachers and the need to ensure ‘sanctioned’ time for academics to be able to consider what counts as good teaching and learning. Drawing on examples, suggestions are provided for quality enhancement ‘portfolios’ (rather than quality assurance) that could provide useful evidence to demonstrate the value of peer review for staff teaching and learning development for institutional purposes.

7. ‘Peer observation - a case for doing it online’, 2008

Bennett, S., & Barp, D. Teaching in Higher Education, 13 (5), 559-570.

In this important article focusing on blended learning environments the authors argue that the increasing role of online learning and quality assurance means professional development for teachers in these environments needs to be addressed. They emphasise that the nature of online and blended environments requires careful reconsideration of many aspects of peer observation (the term used for peer review). Pointing out that exactly what is 'observed' and reviewed, the structure of the review process and expectations of participants are some of the complexities to consider when teaching and learning activities are occurring across online and offline ’sites’. They found that this changes the scope of reviews. The fact that teachers and students are repositioned online, in terms of both time and place creates challenges. At the same time electronic records of learning offer exciting new potential for reviewing prior interactions and ongoing engagements. Therefore, ‘online-ness’ affects what you can ‘see’, how easy it is to understand what is going on, and potentially presents ‘more’ to observe. This may also increase the reviewer’s expectations about what they should consider and become overwhelming. This article emphasises that this still developing field of enquiry much is to still to be explored about exactly how being online changes the peer review process and benefits.

8. ‘A window on our teaching practice: Enhancing individual online teaching quality though online peer observation and support. A UK case study’, 2009

Bennett, S., & Santy, J. Nurse Education in Practice, 9(6), 403-406.

In this follow up article from Shirley Bennett the challenges and possibilities arising from the flexibility of online learning, particularly in terms of time and place are discussed. Using a case study from health practical examples of the authors’ own reciprocal reviews and discussions are provided to demonstrate both the process and outcomes of sharing ‘the new experience of online peer observation’. In electronic environments the reciprocity of peer review is emphasised as particularly valuable, providing much appreciated ‘mutual support’ for online teachers in what can be a very lonely process. The authors point out that such collaboration is invaluable not just for novice online teachers but equally for innovators, offering a ‘window’ into the teaching practice of other early adopting teachers.

9. Beyond the Peer Observation of Teaching, 2009

Gosling, D. & O'Connor, K.M. (eds), SEDA Paper 124, Staff & Educational Development Association, London, UK. 

This SEDA Paper is a valuable update of Goslings established and widely cited work on peer observation (including his Higher Education Academy’s ESCalate project and guidelines (seehttp://escalate.ac.uk/resources/peerobservation/ opens an external site). This update recognises the need to move towards a more flexible ‘collaborative model’ of peer-supported review to facilitate the exploration of a full range of learning and teaching issues: including ‘e-learning’. Differentiation of what he has called the managerial (or evaluative), developmental and peer review models is built upon to emphasise the need to go beyond observing a single “teaching occasion” so that all of the elements that make up ‘teaching’ can be considered and valued. Based around six case studies that outline peer review implementation in different UK university contexts, the volume also has a useful introductory overview chapter where ten guiding principles that are illustrated in these case studies. Each case provides evidence of practice and summaries of ‘lessons learnt’ about what might best work in various contexts. The benefits of providing a flexible framework to enable scholarly, productive and legitimised peer review process are emphasised as a way to reduce the constraints of traditional peer observation sessions and broaden the scope of reviews. The use of peer review for development, discussion and dissemination of ‘best practice’ is also discussed making this publication a useful resource for academic development staff, as well as academics.

10. Supporting the reflective practice of tutors: what do tutors reflect on? 2010

Bell, A., Mladenovic, R. & Segara, R. Teaching in Higher Education, 15 (1), 57–70

This article provides an interesting Australian example of peer observation being implemented specifically for tutor reflection and development. It draws on the work of Bell (2005) and an earlier project (Bell & Mladenovic, 2008) that described a peer observation process of collegial partnerships between tutors implemented in 2005 in a Faculty of Economics and Business. The value of peer observation is well accepted for supporting reflection on teaching, and here the benefits are linked with different types of self-reflection by tutors. The rarely mentioned importance of the affective dimensions of peer observation, and of sharing the process and outcomes of one’s teaching work with peers (both positive and negative) are also discussed.

 

Forms and handouts

The different types of peer review resources you will find elsewhere on this site are all here for ease of downloading:

Preparation for peer review

Formative peer reviews:

Short, targeted formative peer reviews:


Tutors

Summative peer reviews:

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.