‘It’s hard to grow when you’re stuck on your own’: enhancing teaching through a peer observation and review of teaching program

Abstract

Rapid technological and social changes have prompted a strong focus on teaching practices in higher education. Among the assortment of programs and approaches aimed at developing teaching practices, peer review and observation of teaching remain widespread for their efficiency and potential to be transformative. Though such programs are well described in the literature, whether or how they affect practices remains under researched. This study reports on the accounts of past participants-with respect to changes in their teaching practices-in a peer review and observation of teaching program run in the Faculty of Science at a large, research-intensive university. Results from a questionnaire and interviews from several years' cohorts indicate that participants overwhelmingly believed that the program enhanced their teaching practice and that they continued to practice specific teaching strategies developed during their participation in the program. Particular features of the program were associated with its success, such as the role and experience of the 'reviewer' and the review cycle. The program was thought to have changed the perspective of participants in the way they think about teaching.

How Reducing Discomfort Impacts Peer Assessments of Preservice Teachers

“…In particular, peer review of teaching (PRT) involves agents such as peers with the common professional aspiration, teacher knowledge through performance, and a critical discourse through which peers share constructive feedback on teaching performance [46,47]. The present study implements a PRT practice in a university-based teacher education program and examined the relationship between affective components of feedback and level of engagement in the collaborative model of PRT [12,13]. We aimed to illustrate how preservice teachers process information about content, understand the performance of teaching tasks, and foster a sense of trust through participating in the professional practice of feedback sharing.…”

“…The potential benefits of peer feedback on PSTs' teaching are clear: it helps PSTs identify their strengths and areas of growth [12,13], it increases collegiality and helps to shape professional practice [13,14], and more importantly it "helps to clarify some of the ways in which teacher education can model, and influence, the nature of schools as learning communities" [15]. However, more research is necessary to confirm the extent and favorable conditions of critical and constructive peer feedback experiences on PSTs' teaching [16]-i.e., the way peer review of teaching is influenced by personal reflection and interpersonal factors especially when PSTs demonstrated low participation [17][18][19] in peer feedback.…”

revisión descriptiva sobre programas de observación de la práctica educativa

“…Asimismo, los resultados de este estudio confirman la necesidad de conocer el impacto de los programas tanto en el desempeño docente como en el aprendizaje del alumnado de manera específica (Hendry et al, 2021), ya que esta información es especialmente relevante para la construcción de conocimiento educativo (Burgess et al, 2019). Sin embargo, no hemos podido recoger y describir esta información debido a la escasez de programas (18) que han medido y recogido su impacto de manera sistematizada.…”

Engaging science academics with evidence based practices: Use of concept inventories in chemistry and physics across eight universities

“…Generally, the uses of quantitative methods resonate with STEM faculty, who, due to their training, are familiar with the ethos of these approaches. That is, while STEM faculty may not be particularly familiar with the use of survey instruments, the quantitative aspect is more likely to appeal (Hendry, Georgiou, Lloyd, Tzioumis, Herkes & Sharma, 2020;Georgiou & Sharma, in press). Furthermore, White et al, (2015) demonstrate that embedding AL strategies within a teaching professional development program for 45 STEM academics resulted in transformative and persistent change in pedagogical approaches.…”