Peer Observation Process

Motivation

Formative peer review is the perfect opportunity to re-examine and modify my teaching with the support of my colleagues, through shared understanding of effective teaching approaches. " Dr. Letetia Addison

Image: Table of reflective questions for Peer observation processes.

Source: Cambridge Assessment International Education

Critical friends for insights

Evaluation of teaching is a critical tool to improve teaching accountability, encourage professional development and promote greater collaboration among educators and their peers.
Thus Peer Observation has evolved to provide a measure of feedback to educators from others in the field - a different lens from that of students.
Brookfield (2017) referred to the reflective lenses, and coined the term critical friends for academic peers in the reflective practice cycle.
This feedback is important since it enables me to identify my strengths and improve their shortcomings in the quest for high quality education.

I engaged in peer evaluations with other educators who shared similar backgrounds.

See my reflection on the Peer Observation Process for the insights I gained personally.

Peer Observation Framework: Overview

During my participation in the Certificate in Teaching and Learning Programme (CUTL) at the UWI-STA, I engaged in a Peer Observation Process in April 2023. Critical questions based on Teaching Evaluation Toolkits from the University of Brighton (2014) were used in this Peer Observation Process. They included:

• WHAT do you want to evaluate?

• WHY do you want to evaluate it?

• WHEN is the best time to conduct the evaluation?

• WHO will you get evidence from, and who is it for?

• HOW will you do it and how will you act on the outcome?

I engaged in a meaningful process with my peer observer to provide positive feedback on my current approached and to gain insights on how to improve my teaching skills.

For my reflection on the Peer Observation Process, click here.

Animation: Excerpts of Insights learnt from Peer Observation Process.

Here is a quick overview of the process:

Pre-Observation

I engaged in purposeful conversation with peers about class expectations and context, providing necessary background for the observation.
We examined the course materials used to support student learning

Observation

My peers focused and purposeful inquiry into observable behaviours in the specific class to provide a critical lens for feedback (Brookfield, 2017)

Post-Observation

I participated in a follow-up meeting with my peer observer for discussion and review in a insightful conversation about teaching and learning.

Reflective Summary

We constructed a brief, written analysis with my peer observer on what was learned about teaching and student learning.

Selected Excerpts of the Peer Observation Process Feedback - What do my peers have to say about my teaching?

See a compilation of the feedback I received from my Peer Observers based on a lecture I conducted with postgraduate students in BIOL 6206. Here is feedback from one of my peer observers. To view this feedback in a document format, click here.

New Insights, New Inspiration: My L.E.T.E.T.I.A. Peer Observation Tool

Formative peer review gives instructors opportunities to consider, modify, and reexamine their teaching with the support of their colleagues by using a shared understanding of good teaching. Frequent formative peer review naturally provides an ongoing process that can contribute meaningfully to summative peer review by demonstrating a trajectory of improvement in teaching over time. As part of the One UWI Peer Observers, post completion of the Certificate in Teaching in Learning (CUTL) in 2023, I was inspired to create a Peer evaluation Form to automate the process of Peer Observations in my next course iterations.

I developed a Peer Observation Evaluation Form was developed as a modified version of the Albany Peer Observation (PO) checklist developed by the University of Albany, Canada. It comprised a total of twenty (20) questions. Twelve (12) of which are Likert scale questions ranging from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree, with the remaining eight (8) being open-ended. Three (3) of the open-ended questions were demographic in nature. Feedback was obtained on 19th and 20th April 2023.

It was distributed to three (3) colleagues from the Department of Behavioural Sciences who teach similar courses as a means for evaluation, further improvement and assessment of my teaching practices and techniques. The session was a hands-on, interactive, online 3-hour workshop designed to assist postgraduate students in PSYC 6014 - Advanced Statistics and Research Methods in Psychology, as well as graduate students in other disciplines in the Department of Behavioural Sciences.

Here is the link to this workshop: Postgraduate Quantitative Data Analysis Workshop.
Also, see the Peer Evaluation form: Peer Evaluation - Dr. Letetia Addison

Peer Observation Evaluation Form

Peer Evaluation - Dr. Letetia Addison

My community of Critical friends

Note: Permission was received to use names, pictures and affiliations for this purpose.

Ms. Keisha Samlal

Teaching Assistant, Sociology Unit

Department of Behavioural Sciences

The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine

Ms. Fareena Alladin

Instructor, Sociology Unit

Department of Behavioural Sciences

The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine

Ms. Delia Brito

Part-Time Lecturer, Psychology Unit

Department of Behavioural Sciences

The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine

Selected Excerpts of the Peer Observation Process Feedback - What do my peers have to say about my teaching?

Excerpts from PSYC 6013 - Advanced Statistics and Research Methods for Psychology

Summary of Data-Driven Peer Evaluation Feedback

Quantitative Insights

Here is the graph comparing the average Likert scale ratings for Dr. Letetia Addison across various criteria. The ratings are mapped from "Strongly Disagree" (1) to "Strongly Agree" (5). The consistently high ratings reflect strong positive feedback on my teaching practices.

Qualitative Insights

Here is a word cloud visualizing the key themes from the qualitative responses. The most prominent words reflect the major themes mentioned by the evaluators, such as examples, students, teaching, and engagement, highlighting the focus areas in the feedback.

Theme 1: Teaching Effectiveness in this session

Theme 2: Improvements to Teaching Methods in this session

Theme 3: Exemplary elements from my teaching practice in this session

Theme 4: Feedback on my overall teaching

Key Rating Insights

Qualitative Feedback Themes:

Communicates Purpose: All respondents (3) rated this as "Strongly Agree."
Uses Concrete Examples: Majority rated "Strongly Agree" (2 out of 3), with 1 rating "Agree."
Variety of Activities: Predominantly rated "Agree" (2 out of 3), with 1 "Strongly Agree."
Challenges Students: Consistently rated "Strongly Agree" by all respondents.
Determines Understanding: Mostly "Strongly Agree" (2 out of 3), with 1 rating "Agree."
Fosters Interaction: Predominantly "Strongly Agree" (2 out of 3), with 1 rating "Agree."
Links Concepts: Mostly "Strongly Agree" (2 out of 3), with 1 rating "Agree."
Uses Visuals: All respondents rated this as "Strongly Agree."
Requires Active Participation: Majority rated "Strongly Agree" (2 out of 3), with 1 rating "Agree."
Comfortable Asking Questions: Mostly "Strongly Agree" (2 out of 3), with 1 rating "Agree."
Active Participation: All respondents rated this as "Agree."
Connects Material: Predominantly "Agree" (2 out of 3), with 1 "Strongly Agree."

Qualitative Feedback Themes:

Effective Methods: Positive mentions of my willingness to share knowledge and passion for helping students.
Improvements: Suggestions for speaking more slowly and managing content-packed sessions better.
Elements to Use: Respondents noted interest in incorporating storytelling and engagement techniques I have used to their own teaching practices.
Other Feedback: Additional commendations on my teaching style and encouragement.

Conclusion:

The peer evaluations are overwhelmingly positive, with consistent high ratings in all criteria. Respondents appreciate my clear communication, effective use of examples, and engaging teaching methods. There are minor suggestions for improvement, mainly regarding pacing during lectures. Overall, based on this peer observation process, I am highly regarded by my peers for teaching excellence in the course PSYC 6013 - Advanced Statistics and Research Methods for Psychology .

For more on my teaching, see testimonials from my peers in various disciplines:

Peer Testimonials

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