Purposes of peer feedback

One way to deepen reflection is to share thoughts, ideas and practice with peers. Peer feedback as a natural part of good teaching is a process of shared inquiry and dialogue. It is a way of engaging colleagues in scholarly conversations about teaching.

Scholarly conversations, in this sense, are more than informal discussions because they have a goal, a structure and actions to be implemented arising from the conversation. They are two-way exchanges involving participants in collaboration, negotiation, reflection and mutual learning. In such conversations confidentiality, trust and empathy are important. Such conversations also contain many of the elements of a stimulating conversation among friends - active listening, constructive and supportive questioning, positive reinforcement and a mutual feeling which supports each person to describe experience and attend to the feelings generated by their experience.

The choice of a colleague or colleagues to contribute feedback on your teaching is related to whether you consider dialogue, mutual learning and sharing to be possible with that person. If you are beginning a relationship with a colleague or colleagues, a shared discipline background may provide the basis for that relationship. Colleagues from non-related disciplines, a colleague or colleagues with a history of excellence in teaching or a member of an academic or staff development unit may also be involved in peer feedback.

Colleagues are in a position to give feedback on many aspects of teaching. These aspects include:

Curriculum Development including: the extent and currency of knowledge of subject matter as reflected in the unit outline, reading list and other subject materials, appropriateness of objectives and learning outcomes, examination and assessment procedures and availability and access to resources such as texts, or readings or computing facilities.

Teaching Strategies including: the structure of individual sessions, relationship to other sessions, student participation, the amount and type of teacher/student interaction, clarity of presentation/explanations, use of examples or illustrations, use of questions, the teacher's enthusiasm.

Other Teaching Responsibilities including:Availability of the staff member to students out of class time, development of new units or courses, and the use of research on teaching and learning.

Potential value of peer feedback

Developmental peer feedback on learning and teaching is particularly relevant to faculties and individuals (both staff and students) at UC because it:

• Accommodates the full spectrum of university teaching and learning contexts.

Peer feedback has the potential to provide feedback on all key aspects of learning and teaching such as the learning aims and objectives, and the design of curricula, resources and assessment and so makes visible the intellectual work in teaching and unit development. By drawing upon the insight of colleagues, peer feedback is readily adapted to diverse teaching and learning environments, such as clinical, field-based and online teaching.

• Promotes dialogue that benefits each person involved.

Both the giver of feedback and the person receiving feedback benefit from engaging in the process. Engaging in critical reflection on a colleague’s teaching yields insights into an individual’s own practice, while feedback from peers provides a unique perspective on teaching that other evaluation methods may lack.

• Strengthens the teaching culture of the institution.

The processes of peer feedback have the potential to contribute to a collegial academic culture in which critical reflection on teaching is valued and encouraged. Increased communication between staff, within and across disciplines, and enhanced knowledge of the broader curriculum are among the benefits for the immediate academic environment and the institution more broadly.

• Recognises the influence of disciplines on teaching and learning practices.

Central to peer feedback on units and teaching is the exchange of ideas, framed by recognised principles of good teaching practice — practice that is inevitably influenced by the field of study. Individuals’ conceptions and disciplinary perspectives are an inherent characteristic and feature of peer review.

Core principles underpinning developmental peer feedback at UC

Core principles underpinning peer feedback address the purposes, processes and outcomes.

Examples of peer feedback at UC

There is no typical process for peer feedback. Classroom observation is commonly associated with peer feedback, but forms only one type of feedback. Curriculum design, unit outlines, unit content, clinical teaching, fieldwork, online learning interactions and assessment practices can all be the subject of peer feedback. This list is by no means exhaustive — any aspect of teaching practice from design, to delivery, to assessment can be the focus of peer feedback.

The following detailed examples illustrate developmental peer feedback practices at UC:

1. Structured exchanges amongst a group of unit convenors.
2. Structured exchanges between individual colleagues.
3. Guided peer partnerships for new staff.
4. External peer feedback on unit materials.
   
   

For further information

Bell, M. (2005). Peer observation partnerships in higher education. Milperra, NSW: The Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia. UC Library LB1028.25.A8 S1.

Committee for University Teaching and Staff Development (CUTSD), University of Technology Sydney. Peer review for learning about teaching. At: http://www.clt.uts.edu.au/Scholarship/astpm2review.html

Clifford, V., & McCormack, C. (2003). Evaluating your teaching - The lens of our colleagues. Centre for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and Scholarship, University of Canberra.

Flinders University (2007). Peer review of teaching. At: http://www.flinders.edu.au/teaching/quality/evaluation/resources-links-and-references.cfm

Gosling, D. (2002). Models of peer observation of teaching. Learning and Teaching Support Network. At: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/resourcedatabase/id200
_Models_of_Peer_Observation_of_Teaching.rtf

Harris, K-L., Farrell, K., Bell, M., Devlin, M., & James, R. (2008). Peer review of teaching in Australian higher education: A handbook to support institutions in developing and embedding effective policies and practices. November 2008, at: http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/research/teaching/peer_review.html

Harris, K-L., Farrell, K., Bell, M., Devlin, M., & James, R. (2011). Peer Review of Teaching in Australian Higher Education: Resources to support institutions in developing and embedding effective policies and practices. At: http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/resources_teach/feedback/

Michele Scoufis (2009). Peer review of teaching interview. At: http://www.usq.edu.au/learnteach/learnres/vsarchive/mscoufis

University of Otago, Peer review of teaching. At: http://hedc.otago.ac.nz/hedc/etc/Peer-Review.html

University of Queensland, Peer review of teaching. At: http://www.tedi.uq.edu.au/resources/peer-review

Wood, D. (2009). Peer review of online learning and teaching. An ALTC-funded project investigating peer review methods for online teaching. At: http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/peerreview/default.asp
 

|For more information email - Coralie.McCormack@canberra.edu.au|