I'd agree with John Cowan in re the issues with respect to videoing...
and the notion of review by senior colleagues at these most challenging
of times does not bode well for good relations in a Department.
One thing that I have attempted is to set up peer *mentor* couples
rather than peer reviewers - with the emphasis on support.
I know that in the LMBS (our Business School) they have clusters of
three - and set annual review goals - for example an overarching target
could be review of your blended learning approach and/or weblearn site...
And within overarching targets, I would get 'the one to be reviewed'
saying what they would like feedback on. Our MALTHE here has really
useful feedback pro forma that could be adapted by any Department...
Where I have seen peer, or other colleague, review 'with teeth' - I have
just seen it cause dissent and resentment - when we need to be building
morale and collegiality...
Best,
Sandra
Dr David Hardman wrote:
> In my School, as in many institutions, we have a system of peer
> observation of teaching, whereby lecturers have one of their lecture
> sessions reviewed by a colleague. However, the management of this has
> thrown up some difficulties. At one time, we had a small group of senior
> staff who did all the evaluations. However, given the size of the School
> this was quite a high workload for the reviewers involved.
>
> In the past year, we adopted a system whereby every lecturer evaluates
> one of their colleagues (and hence is evaluated themselves), and I
> oversee this process. But because people teach at different points in
> the year and need to coordinate with each other when observations will
> take place, it means that I have ended up with a rather onerous task of
> continually monitoring who's done what and when, and issuing reminders
> at various intervals.
>
> Has anyone found a satisfactory method of peer observation that is easy
> to manage?
>
> I am contemplating the possibility of having a technician video 5-minute
> segments of lecturers. These segments would then be distributed for
> review among a small panel of senior colleagues. Those being reviewed
> would also have the opportunity to view the clips of themselves - this
> is, of course, a common learning technique in sports (sportspeople can
> spot errors in their own performance when they view it on film, even
> though they were previously unaware of these). I think such an approach
> would be both effective and take up less time for the lecturers
> involved. I would be interested to know what others think.
>
> David
>
--
Sandra Sinfield
University Teaching Fellow
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Coordinator LDU & LearnHigher CETL www.learnhigher.ac.uk
LC-M10 London Metropolitan University, 236-250 Holloway Road, N7 6PP.
(020) 7 133 4045
www.londonmet.ac.uk/ldu
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