General Guidelines for Peer Reviews of Teaching for Tenure and Promotion
A candidate's dossier for tenure and/or promotion includes independent written reviews of the candidate's teaching prepared by three different faculty members, typically colleagues in the candidate's department. These written reviews should be informed by an interview with the candidate, a review of instructional materials used by the candidate, and one or more observations of the candidate's instruction. Reviewers may submit a letter addressing the criteria for effective teaching outlined in the St. Olaf Faculty Manual, a completed Peer Review of Teaching form, or both.
The website for the Office of Evaluation & Assessment includes a variety of materials to support effective peer reviews of teaching. Below are suggestions to assist initiators and reviewers in this component of tenure and promotion reviews.
- The agreed-upon instructional materials should be provided to the reviewers at least one week in advance of the first classroom observation visit.
- Reviewers are encouraged to attend a faculty development workshop, or to review the E&A web materials, on effective classroom observation.
- Reviewers should avoid making classroom visits in the first few weeks of a semester, to give the candidate and his or her students sufficient time to establish their work together.
- Whether as part of the interview with the candidate or in a separate session, reviewers should consult with the candidate prior to visiting a given session to ascertain the objectives of the session(s) to be observed and the role of each session in the course as a whole. Reviewers may request additional information or materials prior to observation.
- Irrespective of its format, the written review should be as concrete as possible, providing specific examples and illustrations from the interview with the candidate, the observation(s) of instruction, and/or the examination of instructional materials.
The following websites provide additional insights on effective instructional practices in higher education:
- "Suggestions for Effective University Teaching" by Jim Clark, Department of Psychology, http://io.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark/acad/teach/effteach.html
- Constructivist Teaching and Learning http://www.ssta.sk.ca/serve.php
- Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) Clearinghouse on Higher Education
- Claxton, C.S., and Murrell, P. H., "Learning Styles" http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1f/9c/d2.pdf
- The Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota , http://www.clcrc.com/
