Peer Review of Teaching : A Sourcebook

Peer review, when done well, has been seen to reinvigorate teaching, provide detailed appraisal, and enrich evidence on which decisions about compensation and promotion are made. In this concise, yet comprehensive book, Nancy Van Note Chism offers a framework for the use of peer review; lists the tasks involved in setting up a peer-review program; and provides guidelines, protocols, checklists, and reproducible rating forms for reviewing course materials, classroom performance and non-course teaching activities, such as overall departmental teaching efforts and teaching portfolios. She addresses institution-level issues: policies about peer review; responsibilities of administrators, reviewers, and reviewees; and the components of an effective peer-review system.

The book is offered in the hope that providing examples and forms will not reduce the important work of peer review to mere forms or rigid procedures, but will empower faculty to articulate standards, perform their reviews systematically, and realize that engaging in peer reviews can be an approachable, helpful task. Peer reviews are rooted in the foundational approach of teaching as communal work that opens dialogue, probes assumptions, encourages sharing, and creates a culture that supports and sustains good teaching.

NANCY VAN NOTE CHISM is Director of Faculty and TA Development at The Ohio State University and an adjunct faculty member in the School of Educational Policy and Leadership. Within Ohio State, the coordinates support services for teaching, and teaches research methods and college teaching. She has directed or participated in several major funded projects, including the National Consortium on Preparing Graduate Students as College Teachers (Pew Charitable Trusts), Preparing Future faculty Program (Pew Charitable Trusts), and the evaluation component of the Gateway Engineering Education Program (National Science Foundation). She is past president of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education, and organization of over 1,000 members devoted to improving college teaching.
Chism is the author of 30 edited books, book chapters, and journal articles on teaching and learning in higher education and developing faculty and teaching assistants as teachers, with particular emphasis on multicultural teaching and program evaluation. Chism received his B.A. in English from Fordham University, and M.A.T. in English and Education from Smith College, and Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Leadership from The Ohio State University.