Peer review of teaching (PRT) is a process and/or form of evaluation designed to provide feedback to instructors about their teaching. It has been variously defined and is sometimes called “peer observation of teaching.”
Peers may provide feedback on the following elements of teaching:
- Classroom teaching or online teaching
- Teaching materials (i.e. syllabi, assignments)
- Feedback on student work
- Instructor’s written statement of teaching philosophy
- Self-assessment documentation such as a teaching portfolio
Ideally, the peer review of teaching is a reflective and collaborative process in which the instructor under review works closely with a colleague or group of colleagues to discuss teaching. Though the process outlined in this section is uni-directional (i.e., a reviewer giving feedback to an instructor), we highly encourage you to consider a reciprocal peer review process where instructors observe each other’s teaching, reflect on what they learned through the observation, and share feedback as relevant.
Watch our video series aimed to help reviewers and reviewees who are participating in the formative peer review of teaching. The first video is below.
