Peer Observation of Teaching: Maximizing Benefits

The evaluation model involves a designated senior faculty member who observes and evaluates teaching for the purpose of making high-stakes judgments related to promotion, tenure, or retention (Gosling, 2013). The imbalance in status, the judgmental nature of the teaching observation, and the unidirectional manner in which feedback is provided may compromise the effectiveness of the model as a tool for improving teaching and learning (O'Keefe, 2009).

1. The developmental model involves an educational developer or an expert teacher acting as an observer for the purpose of providing feedback on how to improve teaching and learning. Here, the relationship of the observed to the observed faculty is based on the hierarchy of expertise.
2. The collaborative model involves colleagues who observe each other in a reciprocal process for the purpose of stimulating improvement in teaching and student learning through dialogue, and self and mutual reflection. The relationship between the observer and the observed faculty is based on equality, mutual trust, and respect, and must include confidentiality and the creation of a non-judgmental environment (Hammersley-Fletcher & Orsmond, 2005).
3. The hybrid model combines the formative approaches of developmental and collaborative PO and may be an optimal model (Yiend, et al., 2004). Given that the goal of collaborative PO is to support excellent teaching through dialogue and reflection on evidence-based practices, educational developers have an important role in bringing the complementary discourse of evidence-based instructional practices into the feedback-giving process of collaborative PO.