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Peer and Student Evaluation

You are here: Department of English and Philosophy - Handbooks

Peer Observation

Revised (1/96; 12/77)

1. Department members under consideration for renewal, retention, or tenure will be observed by three tenured or effectively tenured members of the department, one the chair, one a Staff Committee member designated by the committee, and the other selected jointly by the chair and the department member to be visited.
2. Tenured Staff Committee members will observe tenured department members. The Staff Committee will appoint observers and divide observation duties as equally as possible.
3. Observers of recently hired department members will visit different courses or sections separately and at different times during the semester when possible.
4. Department members who are required to be observed more than once in a semester should be observed at least once during the first quarter.
5. All observers will review the course syllabus and other materials pertinent to the day's presentation.
6. A consultation between instructor and observer shall take place in the week before the observation.
7. The observer will write a report, using the approved departmental form (see below).
8. A copy of the completed form will be given to the instructor and the original filed in the department office within two class days of the observation. An informal follow-up mentoring session is encouraged.
9. The Staff Committee will have access to colleague evaluations in matters of retention, tenure, and performance ratings.
10. A record should be kept of Staff Committee members who have reviewed the evaluation materials and what portion of the material they have reviewed.

English and Philosophy Department Member Peer Observation Form

(Download a printable version [PDF - requires free Adobe Acrobat Reader])

Department Member Observed__________________________________Date ___________

Course Title ________________________________________________Hour ___________

Observer ___________________________________________________

1. State the purpose of the class hour you observed.
2. Describe the teaching techniques and the content of the class hour you observed.
3. Explain whether the class meeting was appropriate to the course’s overall purpose.
4. Did the instructor display on understanding of the subject? Please explain.
5. Did the students understand the material presented?
6. Did the instructor display an organized approach? Please explain.
7. Did the instructor involve the students in class activities?
8. Describe the rapport between the instructor and the students.
9. What areas of particular strength did you observe?
10. What areas for possible improvement did you observe?
11. Did you observe any serious problem or deficiency?
12. Comment on whether the approach and level of the observed instruction was appropriate for the composition/literature or philosophy program at Stout.

Guidelines for Using Student Evaluations in Decisions Regarding Renewal, Retention/Non-Retention, Tenure/Non-Tenure and Performance

(Revised 7/86; 4/84; 7/76; 3/74)

Recommendations:

1. that the student evaluation forms be used as part of the process of making decisions on renewal, retention, and tenure;
2. that the student evaluation forms be used as only one part of this process, specifically as part of the process of gathering data to be interpreted in light of the departmental criteria dealing with teaching competence and creativity; (however, see qualification to this listed in recommendation 6);
3. that the result of the student evaluations be recognized as being essentially "soft" data (even though they are quantifiable) as opposed to "hard" data;
4. that, consequently, the results of the student evaluations be used solely as one subordinate means of gathering data to be interpreted in terms of departmental criteria determining renewal, retention, tenure, and performance ratings;
5. hat, consequently also, the results of the student evaluations be used solely in a confirmatory fashion in the deter­mining renewal, retention, tenure, and performance ratings in light of departmental criteria;
6. that it be clearly understood that these student evaluation forms do not measure teaching effectiveness (there is no existing student evaluation form that will measure that); rather they measure the extent to which students believe the professor in question is an "ideal" professor. From these results the evaluator might be able to infer that the pro­fessor provides an atmosphere more or less conducive to learning, and then from that he might be able to infer that the teaching is more or less effective, but he must realize that there are rather large inferential leaps from one inference to the next;
7. that the evaluated teachers have access to the results of the student evaluations;
8. that, in order to insure the department member's right to privacy, only the departmental chair, the Staff Committee and the evaluated department member have access to the results of the form. A record should be kept of both the names of Staff Committee members who have viewed the student evaluation materials and what portion of the materials they have viewed;
9. that although only the department evaluation form will be used in the evaluation process, individual faculty may develop and use other questions in conjunction with the core questions for their own purpose;
10. that during the first semester of every third year each full-time faculty/staff member and each academic staff person who has been in the English Department three years or more will be evaluated by three sections; department members teaching less than full-time will be evaluated by all of their sections.
11. that administration and collection of student observations of instruction will be by another department instructor or the department secretary and delivered in a sealed envelope to the department office immediately after the class.

Questionnaire On Teaching

On the front page of the scoring sheet, write your instructor's last name only in the name box. Fill in no other information other than your answers to the questions numbered 1 through 11. Do not put your name on the sheet.

Respond to the following questions by using the following answers:

• A = strongly agree
• B = agree
• C = neutral
• D = disagree
• E = strongly disagree

1. I wanted to take this course.
2. The course challenged me.
3. The tests, assignments and projects focused on the objectives of the course.
4. The instructor holds classes at scheduled times and for the full period. (If you disagree or strongly disagree, please explain on the accompanying green "Questionnaire on Teaching" form.)
5. The instructor hands back papers and tests, A = less than a week, B = between 1 and 2 weeks, C = between 2 and 3 weeks, D = more than 3 weeks.
6. The instructor makes clear and helpful comments on papers and tests.
7. The instructor was well-prepared for class.
8. The instructor was enthusiastic about the subject matter.
9. The instructor was available to help with questions or homework outside of class.
10. As a result of this course, I feel more competent in the subject area.
11. Overall, I consider this instructor to be an effective teacher.

"Green" Questionnaire on Teaching

• Instructor __________________________________
• Course and Section __________________________
• Date ______________________________________

1. What did the teacher do that you found valuable? Please explain.
2. What did the teacher do that you did not find valuable? Please explain.
3. I put a) a great deal of effort into this class; b)a moderate amount of effort into this class; c)not much effort into this class.

Weighting of Student Answer Sheet

(3/6/74)

On the half of the student evaluation form that is machine gradable, the computer will determine the following figures

For each section:

1. The percent of students who marked any one answer on each question;
2. The percent of students who marked any one answer on all questions.

For all sections:

1. The percent of students who marked any one answer on all questions.

FOR EXAMPLE:

For questions 1-11 the computer will determine what percent of students answered "a" to question 1, what percent "b," and so on for all questions. The computer will also determine what percent of students answered "a" on all questions, what percent "b," and so on.