Peer Class Visits, Feedback & Guided Self Assessment

It is well-established that peer observation is an important tool to help develop more effective teaching practices. Benefits are derived both from receiving feedback from peers as well as watching peers teach (Fletcher, 2018; Hendry and Oliver, 2012). CELT is here to facilitate efforts for classroom visits or online course reviews. This reflective process allows you to get formative feedback from a colleague on your teaching and course design using CELT’s informal checklists or validated tools for review of in-person and online courses. Additionally, engaging with CELT in this process can help you our College Teaching Basics or Assessment Teaching Milestones.

Our flow chart provides a visual of the recommended class visit process. Details and links to resources and checklists are provided below.

Class Visit Process

Download an accessible version of our flowchart

Steps in the Class Visit Process

CELT can help facilitate peer observation within or among departments for faculty. CELT professionals can also serve as observers for Graduate Teaching Assistants. You can request help with this process by emailing celt@stonybrook.edu. In cases where CELT is involved in the class visit process, you can earn hours towards our teaching milestones.

Visitors to your class should have sufficient experience with classroom teaching, self-assessment, and/or mentoring others in teaching. Though content knowledge is not necessary, it can help give additional perspective on your specific teaching context. The visitor will need sufficient time to meet initially, conduct the class visit(s), and provide written feedback.
The course instructor should reflect on what aspect(s) of their teaching they are looking to improve, or seek feedback on. Reflection prior to formal observations should include completion of the Teaching Practices Inventory, though this tool can be helpful as part of the informal process as well.

Once you or a peer have decided to conduct a class visit, you will meet briefly to go over the course syllabus and goals for the session. Is there something specific you are looking to improve upon? Are you looking for general feedback? How to be more inclusive? The observer should learn about the course and instructor during this session.

During your initial meeting, you should choose the date(s) of the class visit. Would it be beneficial to visit more than once? If a specific goal for improvement is discussed, or you have a variety of class sessions (lecture vs. group work for example), we recommend more than one visit. You will want to inform your students when your class will have a visitor.
The instructor and the observer should familiarize themselves with the Class Visit Checklists or the validated tool of their choice prior to the class visit. This will make recording notes during the class observation easier.
In order for the instructor to get the most out of a peer observation, the observer should compose a written report based on the checklist items or the validated tool utilized. The report should include the results of the observation, including comments where appropriate. The observer may also choose to add a summarizing paragraph of your overall impressions and recommendations for improvement.
After the report is sent the instructor and the observer should schedule a meeting to debrief. The instructor should review the report and compile any questions they have prior to meeting. This meeting also allows for the observer to elaborate on some recommendations and the instructor to brainstorm new ideas with the observer.
Given that Peer Observation is a tool to develop effective teaching practices, it is important to close the loop by using the report and subsequent debrief discussion to make adjustments to your course and/or teaching approach. This could include modifying lesson materials, making adjustments to the course schedule, building in more formative assessments to gauge student learning, incorporating more active learning strategies to promote student engagement, or even polishing your public speaking skills. You might also choose to integrate feedback from a peer observation with student feedback from Course Evaluations when considering what adjustments to make. We strongly encourage you to use CELT services and resources to help you through this process.

Class Visit Checklists

In-person courses: Qualtrics Version │Google Docs Version
Online synchronous courses: Qualtrics Version │Google Docs Version
Online asynchronous courses: Qualtrics Version │Google Docs Version

Guide to Using CELT's Checklists

Validated Tools

TDOP: The Teaching Dimensions Observation Protocol (TDOP) is a customizable observation protocol that has been extensively field tested as a means to describe what happens in the classroom
COPUS: Adapted from TDOP, the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM or COPUS allows observers to reliably characterize how faculty and students are spending their time in the classroom.
OSCQR: Designed by SUNY, the Online Course Quality Review Rubric (OSCQR) is a customizable and flexible tool for online course quality review.

Additional Resources

Equitable Classroom Practices Observation Checklist