October 19, 2006
To the Users of this Evaluation Form:
We, the members of the faculty learning community on peer review, have created the attached evaluation form to facilitate the peer review process at Indiana University Kokomo. It is our intention that this evaluation form be used formatively, to help instructors improve their teaching; rather than summatively, or to evaluate the teaching of instructors. We urge that the process of peer review be one tool in a multi-method approach to evaluating teachers when assessment is necessary.
This evaluation form has been constructed to be comprehensive; that is, to encompass all of the behaviors that we believe indicate good teaching. However, because of the comprehensiveness of the evaluation form, we believe that no single instructor will be able to complete each of the points on this evaluation form at the highest level. Additionally, some of the categories may not be relevant to particular content areas or courses. Because of our emphasis on formative review, we believe that the review process should highlight areas on which the instructor can focus his or her attention for improvement.
We intend for the document to be used in a series of meetings between the reviewer and the instructor being evaluated. These meetings should occur prior and subsequent to the in-class reviewing sessions. During these meetings, we suggest that the reviewer examine the evaluated instructor’s syllabus and other pertinent class materials. We also suggest that the reviewer discusses with the evaluated instructor any goals that each party has in completing the evaluation or aspects to which the evaluated instructor would like the reviewer to pay specific attention. Ideally, the reviewer should attend multiple class sessions to seek more diverse information on the evaluated instructor’s behaviors, and to look for improvement.
The faculty learning community on peer review has spent the past year discussing the issue of what good teaching is and how best for peers to review teaching, and this evaluation form is the product of these discussions. We encourage reviewers to discuss with the members of our faculty learning community how to use this evaluation form, or to direct to us your questions and concerns. We intend to provide training in the use of this evaluation form to any who choose to use it. We hope that the general faculty community at Indiana University Kokomo will spend as much time pursuing good teaching as we have.
Sincerely,
- Sharon Calhoon
- Nancy Greenwood
- Nadene Keene
- Marcia Gillette
- Kathy Holcomb
- Dianne Roden