Peer observation: reflecting on a mirror of your teaching

Abstract

This article recounts our experience of peer observation and reflects on the positive and negative aspects of that exercise. Our experience is then compared to that of other scholars in the field of teaching law and some guidelines are provided to assist in the use of peer observation as a reflective tool.

Keywords:

• peer observation
• collaborative model in practice
• how to..,?
• observations and suggestions

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Conor Carroll and Deirdre O’Loughlin of University of Limerick for their support in the Pilot Peer Observation process.

Notes

1. Cosh, J. (1999), ‘Peer Observation: A Reflective Model,’ ELT Journal, 53, 22–27, at p. 24.

2. Gosling, D. (2005), ‘Peer Observation of Teaching,’ Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) Paper 118, p. 14.

3. Ibid., p. 13. Cosh also identifies problems with an imposed model of peer observation, where the process is carried out with ‘a minimum of commitment and reflection’, done more for accountability purposes rather than self‐reflection. In the extreme, she notes that a peer observation system which was linked to pay in Florida collapsed because of union opposition. Cosh, J. (1999), ‘Peer Observation: A Reflective Model,’ ELT Journal, 53, 22–27, at pp. 22–23.

4. Hammersley‐Fletcher, L., and Orsmond, P. (2004), ‘Evaluating our Peers: Is Peer Observation a Meaningful Process?,’ Studies in Higher Education, 29(4), 489–503.

5. Ibid., p. 490.

6. Our experience was with a process introduced on a university‐wide basis, in which we chose to take part; however, this model of peer observation can be introduced at a departmental level, and in a compulsory manner.

7. Pressick‐Kilborn, K., and te Riele, K. (2008), ‘Learning from Reciprocal Peer Observation: A Collaborative Self‐Study,’ Studying Teacher Education, 4(1), 61–75.

8. See Fullerton, H. (1993), ‘Observation of Teaching: Guidelines for Observers and Observed,’ in Observing Teaching, SEDA Paper 79, eds. S. Brown, G. Jones, and S. Rawnsley, Birmingham: Staff and Educational Development Association, for some issues which can arise during the process, questions that should be asked and methods of observation.

9. Cosh, J. (1999), ‘Peer Observation: A Reflective Model,’ ELT Journal, 53, 22–27, at p. 24.

10. Indeed, Race suggests that when giving feedback, one should give three positives for every one ‘could do better’, noting that if people are given too much adverse comment, they can lose track of the important parts of the meeting. Race, P. (2007), The Lecturer’s Tool Kit: A Practical Guide to Assessment, Learning and Teaching, Routledge: London, p. 120.

11. Cosh, J. (1999), ‘Peer Observation: A Reflective Model,’ ELT Journal, 53, 22–27, at p. 24.

12. Pressick‐Kilborn, K., and te Riele, K. (2008), ‘Learning from Reciprocal Peer Observation: A Collaborative Self‐Study,’ Studying Teacher Education, 4(1), 61–75, at p. 74.

13. Bodone, F., Gudjónsdóttir, H., and Dalmau, M. (2004), ‘Revisioning and Recreating Practice: Collaboration in Self‐Study,’ in International Handbook of Self‐Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices, eds. J. Loughran, M. Hamilton, V. LaBoskey, and T. Russell, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 743–784, at p. 774.

14. Fullerton, H. (1993), ‘Observation of Teaching: Guidelines for Observers and Observed,’ in Observing Teaching, SEDA Paper 79, eds. S. Brown, G. Jones, and S. Rawnsley, Birmingham: Staff and Educational Development Association, at p. 77.

15. Hammersley‐Fletcher, L., and Orsmond, P. (2004), ‘Evaluating our Peers: Is Peer Observation a Meaningful Process?,’ Studies in Higher Education, 29(4), 489–503, at pp. 495–497.

16. Higher Education Quarterly, 50(2), 156–171.

17. See Hammersley‐Fletcher and Orsmond (2004), ‘Evaluating our Peers,’ op. cit., for various options for introducing peer observation in departments.

18. Ibid., p. 491.