Types of feedback

We can obtain feedback on our teaching from different sources - informal and formal.  These include from our own reflective practice, from peers and students. Together, this feedback provides us with evidence of teaching effectiveness and helps us to determine where improvements might be made.

Student feedback 

Examples include questionnaire surveys, interviews, focus groups and informal feedback during classes. Students are considered "cognitive witnesses", fair and reasonable judges about the quality of teaching that they experience. While student evaluation is useful, it has its limitations and data gathered from student evaluation should be triangulated with other forms of evaluation such as self-evaluation and peer review. 

Peer review 

Peer evaluation involves obtaining collegial feedback on the quality of teaching through the teacher inviting constructive criticism of their teaching. Peer evaluation has the potential to provide important insights into teaching practice that cannot be obtained through other sources. The observation typically provides feedback on teaching style and method (as opposed to content) and is usually structured as follows:  

1. Pre-observation discussion in which the observer and the observed meet briefly to agree the aspects of teaching that will be observed;
2. The act of observing and recording what is observed; and
3. The debrief which is carried as soon as possible after the observation and may include oral and/or written feedback.

The FMHS has developed its own resources for peer review.

• See FMHS Peer observation of teaching on the intranet.
• The Faculty maintains a list of staff with experience in peer reviewing teaching which you can also access in the link above.  You may wish to ask one of them to observe your teaching and give you some feedback.

If you want to initiate a peer observation on your own, the University of Auckland provides a template for peer review - Download the template

University policies suggest/require that a beginning teacher should seek peer review of their teaching within the first two years of teaching. Including evidence that your teaching has been reviewed is currently required for people seeking continuation at or promotion to the level of associate professor or professor. 

Self-review and reflection

 Self-evaluation is at the heart of good evaluative practice and a key part of professional reflective practice. Reflecting on your teaching helps to improve students' educational experience and identify areas for professional development. It might also help you to prepare for a performance review and assess your readiness to apply for promotion and continuation. One example of self-evaluation is a reflective journal in which you record your thoughts after teaching events. 

Questions that you might want to consider include:

• Did I meet the aims that I established for my teaching?
• What techniques did or did not work?
• Did the students appear lost at any stage?

You may also want to consider videotaping some of your classes and viewing them at a later stage. Videotaping your teaching could also be used as a resource for your colleagues to view and offer constructive criticism.

University Resources

• Guidelines for Enhancement and Evaluation of teaching and courses: On the University's staff intranet this includes documents on student evaluation and good evaluation practice including guidelines.  
• Resources around evaluation practice: Provided by the Centre for Learning and Research in Higher Education (CLeaR)