Welcome to the Tuesday Teaching Tip, an easy-to-implement tool that you can use immediately in your classroom teaching. 

TUESDAY TEACHING TIP: Peer Observations of Teaching

Peer observations of teaching are a valuable practice for building departmental cultures of continuous improvement. As peer observations have become a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) requirement for teaching-track faculty and integrated into Teaching Excellence Standards and Evaluation (TESE) guidelines for many departments, many of us are both receiving and conducting such observations for one another, in some cases for the first time. 

This week, we challenge you to take a moment to schedule an observation that you will either receive or conduct this academic year. 

Here’s one way to do it 

• Reach out to a colleague to request that they observe you, or reach out to the colleague who you have been assigned to observe/be observed by. 
• Schedule a pre-observation meeting between the observer/faculty being observed to set the goals, context, and protocol for the observation. 
• ​​Check with your Chair to confirm if a specific peer observation protocol should be used to guide the observation. 
• If you are conducting an observation, attend the upcoming workshops on Peer Observations of Teaching offered by our Center for Teaching Excellence this week! (details below)

 

DID YOU DO IT?

Let us know how it went. We would love to hear your feedback about how you implemented today’s Tuesday Teaching Tip in your classroom. Click here to fill out our 3-question survey. The survey is anonymous, but if you choose to enter your name, you’ll be entered in a drawing at the end of the quarter to win a new book from Faculty Development!

UPCOMING EVENTS 

• Teaching Observation Workshops: January 13 (in-person only) and January 14 (hybrid)
• Let your students know that we're holding a student-focused AI Listening Session for the AAC&U AI working group on January 14 (flyer attached)
• SCU Classrooms: A Conversation on Teaching Experiences on January 16 
• CAFE: Social Justice in the Academy, Part 2 on January 22

WANT TO READ A LITTLE MORE?

• SCU Digital Resources for Teaching: Peer Observation of Teaching
• Hutchings, P. (1994). Breaking the Solitude of Teaching. Faculty Roles & Rewards, 5(1), 19-25. https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/muj/article/view/19386 
• “Beyond Evaluation: Using Peer Observation to Strengthen Teaching Practices.” Faculty Focus. April 2, 2025.

 

This week’s Tuesday Teaching Tip was prepared by Amy Lueck on behalf of Faculty Development and the Center for Teaching Excellence.

Missed a teaching tip? Read them all here. 

And check out our full calendar of CAFEs and other Faculty Development events.