E. Faculty Peer Observation of Teaching

As part of the current support provided for junior faculty through the Associate Dean’s office, a system of mandatory faculty observations are in place for pre-tenure faculty. Observation(s) in the first year are formative. In subsequent years, observations inform the Third Year Review and Tenure and Promotion (P&T) decisions.

• First year observations by two mentors (formative, constructive feedback only)
•  Second year observation by Department Chair (formal, summative)
• Third year (or at least once before interim review) observation by Associate Dean of Faculty and Academic Affairs. (evaluative memos with candidate’s choice of observation rubric are placed in file for purposes of contract renewal vote)
• Between interim review and year up for tenure, observations by Mentor and current or past Department Chair (evaluative memo with candidate’s choice of observation rubric is placed in file for purposes of contract renewal vote). These observations are reviewed by both the members of the Promotion and Tenure Committee and the tenured faculty who vote on promotion and tenure cases.
  

Tenured associate professors who seek promotion to full professor will be observed twice before going up for promotion, once in the Spring prior to the year up for promotion and once in the Fall semester of the formal P&T process. (In exceptional circumstances, e.g., if someone has a sabbatical that would conflict with such an observation schedule, the candidate can work with the Associate Dean to implement an alternative calendar.) One of the observers will be the Associate Dean and the second an LSOE full professor chosen by the observed faculty member. Ideally, the two visits should be representative of the professor’s range of teaching levels and formats. In each case, the observed faculty member will choose an observation rubric, which will be filed along with an evaluative memo by the observer for purposes of P&T committee consideration. The observation rubric and memos are reviewed by members of the P&T committee snf the tenured, full, professors in the department who vote on promotion.

Non-tenured faculty will be provided the opportunity to visit the classrooms of senior faculty peers who volunteer to be observed.

The LSOE will promote voluntary opportunities for tenured faculty to be observed by peers for the purposes of formative evaluation and improvement of teaching.

Peer observation of teaching by tenured faculty will be promoted by taking account of their efforts as part of faculty service to the LSOE.

The Dean’s Office will sponsor annually, at least one faculty forum or similar community conversation on teaching.

In line with best practices, the observing and observed faculty members will communicate about the observed class(es) at least one time before and after the peer observation.

Established teaching observation rubrics will be made available so that the faculty member can choose among them and modify to guide the teaching observation. These rubrics can be found in the "Lynch School Faculty Resources and Policies" folder on Blackboard Vista.

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