Describes seven principles for developing a workable system for evaluation of college teaching, and provides both process and decision matrixes for groups interested in building such a system for their own evaluation. Argues that the system must be safe, explicit, manageable, formative, and satisfy environmental demands for accountability and…

Research with 96 undergraduates investigated interpretations of a global-evaluation item common to student evaluation forms. Through narratives and semistructured interviews, students described classroom experiences, beliefs about good teaching, and aspects of the evaluation process that influencing their ratings. The item produced multiple…

Examines military and industrial research on peer assessment and discusses relevance to peer review of college teaching. Gives special attention to practical issues in assessing reliability and validity of peer evaluations, and discusses three characteristics of academic institutions (personal teaching styles/definition of "peer"/nature of…

Examines use of collaborative college faculty peer review for instructional improvement. Establishes rationales for formative evaluation of teaching, peer review in instructional improvement, and comprehensive faculty evaluation that includes peer review. Examines roles faculty might play in assessing colleagues' teaching; describes five methods…

Proposes a broader concept of college faculty peer evaluation, in which perspectives of teacher, learner, and observer are considered. Argues that three basic principles (intention/interpretation, advisement/appraisement, acceptability/accessibility) must necessarily and minimally guide peer evaluation. Presents a four-part, multidimensional peer…

A study at one school of business administration investigated the use, in a survey of graduating seniors, of open-ended questions to elicit information to help evaluate and improve teaching. Student concerns and faculty responses, methodology for textual analysis of student responses, and a comparison of this approach with more conventional…

Although teaching portfolios are now used widely in North American colleges and universities, origins can be traced to an initiative of the Canadian Association of University Teachers in the 1970s. Reasons for development of the teaching dossier are outlined, and the evolution of the concept is chronicled. Some unresolved issues in their use to…

Questions raised frequently by college and university faculty about use of portfolios to document effective teaching are answered. The questions address such issues as how the portfolio is organized, what it should reflect, how and by whom it is used, preparation time, the mentor's role, reliability, subjectivity, maintaining the portfolio's…

After preparing their own teaching portfolios, four Georgia Southern University instructors designed a study to investigate what happens when neither follow-up workshops nor mentoring are provided by the institution. Results indicate that without institutional support, especially mentoring, faculty use teaching portfolios primarily for tenure and…

Drawing on experiences of a Concordia University (Ontario, Canada) task force in considering the teaching portfolio as an instructional evaluation tool, several issues are discussed: the place of teaching in an academic culture; how teaching is and should be evaluated; and possibilities for changing the status quo. Issues in implementation and…

Circumstances leading to 1992 adoption of teaching portfolios for faculty evaluation at the University of Kentucky are outlined, the implementation process is described, and results of a faculty survey following the first round of portfolio development are reported. Despite some obvious difficulties, responses to the portfolio approach were more…

Based on the idea that the skills needed to mentor a college faculty member in development of a reflective teaching portfolio are similar to those a composition teacher uses for student consultation, the process and guiding principles used by one mentor are described. Issues of portfolio organization and sources for objective feedback are also…

Describes the peer observation program developed by faculty at California State University, Dominguez Hills, its structure and adaptations, outcomes, and recommendations for development of formative peer observation programs. The program helps reduce faculty professional isolation by providing an informal structure for discussion of teaching and…

Discusses problems with summative peer evaluation of college teaching, looking at conflicting interests and mixed metaphors of faculty evaluation that obscure its process and principles. Issues related to five kinds of evaluation (judging, critiquing, assessing, appraising, rating) are examined. Argues that peers can contribute to faculty…

At the University of Maryland University College, teaching portfolios are used for professional development of adjunct faculty in continuing education, and for determining annual teaching awards. The faculty development program offers workshops, information packets, and sample portfolios to potential award recipients and other faculty, provides…