Advancing Peer Observation Processes: Progress, Lessons, and Faculty Development
- Conference
- Location
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Portland, Oregon
- Publication Date
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June 23, 2024
- Start Date
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June 23, 2024
- End Date
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July 12, 2024
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Faculty Development Division (FDD)
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/46527
Paper Authors
Nyna Jaye DeWitt University of Georgia
Nyna, born and raised in Durham, North Carolina, obtained her Bachelor’s degree in General Engineering with a concentration in Biomedical Engineering in 2022 from Wake Forest University. Following her undergraduate degree, she received her Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering with a focus in Immunoengineering from Johns Hopkins University. Nyna has a strong interest in increasing diversity in biomedical engineering spaces and she intends to research this by focusing on inclusive classroom spaces and diversifying research models.
Animesh Paul University of Georgia
Animesh (He/They), originally from India, is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Engineering Education Transformations Institute, University of Georgia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Technology, specializing in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from KIIT University. His research focuses on the complexities of the school-to-work transition, through an asset-based perspective. He is dedicated to promoting inclusive engineering programs, motivated by his strong commitment to equity and social justice. Through his research and advocacy efforts, he strives to remove barriers and create environments where every individual's voice is respected.
John Ray Morelock
University of Georgia
orcid.org/0000-0001-8043-5060
Dr. Morelock is an Assistant Professor of Practice with an emphasis on engineering education research, and the Associate Director of Educational Innovation and Impact for UGA's Engineering Education Transformations Institute (EETI). In addition to coordinating EETI’s faculty development programming, Dr. Morelock conducts research on institutional change via faculty development, with an emphasis on innovative ways to cultivate and evaluate supportive teaching and learning networks in engineering departments and colleges. He received his doctoral degree in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, where he was a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. His dissertation studied the teaching practices of engineering instructors during game-based learning activities, and how these practices affected student motivation.
Abstract
This work-in-progress paper discusses progress and lessons learned for an in-process adoption of peer observation processes in one unit of a College of Engineering. The University Department and Leadership Teams for Action (DeLTA), is an NSF-funded grant with the objective of advancing STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs at the University. Through this grant, The College of Engineering was placed on an Instructional Action Team (IAT) where they worked to target three areas: Self-Assessment to Enhance Student Engagement, Faculty Peer Observation to Enhance Teaching, and Enhancing Assessment Through the Use of Test Blueprints [source]. From the target areas, faculty peer observation has been identified as an area that would be further implemented into specific disciplines at the University’s College of Engineering, and therefore would need additional documentation. Student evaluations have been used to provide feedback to instructors on instructional methods and classroom structure. While this approach has been widely used, it is considered an insufficient approach to development instructional improvement due to the lack of knowledge students have on teaching techniques along with other biases [source]. To address this issue, peer observations are being introduced to provide instructors with feedback from other qualified faculty that can give a more insightful assessment of their teaching.
This study centers on the faculty development process involving peer observation and the lessons learned from the inception to the project's current phase—the finalization of the DeLTA project and initiation of discipline-level adaptation of peer observation procedures. We discuss efforts from DeLTA project teams to develop and pilot teaching-method-specific peer observations protocols, and ongoing progress of a committee to meet leadership’s charge in one unit in the University’s College of Engineering to adopt peer observations more broadly. The overarching project will be a collaborative effort involving the College of Engineering faculty involved in DeLTA and a committee of faculty members from a College of Engineering unit to improve teaching and learning practices. Future observations will consist of attending committee meetings and drawing from existing peer observation models and instruments provided from the home University and other comparable institutions.
This paper will serve as a guiding document for developing and executing a peer observation faculty development model. This is an overview of the process that was used to develop peer observation protocols at the College level, and it has been charged to a committee to develop the protocol at a departmental level.
DeWitt, N. J., & Paul, A., & Morelock, J. R. (2024, June), Advancing Peer Observation Processes: Progress, Lessons, and Faculty Development Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/46527
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