A new WSU professional-development opportunity for all faculty — the Peer Observation and Co-Mentoring Program — is accepting applications for spring now through Feb. 9.
In addition to the spring WSU Pullman programming, there also will be an additional LIFT Faculty Fellows training open to all WSU faculty which will be hosted on the WSU Vancouver campus in late May 2024. Applications for that will open in January.
Faculty can learn about a new initiative designed to boost scholarly teaching and learning, during a PIT Stops professional development session at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4, over Zoom.
The peer observation program consists of classroom instruction and performing two practice observations with others in the program. In addition, each participant has one of their own classes observed.
Rapid technological and social changes have prompted a strong focus on teaching practices in higher education. Among the assortment of programs and approaches aimed at developing teaching practices, peer review and observation of teaching remain widespread for their efficiency and potential to be transformative. Though such programs are well described in the literature, whether or how they affect practices remains under researched. This study reports on the accounts of past participants–with respect to changes in their teaching practices–in a peer review and observation of teaching program run in the Faculty of Science at a large, research-intensive university. Results from a questionnaire and interviews from several years’ cohorts indicate that participants overwhelmingly believed that the program enhanced their teaching practice and that they continued to practice specific teaching strategies developed during their participation in the program. Particular features of the progra