As part of the Faculty Assessment of Teaching Framework, the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
has announced that academic units need to update their peer review guidance during the 2023-2024
academic year. Below are key elements of all unit guidelines.
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Unit peer review guidelines must be consistently applied across the unit and ranks and
clearly communicated to faculty.
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The relevant administrator and the faculty member being reviewed should collaborate to choose
reviewers, with the administrator making the final decision.
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Faculty under review should have the opportunity to submit names of potential reviewers.
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Reviewers may be selected inside or outside the unit, and the unit should outline the need
for discipline expertise across reviewers.
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The faculty member under review can reject a proposed reviewer after consultation with their administrator.
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Penn State's research-based Elements of
Effective Teaching should serve as a foundation for the peer review of teaching.
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Units will determine which sources of assessment will be used and how these sources will be reviewed.
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The content of each evaluation should include only evidence-based observations. That is, the assessment (i.e., evaluations and
conclusions should be tied to corresponding evidence).
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Summative peer review of teaching ideally consists of more than one source
of assessment that may or may not include course observation.
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If course observation is an element of a unit’s peer review guidelines,
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Units should have guidelines for reviewing courses in a variety
of delivery modes (e.g., hybrid, in-person, online).
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Units should make clear what constitutes a course observation.
If you would like to discuss Peer Review with a SITE faculty member, please reach out to any of the
consultants or email SITE@psu.edu