Peer Observation Program

A new resource for Rutgers teaching assistants is the Peer Observation Program, or POP. The program is an initiative of the TA Liaison Committee, an interdisciplinary group that meets regularly to discuss TA issues and concerns and to provide formal and informal suggestions concerning programs and resources that would be helpful to all Rutgers TAs. POP fills a niche between resources already available to many TAs: classroom videotaping (a service offered by TAP) allows instructors to document their classroom performance and review it with an experienced observer. Faculty observation is another common source of pedagogical feedback and is often necessary for professional reasons such as letters of recommendation. And, of course, there are the student evaluations that you receive at the end of every semester. Where POP fits in is as a potentially less stressful complement to these practices, a horizontal mode of evaluation that takes advantage of the specific issues and concerns common to teaching assistants.

POP is structured as a reciprocal peer observation process and would ideally involve a tandem of TAs who watch each other teach and provide each other with feedback. This dyadic model should help to prevent two possible evaluative extremes: the wholly negative critique (e.g. "here, in no particular order, are the thirty-seven things you did wrong") that leaves the target of the evaluation with little more than self-doubt and the uncritically positive response (e.g. "you did a great job - any suggestions I might add would be superfluous") that may provide immediate encouragement but does not allow for the necessary work of self-evaluation. POP evaluators, in anticipation of being on the other end of the observational spectrum, will recognize the reciprocal need for critique that is both honest and constructive.

• Peer Observation Guide (provides an in-depth description of the factors to be considered)
• Peer Evaluation Form (a sheet to help guide the observation process)

(Note: To view these documents you need The Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

Two further points are important concerning this template. First, each section asks peer observers not only to respond to what they have seen in the classroom but also to provide concrete and practical suggestions to the instructor under observation. Second, the template is intended as a flexible guide for structuring one's peer evaluation, not a rigid specification of necessary responses. Indeed, POP participants are encouraged to modify the template to suit their joint needs, or to develop an alternate schema of their own. What the template does point to is the need for a shared paradigm through which POP participants can usefully respond to each other.

While POP is clearly a program that will benefit TAs who are in the same or similar disciplines and/or teach similar courses, it also has the potential for fostering true interdisciplinary interaction. With adequate preparation, a process of reciprocal observation between, for instance, a physicist and a sociologist, could lead to the kind of interdisciplinary exchange that is often celebrated at a theoretical level but less rarely implemented at a pedagogical one. The observer could, in effect, come to the class with an undergraduate's background in the subject matter but with a pedagogical background on par with the instructor and thus offer a unique vantage point for evaluating the effectiveness of the class.

If you have any questions or want more information about POP, contact the TA Project at 932-7747 or tapweb@rci.rutgers.edu

© 2008 The Graduate School-New Brunswick.
Last updated: August 24, 2006.

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