As colleges and universities seek to raise attention to teaching, peer review offers distinct advantages, especially for faculty eager to reduce classroom isolation and collaborate in improvement. It also presents political and methodological challenges and presumes significantly different roles for faculty in improving quality of student…

If faculty peer review of teaching is to overcome institutional marginalization, its formative and summative components must use rules, criteria, and standards for effective teaching that are agreed upon by faculty in the academic unit. This conversation clarifies expectations for curriculum, teaching, and student learning. Only such a process can…

While frank evaluation of instructional improvement needs is an important element in faculty development, it does not work well in a highly evaluative climate. Developmental and evaluative activities can be integrated effectively with a long-range perspective; when periodic evaluations are required, administration should reward effort without…

In 1993, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte's governing board mandated peer evaluation for nontenured faculty. Participants in the American Association for Higher Education's peer review project feared the mandate would taint efforts to introduce faculty to collegial approaches to peer review. However, negative fallout from the mandate…

Analyzes excellence in teaching, expertise in teaching, and the scholarship of teaching according to the nature and sources of knowledge construction underlying each. Illustrates the differences with practical examples. Asserts that excellence in teaching and the scholarship of teaching are both important but should be recognized and rewarded in…

It is argued that use of a management system can improve faculty productivity through reduction of rivalry and increased teamwork and collaboration. Monitoring of productivity with computers encourages self-competition. The five-stage process is described. (MSE)

While student evaluations of teaching performance can provide useful feedback on faculty, particularly on dimensions of course delivery, there are serious limitations. Bias and distrust are often overlooked in interpreting student ratings. An inappropriate use is in rank-ordering faculty in a department. Student evaluation data must be integrated…

Considers four themes related to peer and post-tenure review of college faculty: (1) post-tenure review as a summative moment in a cycle of formative occasions; (2) the post-tenure period as characterized by flux and change; (3) the post-tenure period as one of crisis in intellectual growth; (4) peer collaboration and review of teaching as…