Faculty Teaching Fellows

Center for Innovation in the Liberal Arts
Faculty Teaching Fellows

The Faculty Teaching Fellows are an ACM-funded cohort of faculty at St. Olaf, Carleton, and Luther Colleges, practiced in peer observation of teaching, who can provide compassionate, low-stakes, formative support for their colleagues’ teaching outside of the context of formal review processes. In doing so, we hope to strengthen teaching cultures and build community at all three institutions. There are many ways to work with Faculty Teaching Fellows – click here to get started.

Why might you sign up to work with a Faculty Teaching Fellow?

If you’ve tried out a new pedagogy during the pandemic and aren’t sure how it’s going – sign up!

If you’re interested in learning from someone outside of your discipline or from another institution – get in touch!

If you’re coming up for review and want to both get some practice at peer observation and see whether your attempts to implement the student feedback you’ve been getting have been successful – we’re here for you!

If you’re a non-tenure-track faculty member who never gets observed – this is for you!

If you’re a senior faculty member who will be observing junior colleagues and you would like the experience of being observed to inform how you observe others – reach out!

Click here to request any of the following services:

Faculty Teaching Fellow observation of your class
Observe a Faculty Teaching Fellow teach their class
Review teaching materials with a Faculty Teaching Fellow
Participate in a Faculty Teaching Fellow-facilitated microteaching practice session outside of class

Once we receive your request, we will try to get back to you within a week connecting you with one of the Teaching Fellows.

We’ve learned that there is no cookie-cutter approach to peer observation of teaching. Peer observation of teaching is most beneficial when everyone involved approaches the process with open-mindedness and curiosity. To be a good observer is to approach the process with a particular mindset. Effective peer observers are…

Humble
Generous
Reciprocal (all participants are learning)
Collegial (no ulterior agenda)
Dialogical
Cheerleaders
Allies

The 2022-2023 Faculty Teaching Fellows are:

Jessica Benson (St. Olaf College)

Chris Calderone (Carleton College)

Vera Coleman (Carleton College)

Fernando Contreras (Carleton College)

Bridget Draxler (St. Olaf College)

Tracey Engleman (St. Olaf College)

Rehanna Kheshgi (St. Olaf College)

Nancy Gates Madsen (Luther College)

Candace Moore (Carleton College)

Holly Moore (Luther College)

Maryna Nading (Luther College)

Anna Peterson (Luther College)

Juliane Schicker (Carleton College)

Kaethe Schwehn (St. Olaf College)

David Walmsley (St. Olaf College)

Center Directors/Program Organizers

Louis Epstein (St. Olaf College)

Kate Elliott (Luther College)

Melissa Eblen-Zayas (Carleton College)

Victoria Morse (Carleton College)

6 St. Olaf Faculty

5 Carleton Faculty

4 Luther Faculty

Over the course of a two-day workshop, the Faculty Teaching Fellows developed peer observation skills, practiced giving and receiving feedback, and reflected on issues of positionality and power. In the hope that our workshop materials might benefit others seeking to strengthen the culture of peer observation at their institutions, we’re sharing some of the readings, worksheets, and peer observation exercises that proved formative for us.

You can use one of these protocols, or combine elements from several, to structure your peer observation experience.

Pre-observation meeting: structure and possible questions

Observation protocols for in-class observation:

COPUS protocol
Seven principles rubric (from Taylor, Garbrick, & Mahan at Penn State)
Observational organizers (from Gleason & Sanger at Yale NUS College)

Post-observation meeting: structure and suggestions for framing feedback (R. Holmgren, Allegheny College) and possible questions.

The University of Toronto Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation has an excellent resource that highlights types of effective questions to ask and avoid.

Fletcher, J. A. (2018). Peer observation of teaching: A practical tool in higher education. The Journal of Faculty Development, 32(1), 51-64.

While you are welcome to read the entire article, our discussion will focus on pages 51-54, which provides an introduction to the literature on peer observation of teaching and reviews the three models – evaluative, developmental, collaborative.

Troisi, J.D. (2020). Summary Version: Potential Biases in Peer Review of Teaching. Colby College Center for Teaching and Learning.

Which types of bias (positive or negative) identified are most consistent with your experiences of peer observation?

Pittman, C. & Tobin, T. (2022). Academe Has a Lot to Learn About How Inclusive Teaching Affects Instructors. Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb 7, 2022.

What are some other examples of the ways in which positionality and embodied authority impact faculty experiences when they employ different pedagogical approaches?

Prompt for Micro-Teaching/Observation/Feedback

In groups of 6 (including organizers), you’ll take turns going through the following process:

Create an order of presentation.
Delegate separate roles for each presentation: 1 timekeeper, 1 designated responder, and 3 “students” who should also be practicing observing using a specific protocol.
In no more than three minutes, the instructor should contextualize what they’re going to do, reflecting on goals and describing one or at most two facets of your teaching/”student” learning that they’d like the observers to focus on.
Do the micro-teaching. The timekeeper sets a 15-minute timer, ideally using a phone timer that actually dings at the 15-minute mark for a hard stop. The timekeeper should give a 5-minute warning, then a 1-minute warning. The micro-teacher is welcome to end before the 15-minute mark.
The timekeeper next sets a 5-minute timer for a period of quiet reflection during which observers can write additional notes, plan out post-feedback discussion, and note any perceived limitations of the particular protocol they’re trying to apply.
Next, the timekeeper sets another 15-minute timer. Now, the designated responder and the micro-teacher engage in a post-observation discussion. The timekeeper and 3 “students” now observe the post-observation discussion, taking notes.
At this point, you can break out of the fiction of the micro-teaching/observation and talk a bit about what you experienced/observed. You can also take a break before the next hour.
At the start of the next hour, you repeat from steps #2 through #7. GOOD LUCK.