Teaching Evaluations
2. The Task Force recommends that guidelines be developed and adopted that improve the evaluation of teaching at Pacific.Given that teaching is the primary mission of the faculty at Pacific, it is essential that the evaluation of teaching be more holistic and focus on a broad spectrum of evidence beyond student evaluations.
The process of teaching evaluation should be both formative (with the aim to help the faculty member improve) and summative (with the aim to provide evidence of the quality of teaching for the purposes of promotion & tenure).
The evaluation of teaching should rely on material provided by the faculty member being evaluated (teaching portfolio) and peer evaluation.
Teaching Portfolios
Faculty should keep, and regularly update, a teaching portfolio that includes, at the minimum, the following:
- A self-assessment of teaching including a statement of teaching philosophy (and how it has evolved), discussion of new pedagogies attempted, etc.
- Copies of course syllabi (for all courses over the period of the evaluation)
- Copies of written/oral assignments and samples of student work (from a representative sample of students)
- Copies of exams/exam questions and student answers (where appropriate, from a representative sample of students
Peer Evaluation
Faculty responsible for the evaluation of their peers should include the following in their evaluations:
- A thorough review of the teaching portfolio
- Several classroom visits in both upper and lower division courses, where appropriate (ideally over time rather than just in the evaluation year); where classroom visits could be disruptive, then classes should be videotaped and the tapes reviewed
- Interviews with current and former students