Peer Observation

The peer observation scheme is designed to sharpen your perspective on teaching, inspire new ideas for your own practice, and encourage reflection on different teaching formats and personalities. It also aims to prompt consideration of how various teaching approaches are perceived by students and what disciplinary teaching cultures exist—and why. Why be observed? Having someone visit your session gives you feedback on your teaching, as well as non-binding constructive suggestions and ideas. Peer observation offers an external, objective view of your session, which can lead to fresh insights and support reflection. It can help avoid “teaching tunnel vision” and encourage you to critically examine your own subject-specific teaching culture. Ideally, invite at least two colleagues so you gain a variety of perspectives.

Objective: Through mutual classroom visits, you will both receive peer-level feedback on your teaching and develop your own didactic eye by providing structured feedback to your observation partners.

Critical Friends: Do you have a good relationship with a colleague in your department or institute? Perhaps you’ve connected with others through our courses? Consider who you’d like to work with on this peer observation. You’re free to choose whether you form a group within the same discipline or adopt an interdisciplinary approach to gain diverse perspectives. You may also choose whether to conduct the peer observation in pairs or in a trio.

Initial Meeting: Together, we will set a date for an initial meeting where we will walk through the observation process step by step and define initial areas of focus. To make scheduling easier, we are happy to hold this meeting flexibly via Zoom.

Flexible Planning: You and your peer group will independently plan the remaining preparation, observation sessions, and follow-up discussions.

Documentation: The peer observation concludes with the writing of a reflective report.

All relevant information, tools for implementation, and further resources on peer feedback will be made available to you in our WueCampus course space after the initial meeting.

Contact: Dr Thorsten Aichele