Teaching Observations for Faculty, Staff, and Postdocs

• Establishing and meeting goals for student learning, including whether your teaching activities and methods are aligned with your stated goals for the course/course session.
• Inclusive teaching techniques, such as number and tone of faculty-student and student-student interactions, how well student voices are incorporated into the classroom, and whether there is equitable distribution of student interactions with faculty.
• Active learning and interactivity, including whether there are opportunities for students to tackle course material in hands-on, reflective, or collaborative ways and whether your questions encourage deeper engagement from students.
• Level of student engagement, such as the type of interactions between students and you and/or their peers and whether students are on task during class or activities.
• The structure and pacing of class, including whether the course content is structured in a logical way, connections are being made to previous and upcoming course content, and students are given an opportunity to process material before moving on to the next topic.
• Use of technologies in class, such as whether the technologies used help or distract from the student learning goals, and whether there are new technologies that might integrate easily into the course.
• General course climate and presentation, such as whether you present an open demeanor, use student names, and can be seen and heard by all students.
• Feedback on a new teaching method, such as a group activity, hands-on exercise, or other active learning strategy you are implementing in your class.

Teaching observations are most effective when conducted once the class has established itself and well before the end of the semester leaving enough time to implement changes.

Yes! You may request a teaching observation for a course delivered in any modality – in-person, hybrid/HyFlex, or online. We will work with you to determine how your CTL consultant will observe your class session – whether in-person, remotely, or they will view a recording of your synchronous session.

We generally recommend that faculty are open with students about the importance of receiving feedback in professional work (including teaching); moreover, participating in this observation service demonstrates to students your commitment to quality teaching. For full transparency, consider letting your students know that a consultant from the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) will be joining your class or that you will be sharing the link to a recorded class session with a consultant to observe you (not them, your students).

Yes! Consultants will request the course syllabus prior to the goal-setting conversation to help them familiarize themselves with the course goals, content, and policies. If you’d like detailed feedback on the syllabus, your consultant can also review the syllabus as an additional component of the teaching observation service.

Our summaries are confidential materials between the CTL staff and our teaching observation clients. CTL staff are not permitted to share these confidential notes with anyone outside the CTL and the client. Our summaries are not intended to serve as formal evaluation or endorsement of teaching for tenure, promotion, retention, or for inclusion in teaching portfolios, and may not be used in this manner.

We’re here to help you! CTL staff support faculty year-round in all matters related to teaching. If you need support implementing the feedback you received during your teaching observation, or just want to experiment with something new, your consultant can help you determine how to make changes that will have the greatest impact for you and your students.