September 03, 2009
Dear Faculty,
We invite you to take part in the Peer-to-Peer Teaching Program at St. Edward's University!
The Peer-to-Peer Teaching Program was created in the fall of 2007 by faculty at St. Edward's as a purely informal way to bring faculty colleagues into more direct contact with each other's teaching so as to encourage cross-disciplinary dialog about pedagogy on campus. While it is not a mentoring program, not an official faculty evaluation nor a requirement of the schools or the New College, 27 contracted faculty colleagues signed up in 2007-2008 and helped to promote a more robust dialogue about teaching on our campus.
As one past recipient of the University's Distinguished Teaching Award put it, "As a 30 year, veteran teacher, I learned valuable lessons about my teaching. In addition, I picked up some fun ideas" as the Peer-to-Peer Teaching "program afforded me the opportunity to meet a wonderful colleague I might not have met otherwise." Thus, we hope you will take part in the Peer-to-Peer Teaching Program to learn more about the teaching methods of colleagues outside your disciplines, receive feedback on your own teaching, and discuss pedagogy.
The Peer-to-Peer Teaching Program is open to all St. Edward's University
faculty, regardless of rank. Participants will be paired with faculty outside
their disciplines and - as much as possible-outside their departments, schools,
and/or
Each member of the pair agrees to visit at least one of the other's classes and then to meet at least once to provide verbal feedback. Pairs may choose to go beyond the basic requirements of the program by observing each other's teaching more than once or by providing each other with written feedback as well. If you wish, the program is an opportunity to put additional feedback about your teaching in your portfolio, but this is not required as part of the program and cannot be substituted for official observations and evaluations as required by the Faculty Manual. Peer-to-Peer Teaching Program participants may also be invited to share their experiences with their faculty colleagues during on-campus workshops later in the year.
If you are interested in participating in the program, please print and complete the the P2P Teaching Information Sheet and send it to Peer-to-Peer Co-coordinator Alex, Jack or Cory by October 1st 2009. (We have also have placed on-line an observation form used by the Faculty Development Committee (FDC) during their Teaching Award deliberations to suggest observation criteria for your Peer-to-Peer experience.) We will then contact you ASAP about your Peer-to-Peer pair assignment and then leave the rest up to you and your colleague!
Thank you for your interest and let us know if you have any questions.
Alex Barron,
University Programs
alexb@stedwards.edu
512-464-8878
Holy Cross Hall 113
Campus Mail 655
Jack Green Musselman,
Center for Ethics and Leadership; Humanities
jackgm@stedwards.edu
512-428-1026
Andre 109
Campus Mail 1033
Cory Lock,
University Programs
julial@stedwards.edu
512-428-1269
Holy Cross Hall 222
Campus Mail 907
Last update September 16 2009