Faculty are encouraged to seek regular feedback on their teaching. One such method is to ask a faculty colleague to observe your teaching in a live classroom. There are some national models of forms to fill out when observing a class, such as RTOP or COPUS, but we recommend you use this linked form that we developed ourselves. It suggests best practices without being too proscriptive, as other forms may be. Our form is presently written to focus on observer comments, but it can be adjusted if a column for scoring is desired. The form has three sections: a review of documents (including Webcourses), an interview, and the observation itself.
Observations by Faculty Center staff
Another option is to ask the Faculty Center to be the peer observer. Our process begins with an interview about the expected learning goals of the session you selected for the observation, plus a brief syllabus review. Then comes the observation, followed a few days later by a face-to-face debrief.
Some elements to keep in mind:
- It’s best to let students know ahead of time that the visit is coming (and assure them that you are the one being watched, not they, so they can relax and “be themselves” on the day of the visit).
- FCTL will generate two letters to give you at the debrief: a short, formal notification that the visit took place, and a longer document with details about observed best practices and ideas for consideration. These letters are only given to the faculty member directly, and either one can be used as desired. Or one or both could simply be thrown away afterward.
- A highly effective variation of the standard observation is to use the last ten minutes of the observation to usher out the professor, while FCTL staff performs a quick focus group with the students.
- The entire process remains private; FCTL will not inform departments or chairs about any such activities.
- In the spirit of continuous improvement, you may want to be visited by FCTL on another occasion, such as a year later.
Email fctl@ucf.edu if interested in scheduling a visit.
Observations of Fully-Online Classes
For assistance with an observation of a fully-only class, email cdl@ucf.edu to get started.