Inter-Institutional Collaboration for the Development of a Local Peer Observation Process to Enhance Teaching

Local peer observation of teaching is considered an important mechanism for instructors to improve the quality and effectiveness of their teaching, but there is an absence of uniformity to establish a best practice for this process in veterinary curricula. The Regional Teaching Academy (RTA) of the Consortium of Western Colleges of Veterinary Medicine is comprised of educational advocates from five western veterinary colleges with a common goal of enhancing the quality and effectiveness of education in veterinary medical curricula. Members of the RTA recognized this deficit in best practices for local peer observation (LPO) and formed a working group called "Local Peer Observation of Teaching." The goal was to meet a critical need for the enhancement of individual teaching skills by using a scholarly approach to develop robust methods for peer observation of teaching. Two rubric-based instruments were developed: one for large-group/didactic settings, and the second for small-group/clinical settings. Each is accompanied by pre- and post-observation worksheets which are considered instrumental to success. Results of a qualitative survey of instrument users' experiences are shared. Both observers and observees view the experiential learning from faculty peer colleagues very positively and the meaningful feedback is appreciated and incorporated by observees. Suggestions for implementation of the peer observation process are discussed, considering strengths and challenges. The purpose of this article is to describe in depth, the development process and output of the efforts of the Local Peer Observation of Teaching working group as a potential best practice guideline for peer observation.