Observe Your Class

Our instructional consultants use research based methods for observing your class. Many instructors find these observations useful to their growth as teachers, in part because they are completely confidential and can be conducted without any fear of affecting one’s relationships within one’s home department. The general procedure for these observations is:

  1. Arrange a consultation to discuss your goals for the class to be observed and the specific elements of the class that you would like the consultant to focus upon. You can do this by making an appointment or by calling 855–9023.
  2. The consultant will come to the class you designate and take notes on the class. Often these notes will be extensive (10–12 pages) so do not be disconcerted if the consultant seems to be writing a great deal!
  3. A few days after the observation, you will meet again with the consultant to talk about how the class went. The consultant not only serves as a sounding board for your own thoughts, relating those thoughts to the appropriate research on teaching and learning, but also serves to model a beginning learner in your discipline. Often the jargon and tools of a discipline become invisible to the experienced instructor, and the consultant can serve to identify issues of possible concern to beginning learners in the class.