Peer voice allows for instructor evaluations to be more holistic, as instructors are qualified to evaluate teaching elements such as the instructor’s content understanding and course goals. Additionally, peer observers who are involved in the education research community are qualified to evaluate if the instructor is using up-to-date instructional strategies.
Faculty themselves are uniquely able to describe their justifications for teaching goals and course design, their efforts for professional development, the learning outcomes of their students, and their engagement with the scholarship of teaching.
Students can provide feedback on areas such as engagement, clarity, and their satisfaction with the course. They can provide comparisons between courses on difficulty, time required for the course, as well as information about themselves such as their perceived efforts relative to other students or confidence with the content before taking the course. Lastly, they can demonstrate awareness of learning goals and objectives (e.g. critical thinking skills, mastery of the material, ability to work on a team, and engage in independent learning, etc.).