Documentation:Peer Review of Teaching/Role in tenure and promotion

The quality of one's teaching, along with one's scholarly activity and service, is a key component in any review for tenure or promotion at UBC. According to the Senior Appointments Committee (SAC) Guide, the following principles should inform the summative review of teaching:

3.2.1 Teaching includes all activities by which students, whether in degree or non-degree programs sponsored by the University, derive educational benefit. This may include lectures, seminars and tutorials, individual and group discussion, supervision of individual students' work, or other means.

3.2.2 An individual's entire teaching contribution should be assessed.

3.2.3 Evaluation of teaching should be based on the effectiveness rather than the popularity of the instructor. Indicators of effectiveness include: command over subject matter, familiarity with recent developments in the field, preparedness, presentation, accessibility to students, and influence on the intellectual and scholarly development of students. Consideration shall be given to the ability and willingness of the candidate to teach a range of subject matter and at various levels of instruction.

3.2.4 The methods of teaching evaluation may vary, but will normally include student opinion and peer assessment by colleagues of performance. Other methods may include outside references concerning teaching at other institutions, course material and examinations, the calibre of supervised essays and theses, and other relevant considerations. Please note UBC Vancouver‟s Senate Policy on Student Evaluation of Teaching approved on May 16, 2007 (found online at www.senate.ubc.ca/vancouver/policies.cfm?ID=26).

3.2.5 When the opinions of students or of colleagues are sought, this should be done through formal procedures.

3.2.6 Where a candidate does not have a formal joint appointment but does a significant amount of teaching in another Faculty, the file should include at least a statement from the Dean of that Faculty providing a summary of teaching in that Faculty.

(Source: SAC Guide 2009, pp. 10-13)