Criticism is not a Four-letter Word: Best Practices for Constructive Feedback in the Peer Review of Teaching

Suppose a colleague has asked you to provide feedback on an instruction session you have observed, and the session was less than ideal: the instructor was poorly prepared; technical difficulties forced your colleague to improvise; the students did not pay attention, much less participate. In essence, things went wrong. She has asked for your opinion, but you are not sure how to respond. Should you tell your colleague what you really think? What obligation do you have to her? Can you provide honest feedback without causing her to become defensive or hurt? In recent years, the peer review of teaching (or PROT) has become an increasingly important tool for evaluating library instruction. Most PROT programs consist of three components: a pre-observation meeting, the observation of teaching, and a post-observation session. The post-observation feedback session can be especially challenging—for both the observer and the observed. Drawing upon literature addressing the peer review of teaching, the presenters will recommend a set of best practices for providing constructive criticism to fellow instruction librarians. The presenters will then engage the participants in a discussion of how these strategies could be applied with their own colleagues