Writing Program Evaluation of Teaching

Reappointment Review

Full-time lecturers up for renewal do not need to initiate the process or complete a dossier. The process of reappointment involves class visits/observations by the director, associate director, or another representative of the Writing Program (e.g., curriculum coordinator, observation committee member) and a review of student course evaluations. The Writing Program also completes annual performance reviews of every full-time lecturer.

Part-time lecturers will be reviewed each semester. Class visits, assessment of course evaluations, course materials, and grading practices contribute to the review. Lecturers who excel will be considered for teaching in subsequent semesters. When deciding on course assignments for part-time lecturers, directors will consider diversification of instructors and topics; an individual instructor’s flexibility in scheduling; an individual instructor’s teaching record and professionalism; and concentration of courses across the program.

Graduate teaching fellows and graduate writing fellows will be reviewed both by their home departments and by the Writing Program.

Student Evaluations

Student evaluations are administered the last week of each term. When preparing your course syllabus, please allot a minimum of 20 minutes from a class period that week for the purpose of administering the evaluations. Instructors should absent themselves from the classroom while students complete their evaluations online. Instructors may review their evaluations a few weeks after course grades have been submitted here.

We all know that course evals are a flawed instrument, and the FIC is working in 2023 to revise the evaluation questions in response to research around best practices and faculty feedback. At the same time, even the existing format can provide useful information about how students experience our instruction. So we ask that you do review your evaluations as you prepare your syllabi for the coming semester.

All faculty (FTL, PTL, and GWFs) are welcome to reach out to one of the directors to discuss the evaluations, which are reviewed as part of our reappointment and promotion processes. Thanks to our new Annual Performance Review timeline, FTLs will also have an opportunity to discuss these during their annual mid-year check-in with a director.

Faculty Response Letters to Student Evaluations

All Writing Program faculty are welcome to submit letters responding to their evaluations.

Our goal is to give you a chance to offer your thoughts and perspectives on your courses, alongside the thoughts and perspectives of your students. For instance, you might use these letters
— to detail unusual circumstances or challenges that may have affected your evaluations in a given course or semester
— to speculate about why you might have received the ratings or comments (positive or negative) that you did — to respond to particular ratings or comments you received
— to reflect on your teaching practices and changes you might make going forward.

Please remember that students have a right to their perspectives and opinions, so long as they are expressed appropriately and respectfully. If you write a response, you should not identify students by name or speculate about the identities of students who wrote specific evaluations.

Your letters of response will become part of your official evaluation record. We will store the responses with the evaluations, and we will send the evaluations and responses together in response to any request for evaluations from the College.

We can accept only one letter per semester per instructor (in other words, write one comprehensive letter, not a separate letter for each course). Please limit your letter to two single-spaced pages (shorter letters are fine too), and include a date. Undated letters will not be accepted. You are encouraged but not required to sign your response letters.

If you wish to submit a letter, you must do so before the end of the following semester.

Participation is entirely voluntary. You are not required to submit responses to your evaluations. Letters should be emailed as PDF files to writing@bu.edu.

Classroom Observations

All faculty will be observed on a regular schedule, per the union contract. Each lecturer will be notified in advance, will have an opportunity to communicate with their observer, and will receive a copy of the formal write-up of their classroom observation, which will be added to their official faculty file. Faculty have the opportunity to respond to the classroom observation report, though this response is not mandatory; after the faculty member has made any response they desire and signed the classroom observation report, it should be submitted to Dan Ivey for inclusion in their faculty folder.

For the past few years, the Writing Program has been revising our classroom observation practices to create a more robust culture of feedback and conversation about teaching. The CTL’s Guide to Peer Review of Teaching is a useful page that outlines this overall approach and the research behind it. Our Observation Committee assists directors in conducting formal observations (with official reports for reappointment/promotion purposes), while our Curriculum Coordinators and the Collaborative Mentoring Initiative continue to provide informal observations and feedback. We encourage all faculty to take advantage of observations when they are offered, and to discuss any concerns promptly with the directors.

Supporting Documents for Classroom Observations

This Mini-Guide for Observations was originally crafted in Fall 2020 and reviewed and adopted by the Faculty Issues Committee in February 2021; it has been slightly revised and simplified since then by the Observation Committee. Both the observer and the faculty member being observed should read the guide and familiarize themselves with its contents before the observation.

Formal Writing Program observations may also use this inventory of effective teaching practices to help the observer structure their notes and discussion.

We also offer a template for the official classroom observation report, complete with a space for the (optional) faculty member’s response, and lines for signatures.