Redesigning Education For Learning through Evidence and Collaborative Teaching (REFLECT) is a three-year NSF-funded project that leverages theories of institutional change to shift teaching culture toward more student-centered approaches.
In particular, this model supports instructors by building community centered around peer observation. In doing so, the project aligns with Henderson and colleagues’ (2011) three characteristics of effective change efforts:
- it address participant beliefs through structured reflection,
- it involves long-term intervention via a cohort model, and
- it is designed to be compatible with the larger structure within the university.
This talk describes both affordances of and barriers to implementing peer observation, and provides insight into ways to mitigate those barriers.
Biography
Valerie Peterson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Portland. She received her PhD from the University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign and has become increasingly involved in the Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME) community in the past several years.