Responsibility for Learning: An Inclusive Approach to Learning and Teaching Evaluation in Higher Education

Most university lecturers are required to evaluate their teaching (Cosser, 1998, ) and the most common evaluation tool is a quantitative survey. This type of evaluation provides only one evaluation lens (Brookfield, 1995, ) and this has a bias towards accountability and comparability. There is a need to find more developmental and meaningful models to assess and explore our teaching practice. This research aimed to explore responses to an inclusive peer review model as an additional, or alternative, lesson evaluation process. The study draws on lesson observations and feedback from staff following 20 peer reviews of science lectures conducted at a university in Johannesburg. Lecturers’ comments on the peer review process are collated. This research also draws on two case studies that include students’ engagement with the review process. I argue that rather than being an intimidating ‘inspector’, a peer can provide supportive and collegial feedback, while also giving students the opportunity to mediate their own, sometimes disparate, responses to the learning environment. This process contributes to the development of science students as critical and active participants in a democratic process; it highlights cultural and diversity issues, and promotes collective responsibility (See IOSTE, 2012). Thus some of the goals of international science education communities are aligned with the lecture evaluation.