Peer Reviewed Exploration in Teaching

Today, we are sharing a paper published this year entitled “Peer-Reviewed Exploration in Teaching: A Program for Stimulating and Recognizing Innovations in Teaching” by primary author Rahul Simha from George Washington University. In this paper, the author reminds us that in the “academic world driven by student ratings and publication counts, faculty members are discouraged from exploring new pedagogical ideas because exploration takes time and often goes unrecognized.

The paper presents a case study illustrating a model called Peer-Reviewed Exploration in Teaching or PRET. The program provides feedback during all stages of a teaching innovation, including outside-classroom activities, and incorporates a peer review process so that the results can be included for tenure and promotion. PRET is designed to: 1) stimulate teaching innovations, 2) support faculty during the process, 3) recognize faculty efforts, and 4) create an environment for teaching explorations.