There has been a recent increase in attention toward the proper targets of evaluation in science funding policy. Specifically, some claim that we should 'fund people, not projects' to allow for increased autonomy for researchers. Critics argue that this movement unduly opens room for biases against several marginalized groups of scientists. In…

Movement to fully open-access electronic scholarly publication has been hampered by the conflicting interests of universities, private publishers, researchers themselves, and those who fund research. The situation interacts strongly with traditions regarding peer review and the ways in which researchers establish stature within their fields.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the variables that drive the rating within the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) list. The list is used in so many different ways throughout academic research that a better understanding of its component parts is essential. Design/methodology/approach: The 2016 list was used as a base and…

This article reports on one institution's efforts to integrate disparate evaluation procedures for face-to-face, hybrid, and online teaching. The resulting peer review of teaching program brings together all stakeholders involved in formative and summative faculty evaluation through an efficient, scalable model. This model utilizes cross-modal…

Higher education institutions (HEIs), across the globe, have been increasingly applying staff performance appraisals (PA) to ensure good quality educational outcomes, and to meet the requirements of national and international quality assurance and academic accreditation organizations. Staff at the forefront of PA since they are affected either…

Tenure-track/tenured faculty at higher education institutions are expected to teach, conduct research and provide service as part of their promotion and tenure process, the relative importance of each component varying with the position and/or the university. However, based on the author's personal experience, feedback received from several…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the most fair, authentic, and reliable elements to include in a portfolio of faculty work, specifically at teaching-centered institutions. Design/methodology/approach: This paper examines and evaluates relevant literature pertaining to faculty portfolios of work and recommends portfolio formats…

The recruitment and retention of the highest-quality artist educators in colleges and universities is a key element in supporting strong K-12 arts education programs. Artist educators must be expert in at least two disciplines: their art forms and education. However, the peer review processes commonly employed to recommend higher education faculty…

We examine the validity of peer observation of classroom instruction for purposes of faculty evaluation. Using both a multi-section course sample and a sample of different courses across a university's School of Business and Economics we find that the results of annual classroom observations of faculty teaching are significantly and positively…

Higher education faculty's teaching-related activities are often evaluated either for summative (personnel/tenure decisions) or formative (developmental) purposes. Although many faculty members feel they benefit from thoughtful attention to their teaching, other faculty find the peer-review process intimidating, meaningless, or both. The author…

Peer review of teaching (PRT) depicts as many different definitions, processes, rationale and underpinning values as there are participating individuals. This paper reports the activities of one academic department who were forced to address the issues of perceived clarity, value and ownership when faced with an unexpectedly low completion rate in…

This article presents findings from a case study related to the risks associated with the choice of traditional, tenure track faculty to teach online. Education offered at a distance via the World Wide Web is on the rise; so too is the demand for university faculty members who will teach those courses. While traditional academic and professional…

As part of its Andrew W. Mellon Foundation-funded Future of Scholarly Communication Project, the Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) has hosted two meetings to explore how peer review relates to scholarly communication and academic values. In preparation for an April 2010 workshop, four working papers were developed and circulated. They…

This study is an exploratory inquiry into the perceptions of university faculty regarding two forms of teaching evaluations, student evaluations of teaching (SET), and peer observation reports (POR). Which, if either, better assesses the quality of instruction? Who are the real experts in judging teaching quality: peers who are experts in their…

This work examines the use of learner ratings of faculty performance in Polish higher institutions. It is concluded that other sources of information besides students' evaluations should be employed when evaluating teaching, such as: administrator and peer appraisals. The theoretical framework for this brief note is provided by the general idea of…