CSUF Faculty Development Center Peer Observation Process for Professional Development (POPPD) for Classroom or Synchronous Instruction
Overview
The Faculty Development Center has created the Classroom Peer Observation Process for Professional Development (POPPD) to provide guidance for voluntary peer faculty observations. It is not intended to replace any required classroom observations for evaluation purposes. See your Department Personnel Standards and/or Department Standards for Lecturer Faculty for applicable guidance with regard to required classroom observations.
POPPD Downloadable PDF
Download the PDF outlining the four-step voluntary process:
POPPD Feedback Letter Templates
These feedback letters are provided to assist in the creation of a POPPD feedback letter. Please review and use the template that best fits your needs.
Additional Resources
The Classroom Peer Observation Process for Professional Development (POPPD) was primarily adapted from the Critical Teaching Behaviors Framework Observation Report (Barbeau & Happel, 2020), designed by Lauren Barbeau and Claudia Cornejo Happel. Please consider reviewing their Critical Teaching Behaviors document for additional ideas in your observation.
Help Using POPPD
The FDC provides trainings on the use of this tool through FDC workshops. Check our calendar for upcoming dates. We can also provide departmental assistance. In addition, any individuals seeking help can contact the FDC with questions or for guidance.
Problem-Based Learning
Students work in groups to solve realistic problems based on course material. Emphasizing depth of content, PBL improves students’ ability to reason and solve complex problems. As the instructor, you create problems, contextualize them through mini-lectures, and facilitate problem-solving.
Clickers and Related Apps
Clickers and app-based student response systems promote student engagement in many ways. They stimulate discussion and spark new questions. They help you understand when and why students are confused or disengaged and how to fix the problem. The resources here offer both pedagogical and technical support.
Team-Based Learning
This highly structured form of small-group learning requires students to prepare before class and work in teams during class to apply their knowledge to solve significant problems. The process emphasizes reflection, self-evaluation, and peer-evaluation. Mini-lectures target student misconceptions prior to team problem-solving.
Other Technology Tools
Select technologies that support effective teaching by following Chickering and Gamson’s time-tested
7 Principles for Good Practice
. Tools should foster principles like active learning, timely and meaningful feedback, and time on task to help students achieve your learning objectives and outcomes.
High Impact Practices
High-impact practices
are a vital part of CSUF’s curriculum and our strategic plan. They bring about meaningful improvements in students’ academic performance, graduation rates, and retention rates. They are powerful tools that transform students' perceptions of themselves and their ability to apply what they learn in the classroom to make a difference in the real world. Use the resources here to learn more about CSUF’s commitment to high-impact practices and how you can incorporate them into your courses. To learn more about how CSUF is implementing High-Impact Practices,
watch this 5-minute video
.
Prefer to learn more at your own pace? Use our Self-Study Resources on High-Impact Practices .
