Assessing Online Teaching: A Peer-Review Methodology in a Multidisciplinary Setting

The abrupt transition to online teaching due to Covid-19 has created new challenges for academic learning. Such challenges are further compounded in multidisciplinary programs, where lecturers and students from radically different fields interact with each other. This article addresses the question of how to assess and improve online teaching in a multidisciplinary ecosystem. We present a methodology of teaching evaluation and feedback grounded in a peer-review process, which we created and implemented at the Department of Multidisciplinary Studies at HIT to address both pedagogical challenges, such as the loss of face-to-face communication, and technical challenges, as the use of digital platforms. The methodology consisted of several stages: a focus group of students to understand their perspective; a peer-review process in which colleagues viewed and evaluated online classes of other lecturers; and finally, a survey about the effectiveness the peer-review process. The article describes the methodology, analyzes its qualitative and quantitative results, and offers suggestions for evaluating and improving online teaching, highlighting the importance of active learning and nonverbal communication. We propose that our experience should be useful to academic institutions facing similar challenges of implementing effective online teaching, and particularly, to multidisciplinary ecosystems. (מתוך המאמר)