Teaching Observation

Teaching Observation CUNY Mandates, York College Forms and Workflow

CUNY Mandates

Learn about the CUNY mandates for Teaching Observation in the linked Article 18: Professional Evaluation of the PSC CUNY contract and in the Classroom Teaching Observations of Online Courses section of the linked Memorandum of Agreement - PSC CUNY (psc-cuny.org).

Tips for reading and finding answers to specific questions: Open Article 18 and the Memorandum in (the latest version of) the Microsoft Edge browser.  Open the Bing Chat by clicking on the blue "b" icon in the upper right corner. Select the Precise answer style.  Then formulate your question in the “Ask me anything box.” 

Below are some suggested prompts we tested. Feel free to copy and paste. 

• What does the contract say about a post-observation conference?

• According to the section on Classroom Teaching Observations in this Memorandum, who needs to be observed?  

• Please create an exhaustive list of the questions and answers this page provides regarding Teaching Observations. 
  Follow up: Please reformat the list as Q and A. 

• How is the Teaching Observation different for different teaching modalities? 

• Who needs to notify whom, when and for what? 

• Please read the Classroom Teaching Observation section of this page and describe the workflow for each teaching modality. 

Answers are posted in less than a minute.  To check for accuracy, click on the numbers that look like footnotes: this will highlight the sentence in the doc that is the source of the answer. 

York College Teaching Observation Report Form

About

To learn more, click on the screenshot of the Table of Content (TOC) below.

Downloadable Forms

Pre-observation Report Form (Optional)
Download: Pre-observation Form
To be completed by the faculty being observed.

Research demonstrates the benefits of a pre-observation discussion in creating a collegial atmosphere for promoting professional growth. The discussion can take place virtually or face-to-face. It provides an opportunity for the instructor being observed to provide context for the lesson, and for the observer to better understand the faculty’s motives for utilization of a particular pedagogy. 

Teaching Observation Report Form in different formats

Integrated format

Non-Integrated format

Teaching Observation Report Form with 10 Categories only (non-integrated format)
Download: Teaching Observation Report Form (non-integrated)

Appendix only
Download: Appendix
The appendix provides for each of the 10 Categories:

• Rationale 

• Examples of effective practices

• Where to look for evidence (in different teaching modalities where applicable)

• Resources for Professional Development

Teaching Observation Report Form with info from the Appendix embedded in each category (integrated format)
Download: Teaching Observation Report Form (integrated)

Post-Observation Report Conference Memorandum Form
Download: Post-Conference Memorandum Form

Workflow for Online Asynchronous Courses (and Hybrid Courses if needed) 

When the observer needs to be enrolled in Bb:   

1. By the end of the third week of the semester, department chairs or their delegates will complete the linked Teaching Observation Enrollment Request Form.

2. By the end of the fourth week of the semester, the CTLET Bb Support Team will enroll appointed observers as “student” in the course site(s) they are going to observe. Bb User’s availability in course for the observer will be set to “No.”  

3. At the appropriate time Instructors to be observed will change the Bb User's availability in course for the observer to “Yes” by following the steps in the linked How to change user availability in a course tutorial. 

4. At the end of the 48-hour observation period, instructors to be observed will change and re-set the Bb User’s availability in course for the observer to “No” following the same tutorial linked in.  

For Synchronous Online Courses 

Observers need not be enrolled in the course. Instructors to be observed will send a guest link for their session in Collaborate Ultra, Zoom or Teams to the observer.