This literature review summarises the key literature about peer review and good teaching in online learning environments relevant to this project:
‘Peer observation of teaching’ (Bell 2005) is the term that has been widely adopted to describe peers observing each other’s teaching in face-to-face contexts. In the current project, peer observation is differentiated from peer review, which can also take place in face-to-face settings but tends to be a more comprehensive term (Courneya, Pratt & Collins 2008). Another term, ‘peer coaching’ (Huston & Weaver 2008), refers to a process that, although formative, has a focus on ‘instruction’ in particular techniques or models of teaching (Bell 2005) rather than on the mutually supportive relationships of peer observation. This section reviews the literature on peer observation and peer review in face-to-face, online and blended learning environments.