The nature and purpose of all observations and evaluations of a faculty member’s DE course must be made clear, in advance and in writing. The contract should be explicit, for example, in regard to when, how, and for how long supervisors or peer evaluators can have access to a faculty member’s class website. For faculty members teaching any DE courses, failure to have clear language on course observation and evaluation potentially could have a devastating effect.

If contract language for on-campus courses is effective, then a statement that observation and evaluation of DE courses shall follow the same procedures should suffice, but, again, it’s best to have clear language specific to DE courses.