Assessing faculty who design and teach online courses is a complex and often confusing process for department chairs and deans. Yet with the growing number of courses taught online, it is a timely topic. We argue, along with others in the field (Taylor, 2014; Shattuck, Zimmerman, & Adair, 2014), that one way to augment the online teaching assessment process is to integrate peer assessment in a thoughtful and systematic manner. However, as simple as peer assessment sounds, it is a challenging task to implement with faculty. In this article we share a yearlong process that our faculty engaged in while creating a department-level peer assessment model. In addition we outline the salient issues that emerged during this process, along with options for addressing these issues.
Character (Still) Counts: Moral Injury and the Case for Character Education
Many academic leaders remember the Character Counts! initiative from the 1990s and early 2000s. It was visible in schools and youth programs nationwide, emphasizing as core values the Six Pillars
Teresa Maggard Stephens
June 15, 2026
