| Course | NURS 8540 Academic Nursing Faculty Role Development |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 7 |
| Paper type | Peer review of teaching memo |
| Length | About 710 words, 4 pages |
| Format | Memo, APA 7 citations |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 8540 Week 7
Memorandum
To: Assistant Professor, Graduate Nursing Program; copy to Department Chair for the faculty file
From: Peer reviewer, Associate Professor, Graduate Nursing Program
Date: Month Day, Year
Re: Peer observation of NURS graduate pathophysiology, week 6 session on heart failure: two commendations and one recommendation, tied to the department's teaching criteria
Purpose and Status of This Memo
This memo records a peer observation of teaching conducted at the request of the department chair as part of the third-year review process. It will be placed in the faculty member's personnel file and may be read by the promotion committee, so it is written to be useful both to the colleague and to reviewers who were not present. It separates what was observed from what it means, and it ties each commendation and recommendation to the department's published teaching criteria: clear learning outcomes, active engagement, accurate and current content, assessment of learning during the session and a respectful learning environment.
The observation lasted the full 75-minute session, week 6 of a graduate pathophysiology course for nurse practitioner students, on the pathophysiology of heart failure. Twenty-four of twenty-six enrolled students attended. The faculty member and I met for fifteen minutes beforehand to review the session plan and for thirty minutes afterward to discuss it. Peer observation is most useful when it includes this kind of conversation rather than a one-way judgment (Bell & Mladenovic, 2008). Guidance on peer review of teaching recommends a pre-observation meeting, observation against agreed criteria and a written record that describes before it evaluates (Chism, 2007), and this memo follows that sequence.
What Was Observed
Minutes 0-5. The faculty member displayed three learning outcomes on the first slide and read them aloud. The outcomes used verbs such as compare and explain.
Minutes 5-25. A mini-lecture on reduced and preserved ejection fraction heart failure, with two diagrams of ventricular pressure-volume relationships. Students took notes; two asked questions, both answered.
Minutes 25-50. Students worked in groups of four on a case of a 68-year-old patient with worsening dyspnea. Each group was asked to explain two of the patient's findings in terms of the mechanisms just discussed. The faculty member visited each group, asking questions such as what would happen to that pressure if the ventricle stiffened.
Minutes 50-65. Groups reported. The faculty member wrote each explanation on the whiteboard and corrected one group's explanation of peripheral edema.
Minutes 65-75. The faculty member summarized and assigned a reading. No check of individual understanding was conducted before the session ended.
What It Means
Commendation 1, criterion: active engagement. Twenty-five minutes, a third of the session, were spent in structured group work in which students applied mechanisms to a case. The faculty member's questions during group work prompted students to explain their reasoning rather than name answers. This is a strength, and it reflects the department's criterion directly.
Commendation 2, criterion: accurate and current content. The content on ejection fraction categories was accurate and current, and the correction of the edema explanation was precise and respectful. Students were told what was wrong and why, which is the kind of feedback most likely to improve understanding (Hattie & Timperley, 2007).
Recommendation, criterion: assessment of learning during the session. The session ended without a check of whether each student could meet the three outcomes. Group reports show what some students understood, but not all. I recommend adding a brief individual check in the final five minutes, such as one written question matched to each outcome, and using the results to open the next session. This change would take little time and would give the faculty member evidence of learning for her own file.
Discussion With the Colleague
In our post-observation meeting, the faculty member agreed with both commendations and said she had noticed the missing check but had run out of time. We discussed shortening the mini-lecture by five minutes to make room. She plans to try this in week 8 and has invited me to observe again. That follow-up observation will be recorded in a second memo.
Summary for the File
The session met the department's criteria for clear outcomes, active engagement, accurate content and a respectful environment. It partly met the criterion for assessment of learning during the session, with a specific recommendation that the faculty member has agreed to test. This memo describes one session and should be read alongside student evaluations and other evidence in the file, as the department's peer review policy requires.
References
Bell, A., & Mladenovic, R. (2008). The benefits of peer observation of teaching for tutor development. Higher Education, 55(6), 735-752. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-007-9093-1
Chism, N. V. N. (2007). Peer review of teaching: A sourcebook (2nd ed.). Anker.
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112. https://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487
NURS 8540 Week 7 instructions, in plain terms
The Week 7 memo commonly has you write up an observation of a colleague's teaching as it would appear in a faculty file. Two or three pages usually suffice. State the memo's purpose and that it enters a personnel file. Name the criteria you are applying before describing the session. Record what you observed in neutral, time-stamped language, separate from any judgment. Then interpret, tying each commendation and recommendation to a named criterion. Keep recommendations few and specific, since one observation cannot establish a pattern. Describe the post-observation conversation, and close with a summary a committee could read on its own.
How this NURS 8540 Week 7 example is built
The memo header names the recipients, including the chair for the file, and a subject line summarizing findings. A purpose section names five criteria and cites Bell and Mladenovic and Chism on the observation process. An observation section records five time segments, from displayed outcomes to a summary without an individual check. An interpretation section gives two commendations, one citing Hattie and Timperley on feedback, and one recommendation for a written check matched to each outcome. A discussion section records the colleague's agreement and a planned follow-up. A summary for the file states which criteria were met and partly met. Every commendation and the recommendation name the criterion they rest on.
Reading the NURS 8540 Week 7 rubric
Peer review memos are typically judged on clarity of criteria, separation of observation from interpretation, fairness and usefulness to both readers. Criteria credit rewards naming published standards before the session is described. Separation is credited when observations are neutral and time-stamped. Fairness shows in balanced commendations and a small number of specific recommendations. Usefulness to the colleague and to reviewers is judged on whether each could act on the memo. Correct memo format and sources supply the remaining marks. Instructors often mark down memos that mix praise and criticism into general impressions without evidence. Graders also notice whether the memo records the colleague's response, since peer review is meant to be a conversation. Some rubrics reward a planned follow-up observation.
NURS 8540 Week 7 help from the desk
Peer review memos slip when they read as personal impressions rather than evidence tied to criteria. Another weakness is a long list of recommendations from one visit. Some memos forget that they will be read by people who were not present. Others describe the session but never interpret it against standards. Name criteria, record observations neutrally, interpret against each criterion, keep recommendations few and summarize for the file. The desk can draft a peer review memo from observation notes you supply. Write your observation notes during the session in time blocks, since a memo is much easier to write from notes already organized by time. Keep the memo's tone neutral enough that the colleague could read it aloud to a committee without embarrassment.
Get a NURS 8540 Week 7 example written to your instructions
Upload the prompt, the rubric and whatever observation instrument came with them, and a NURS 8540 peer review memo example is sent back with description and interpretation properly split. First one free, inside 24 to 48 hours. What you saw in a colleague's room, and the learners who were in it, we do not reconstruct; the session here is invented.
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NURS 8540 Week 7 questions, answered
Does the memo require an actual observation to be written?
Some sections arrange a real peer visit and others supply a recorded or described session. The example uses a composite one, which lets the writing standard appear in full without anybody's actual teaching entering it. Where you do observe a colleague, the memo structure is identical and only the evidence changes.
Who is the memo addressed to?
The observed colleague, with the review chair or program director copied, which is the arrangement most departments use. That dual audience is the reason the example separates description from interpretation so firmly. A memo written only to a friend reads as informal feedback, and a memo written only to a committee reads as a report behind a colleague's back.
Is a single recommendation really enough?
For one visit, yes, and rubrics rarely reward volume here. A memo carrying several recommendations implies a pattern that one observation cannot establish, which is the overreach graders flag. The example gives one action with a resource attached, and states directly that a single session limits what can be claimed about a colleague's practice.
Where can I find a free NURS 8540 Week 7 sample paper?
The whole peer review memo, from criteria to the summary for the file, is posted here free. A memo written from your own observation notes can be requested.
What recommendation does the NURS 8540 Week 7 memo make?
Adding a brief individual check of learning in the final five minutes, such as one written question for each outcome, and using the results to open the next session.