Abstract
Peer Observation of Teaching has raised a lot of interest as a device for quality enhancement of teaching. While much research has focused on its models, implementation schemes and feedback to the observed, little attention has been paid to what the observer actually sees and can learn from the observation. A multidisciplinary peer observation of teaching program is described, and its data is used to identify the pedagogical aspects to which lecturers pay more attention to when observing classes. The discussion addresses the valuable learning opportunities for observers provided by this program, as well as its usefulness in disseminating, sharing and clarifying quality teaching practices. The need for further research concerning teacher-student relationships and students' engagement is also suggested.

Abstract
This paper considers the problem of scheduling jobs in a permutation flow shop with the objective of minimising total earliness and tardiness. A genetic algorithm is proposed for the problem. This procedure and five other procedures were tested on problem sets that varied in terms of number of jobs, machines and the tightness and range of due dates. It was found that the genetic algorithm procedure was consistently effective in generating good solutions relative to the other procedures.

Abstract
The permutation flow shop scheduling problem is one of the most studied operations research related problems. Literally, hundreds of exact and approximate algorithms have been proposed to optimise several objective functions. In this paper we address the total tardiness criterion, which is aimed towards the satisfaction of customers in a make-to-order scenario. Although several approximate algorithms have been proposed for this problem in the literature, recent contributions for related problems suggest that there is room for improving the current available algorithms. Thus, our contribution is twofold: First, we propose a fast beam-search-based constructive heuristic that estimates the quality of partial sequences without a complete evaluation of their objective function. Second, using this constructive heuristic as initial solution, eight variations of an iterated-greedy-based algorithm are proposed. A comprehensive computational evaluation is performed to establish the efficiency of our proposals against the existing heuristics and metaheuristics for the problem.

Abstract
This paper presents several procedures for developing non-delay schedules for a permutation flow shop with family setups when the objective is to minimize total earliness and tardiness. These procedures consist of heuristics that were found to be effective for minimizing total tardiness in flow shops without family setups, modified to consider family setups and the total earliness and tardiness objective. These procedures are tested on several problem sets with varying conditions. The results show that variable greedy algorithms are effective when solving small problems, but using a genetic algorithm that includes a neighbourhood defined by the sequence of batches of jobs belonging to the same set-up family is effective when solving medium- or large-sized problems. The results also show that if setup times can be reduced a significant reduction in total earliness and tardiness could result.

Abstract
Scheduling jobs on a set of identical parallel machines using efficient heuristics when the objective is to minimize total weighted squared tardiness is considered. Two efficient heuristics and an improvement procedure are presented for the problem. These heuristics and other heuristics are tested using problem sets that represent a variety of conditions. The results show that one of the heuristics consistently performs better than the other heuristics tested. It is also shown how these heuristics can be incorporated into other procedures such as the existing Lagrangian relaxation procedure or meta-heuristics to obtain improved solutions for medium sized problems.

Abstract
This paper considers the problem of scheduling jobs in a permutation flow shop with the objective of minimizing total earliness and tardiness. Unforced idle time is considered in order to reduce the earliness of jobs. It is shown how unforced idle time can be inserted on the final machine. Several dispatching heuristics that have been used for the problem without unforced idle time were modified and tested. Several procedures were also developed that conduct a second pass to develop a sequence using dispatching rules. These procedures were also tested and were found to result in better solutions.