Course characteristics and college students' ratings of their teachers: What we know and what we don't

From showing in a general way that there is room for course context to influence class (average) ratings of instruction, this review proceeds to a search for specific course characteristics that are associated with these ratings. Extant research has centered around five such characteristics: class size, course level, the electivity of the course, the particular subject matter of the course, and the time of day that the course is held. Although statistically significant zero-order relationships do not appear in every piece of research located for review, such relationships are more likely to be found than not for the first four of these characteristics. The associations may not be particularly strong, but rather clear-cut patterns do emerge. Of the studies reporting an association between size of class and class ratings, most find it to be inverse, although several studies show a curvilinear (U-shaped) relationship. Teacher (and course) ratings tend to be somewhat higher for upper division courses and elective courses. Compared to other instructors, those teaching humanities, fine arts, and languages tend to receive somewhat higher ratings. The possible reasons for these relationships are many and complex. A precise understanding of the contribution of course characteristics to the ratings of teachers (and the courses themselves) is hampered by two circumstances. Studies in which relevant variables are controlled are far fewer in number than are the studies in which only the zero-order relationships between course characteristics and ratings are considered. More importantly, existing multivariate studies tend to underplay or ignore the exact place of course characteristics in a causal network of variables.     

The instructor self-evaluation form: Development and validation of an ipsative forced-choice measure of self-perceived faculty performance

An ipsative forced-choice college faculty self-evaluation questionnaire was developed. The instrument was validated by comparing self-evaluation scores to student rating scores and by comparing superior and nonsuperior instructors on the basis of student ratings. Both analyses yielded positive, but modest, indications of validity. Implications are discussed relative to the questionnaire's utility in faculty development activities.     

A two-dimensional analysis of student ratings of instruction

Student ratings of instruction were analyzed in terms of two global factors. One factor, which includes items on advanced planning, presentation clarity, and increased student knowledge, was named pedagogical skill. The other factor taps information about class discussion, grading, and the availability of help and was named rapport. Ratings on the skill factor did not covary with class size or the leniency of the instructor's grading but did correlate with a reasonable external criterion of student learning. Ratings of rapport correlated inversely with class size and directly with average class grade and showed only a weak relationship to the external criterion of student learning. The skill factor showed more interclass stability than the rapport factor. Previous research studies which have examined the reliability and validity of instructional ratings and their relationship to student grades and class size have reported inconsistent findings. These inconsistencies appear to result from an inappropriate unidimensional analysis of ratings which should be examined in terms of two of more separate attitude dimensions.     

Will Teachers Receive Higher Student Evaluations by Giving Higher Grades and Less Course Work?

This study investigated whether mean expected grades and the level of difficult/workload in courses, as reported by students, unduly influence student ratings instruction. Over 50,000 college courses whose teachers used the Student Instructional Report II were analyzed. In addition to the two primary independent variables, the regression analyses included 8 subject area groupings and controlled for such factors as class size, teaching method, and student perceived learning outcomes in the course. Learning outcomes had a large positive effect on student evaluations of instructions, as it should. After controlling for learning outcomes, expected grades generally did not affect student evaluations. In fact, contrary to what some faculty think, courses in natural sciences with expected grades of A were rated lower, not higher. Courses were rated lower when they were rated as either difficult or too elementary. Courses rated at the just right level received the highest evaluations.     

Higher educational impact on student objectives: Longitudinal change in Clark-Trow “educational philosophies”

This study explores the impact of higher education on 3,942 arts and sciences students as measured by change in their freshman and senior ratings of four Clark-Trow educational philosophies: vocational, academic, collegiate, and nonconformist (Clark and Trow, 1966). A repeated measures analysis of variance was applied to each of the four philosophies, controlling for sex, entering year, major, parents' educational background, scholastic aptitude, and academic motivation. As expected from Clark-Trow theory, students showed significant increases in academic and nonconformist philosophies, and decreases in vocational and collegiate philosophies. Relationships between independent variables and freshman-senior change suggested post hoc reinterpretation of the dimensions underlying the Clark-Trow phenotypes: i.e., from identification with the college and involvement with ideas to social interests and academic interests (the latter suggested by Terenzini and Pascarella, 1977).     

Informal interaction and faculty projections of student ratings of the institutional climate

This study employed the Semantic Differential technique to investigate the relationship between informal interaction with students and the accuracy with which faculty members project students' perceptions of the institutional climate at two colleges of Arts and Sciences. When subdivided into nominal categories of high, moderate, and low interactors on the basis of their frequency of informal, out-of-class contacts with students, high interactors were found to project consistently more accurate student ratings of the climate on a bureaucracy factor than low interactors. A similar, though not consistent, relationship was found between high and low interactors on an intellectualism/scholarship dimension.     

Three-dimensional art and sculpture

I am making it BIG (Evan). A secret slide with gold in there (Sydni). Look even a little car could fit in it (Joshua). This is a circle! Round, a tiger jumps through this hoop (Emily). Excitement runs high when children experiment with three-dimensional art projects using paper, boxes and styrofoam.Liz Seelhoff Byrum teaches four- and five-year-olds at a private school in New York City.     

Faculty research involvement and instructional outcomes

Faculty members in the natural-mathematical sciences (N=93) and in the social-behavioral sciences (N=90) were rated on research involvement by department heads and on teaching outcomes by students. Differences in teaching outcomes for members of the two disciplines confirmed several common stereotypes. Those heavily involved in research appeared to establish higher academic standards for students than did the relatively uninvolved, but the two faculty groups generally did not differ on student progress ratings. However, for four of ten criterion measures, a significant interaction occurred. Student ratings were positively related to the degree of research involvement for faculty members in natural-mathematical sciences but negatively related to research involvement on the part of social-behavioral scientists.     

Misconceptions of culture and perversions of multiculturalism

Current practices of multicultural education are based on some unsound conceptions of the nature of culture. Especially unsound is the notion of cultural relativism which claims that it is inappropriate for a given culture to be judged by the standards of other cultures. But all cultures can and should be judged by the standard of how well they allow their members to adapt to the circumstances in which they exist. These circumstances include nature and, increasingly, other cultures. The core error is the belief that cultures are integrated systems, which is based on an organic metaphor which discourages piece-meal criticism and leads to a romantic embrace of the totality of a culture. Rather than fostering an identity with, and celebration of, dysfunctional cultures, multiculturalism should encourage maximum interaction of all elements of a society and the forging of an emergent pluralism.     

Some new approaches to research and development funding

Some new approaches to research and development funding, adopted by the United Kingdom's National Development Programme in Computer Assisted Learning are described. The five-year, £2.5 million National Programme, sponsored by seven Government departments, was set up in 1973 at a time of widespread concern about government R & D funding. The funding strategy of the Programme is described in the hope that it might apply to the funding of other educational innovations. Four unusual features are discussed in detail, the aim of the Programme; the role of the Programme directorate in cooperative funding; the approach to evaluation; and the emphasis on project management.The main aim of the Programme, from which all other policy and management decisions derived, was the institutionalisation of innovation. The Programme directorate, by contrast to the central staff of research councils, was active and interventive in the formulation of policy, the design and selection of projects, and their evaluation. A cooperative approach to funding was adopted which permitted projects to combine national and local interests, in an effort to avoid the over-centralisation of some of the large schools curriculum development projects in the UK and the USA, and the parochialism of some higher education research funding. A major evaluation device used in the National Programme was the midterm evaluation of projects. Projects were step-funded for one or two years in the first instance, with continued funding dependent on the outcome of the midterm evaluation. A further novel feature of the evaluation was the existence of independent educational and financial evaluation. Project management skills were considered important in the Programme, and various techniques were adopted, such as virement, to improve project management and control.     

“Orientation” in Spanish universities

In the present period of change, the Spanish systems of secondary and higher education, too, are confronted with new challenges. People have realized that factors within and outside universities demand the development of effective helping services for students, particularly on the level of orientation. Two different models are described, one that relies on tutors, mainly; the other one employs orientation professionals. The article also describes the skills and the training experiences that are necessary for professionals in orientation services.Facultat de Psicologia i Pedagogia, Universitat Roman Llull     

Course effect vs. teacher effect on students' ratings of teaching competence

The significance of the course effect as well as the teacher effect on the student rating of teaching competence was assessed using analysis of variance. The results show that the significance of the former is quite considerable.     

Can Mathematics Education and History of Mathematics Coexist?

Despite the wide interest in combining mathematics education and the history of mathematics, there are grave and fundamental problems in this effort. The main difficulty is that while one wants to see historical topics in the classroom or an historical approach in teaching, the commitment to teach the modern mathematics and modern mathematical techniques necessary in thepure and applied sciences forces one either to trivialize history or to distortit. In particular, this commitment forces one to adopt a Whiggish approach to the history of mathematics. Two possible resolutions of the difficulty are (1) radical separation – putting the history of mathematics on a separate track from the ordinary course of instruction, and (2) radical accommodation – turning the study of mathematics into the study of mathematical texts.     

Beyond a transmission model of communication

Elbers grapples with two persistent issues in psychology: (a) the role of the adult and the child in development, and (b) depictions of competence as context specific or generalized. Elbers' entrenchment in a transmission model of meaning undermines his portrayal of the child as an active participant in development. Furthermore, his characterization of competence as something in the head of the individual hinders his attempts to contextualize competence. We outline a framework informed by Vygotsky, Bakhtin, and others, which depicts both the formation and the functioning of mental processes (or competence) as fundamentally interactive. Mental functions arise in social interactions in which all participants accommodate each other, thus obviating the question of who is active or passive in the interaction. Furthermore, the social interactive origins of mental functioning impose a social context on all competencies. Such a framework facilitates movement away from the dilemmas which Elbers cogently raises.     

A Textbook Case of the Nature of Science: Laws and Theories in the Science of Biology

The two concepts law and theory are among the most important elements of the nature of science. They represent both the tools and products of science itself. Unfortunately, the variable meanings and use of these terms in general discourse and in other school disciplines results in much confusion with respect to their proper application in a science context. The project included the design of a six-part model definition for law and theory based on a review of the literature of the philosophy of science with special reference to biology. These model definitions were then compared with those provided in a range of U.S. secondary school biology textbooks. The majority of all current major U.S. secondary school biology texts were reviewed and analyzed with respect to how the concepts of law and theory were defined and applied, in an attempt to determine whether students and teachers using such texts would gain an accurate impression of these terms and the distinction between them. This study focuses on biology instruction since a life science course is completed as a graduation requirement by virtually all U.S. high school students and as such serves as a widely shared educational experience across the nation. The term law is rarely defined in any text but various laws such as those found in genetics are frequently included as examples. The term theory is frequently defined but with a wide range of completeness of the definitions. Only rarely are theories in biology included as examples.     

From conception to performance: How undergraduate students conceptualise and construct essays

Interviews with forty six undergraduate students enrolled in either first or third year of a Bachelor of Education explored how they conceptualised and undertook an essay writing task. The conceptual structure of their essays was analysed using the SOLO Taxonomy. Comparisons between students who wrote essays of differing levels of complexity revealed that there were major differences between students at every stage of the essay writing process. Compared to students writing essays with simple conceptual structures, students writing more complex essays engaged in processes of reconstruction rather than knowledge telling, put more effort into finding references, used organisational systems for integrating their notes according to topics or themes, built arguments rather than presented information when structuring and drafting their essays, were concerned with improving ideas and arguments as well as mechanics when revising their essays, had a more sophisticated understanding of the concepts underlying the assessment criteria, and expected and received higher grades. The results suggest a developmental process in underlying conceptualisations of both the body of knowledge forming the content of the essay, and the essay writing processes themselves. As such, attempts to improve students' essay writing skills need to shift from a focus on discrete skills to an emphasis on the relationship between students' understanding of the content and their ability to write about it. As part of the writing process, students need help building understandings representing the body of knowledge they are writing about, and this help needs to be geared to their current level of operation.     

Specific spelling disability: Factual or artifactual?

The research reported in this paper attempted to find whether the so called poor spellers who are good readers are indeed good readers or if this impression is misleading. Three college students who appeared to be poor spellers but good readers were tested using a variety of techniques. It was found that the three subjects were indeed inefficient readers who committed numerous errors in reading function words, low frequency and unfamiliar words, and pronounceable nonwords. Not being proficient in the phonological conversion of print, these subjects depend excessively on an orthographic sight reading strategy which hinders accurate reading. There appears to be a trade off between speed and comprehension in reading and by slowing down considerably, the poor spellers but good readers attain an acceptable level of comprehension. It was concluded that reading aloud and spelling involve phonological mediation and, therefore, are not completely dissociable.     

An interview with John Christopher

John Christopher is a well known, prize-winning writer. His adult novelThe Death of Grass was runner-up for the International Fantasy Award when Tolkien'sThe Lord of the Rings won first prize. Similarly his children'sTripods trilogy,The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, andThe Pool of Fire, were all runners-up to the Guardian Award, whileThe Guardians won the Guardian award for 1971. HisSword trilogy, The Prince in Waiting, Beyond the Burning Lands, and The Sword of the Spirits, has been reissued by Puffin in a single volume. Some critics, such as John Rowe Townsend (inWritten for Children), have accused John Christopher of an underlying pessimism, or of male chauvinism. Christopher has not replied to these criticisms. He prefers to let his books speak for themselves. Unlike other writers who keep a high public profile, he has not spoken at conferences on children's literature or published essays which present or defend his point of view.Early in 1983 I wrote to John Christopher. What began as a simple fan letter developed into a series of questions, which he was kind enough to reply to at length: from this correspondence, with John Christopher's agreement, I have compiled the interview which follows.He has published articles on C. S. Lewis's Narnia Chronicles (Cle 25), Patricia Wrightson's Wirrun trilogy, and on aspects of language education. He recently completed a graduate diploma in children's literature.     

Education of the refugee in the United States

Conclusion This historical survey of the educational goals developed on behalf of the immigrant and refugee in America indicates that there has been a complete cycle. The first systematic educational efforts, as we have shown, were aimed at teaching the immigrant the English language so that he would be useful for his tasks in American industry. Then came the period which extended this educational goal by offering instruction in several aspects of acculturation (officially, assimilation, but a concept which has never been put into effect in the history of America's minorities). The post-war period saw the stress on the academic level on the cultural democracy concept; but this ideal has been more academic than practical, and World War II saw no definite evidences of the popular interest in any Americanization program. The recent waves of refugees, bringing in more or less well-educatedindividuals, saw a revival of educational efforts on their behalf; but they differ from the former endeavors in their emphasis on individual education and on instruction in English. The social aspects of acculturation — featuring, in general, the period between World War I and II — have been entirely ignored 1).     

The role of reflection in mathematics learning

Reflective abstraction is central to the theory of constructivism as put forth by von Glasersfeld. In coming to know, persons make major cognitive advances by taking their actions as objects of thought. Leamers move beyond being in the action when they engage in reflection. There are serious limitations in the explain-practice method of instruction and active learning. Performing even self-generated mathematical operations does not have the power which results from reflecting on the activity. Problem-centered learning, an instructional strategy which has been shown to provide rich opportunities for reflection, is examined. The nature of reflection in mathematical activity is also considered.