Student evaluations and the university professor: Caveat professor

Research evaluating student ratings of professors reveals continued controversy. Interpretations of student ratings of professors in terms of face validity are marred by halo affects, the apparent inability of even skilled raters to judge complex behaviors adequately, the salience of personality features in judging tasks, and a host of other variables. Research shows student ratings to be reliable, but design flaws for simple, first order, predictions usually omit the teacher as a cause. Interpretations of research are confusing because of justifications that indiscriminately involve nomological and applied models. Rating scale peculiarities, questionable validity, and scholastic homogeneity lead to diverse professional attitudes towards student opinions of professors, with a learner or consumer emphasis occupying the extremes. Several evaluation schemes are noted along with behaviors that tend to produce favorable student opinions.     

Student evaluations of teaching effectiveness: a Nigerian investigation

An investigation is reported which tests the applicability of two American instruments designed to assess tertiary students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness with 158 Nigerian undergraduates. The scales were found to have generally high internal consistency reliability coefficients, most of the items were seen to be appropriate, and every item was considered of importance by at least some of the students. In addition, all but the Workload/Difficulty items clearly differentiated between good and poor lecturers. Factor analysis found a strong main factor of teaching effectiveness plus a minor factor referring to course workload and difficulty. Further analysis generally supported the convergent and discriminant validity of those scales hypothesized to measure similar or dissimilar components of effective teaching. However, this analysis supported the factor analytic results as more overlap between aspects of teaching skill and enthusiasm was found than has been evident in Western studies. Thus there must be doubt about the cross-cultural validity of a multidimensional model of teaching effectiveness.     

Student evaluations of teaching and courses: Student study strategies as a criterion of validity

Recent developments in higher education are likely to lead to increased evaluation of teaching and courses and, in particular, increased use of student evaluation of teaching and courses by questionnaire. Most studies of the validity of such evaluations have been conducted in terms of the relationship between traditional measures of how much students learn and their ratings of teaching and courses. But there have been few if any studies of the relationship between students' rating of teaching and the quality of student learning, or in how the students approached their learning.For the evaluation of teaching and courses by questionnaire to be valid we would expect that (1) those students reporting that they adopted deeper approaches to study would rate the teaching and the course more highly than those adopting more surface strategies and, more importantly, (2) those teachers and courses which received higher mean ratings would also have, on average, students adopting deeper strategies.In the paper we report the results for eleven courses in two institutions. The results, in general, support the validity of student ratings, and suggest that courses and teaching in which students have adopted deeper strategies to learning also have higher student ratings.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1989 Annual Conference of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australia.     

Educational development units: A cross-cultural perspective

This paper examines the institutionalisation of educational development in universities in Australia, Britain, USA, West Germany and Sweden. Centres for staff, instructional, educational or academic development were established in these countries in the sixties and seventies, following expansion of the higher education systems. But the triggers for the establishment in each country were different, as are the institutional integration of centres and provisions in general. The institutional reward systems in all of these countries favour research performance over excellence in teaching, regardless of whether the universities see themselves as research or teaching centred.In Australia, educational development has been institutionalised to the highest degree; most of the universities have centres with permanent staff, some of whom are tenured faculty with a research and development function. In Britain there has been strong national support for training of university teachers and individual universities are providing this in a larger variety of settings. In the USA institutionalisation has taken many forms. But educational development is also funded on a short term basis, and due to the ample availability of grants there is continuous experimentation and influx of new people. In Germany the original connection between university reforms and educational development centres and the strong research orientation of universities has put these centres into a vulnerable position and limits their effectiveness. In Sweden central legislation provides for compulsory teacher training in the universities, but much of the general educational development work is organised centrally. The importance of educational development is generally acknowledged in these countries, its effectiveness largely accepted in faith.     

Student engagement and departure intention: an Australian university perspective

This study addresses the departure intentions of an Australian university business student cohort that is characterised by high levels of diversity in pre-entry attributes. The study investigates the level of student engagement using the academic and social integration components of the Student Engagement Questionnaire (SEQ) based on Tinto’s model of institutional departure. The results showed that the pre-entry attributes of students such as gender and low socio-economic status, together with first year of study, were not significant in determining student engagement. There were, however, significant differences in departure intention based on student engagement, particularly in terms of interaction with administrative support services and satisfaction with the educational experience. Overall, the findings support the view that institutional efforts to engage business students in the early stages of their studies minimise the risk of departure.     

Confirmatory factor analyses of Chinese students' evaluations of university teaching

Chinese University of Hong Kong students (N = 844) selected a “good” and a “poor” teacher, and rated each using a Chinese translation of the Students' Evaluations of Educational Quality (SEEQ) instrument. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models, based on a 3 × 2 design, were constructed to test the invariance of the SEEQ factor structure across 3 discipline groups (a between‐group comparison of ratings by students in arts, social sciences, and education; in business administration; and in engineering, medicine, and science) and across ratings of good and poor teachers (via within‐subjects comparison). The selected model imposed between‐group invariance constraints on factor loadings, factor correlations, and factor variances across the 3 discipline groups and within‐subjects invariance constraints on factor loadings across ratings of good and poor teachers. The results support the use of SEEQ in this Chinese setting, demonstrating the generality of North American research findings and the usefulness of CFA in this research area.     

Student evaluations of teaching: the impact of faculty procedures on response rates

In the last 10–15 years, many institutions of higher education have switched from paper-and-pencil methods to online methods of administering student evaluations of teaching (SETs). One consequence has been a significant reduction in the response rates to such instruments. The current study was conducted to identify whether offering in-class time to students to complete online SETs would increase response rates. A quasi-experiment (nonequivalent group design) was conducted in which one group of tenured faculty instructed students to bring electronic devices with internet capabilities on a specified day and offered in-class time to students to complete online SETs. A communication protocol for faculty members’ use was developed and implemented. A comparison group of tenured faculty who did not offer in-class time for SET completion was identified and the difference-in-differences method was used to compare the previous year’s response rates for the same instructor teaching the same course across the two groups. Response rates were substantially higher when faculty provided in-class time to students to complete SETs. These results indicate that high response rates can be obtained for online SETs submitted by students in face-to-face classes if faculty communicate the importance of SETs in both their words and actions.     

Framing student evaluations of university learning and teaching: discursive strategies and textual outcomes

Evaluation in higher education is an evolving social practice; that is, it involves what people, institutions and broader systems do and say, how they do and say it, what they value, the effects of these practices and values, and how meanings are ascribed. The textual products (verbal, written, visual and gestural) that inform and are produced by, for and through evaluative practices are important, as they promulgate particular kinds of meanings and values in specific contexts. This paper reports on an exploratory study that sought to investigate, using discourse analysis, the types of evaluative practices that were ascribed value, and the student responses that ensued, in different evaluative instruments. Findings indicate that when a reflective approach is taken to evaluation, students’ responses are more considered, they interrogate their own engagement in the learning context and they are more likely to demonstrate reconstructive thought. These findings have implications for reframing evaluation as reflective learning.     

Stability and correlates of student evaluations of teaching at a Chinese university

This paper examines the stability and validity of a student evaluations of teaching (SET) instrument used by the administration at a university in the PR China. The SET scores for two semesters of courses taught by 435 teachers were collected. Total 388 teachers (170 males and 218 females) were also invited to fill out the 60‐item NEO Five‐Factor Inventory together with a demographic information questionnaire. The SET responses were found to have very high internal consistency and confirmatory factor analysis supported a one‐factor solution. The SET re‐test correlations were .62 for both the teachers who taught the same course (n = 234) and those who taught a different course in the second semester (n = 201). Linguistics teachers received higher SET scores than either social science or humanities or science and technology teachers. Student ratings were significantly related to Neuroticism and Extraversion. Regression results showed that the Big‐Five personality traits as a group explained only 2.6% of the total variance of student ratings and academic discipline explained 12.7% of the total variance of student ratings. Overall the stability and validity of SET was supported and future uses of SET scores in the PR China are discussed.     

Student evaluations of teaching: combining the meta-analyses and demonstrating further evidence for effective use

There is a plethora of research on student evaluations of teaching (SETs) regarding their validity, susceptibility to bias, practical use and effective implementation. Given that there is not one study summarising all these domains of research, a comprehensive overview of SETs was conducted by combining all prior meta-analyses related to SETs. Eleven meta-analyses were identified, and nine meta-analyses covering 193 studies were included in the analysis, which yielded a small-to-medium overall weighted mean effect size (r = .26) between SETs and the variables studied. Findings suggest that SETs appear to be valid, have practical use that is largely free from gender bias and are most effective when implemented with consultation strategies. Research, teaching and policy implications are discussed.     

跨文化背景下的大学英语因“性”施教

大学英语教学要讲究策略,策略的实施则要针对学生的特点。本文讨论了跨文化背景下大学生学习英语的一个重要因素——性别差异,也就是英语学习在男女学生身上所呈现的不同。如何把跨文化交际学与"因性施教"很好的结合起来,成为当前大学英语教学的新课题。     

Student evaluations of teaching: perceptions of faculty based on gender,position, and rank

The current study explores the feelings and thoughts that faculty have about their student evaluations of teaching (SET). To assess the perceptions of SETs, all teaching faculty in one college at a western Land Grant University were asked to complete an anonymous online survey. The survey included demographic questions (i.e. gender; rank such as assistant, associate, and full professor; and positions like non-tenure track, tenure track, and tenured) as well as questions related to faculty's feelings while reading their SETs. While minimal differences were found in responses based on rank or position, several differences were found based on faculty gender. Overall, female faculty appear to be more negatively impacted by student evaluations than male faculty. These gender differences support previous research that suggests males and females receive and react differently to personal evaluation. Resultant suggestions include modifying surveys from anonymous to confidential and offering professional development training for faculty.     

A cross-cultural study of preschool quality in South Korea and Sweden: ECERS evaluations

The aim of the study is to explore cross-cultural similarities and differences in preschool quality in South Korean and Swedish preschools as measured by two national adaptations of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS). The approach adopted is that cross-cultural comparisons of preschool quality are both achievable and of great importance to researchers as well as policy-makers, educators, teachers and parents. The results indicate that Swedish childcare programs rate higher on the entire ECERS and all of the individual subscales. The similarities and differences in preschool quality are interpreted within the socio-cultural context of each country and the respective pedagogical goals for preschool.     

建构主义视域下的大学英语写作教学探析

建构主义理论强调学生在教师指导下,将学生作为中心,让学生对外界信息进行主动加工与理解,而教师是建构之外的合作者与促进者。英语写作教学中充分运用建构主义理论,既彰显教师起的指导作用,又能让学生能主动去进行思考,进而让学生掌握英语写作的基本策略,提升英语写作水平。文章重点探讨了建构主义理论下大学英语写作教学策略。     

IS CHC student surface learner A cross-cultural perspective

In the past decades, the "CH"(Confucian Heritage Culture)learner phenomenon had aroused the interest of sociologists, educators and psychologists. Examination orientation, achievement orientation, use of repetitive learning, synthesis of memorization and understanding, and the use of recitation to bring about sharp focus for better understanding were some of the themes of these researches. This paper will explain what the general paradox of CHC learners is and how cultural difference can affect students' motivation for learning according to Chen and Stevenson's model of cultural influence, and discuss the major misconception of CHC learners' study approach.