The evaluation and improvement of teaching in higher education

Four procedures to evaluate teaching (by students, peers, video-recordings, and direct measurements of student learning) and three uses of the evaluation results (improving teaching, personnel decisions, course handbooks) are reviewed in the light of empirical evidence. Special emphasis is placed on the timing and validity of student ratings and the instruments used. Since none of the procedures appear sufficient in and by itself, a multiple indicator approach, especially for personnel decisions, would seem to be the most defensible one.While it is essential to take evidence of teaching effectiveness into account in considerations for tenure and promotion, faculty must also be given opportunities to become professionals as teachers. Higher education units, designed primarily for this purpose, appear to be effective as judged by their clients (the faculty they have served), but have failed to make an impact on the faculty as a whole. What is required now is an institutional commitment to quality instruction, i.e. a departmental policy on the evaluation of teaching and faculty development.Invited keynote address presented at the Third International Conference on Improving University Teaching, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, June 8–11, 1977. An annotated bibliography Evaluation des systèmes d'éducation supérieure produced by L. de Marchi in preparation for this address is available from the author.     

Reconceptualizing the evaluation of teaching in higher education

Trends within higher education in the United States and Canadasuggest that, although there are calls for recognition of teaching as ascholarly activity, teaching is not perceived to be a significant aspect ofscholarly work. Furthermore, policies, procedures, and criteria for theevaluation of teaching in higher education contribute to the marginalizationof teaching within the reward structures of universities and colleges.Evaluation policies, procedures, and criteria tend to (1) emphasizetechnical, rather than substantive aspects of teaching, (2) focus on processrather than outcomes, (3) lack strategic concern for the use of evaluationdata within the institution, and (4) are devoid of the very substancethrough which academics derive a sense of identity – their discipline.Recommendations are offered for evaluating three aspects of teaching:planning, implementation, and results. Within each aspect, conceptualarguments and practical solutions are suggested for establishing criteria,deciding on sources of data, and determining the nature of data that must begathered. The goal is to set in place evaluation policies, procedures, andcriteria that will be perceived as rigorous and credible alongside moretraditional forms of scholarship, while respecting the diversity of contextsand disciplinary identities within universities and colleges. Sevenprinciples for evaluation of teaching are proposed.     

高等职业教育实践教学评价研究

实践教学是实现高职培养目标的重要内容,做好实践教学评价是实践教学不断完善、创新的重要渠道。本文通过分析目前实践教学评价中存在的问题,构建了有效的实践教学评价理论依据和价值取向,制定了评价标准和评价体系的运作规范,从而指导如何进行有效的实践教学评价。     

论高等职业教育教学评价观念的转变

我国高等职业教育一直处于不断发展的道路上,只为培养出更多能适应社会不同需求的高等人才。本文就高职教育教学评价观念的转变,并结合高职教育课堂的教学现状进行分析。     

Building effectiveness in teaching through targeted evaluation and response: connecting evaluation to teaching improvement in higher education

This paper describes the development of a model for integrating student evaluation of teaching results with academic development opportunities, in new ways that take into account theoretical and practical developments in both fields. The model is described in terms of five phases or components: (1) the basic student evaluation system; (2) an interpretive guidance system that helps lecturers understand and interpret their results; (3) a longitudinal reporting system that initiates opportunities for staff to engage in personal and professional development in the context of a learning community; (4) a structured professional development programme that builds a faculty learning community, in which the members utilise extended cycles of evaluation based on (5) a comprehensive evaluation model designed to develop and encourage the collection of evaluation data from a variety of sources concerning the quality and impact of teaching: the teacher; student learning outcomes; student experience; and the teacher’s peers.     

Gender,teaching and academic promotions in higher education

Teaching is increasingly being considered for inclusion in academic promotions in a number of universities. This raises questions about how teaching is appraised in relation to research; and which teaching criteria contribute to promotions outcomes. This article investigates these questions from a gender perspective by statistically analysing the actual promotions outcomes by rank levels at a South African university where teaching and research have been equally evaluated in academic promotions. The findings show that, overall, there was no statistically significant difference in promotions success rates between males and females and that more females achieved excellence in teaching with higher scores than males. Two of the 10 teaching criteria analysed – ‘ongoing study of tertiary education’ and ‘special recognition of teaching’ showed statistically significantly higher scores for females with high effect sizes, pointing to the importance of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in academic promotions for women. This study has implications for closing the gender gap in the senior ranks of universities.     

英国高等教育问责制及其启示

问责制是政府部门及社会机构或个人监督公立高校资源使用情况和效果的一项重要手段,它在英国高等教育管理体制中发挥着重要作用。在“以顾客为中心”的时代,高等学校需要回应各种各样的利益相关者的问责要求。然而,由于不同的利益相关者所提出的利益诉求不同,对各种不同的要求作出回应也给高校带来了不必要的负担。为了解决这一难题,英格兰高等教育基金委员会提出了有效问责的四个原则,并在实践中取得了良好的效果。     

Psychometric quality of a student evaluation of teaching survey in higher education

Student evaluations of teaching (SET) are used globally by higher education institutions for performance assessment of academic staff and evaluation of course quality. Higher education institutions commonly develop their own SETs to measure variables deemed relevant to them. However, ‘home-grown’ SETs are rarely assessed psychometrically. One potential consequence of this limitation is that an invalidated instrument may not provide accurate information for the intended purposes. Moreover, in the absence of psychometric assessment, the students’ voices collected by the SETs often fail to provide insight relative to their intended purpose. The present study evaluates a ‘home-grown’ SET using a Rasch model and confirmatory factor analysis. Our results identified weaknesses in two areas: the rating categories and the number of items used to measure the intended constructs. Suggestions are provided to address these weaknesses. This work provides an additional tool set for critical analysis of SET that is generally applicable for a variety of institutions, including those in Asia.     

Accountability in higher education: The danger of unintended consequences

Higher education in Britain, which until recently had been allowed to conduct its affairs with minimal governmental direction, is now being subjected to increasing pressures resulting from governmental policy decisions, especially regarding public accountability. Such decisions have the effect of substantially changing social systems and frequently lead to unintended consequences, and a number of examples from higher education are given which illustrate this statement. These are analysed by means of a simple model of change. This model is then used to suggest a form of accountability based on a sharing of both power and responsibility between government and universities, which may be expected to reduce the probability of unintended consequences.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Ninth Forum of the European Association for Institutional Research, University of Twente, Enschede, August 1987.     

高校课堂教学质量评价研究文献定量分析

利用统计方法与文献计量学方法,以我国在1996～2006年间出版的高校课堂教学质量评价领域的文献为研究对象,对文献量及发表时间、著者、机构、期刊分布、主题内容等进行定量分析。     

Accountability in higher education: Bridge over troubled water?

This article discusses the impact ofaccountability on higher education policies inEurope and the United States. We describe howthe accountability movement relates to otherpolicy trends in higher education, providingempirical data on how accountability wasimplemented and how academics and managers infour universities perceived these policies. Weclose the article with a reflection on theobserved shift from professional to politicalaccountability that uses `soft' mechanisms thatseem to offer little change in the quality ofeducation in these countries.     

Value conflicts in higher education teaching

This article explores value conflicts that people experience when teaching in higher education, drawing on in-depth interviews with staff from a research-intensive UK university. The article considers the relationship between values and teaching, illustrating how conflicts can occur between individual and different levels of the higher education system. Five value conflicts are then examined related to: dialogic forms of teaching; independent learning; not having enough time for students; large group lectures; and the struggle to be authentic in the classroom. These conflicts were highly personal yet speak to broader concerns within contemporary higher education. Individual responses to conflict varied. Drawing on previous research, the main response of participants in this study could be described as ‘strategic compromise’. Although one person responded to conflict by leaving the profession, the majority accepted structural constraints perceived to be beyond their control. Within these constraints people focused on aspects of practice where values could be realised, driven by personal concerns. The article concludes by discussing the potential of a deliberative approach to the study of value conflicts in higher education and its use on professional development courses for university staff.     

高职专业法律教学探索

由于我国高职法律教育起步较晚,高职中的专业法律教学大都沿袭高等教育法学教学模式。教学效果欠佳。本文认为,高职中的专业法律教学不可完全沿袭高等教育法学教学模式或者高职法律专业教学模式,应针对学生职业在教学内容、案例选取上有所改革:针对不同职业的高职学生重点讲授不同的内容,切忌面面俱到;教学案例的选取应与职业紧密结合。以此观点来指导高职专业法律教学。     

On the evaluation of teaching and learning in higher education: a multicultural inquiry

The aim of the study was to develop a model of positive word‐of‐mouth (WoM) intentions in a higher education context. WoM was found to be directly influenced by satisfaction levels and indirectly by antecedents of satisfaction, namely positive and negative emotions and perceptions of performance. The model provided a good fit to the data and explained 58% of the variance in WoM intentions. When the model was tested on samples of domestic and international students, significant differences were noted in that the model explained only 21% of the variance in WoM for international compared to 68% for domestic. Moreover, emotions for the international sample did not significantly influence satisfaction or WoM intentions.     

Writing for professional recognition in higher education: understanding genre and expertise

ABSTRACT

This study draws on the theoretical frameworks of genre theory and writing expertise to explore how educators manage and excel in writing for professional recognition. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four educators from different disciplines in which participants discussed their experiences of preparing and writing for Senior Fellow. Despite the fact that writing for professional recognition can be a contentious genre to manage with its reflective features favouring those from certain disciplinary backgrounds, the participants described positive and affirming experiences. The findings also suggest that educators are strategic in their approach, and that the writing process can have unexpected affordances including a developed knowledge of writing, professional confidence and a sense of empowerment. The findings have implications for developing systems and resources to support educators preparing for fellowship.     

高职教育教学质量监控与评价机制研究

高职教育教学质量的监控与评价是保障教学质量的前提,也是对教育教学工作合理程度做出的有效价值判断。高职教育教学质量的监控与评价机制建立的关键在于具有科学合理的监控体系和评价体系做保障。本文通过分析高职教育教学的质量观、质量评价体系和评价方法等方面的问题,构建与高职教育教学相符合的质量监控评价机制。     

Sighting horizons of teaching in higher education

This conceptual paper tackles the matter of teaching in higher education and proposes a concept of ‘horizons of teaching’. It firstly offers an overview of the considerable empirical literature around teaching—especially conceptions of teaching, approaches to teaching and teaching practices—and goes on to pose some philosophical and social theoretical considerations that open further the territory around teaching in university. Against this background, we propose the concept of ‘horizons of teaching’. Horizons of teaching provide a context in which it makes sense for teachers to give themselves to the teaching enterprise and to go on giving themselves to teaching. Horizons include diverse and intricate layers at both micro- and macro-levels that interact in a permanent and dynamic way; they involve persons and collectivities; and they concern structures and agency. The paper concludes by proposing that horizons of teaching configure and delineate curricula and the pedagogical relationship in a way that might contain a revolutionary potentiality in recasting teaching in higher education.     

Student assessment of teaching in higher education

Plans to introduce campus-wide assessments of college or university teaching which are largely dependent on student ratings are seen as a threat to academic freedom in those institutions with little or no experience of this form of evaluation. While regular student evaluations of teaching are very common in North America, their introduction is only now being considered in colleges and universities in a number of other countries. Research on the reliability and validity of student ratings indicate that they are capable of providing valuable information about the quality of teaching. Depending on the survey used, this type of evaluation may be used to provide evidence of teaching ability to staffing committees or to suggest ways of improving teaching. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations for higher education institutions which are considering the regular assessment of all teachers by their students.