What do students consider useful about student ratings?

Although measures of student ratings of instruction have been developed and examined empirically, students' attitudes about the utility of these ratings have yet to be meaningfully quantified. Using survey responses from 1229 students at a major Canadian university, we developed a psychometrically sound measure of the usefulness of student ratings. A principal components analysis with oblique rotation was conducted and three factors (Instructor characteristics, Course characteristics and Instructor's relative ranking) were obtained that explained 64% of the variance in six iterations. The usefulness of these three types of ratings information differs according to several student and course characteristics. The present results provide evidence for both reliability and validity of the instrument as an indicator of the utility of teaching evaluation for students.     

Foreign and International

Isaiah Litvak and Christopher Maule's Cultural Sovereignty, The Time and Reader's Digest Case in Canada (New York: Praeger Special Studies, 1974---$13.50)

Survey of Public Attitudes Towards the Computer (Ottawa: Department of Communications, 1973---$1.00, paper)

Bernard Rubin's Propaganda and Public Opinion: Strategies of Persuasion (Middletown, Conn.: Xerox Educational Publications, 1973---copies on request, paper)

Jim Richstad, Michael McMillan, and Ralph Barney's The Pacific Islands Press: A Directory (Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1973---no price given, paper)

Judith Tegger Kildow's Intelsat: Policy-Maker's Dilemma (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books/Heath, 1973---$12.50)     

Fostering Spirituality in a Pastoral Care Context

This article addresses the issue of promoting spirituality as a dimension of pastoral care in schools. The everyday practice of caring and giving may leave carers tired, depleted of spiritual sustenance, and without practices that nurture their spirituality. This article proposes that spirituality is an essential element of pastoral care, and that it can be promoted through examination of one's sense of vocation, bodywork, journal writing and nurturing soul friends.