Student Evaluation of Instruction
As Robert Haskell notes below in "Academic Freedom, Tenure and Student Evaluations
of Faculty," university faculty have a vexed relationship with student rations
of instruction. On one hand, faculty (particularly pre-tenure faculty) worry that evaluations
will be treated less as instructional tools to help them improve than as gate-keeping
resources. Yet student course evaluations can prove productive if used appropriately.
The links below can serve to inform faculty and administration on some of the issues
related to course evaluations, and several links offer suggestions for assessment instruments
to be used throughout the semester.
Issues in Student Course Evaluations
- Teaching
and Learning Evaluation Forms (Carnegie Mellon)
- These downloadable PDF forms offer good questions for students to think about;
forms are specific to different sorts of courses (lecture, studio, project, etc.).
Includes forms for TA evaluation and Pilot Evaluations.
- Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Student
Evaluation of Faculty: Galloping Polls in the 21st Century (Robert Haskell,
New England)
- From the abstract: "It is suggested that the literature shows the SEF infringe
on instructional responsibilities of faculty by providing a control mechanism over
curricular, course content, grading and teaching methodology."
- Student Ratings Offer Useful
Input to Teacher Evaluation (Michael Scriven, CREATE)
- A defense of student evaluations, including "nine" potential sources
of validity for student ratings of instruction."
- Fifteen Common
Beliefs & Misconceptions (Carnegie Mellon)
Other Resources
- Research Regarding Student
Ratings (Evaluations) (UIUC)
- Annotated Bibliography on Student
Evaluations
- What Do They Know Anyway? (R.
Felder)
- Course and Teachers
Surveys (CATS) (Villanova)
- Evaluation System for Courses
and Instruction @ UCSB
- Student
Opinion of Instruction (Southeastern Louisiana)
- Course Ratings @ K-State
- Instructional
Assessment System @ Washington
- Course Evaluations for Online Courses
@ Washington
