Education and Response Rate
O nline Course Evaluation
L iterature Review and Findings
P repared by:
J essica Wode
J onathan Keiser
A cademic Affairs
C olumbia College Chicago
S pring 2011
T ABLE
OF
C ONTENTS
Summary of Scholarly Research on Student Course Evaluations...............................................2
Recommendations for Improving Response Rates......................................................................6
Additional Reading on Online Evaluations: Annotated Bibliography...........................................7
1
S UMMARY
OF
S CHOLARLY R ESEARCH
ON
S TUDENT C OURSE E VALUATIONS
T he validity and reliability of course evaluations
• Researchers generally consider student evaluations of instructors to be highly reliable and at least moderately valid.1,2,3
• Other methods of evaluation (such as evaluations by colleagues or trained observers) have not been found to be reliable and therefore not valid.1
• Student ratings of instructors have been found to be related to ratings of instructor’s skills in course organization, rapport with students, and fair grading; variance in organizational skill (having an organized course plan and clearly identifying what students need to do) explained most variance in student evaluations.4
• Alumni rarely change their opinions of former teachers. 1,3
• When instructors collect mid-term feedback from students and have an honest discussion about it with someone, it leads to higher evaluations at the end of the semester as well as higher final exam scores, providing evidence that good evaluations can lead to better teaching.5
• Although grades do have some effect on how students rate instructors,6 its effect is fairly low7 and can be statistically adjusted for.8 Grades do not have as large of an effect as do how much students feel they’ve learned,9 how much they felt stimulated by the class,10 and whether the class was appropriately difficult (courses are rated
lower
L iterature Review and Findings
P repared by:
J essica Wode
J onathan Keiser
A cademic Affairs
C olumbia College Chicago
S pring 2011
T ABLE
OF
C ONTENTS
Summary of Scholarly Research on Student Course Evaluations...............................................2
Recommendations for Improving Response Rates......................................................................6
Additional Reading on Online Evaluations: Annotated Bibliography...........................................7
1
S UMMARY
OF
S CHOLARLY R ESEARCH
ON
S TUDENT C OURSE E VALUATIONS
T he validity and reliability of course evaluations
• Researchers generally consider student evaluations of instructors to be highly reliable and at least moderately valid.1,2,3
• Other methods of evaluation (such as evaluations by colleagues or trained observers) have not been found to be reliable and therefore not valid.1
• Student ratings of instructors have been found to be related to ratings of instructor’s skills in course organization, rapport with students, and fair grading; variance in organizational skill (having an organized course plan and clearly identifying what students need to do) explained most variance in student evaluations.4
• Alumni rarely change their opinions of former teachers. 1,3
• When instructors collect mid-term feedback from students and have an honest discussion about it with someone, it leads to higher evaluations at the end of the semester as well as higher final exam scores, providing evidence that good evaluations can lead to better teaching.5
• Although grades do have some effect on how students rate instructors,6 its effect is fairly low7 and can be statistically adjusted for.8 Grades do not have as large of an effect as do how much students feel they’ve learned,9 how much they felt stimulated by the class,10 and whether the class was appropriately difficult (courses are rated
lower
Bibliography: 1 Centra, John. 1993. Reflective faculty evaluation: enhancing teaching and determining faculty effectiveness (Jossey Bass higher and adult education series)