This experimental study concerned the effects of repeated students' evaluations of teaching coupled with collaborative consultation on professors' instructional skills. Twenty-five psychology professors from a Dutch university were randomly assigned to either a control group or an experimental group. During their course, students…

In this study we investigate the underlying relational structure between student evaluations of teaching effectiveness (SETEs) and achievement of student learning outcomes in 116 business related courses. Utilizing traditional statistical techniques, a neural network analysis and a Bayesian data reduction and classification algorithm, we find…

Technological advances have enabled institutions of higher education to administer course evaluations online, forgoing the traditional paper-and-pencil methods. Consequently, many of these institutions suffer from low response rates, but little research is available on this topic. To increase understanding about course evaluation participation in…

Relating students' evaluations of teaching (SETs) to student learning as an approach to validate SETs has produced inconsistent results. The present study tested the hypothesis that the strength of association of SETs and student learning varies with the criteria used to indicate student learning. A multisection validity approach was employed to…

Comparisons of large samples of course and teaching evaluation questionnaire data show consistent disciplinary differences. The current study examined the disciplinary differences in a theoretical model positing the impact of the perceived nature of teaching and learning environment on the development of generic capabilities by testing of (1)…

Counseling instructors using evaluations made by their students has shown to be a fruitful approach to enhancing teaching quality. However, prior experimental studies are questionable in terms of external validity. Therefore, we conducted a non-experimental intervention study in which all of the courses offered by a specific department at a German…

Considerable work has been done on student evaluation of teaching/teachers, but reservations remain about its use for summative purposes. Student ratings are not universally accepted as being reliable, nor can they provide really meaningful information. Qualitative comments can provide a better understanding but they tend not to be user-friendly…

Most institutions of higher education allow students to drop or add courses in the first 2-3 weeks of each term (D&A). Arguing that course cancellation is not merely an administrative issue involving enrollment trends but represents complex decision making processes taken by students, this study investigated antecedents and correlates of course…

To what extent do students and teachers hold similar beliefs about excellent teaching? Do differences in beliefs have practical implications (e.g., how students rate their teachers on end-of-semester evaluation forms)? In Study 1, undergraduate students (N=414) and faculty members (N=128) responded to questionnaires assessing their perceptions of…

This study tested the Systematic Distortion Hypothesis by examining the factorial validity of student ratings of university teaching. Factorial validity is defined as the degree to which covariance among judged traits resembles the actual or true covariation of observable behaviors underlying these traits. Although many studies have examined the…

An unresolved issue in student evaluations of teaching effectiveness (SETE) literature is what type of overall evaluation of teaching effectiveness should be used in personnel decisions. The objective of this study is to compare the merits of: (a) an overall evaluation made by students, (b) a weighted average overall evaluation with the weights…

This study examined how midterm student ratings feedback provided to teaching assistants via a theory-based ratings instrument, combined with consultation on instructional practices, would affect teaching practices, ratings of teaching effectiveness, and student learning and motivation. The student ratings instrument that was employed focused on a…

Investigated whether mean expected grades and the level of difficulty/workload in courses, as related by students, unduly influence student ratings of instruction. Data for more than 50,000 courses were analyzed. Courses rated at the "just right" level received the highest evaluations. (SLD)

Analyzed data for 167 social sciences classes and 65 faculty members to study the relationship between faculty research productivity and student evaluations of teaching (SETs). A significant positive relationship between research productivity and SETs emerges when the distribution of citations is corrected for skewness. (SLD)

Examined whether the use of student evaluations of teaching effectiveness has been a contributing factor to a trend of grade inflation in a mid-sized, public university in the Midwest. Found a predictive relationship between student ratings of teaching and expected grades and an encouragement over time of grade inflation. (EV)