The field of learning analytics holds considerable promise for higher education, with reports of successful uses now emerging in selected institutions. At the same time, critics have expressed concerns regarding privacy, ethics, and intrusions into teachers' pedagogy. Without attentive planning, higher-education professionals applying learning…

This technical report describes the results of analyses performed on data collected from 2013 to 2017, using the IDEA Feedback System for Administrators (FSA). The FSA is used to gather impressions from core constituents about an administrator's performance of relevant administrative roles, as well as her/his leadership style, interpersonal…

The authors conducted a study to investigate whether personnel ratings of administrators and department chairs differ by the ratees' gender and the Carnegie classification of their institutions. The authors inferred the genders (male or female) from first names and analyzed personnel ratings for 1,011 administrators and 762 department chairs…

The purpose of this report is to describe findings from analyses conducted on data collected from the IDEA "Feedback System for Chairs" (FSC) from 2013 to 2016. The report begins with an explanation of the purpose of the system and the current structure of the "Chair Self-Assessment" (CSA) and "Faculty Perceptions of…

Despite the nearly equal gender ratio of faculty members in the United States (National Center for Education Statistics, 2016), women are still underrepresented in certain STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields (Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering, 2015). Also, women tend to hold lower academic…

In the IDEA Student Ratings of Instruction (SRI) system, students complete self-ratings of their "work habits," "motivation," and "background preparation." Average course ratings on these characteristics are important variables used in adjusting scores on student ratings of progress on relevant objectives (PRO),…

In the study evaluated in this report, the authors asked what effect survey length has on student non-response rates to individual items on IDEA's "Diagnostic Feedback" (DF) and "Learning Essentials" (LE) forms. The approach was to analyze individual student ratings of classes contained in the 2015-2016 IDEA-CL database.…

Because instructors are very concerned about how to motivate their students, this paper describes some of the most prominent and practically relevant contemporary theories of motivation, specifically expectancy value theory, goal orientation theory, and self-determination theory. After describing each theory and its basic components, suggestions…

This paper focuses on the authors' experiences teaching on Ohio University's Learning Network (OULN), which uses interactive television and real-time face-to-face interaction as a distance-education (DE) delivery tool. One of the authors is a sociology professor, and the other is her former student and an experienced OULN system operator. The…

Educators increasingly agree that a learner-centered syllabus is associated with better rapport between students and teachers and increased student motivation, achievement, and empowerment. Accordingly, in 2009 Cullen and Harris developed a rubric for assessing the degree to which a syllabus is learner-centered versus teacher-centered. To date,…

Classroom climate is a broad construct, made up of students' feelings about their instructor and peers. Although there is a plethora of research on the effects of classroom climate on student outcomes at the secondary level, there is a relative dearth of such research on the postsecondary level. However, much of the research that does exist shows…

Data from student ratings of instruction (SRI) are used ubiquitously as a key element in providing instructors with valuable feedback and evaluators with critical student input. Nonetheless, calls for the elimination of SRI continue to appear in academic journals and higher education periodicals. This paper brings to bear the huge body of research…

Metacognition has increasingly been recognized as essential for learning. This paper defines metacognition, discusses its importance, and specifies how faculty can nurture it in students to promote positive learning outcomes. The paper then offers extensive examples based on two formats: (1) activities offered before, during, and after lessons or…

Active learning activities and pedagogical strategies can look different in online learning environments, particularly in asynchronous courses when students are not interacting with the instructor, or with each other, in real time. This paper suggests a three-pronged approach for conceptualizing active learning in the online asynchronous class:…

This report describes statistical analyses performed on data collected in the Spring of 2015 from the pilot study of proposed revised and new items in the IDEA Student Ratings of Instruction (SRI) system. Described are the methods employed, results obtained, and decisions made in selecting items for the updated instruments. The procedures occurred…