Student and Faculty Perspectives on Student Evaluation of Teaching: A Cross-Sectional Study at a Community College
General description of the project
Higher education institutions typically use student evaluations of faculty as a barometer of teaching quality; however, student participation may be too low for the results to have a positive impact on future academic experience. The presenters will discuss their findings on the perceptions of students and faculty toward these evaluations. Student voices have an important role in improving instruction; effort must be made to increase their participation in faculty evaluations. Identifying the attitudes, practices, values, and perceptions of students and faculty toward these evaluations will lead to purposeful initiatives intended to increase student participation and deliver useful information to faculty. Attendees can replicate this study on their campus to create a plan to improve participation of students in their evaluation of faculty. Increased response rate will deliver broader data that can lead to need-based professional development, especially for junior faculty. It also supports campus-wide assessment initiatives.
Technologies
power point
Explain project results
An evidence base for improving teaching effectiveness can be discovered via student surveys. Despite this, a complete assessment of all essential aspects of all aspects of college or university teaching cannot be provided. Therefore, in evaluating student and faculty perceptions of such a survey, a focus group was employed to delve deeper into the results. In summation, these evaluations concluded that student respondents found the survey important or positive. Faculty believed the survey’s purpose was for tenure, promotion and the reappointment process. Being reminded about the survey proved to be beneficial for student completion. Moreover, faculty expressed gratitude in receiving feedback from students, which they could apply to improving teaching and learning in their courses. At the end of the semester, students become consumed with other things, and it simply is not a top priority. Moreover, some students admitted to completing it and not reading it just because they were asked to or offered bonus credit. Emphasizing the importance of the survey and student voice was one way faculty shared could assist in effective completion.
Why it should be considered best practice?
Data driven practice is something all too common in the field. This study demonstrates how data was analyzed and utilized to develop a deeper look at faculty and student voice for the betterment of an institution. Additionally a combination of focus groups for a more intimate understanding of student and faculty views and perceptions added another layer of insight to student evaluations. The students are the consumers in the higher education setting. Reviewing their thoughts and investigating how faculty perceive their views could provide a stepping stone for improvement of the overall institution. Then in turn improving student retention as a result of taking action on the insight gained from data and focus groups.
Highlights of your proposed presentation
Participants will be able to replicate this study on their own campuses.
Participants will be able to identify potential attitudes, values, and behaviors impacting the response rate for their own student evaluation of faculty tool.
The Evaluation Committee will evaluate submitted proposals based on the following criteria. Each area will be rated on a scale from 1 to 7 (1= non-satisfactory; 7 =outstanding), for a maximum of 63 points.