For student rating data to be useful in improving college teaching, consultants and faculty need to know how different evaluative purposes effect evaluation results, and they must be able to interpret and use the data at hand. A series of steps should be followed to help ensure valid data interpretation. (MSE)

Observation of 401 college teachers indicates that teachers of different academic disciplines (arts/humanities, social sciences, natural sciences/mathematics) differ in the frequency of specific classroom teaching behaviors, but that what makes an effective teacher, in the perception of students, is consistent regardless of discipline.…

Eight of the most common faculty concerns about student evaluations of instruction are discussed: inconsistent student judgments, the perception that only colleagues are qualified to evaluate peers' instruction, student-rating schemes as popularity contests, unreliable and invalid student-rating forms, etc. Research shows that faculty concerns are…

The value of student evaluation depends on whether appropriate questions are asked. Students are in a good position to describe the teacher's ability to communicate at their level, the teacher's professional and ethical behavior in the classroom, student-teacher relationships, what has been learned in the course, etc. (MLW)

Issues and developments in instructional development and evaluation are discussed including: a comprehensive system of instructional evaluation needs to be established with various components differentially weighted at the departmental level; student ratings should be only one of the components; instructional development consultants should provide…

A study investigated whether Biglan clusters of academic disciplines (hard/soft, pure/applied, life/nonlife) could be used to explain disciplinary differences in college student ratings of instruction. It was found that Biglan clusters do not explain the differences, many disciplines still emphasize knowledge acquisition over higher-order skills,…

Instructional improvement programs are most likely to be effective if, in addition to providing feedback to instructors, there is a system of institutional support, reward, and training. The instructor must be educated in how to conceptualize, interpret, and apply feedback information. (Author/MLW)

Evaluation alone will probably not improve teaching, but, when it is accompanied by feedback, information about teaching and learning, and work with a knowledgeable consultant, evaluation may lead to improvement. An experienced consultant can foster trust, offer encouragement, and provide guided practice to help faculty improve their teaching…

College teaching effectiveness, as perceived by students, can be predicted from specific, observable classroom behaviors of the instructor and can be improved through feedback and training procedures designed to modify these behaviors. (Author/MSE)

Research on college teaching supports classifying teaching as much an art as a science. The expectation that student evaluation of teachers can result in exact teacher rankings is unrealistic and stifles the artistry in teaching. However, current evaluation techniques can yield broader classifications of effectiveness and help improve instruction.…

In a study using student rating data from over 8,000 course sections in a large university, disciplinary differences and the value students placed on the time they spent preparing for class are correlated with students' evaluations of teaching. Implications for faculty promotion and tenure policy, instructional improvement, and further research…

Discussion of the qualities that characterize effective teachers looks at research on exemplary instructors, including studies of students' memories of good teachers, observational studies, nominations for teaching awards, and comparison with average and poor instructors. The common factor is the ability to offer presentations in clearly organized…

Research on use of student evaluations of faculty as a source of information on good teaching is reviewed, and the differential importance of criteria expressed in the rating forms is discussed. It is concluded that while the data in the evaluations can have varied interpretations, they can also be an important source of information for…

Formative evaluation of teaching is discussed, and ways of obtaining diagnostic feedback that will lead to improved teaching in large lecture classes are examined. A Teacher Behaviors Inventory is included. (MLW)

A decade of interest in the evaluation of college teaching has produced both a wide variety of approaches and a concise set of practical guidelines for assisting college teachers in improving instruction. (Authors/MSE)