Educators assess students' work and behavior every day. They are professional feedback-givers, dispensing grades, advice, support, and red ink. They believe in the power of feedback to communicate what students are doing well and how they can do better. However, some teachers shy away from opportunities for feedback on their own work. Some don't…

As many states and districts rethink teacher supervision and evaluation, the team at the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has analyzed thousands of lesson videotapes and studied the shortcomings of current practices. The tentative conclusion: Teachers should be evaluated on three…

Students' evaluations of teaching quality are one of the crucial components of the teaching quality evaluation (along with external evaluation, opinions of colleagues, etc.). According to our research and professional experience, the teaching quality has to be examined in correlation with personality traits of a lecturer. Students' surveys (aiming…

Business communication instructors can face a unique set of challenges to maintain their credibility with students. Communication plays an important role in the instructor-student relationship, and students judge instructors' ability to teach communication based on their ability to practice what they teach. The authors' empirical study shows that…

In this article, the author is questioning the system(s) that professors continue to follow in the practice and process not only of promotion and tenure but also of their general academic lives. That, at least, was the course of her meditations as she ransacked her office and home for copies of reprints and sample syllabi--all already available…

University teaching can have a positive impact, a negative impact, or no impact. This article describes indicators of the impact of university teaching at the unit level. Teaching-impact indicators can be organized by the main beneficiary of the teaching: students; others, such as employers and clients, who interact with the students; the…

For several years, the author has coordinated the introductory business course for freshmen, GB101: World of Business, at Bentley College. Recently, another faculty member and the author redesigned the course based on assurance of learning principles. The redesign of GB101 did not change the basic description or goals of the course but did not…

Provides step-by-step guidelines for designing a form to evaluate participants' reactions to an instructor's preparation and delivery. Includes a sample instructor audit. (JOW)

Essays written by Nigerian Form V secondary students on "Qualities I Prefer Most in My Teacher" were analyzed in terms of students' attitudes toward teacher age, sex, appearance, relation to staff, teaching competence, participation in school social activities, devotion to school duties and student problems, etc. (JC)

Discusses the process by which students become attracted to classes. (JOW)

This article suggests that although student evaluation of instructional quality is important, most commonly used evaluation questionnaires do not truly measure instructional quality. It urges care in the use of these scores in areas affecting the welfare of instructors. (Editor)

Discusses tools for student evaluation of college teaching in the nursing profession. Because much of the teaching is done in teams rather than by individuals, and much of it occurs outside the traditional classroom, special evaluation tools have been devised and are described. (JOW)

Student evaluations of university accounting instructors are not necessarily valid. Students rarely can offer their true opinion because the evaluation questions are written by instructors or administrators. Also, students usually do not know what material should be covered. (JOW)

Refutes the conclusions of Lamberth and Kosteski's study that high correlations between student achievement and teaching assistant ratings supported the validity of student evaluation of teachers. Bonge argues that artifically high correlations may be caused as much by item and course characteristics as by instructor characteristics. (AM)

The reliability and validity of student ratings of faculty can be affected by the ethical decisions of those evaluated and evaluating. Systems of faculty evaluation should have their own codes of conduct for students, faculty, and administrators. Nine scenarios offer illustrations. (Author/MSE)