Increasingly, colleges and universities are relying on fully online classes to teach students. This article investigates how students evaluate online courses in comparison to more traditional face-to-face courses. Data come from undergraduate student evaluations of 118 sociology courses, and results of a series of hierarchical linear models…

When students enter college classrooms for the first time they inevitably have preconceived images of professors. According to research on student evaluations of teaching, these preconceptions have important implications in college classrooms. This study explores one avenue through which these preconceptions are perpetuated--popular film. Using…

This study uses a quasi-experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of Internet videoconferencing technology. The instructor used a laptop, webcam, high-speed DSL connection, and Polycom[TM] Viewstation to teach a course unit of introductory sociology from a remote location to an experimental group of students in a large multimedia classroom. The…

Discusses a study in which data regarding the relationship between grades and student evaluations of teacher performance were analyzed. Findings indicated that there exists a grade-evaluation tradeoff and that, consequently, administrators should take grade distributions into account when using teaching evaluations as a measure of faculty…

Male students gave lower faculty ratings than female students, but their ratings for female faculty were high regardless of the field. Female students showed a bias against women faculty in traditional fields and for women faculty in nontraditional fields. (Author/RM)

The article presents information on student evaluations of a simulation game conducted in a large introductory sociology course on the college level. Evaluations were neutral or slightly positive, except in the areas of affective learning and peer interactions, where they were most favorable. The effect of specific student characteristics on…

"Balance" in the classroom has been the subject of recent debate in academic and public spheres, with some calling for legislation to prevent instructors from "indoctrinating" students. The debate over balance is important to sociology because the discipline is sometimes characterized as overtly liberal and activist; but the…

Describes a study of teacher effectiveness in college departments of sociology, anthropology, and social work. Five types of teacher effectiveness were found to be potentially useful for student, faculty, and administrative purposes. They include teacher task responsiveness, respect for students, teacher capability, student development, and…

Suggests how to solicit feedback from college level sociology students during a course rather than at the end of the semester. Feedback can be encouraged by establishing student liaison committees, scheduling student meetings in the absence of the instructor, and accepting discussion of course content in addition to more technical matters.…

Examines the author's teaching evaluations to help understand what they measure and how they may be used to make changes in classroom performance. States that teachers should view teaching evaluations as an opportunity to develop as teachers. (CMK)

Faculty who see themselves primarily as teachers have a local orientation. Those involved with research and service work are more likely to have a cosmopolitan orientation. Teachers should undertake research or service commitments that extend beyond the local campus. Faculty should not rely exclusively on students to evaluate their teaching. (RM)

Examines the role of instructor likability/rapport on student perceptions of learning and ratings of overall teaching ability, based on data from 205 course evaluation forms representing student responses in ten upper-level sociology courses. Suggests that students who rate their instructors high in likability also reward that instructor with high…

This article addresses some of the contextual factors that influence faculty evaluation in a small, church-related liberal arts college and identifies five areas in which structural and normative constraints of the institution may affect individual faculty ratings. Provides recommendations for preparing evaluations which minimize the impact of…

Describes a system, Infracom, which enables students to influence content and structure in introductory college level sociology courses. Infracom involves writing evaluations of class meetings, making comments in class, and helping determine learning aids. (Author/DB)

Describes an exercise designed to introduce basic concepts and techniques for a course in qualitative research methods. Discusses differences in the meaning of phrases on a student evaluation of teaching form. Suggests that the exercise will show how differences in meaning are connected to real social and political problems. (DK)