Student Ratings (student + rating)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Looking for Bias in All the Wrong Places: A Search for Truth or a Witch Hunt in Student Ratings of Instruction?

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 109 2001
Michael Theall
Through a half-century of research on student ratings, the constant quest has been to prove or disprove the existence of biasing factors. What have we learned, and what has happened as a result? This chapter examines some of these supposed biases and presents some guidelines for improving practice. [source]


Psychometric Properties of Student Ratings of Instruction in Online and On-Campus Courses

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING & LEARNING, Issue 96 2003
Debbie E. McGhee
This study compares mean ratings, inter-rater reliabilities, and the factor structure of items for online and paper student-rating forms from the University of Washington's Instructional Assessment System. [source]


Online Student Ratings: Will Students Respond?

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING & LEARNING, Issue 96 2003
Trav D. Johnson
In this chapter, the author examines important issues related to online reporting of student survey results. [source]


Online Reporting of Results for Online Student Ratings

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING & LEARNING, Issue 96 2003
Donna C. Llewellyn
In this chapter, the author examines important issues related to online reporting of student survey results. [source]


Association amongst factors thought to be important by instructors in dental education and perceived effectiveness of these instructors by students

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL EDUCATION, Issue 4 2004
D. W. Chambers
It is hypothesised that dental educators have perceptions of their roles as effective teachers. It is expected that subject matter expertise would be amongst the components of such personal philosophies of education, but it is unclear whether faculty member self-perceptions carry over into student ratings of instructors' effectiveness. A 20-item survey of ,Teaching Characteristics' was completed by 86% of full-time and 64% of the part-time faculty members at the University of the Pacific. Respondents distributed 100 points amongst the descriptions of what makes an effective instructor. The responses were factor-analysed, resulting in four general faculty ,types' that explained about 50% of the variance in ratings: expert, enthusiast, judicial and good soldier. Student ratings for the 2 years running up to the date of the survey administration were used to gauge student perceptions of instructor effectiveness. Faculty members who placed emphasis on expertise as key to being a good instructor received significantly lower ratings for teacher effectiveness from students than did other faculty members. Faculty members who conceived their roles as motivating students, explaining difficult concepts, displaying interest in the subject, showing compassion and caring, and being proactive tended to receive high ratings for teaching effectiveness from students. [source]


Can brief workshops improve clinical instruction?

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 2 2008
Netta Notzer
Context, The impact of faculty development activities aimed at improving the teaching skills of clinical instructors requires elucidation. Since 2003, all instructors at our school of medicine have been required to undertake a brief workshop in basic clinical instructional skills as a prerequisite for promotion and tenure. The impact of this has, so far, remained unknown. Objective, This study aimed to examine to what extent participation in a brief workshop can improve clinical instructors' performance in the long run, and which particular dimensions of performance are improved. Methods, The study included a sample of 149 faculty members who undertook a required workshop in basic instructional skills. The teaching performance of these faculty members was measured by student feedback a year after the workshop. The study used pre- and post-test design, with a comparison group of 121 faculty members. Results, Student ratings for 5 dimensions of clinical instruction increased significantly, but only for the study group who had participated in a workshop. The comparison group's ratings were unchanged. The highest improvement in the instructors' performance related to availability of teachers to students. Conclusions, The study supports previous findings about the added value gained by longterm improvement of instructional skills after participation in even a brief workshop. The meaningful improvement in instructor availability to students is associated with the workshops' emphasis on a learner-centred approach and the need to provide continuous feedback. [source]


Using Quality Management Tools to Enhance Feedback from Student Evaluations

DECISION SCIENCES JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE EDUCATION, Issue 1 2005
John B. Jensen
ABSTRACT Statistical tools found in the service quality assessment literature,the T2 statistic combined with factor analysis,can enhance the feedback instructors receive from student ratings. T2 examines variability across multiple sets of ratings to isolate individual respondents with aberrant response patterns (i.e., outliers). Analyzing student responses that are outside the "normal" range of responses can identify aspects of the course that cause pockets of students to be dissatisfied. This fresh insight into sources of student dissatisfaction is particularly valuable for instructors willing to make tactical classroom changes that accommodate individual students rather than the traditional approach of using student ratings to develop systemwide changes in course delivery. A case study is presented to demonstrate how the recommended procedure minimizes data overload, allows for valid schoolwide and longitudinal comparisons of correlated survey responses, and helps instructors identify priority areas for instructional improvement. [source]


Association amongst factors thought to be important by instructors in dental education and perceived effectiveness of these instructors by students

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL EDUCATION, Issue 4 2004
D. W. Chambers
It is hypothesised that dental educators have perceptions of their roles as effective teachers. It is expected that subject matter expertise would be amongst the components of such personal philosophies of education, but it is unclear whether faculty member self-perceptions carry over into student ratings of instructors' effectiveness. A 20-item survey of ,Teaching Characteristics' was completed by 86% of full-time and 64% of the part-time faculty members at the University of the Pacific. Respondents distributed 100 points amongst the descriptions of what makes an effective instructor. The responses were factor-analysed, resulting in four general faculty ,types' that explained about 50% of the variance in ratings: expert, enthusiast, judicial and good soldier. Student ratings for the 2 years running up to the date of the survey administration were used to gauge student perceptions of instructor effectiveness. Faculty members who placed emphasis on expertise as key to being a good instructor received significantly lower ratings for teacher effectiveness from students than did other faculty members. Faculty members who conceived their roles as motivating students, explaining difficult concepts, displaying interest in the subject, showing compassion and caring, and being proactive tended to receive high ratings for teaching effectiveness from students. [source]


Student and Teacher Perceptions of School Climate: A Multilevel Exploration of Patterns of Discrepancy

JOURNAL OF SCHOOL HEALTH, Issue 6 2010
Mary M. Mitchell PhD
BACKGROUND: School climate has been linked with improved academic achievement and reduced discipline problems, and thus is often a target of school improvement initiatives. However, few studies have examined the extent to which student and teacher perceptions vary as a function of individual, classroom, and school characteristics, or the level of congruence between teachers' and their students' perceptions of school climate. METHODS: Using data from 1881 fifth-grade students and their 90 homeroom teachers, we examined parallel models of students' and teachers' perceptions of overall school climate and academic emphasis. Two additional models were fit that assessed the congruence between teacher and student perceptions of school climate and academic emphasis. RESULTS: Multilevel analyses indicated that classroom-level factors were more closely associated with teachers' perceptions of climate, whereas school-level factors were more closely associated with the students' perceptions. Further analyses indicated an inverse association between student and teacher ratings of academic emphasis, and no association between student and teacher ratings of overall climate. CONCLUSIONS: Teacher ratings were more sensitive to classroom-level factors, such as poor classroom management and proportion of students with disruptive behaviors, whereas student ratings were more influenced by school-level factors such as student mobility, student-teacher relationship, and principal turnover. The discrepancy in ratings of academic emphasis suggests that while all of the respondents may have shared objectively similar experiences, their perceptions of those experiences varied significantly. These results emphasize the importance of assessing both student and teacher perceptions in future research on school climate. [source]


Looking for Bias in All the Wrong Places: A Search for Truth or a Witch Hunt in Student Ratings of Instruction?

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 109 2001
Michael Theall
Through a half-century of research on student ratings, the constant quest has been to prove or disprove the existence of biasing factors. What have we learned, and what has happened as a result? This chapter examines some of these supposed biases and presents some guidelines for improving practice. [source]


Contraception: a new practical learning package

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 8 2000
Suzanne Abraham
Background A new self-directed learning package was developed to assist medical students learn the counselling and practical skills to enable them to communicate with men and women about contraception and related matters. Objectives This paper describes the package and the way it was facilitated, the students' ratings of the package and their feedback about the session on the first time it was presented at four teaching hospitals. Results The students rated the contraception package as average. The reasons given were: no introduction to the contraception session, lack of a trained person to conduct and facilitate the contraception learning session, poor organization at one of the hospitals and too little emphasis on self-assessment. The assumption that the students had a basic hormonal knowledge prior to the contraception sessions was incorrect. Discussion The results suggest the contraception learning package needs a person with contraceptive knowledge, patient,doctor skills and experience with self-directed learning to be present throughout the 3-hour session and for tools to be available that emphasize self-assessment during the session. Outcome The modifications to be made to the learning package include pairing male and female students, a reduction in duration of the learning stations, an additional learning station relating to hormonal contraception, and inclusion of pregnancy and ovulation testing. These modifications were suggested by the participating students. [source]


The effects of mandatory and optional use on students' ratings of a computer-based learning package

BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 3 2004
Kate Garland
Continuing developments in educational technology and increasing undergraduate numbers in the UK have facilitated the use of computer-based learning packages. One of the effects of the increasing use of these packages is the shift in teaching of material from being primarily lecturer-led to student-driven. This has a number of implications concerning using the package, since it is quite likely that students will be working in isolation, and the use of the package may be mandatory or optional. In this study we report on the usefulness ratings of a software package for undergraduate use within the context of whether or not students choose to use it. Level 1 students and lecturers in Economics were surveyed at three UK universities. Findings indicate that students whose use was mandatory rated the learning package as more useful than those whose use was optional. Reasons for non-use centred on lack of instruction and on student apathy. These results have important implications for the use of computer-based learning packages and for understanding user attitudes. [source]