Inspiration Day 2007 To Evaluate or not Evaluate (Our Teaching), That is the Question

Let me ask you some questions Can you think of a time when you have been asked to evaluate something? A class when you were a student? A seminar you’ve attended? Our IT services at BI? Did you believe your feedback was useful? Who can give us feedback on our programmes and classes? Are university students capable of ’critical thinking’?

Two Dimensions of Teaching Evaluations Driven by the teacher to improve teaching Carried out by administration staff – as a quality assurance tool

Key Questions Today: Which factors impact students’ evaluations of teachers? What recent research findings can we learn from? Process evaluations - some personal experiences

Which of the following factors can lead to higher student evaluation of teachers ? Factors very important quite important not important 1) Giving high grades___________________________________________________ _ 2) Giving less work__________________________________________________ ____ 3) Having high ability, & highly motivated students_________________________________________ ___ 4) Having smaller classes_________________________________________ ________ 5) Having a popular time e.g. middle of the day____________________________________________ ______ 6) Good ‘student perceived’ learning outcomes____________________________________________ _________ 7) Having teachers who are researchers______________________________________________________ 8) Having a level & speed in the classroom which is easy________________________________________________ ___________ _ 9) Teachers who vary teaching methods to attract different types of students________________________________________ _____________ 10) Being well prepared & inviting questions______________________________________________ _____________ 11) Having a Likeable teacher______________________________________________________________ 12) Being an experienced teacher _________________________ __________________ 13) Teaching an ‘easy’ or popular subject_______________________________________________ ______________ 14) Having a good language level In the language you teach in____________________________ _ _______________ 15) Availability for help________________________________ _ ___________________ 16) Being a teacher with a high status title_____________________________________ _________________

What Recent Research Findings Can We Learn From? Summary by G Warner-Søderholm Will Teachers receive higher student evaluations by giving higher grades and less coursework (John Centra) 72% believed course difficulty impacted their evaluations 68% believed that grading leniency mattered 60% believed course workload mattered Smaller classes get higher evaluations! Teachers in their first year get lower evaluations! Instructor helpfullness matters! ”Teachers will not likely improve their evaluations by giving higher grades and less coursework. – They will however improve their evaluations and probably their instruction if they respond to consistent student feedback about instructional practices” ”Given the increased emphasis on using evaluations in tenure and promotion-a teacher’s temptation to maniplulate grades is a possibility”

Judging University Teaching – Keith Trigwell – a brief summary: Good teaching is oriented towards high quality student learning Good teaching is scholarly Teaching involves planning, compatability, content knowledge, being a learner, reflection and a way of thinking about teaching and learning ”Unless the criteria being used to judge teaching are consistent with criteria being used to develop teaching, little will be achieved”.

Good Practices- Improving Student Evaluations – Brainstorming Activity Faculty workshops? Checklist - Good Practices:

What are the Dangers of Evaluations Being Controlled by Administrators as ’Quality Assurance Tools’ ? Without any underlying intention of improvement As a control function Adminstration dominated quality assurance decisions An over-reaction to external quality assurance should be avoided Questions of assessment should be secondary to these questions: - What do we want our students to know? - What do we want our teachers to know? Evaluation for accountability has become an essential part of today’s higher education

Case Work – BI’s Formative and Summative Evaluation Strategy Plan: Formative Evaluations : Stage 1: Week 3 – class evaluation meeting Stage 2: Meeting between lecturer & class representative Step 3: ’Contract agreed’ between class rep. & teacher Step 4: Head of year /programme analyses reports Step 5: All class representatives meet to evaluate all programmes & report to admin. Step 6: Neccessary actions taken Summative Evaluations : 1) Confirmit evaluations sent to students at the end of semester 2) Processed data sent to lecturers 2/3 months later

Conclusion Evaluation is a continuous process – essential before, during and after a course. Evaluation at the end is the least valuable to the teacher For students, the quality of teaching is about how effectively teaching engages them and urges them towards a deep approach We need to question the validity of external quality assurance processes yet be accountable and use feedback effectively