Teaching Forum 6:1 Fall 2003 Newsletter

Evaluating Teaching: Student Ratings and Beyond (Part I)

This year in the Teaching Forum , we will explore the multifaceted and important task of evaluating teaching at the university. This task has many stakeholders, including students, faculty, graduate teaching assistants, administrators, and parents. And the information generated in the evaluation of teaching has various intended uses: to advise teachers of their own progress and areas for further work (formative), to inform chairs, deans and other administrators in their decisions on promotion and tenure (summative), and/or to enable teachers themselves to document and track student learning outcomes or other forms of progress.

We are aware that this is a complex and politically sensitive issue, and hope that our explorations, over the course of the year, will surface some of these complexities so that all of us at Vanderbilt-students, faculty and administrators-will be better informed about the process. In the fall 2003 issue, we will focus on student end-of-course rating forms, and in spring 2004, we will explore approaches beyond the student forms, such as peer review and course portfolios.

Articles from the Fall 2003 Center for Teaching Newsletter are available via the links below.

• Student Ratings: Myths vs Research Evidence. Micheal Theall, research expert in instructional design, development and evaluation, explores the myths and truths behind Student Ratings (reprinted with the permission of the Brigham Young University Faculty Center).
• The Teaching Exchange: Student Course Evaluations. A Vanderbilt faculty member and teaching assistant discuss their perceptions of student course evaluations, and how to effectively use them.
• From the Student’s View: Student Course Evaluations. Eight Vanderbilt undergraduates share their experiences with student rating forms.
• Services of the CFT: Student Evaluation Consultations. Peter Felten describes his work with student evaluation consultations.
• Notes from the CFT Library: Changing Practices in Evaluating Teaching. A review of Changing Practices in Evaluating Teaching by Peter Seldin and Associates.