Abstract
The results of teaching evaluations are very often used by universities as a basis for personnel decision making, including promotion and tenure of instructors. The evaluations are commonly based on end-of-semester students’ ratings of their teachers through the qualitative Likert-type Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs). Unfortunately, research on the validity of the SET-type evaluations frequently produces misleading results. One serious problem is the use of survey questions that are qualitative rather than quantitative, result in evaluations that reflect the students’ personal opinion of the class, rather than the effectiveness of the teaching. The focus of this paper is to present a design for an effective student evaluation that embraces the constructivist approach to teaching. The role of the teacher becomes that of a coach who creates a collaborative work environment, presenting relevant and interesting problems for students to solve. Assessing the educational quality of such a method requires a multi-dimensional instrument that qualitatively measures the effectiveness of both teaching and learning. Our study accentuates the need for an effective, knowledgeable teacher-coach, along with skilled, motivated students, and a supportive cohesive university atmosphere.
Published Version
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