Assessing academic program and department effectiveness using student evaluation data

Abstract

The use of aggregated student evaluations of their courses and course elements (e.g., subject functionality, affect, difficulty, graded assignments) is suggested as an efficient and useful means of obtaining program and department assessments. Given that the instruments used to collect student evaluations are valid (if they are not, they should not be used for any purpose), then averaging class data is likely to provide a valid and reliable index of program and department effectiveness as evaluated by students.