Consumer Reactions to College Teaching

Abstract

Writh supply and demand of college faculty reaching equity in the 70's, colleges and universities have be come more concerned with the problem of quality than of quantity. More studies have appeared aimed at defining ex cellence in teaching, and more student input has been sought in assessing the competence of faculty members. Many institutions employ student ratings for self studies and as an aid in evaluating faculty. A study completed by the authors using a southwest public university of approxi mately 20,000 students could shed some light on the re liability and effectiveness of such procedures. One thou sand five hundred ninety-three seniors were queried about the quality of teaching they received in their four years of undergraduate college. The study yielded significant findings not only about student preference but about how student traits and qualities may have influenced their rat ings. Institutions employing student ratings in faculty evalua tion should consider the student age in interpreting rat ings. Younger students (under 24) agree with older ones concerning the characteristics of the best and worst teachers but were more critical of their teachers as a whole than the more seasoned students were. Students' major may also influence ratings, since science students rate teachers in their majors higher than do students in other fields. Social science students were most critical of professors in their disciplines, followed closely by arts and humanities students. This, of course, could be the re sult of better teachers in the science field, but this does not appear to be the case. These same science students gave high ratings to professors outside their discipline. In fact, teachers in arts and humanities received the highest rating from all students, followed by teachers in social sciences. The sex of teachers did not affect student ratings. Students seem to prefer teachers with a doctorate over those without one. The teaching method used greatly in