Students' Perceptions of Faculty and Graduate Students as Classroom Teachers

Abstract

Student ratings of the effectiveness of graduate student teaching versus faculty teaching were examined on seven occasions over an 8-year period. When all courses taught were considered, graduate student and faculty ratings were equivalent for six of the semesters in which student evaluations were conducted; on one occasion, the graduate students received significantly higher ratings than did the faculty. When only the ratings for introductory psychology courses were examined, results for graduate student teachers were significantly higher in four semesters; in three semesters, the ratings of the two groups were equivalent. There was a significant positive correlation of student evaluation ratings for individual faculty over time, but no such correlation for graduate students.