Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education
Date of this Version
Fall 2020
Document Type
Article
Citation
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development (spring 2020) 39(2)
doi: 10.3998/tia.17063888.0039.204
Abstract
The purpose of the student evaluations of teaching (SET) are to help instructors enhance the teaching and learning experience in their courses; however, student feedback can often be more unconstructive than useful because students are usually requested to evaluate instruction with little or no formal training. As a result, SET become missed opportunities for students to effectively communicate their learning needs and for instructors to collect actionable information about how the course is perceived. This project aims to improve the quality of student responses to the open-ended questions that instructors receive by partnering with undergraduates in demonstrating to their peers the importance of SET and how to compose potent answers for instructors. A peer-led presentation was delivered midway and at the end of the semester, immediately before students completed end-of-semester SET. A total of 529 SET responses were gathered from 29 writing classes taught by four participating instructors. Class division was a strong predictor of feedback quality, with upper division students providing more useful feedback than lower division students. Faculty reported receiving an increase in actionable feedback on SET, and students found the peer-led presentation helpful, recommended it to others, and reported improved skills in providing feedback. This project provides a rubric and an asynchronous video as resources that can be easily transferred to other courses and institutions to support teaching, learning, and SET.
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Higher Education Commons, Higher Education Administration Commons, Higher Education and Teaching Commons, Other Education Commons
Comments
License: CC BY-NC-ND