Inspiration Day 2007

1. Inspiration Day 2007 To Evaluate or not Evaluate (Our Teaching), That is the Question

2. Let me ask you some questions • Can you think of a time when you have been asked to evaluate something? • A class when you were a student? • A seminar you’ve attended? • Our IT services at BI? • Did you believe your feedback was useful? • Who can give us feedback on our programmes and classes? • Are university students capable of ’critical thinking’?

3. Two Dimensions of Teaching Evaluations • Driven by the teacher to improve teaching • Carried out by administration staff – as a quality assurance tool

4. Key Questions Today: • Which factors impact students’ evaluations of teachers? • What recent research findings can we learn from? • Process evaluations - some personal experiences

5. Which of the following factors can lead to higher student evaluation of teachers ? • Factors very important quite important not important • 1) Giving high grades___________________________________________________ _ • 2) Giving less work__________________________________________________ ____ • 3) Having high ability, • & highly motivated students_________________________________________ ___ • 4) Having smaller classes_________________________________________ ________ • 5) Having a popular time • e.g. middle of the day____________________________________________ ______ • 6) Good ‘student perceived’ • learning outcomes____________________________________________ _________ • 7) Having teachers who are researchers______________________________________________________ • 8) Having a level & speed • in the classroom which is • easy________________________________________________ ___________ _ • 9) Teachers who vary teaching • methods to attract different • types of students________________________________________ _____________ • 10) Being well prepared & inviting • questions______________________________________________ _____________ • 11) Having a Likeable teacher______________________________________________________________ • 12) Being an experienced teacher _________________________ __________________ • 13) Teaching an ‘easy’ or popular • subject_______________________________________________ ______________ • 14) Having a good language level • In the language you teach in____________________________ _ _______________ • 15) Availability for help________________________________ _ ___________________ • 16) Being a teacher with • a high status title_____________________________________ _________________

6. What Recent Research Findings Can We Learn From? Summary by G Warner-Søderholm Will Teachers receive higher student evaluations by giving higher grades and less coursework (John Centra) • 72% believed course difficulty impacted their evaluations • 68% believed that grading leniency mattered • 60% believed course workload mattered • Smaller classes get higher evaluations! • Teachers in their first year get lower evaluations! • Instructor helpfullness matters! • ”Teachers will not likely improve their evaluations by giving higher grades and less coursework. – They will however improve their evaluations and probably their instruction if they respond to consistent student feedback about instructional practices” • ”Given the increased emphasis on using evaluations in tenure and promotion-a teacher’s temptation to maniplulate grades is a possibility”

7. Judging University Teaching – Keith Trigwell – a brief summary: • Good teaching is oriented towards high quality student learning • Good teaching is scholarly • Teaching involves planning, compatability, content knowledge, being a learner, reflection and a way of thinking about teaching and learning • ”Unless the criteria being used to judge teaching are consistent with criteria being used to develop teaching, little will be achieved”.

8. Good Practices- Improving Student Evaluations – Brainstorming Activity Faculty workshops? Checklist - Good Practices:

9. What are the Dangers of Evaluations Being Controlled by Administrators as ’Quality Assurance Tools’ ? • Without any underlying intention of improvement • As a control function • Adminstration dominated quality assurance decisions • An over-reaction to external quality assurance should be avoided • Questions of assessment should be secondary to these questions: • - What do we want our students to know? • - What do we want our teachers to know? • Evaluation for accountability has become an essential part of today’s higher education

10. Case Work – BI’s Formative and Summative Evaluation Strategy Plan: • Formative Evaluations: • Stage 1: Week 3 – class evaluation meeting • Stage 2: Meeting between lecturer & class representative • Step 3: ’Contract agreed’ between class rep. & teacher • Step 4: Head of year /programme analyses reports • Step 5: All class representatives meet to evaluate all programmes & report to admin. • Step 6: Neccessary actions taken • Summative Evaluations: • 1) Confirmit evaluations sent to students at the end of semester • 2) Processed data sent to lecturers 2/3 months later

11. Conclusion • Evaluation is a continuous process – essential before, during and after a course. Evaluation at the end is the least valuable to the teacher • For students, the quality of teaching is about how effectively teaching engages them and urges them towards a deep approach • We need to question the validity of external quality assurance processes yet be accountable and use feedback effectively