Student Evaluations of Teaching, Course and Student Characteristics at Andrews University

<p>Problem</p> <p>This research examined the type of rating of specific Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) dimensions and overall rating students tended to give for the courses that they took, identified the dimensions that predicted the overall rating, and assessed the association of gender, student academic status, course level, course type, academic school and the effect on SET scores.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>The researcher used a quantitative research method to explore the type of score that students give to the courses they took, examine the relationship between dimensions of SET and overall rating, and the influence of gender, student status, course level, course type, and academic school in SET score. The study included 3,745 responses to courses at five schools at Andrews University. Andrews University’s Course Survey was used as the main instrument. Descriptive analysis, regression linear analysis, and multivariate analysis of variance were conducted to help answer the research questions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The research found that students tended to rate all courses highly. However, these students tended to rate the dimensions of respect for diversity, preparation and organization, and availability and helpfulness higher than other dimensions. Four dimensions were found predicting SET overall rating. These dimensions were: stimulate interest, effective communication, intellectual discovery and inquiry, and evaluation and grading. Regarding the student and course characteristics that were examined, gender was not found to influence the SET score. Student academic status and course level were found to affect SET scores within specific dimensions, but the effect sizes were very small. Both the course type and the academic school were found not significant enough to be used in practice.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study supported other research that reported some dimensions of SET predicted overall rating. The research offered a model with four dimensions that predicted overall rating. The results of this study supported the theory that both student status and course level affect SET scores. However, this study found that the effect of these two factors tended to be within specific dimensions of SET. Different from other studies, this study found that gender had no influence on SET scores. Both course type and academic school had a very small effect size, which is not large enough to be used in practice.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction PhD

Year dc:date.available

2018

Author dc:creator

• Al Nasser, Fatimah

Contributors dc:contributor

• Larry D. Burton
• Jimmy Kijai
• Lynn Merklin

• Teaching
• Course
• Evaluation
• Student
• Andrews University
• Higher Education and Teaching

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/1662

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.andrews.edu:dissertations-2932