University Course Evaluations: A Study of the Influence of Faculty, Student, and Course Variables

<p>Course evaluations impact faculty’ annual evaluations and have become somewhat controversial, yet course evaluations in faculty evaluations persist as a common practice across universities. While many scholars find this success-based tool effective in assessing teaching effectiveness, others question the validity and reliability of this measurement and are opposed to using this tool as a mean of determining faculty members’ success. The purpose of this study is to provide a more in-depth examination of course evaluations by analyzing faculty, student, and course variables. Analyses were performed to address the following research question: “To what degree do faculty gender, faculty race, faculty year of terminal degree, student gender representation in class, student race representation in class, total enrollment, course level, and grading patterns predict the variance in overall course evaluation, standard deviation, and response rate in one university academic unit?” Collected data consisted of course evaluations of 202 Human Services-related courses and information collected from 53 faculty members' curriculum vitae during one academic year in an independent, regional institution with a student population of ~ 13,000 located in the southwestern region of the USA. Analysis of this data indicated that faculty gender and low grades predicted the variance in overall course evaluation and standard deviation. Course level, high grades, and low grades predicted the variance in response rate. Results from this study may assist administrators in enhancing the promotion, tenure, and merit review process when considering the impact of faculty and student variables on course evaluations cumulative ratings, standard deviation, and response rates.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy - School Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human Services

Year dc:date.available

2020

Author dc:creator

• Stewart, Tyesha De’Shuan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Luis Aguerrevere
• Dr. Nina Ellis-Hervey
• Dr. Elaine Turner

• course evaluations
• standard deviation
• faculty gender
• faculty race
• faculty year of terminal degree
• student gender representation in class
• student race representation in class
• total enrollment
• course level
• grading patterns
• Academic Advising
• Curriculum and Instruction
• Education Policy
• Gender and Sexuality
• Higher Education Administration
• Higher Education and Teaching
• Online and Distance Education
• Race and Ethnicity
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• School Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/470

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.sfasu.edu:etds-1373