Course-level factors and undergraduate engineering students' ratings of instruction
Post-course instructor ratings are a common practice at universities in Europe, Australia, and North America. Rather than solely describing teaching practice, however, such ratings may be associated with a range of non-pedagogical factors. We explored engineering students' instructor ratings at...
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| Published in | European journal of engineering education Vol. 49; no. 4; pp. 769 - 784 |
|---|---|
| Main Authors | , , , |
| Format | Journal Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
Abingdon
Taylor & Francis
03.07.2024
Taylor & Francis Ltd |
| Subjects | |
| Online Access | Get full text |
| ISSN | 0304-3797 1469-5898 |
| DOI | 10.1080/03043797.2023.2224245 |
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| Abstract | Post-course instructor ratings are a common practice at universities in Europe, Australia, and North America. Rather than solely describing teaching practice, however, such ratings may be associated with a range of non-pedagogical factors. We explored engineering students' instructor ratings at a large United States institution, investigating relationships between overall instructor rating and some of those non-pedagogical factors, including subject area, class size, and students' course grades. Instructor ratings were more favourable in humanities courses than in science or math courses, and students gave higher ratings to instructors who taught smaller class sizes. The strongest relationship existed between overall rating and students' course grades: students who received A's rated instructors an average 0.84 points higher on a 6-point scale than students who received F's. Students who withdrew from a course provided the lowest instructor ratings. When instructor ratings are used as metrics of teaching ability in discussions related to promotion, tenure, or salary adjustments, there is an inherent inequity in the system that must be acknowledged beyond already well-documented biases, as non-pedagogical factors often outside of the instructor's control may be significantly associated with those ratings. |
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| AbstractList | Post-course instructor ratings are a common practice at universities in Europe, Australia, and North America. Rather than solely describing teaching practice, however, such ratings may be associated with a range of non-pedagogical factors. We explored engineering students' instructor ratings at a large United States institution, investigating relationships between overall instructor rating and some of those non-pedagogical factors, including subject area, class size, and students' course grades. Instructor ratings were more favourable in humanities courses than in science or math courses, and students gave higher ratings to instructors who taught smaller class sizes. The strongest relationship existed between overall rating and students' course grades: students who received A's rated instructors an average 0.84 points higher on a 6-point scale than students who received F's. Students who withdrew from a course provided the lowest instructor ratings. When instructor ratings are used as metrics of teaching ability in discussions related to promotion, tenure, or salary adjustments, there is an inherent inequity in the system that must be acknowledged beyond already well-documented biases, as non-pedagogical factors often outside of the instructor's control may be significantly associated with those ratings. |
| Author | Klopfer, Michelle D. Knight, David B. Case, Scott W. Grohs, Jacob R. |
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| SubjectTerms | Class Size Colleges & universities course grade Educational Practices Engineering education faculty Humanities Instruction Pedagogy Ratings Ratings & rankings Student evaluations Students Teacher Promotion Teachers Teaching Teaching Methods Universities |
| Title | Course-level factors and undergraduate engineering students' ratings of instruction |
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