This study explores the thought processes college students use when answering survey questions on standardized course/faculty evaluations. Thought processes are categorized as: System One or System Two, based on the framework developed by Kahneman (2003) and Stanovich and West (2000). System One processes are typically hurried, superficial,…

This article presents findings from a case study related to the risks associated with the choice of traditional, tenure track faculty to teach online. Education offered at a distance via the World Wide Web is on the rise; so too is the demand for university faculty members who will teach those courses. While traditional academic and professional…

The present study sought to examine the justification of faculty claims regarding bias in students' assessments of faculty performance that stem from external factors which do not include the quality of their teaching. Specifically, we sought to examine the hypothesis that there is a correlation between lecturer ranking and grades given by…

The main purpose of this research is to examine the effectiveness of Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) from a sample of university teachers' and students' view. The study adopts exploratory descriptive design. Participants of this research were 300 teachers and 600 graduate students from 3 Iranian higher education institutions. A 30-item format…

With ongoing research assessment in higher education and the introduction of master's-level work in initial teacher education, the growing need for teacher educators to develop research identities is discussed in relation to mentoring and support in two universities. Twelve interviews--with three teacher educators and three research mentors from…

This study is an exploratory inquiry into the perceptions of university faculty regarding two forms of teaching evaluations, student evaluations of teaching (SET), and peer observation reports (POR). Which, if either, better assesses the quality of instruction? Who are the real experts in judging teaching quality: peers who are experts in their…

Student evaluations of faculty are important components of the medical curriculum and faculty development. To improve the effectiveness and timeliness of student evaluations of faculty in the physiology course, we investigated whether evaluations submitted during the course differed from those submitted after completion of the course. A secure…

This paper presents a case study of implementation of a new system of faculty teaching evaluation at a graduate school of business in Thailand. The research employed a non-experimental, longitudinal case study design in the analysis of student course evaluation data gathered over a period of 21 terms during a seven-year period. The report…

Personal statements are a widely used and popular predictor in academic admissions; however, relatively little is known about their effectiveness as a predictor of student performance. This study involved a meta-analysis of the relationships of personal statements to measures of student performance (e.g., GPA) and other predictors. An initial…

This study was designed to assess the attitude of academic staff in Nigerian tertiary educational institutions to student evaluation of instruction (SEI) and to find out the variable factors that influenced the expressed attitude of members of the academic staff, using Cross River State University as a case study. The study was a survey and so a…

Although many studies have examined techniques used to evaluate faculty performance, the literature has generally provided mixed results regarding the proper ways to measure teaching effectiveness. This paper provides the results of a survey of 1300 administrators and faculty of AACSB International accredited institutions. Respondents were asked…

Among Swales' (1996) list of occluded academic genres, retention-promotion-tenure (RPT) evaluations have been little studied. These evaluative reports, however, can inform EAP researchers, teachers, and students about ways that writers both follow and transgress discourse conventions to fulfill various purposes through an institutional text.…

We have inherited an educational architecture that, ironically, often gets in the way of its reason for being--to improve and expand learning. Organizational theorists call this classic trait of bureaucracies "goal displacement." (O'Banion and Milliron in College Conversations on Learning; League of Innovation Learning Abstract)

Although measures of student ratings of instruction have been developed and examined empirically, students' attitudes about the utility of these ratings have yet to be meaningfully quantified. Using survey responses from 1229 students at a major Canadian university, we developed a psychometrically sound measure of the usefulness of student…

Reports the results of a survey of faculty members to determine the differences between faculty perceptions of how decisions about advancement are made and their preferences for ways of making such decisions. Findings indicate that significant differences exist between older and younger faculty and across broad disciplinary boundaries. (Author/WD)