A revised version of the Individual Development and Educational Assessment (IDEA) form for collecting student ratings of instructional processes and outcomes has been administered since the fall of the 1998-1999 school year. Results from all implementations of the instrument from August 1998 through August 2001 are the basic data of this report. A…

This case study explains the process that a newly created academic department used to develop a coherent system of faculty performance evaluation by combining three previous evaluation systems. The original procedures and criteria for faculty performance evaluation were of administrative and legal concern to the newly created department because…

The perceptions of chief academic officers (CAOs) at four-year colleges and universities and specialized institutions were examined to determine the criteria used to evaluate faculty teaching, college and community service, scholarship, and overall performance by Carnegie classification, type of control (public or private), and faculty…

Reports two studies examining the referents used by college students in rating the teaching effectiveness of college professors. (TO)

Raises for consideration a number of critical questions concerning the value of peer evaluation of teaching effectiveness, methods of conducting peer evaluations, and their proper use in personnel decisions. Blind acceptance of peer evaluations should be challenged by university faculty, particularly by instructors still subject to decisions on…

Reports on effects of educational interventions on faculty and administration knowledge of, and attitude toward, student course evaluations. Aims to assess whether attitudes can be changed through education. Results suggest that interventions were effective, and even moderate instruction had the effect of improving attitudes toward student…

Explores the tentative beginning of staff appraisals undertaken by institutions of higher education. Reports on the development of approaches to staff appraisal in two departments concerned with teacher education. (MLF)

Studied institutions' policies and practices affecting full-time and part-time faculty in fall 1998, including teaching assignments, performance evaluations, tenure, and benefits. Data from the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty show the diversity of postsecondary education and the variety of policies related to faculty. (Author/SLD)

This article is an account of my search for professional identity as a new university lecturer through the use of the peer observation of teaching (POT) techniques. Through a synthesis of selected theoretical literature, associated critical reflection, and my own experiences of professional development through POT, the paper presents a conceptual…

Are online student ratings the "wave of the future"? This chapter introduces numerous advantages and challenges of adopting an online system for student evaluation of teaching; in it, the authors preview the research of the other authors of this volume and suggest areas that universities can investigate when determining the desirability of…