The relationship between student ratings of course effectiveness and student achievement

Abstract

For many years student ratings have been used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of various courses and the teaching abilities of the instructors involved. Investigators have either supported or attacked the validity of this assessment procedure on the basis of the direction and degree of the relationship found between student rating of a course and student achievement in that course. This validation study supplemented correlation analysis with analysis of variance to compare groups at various achievement levels and to control for the possible confounding effects of overall group analysis. Medical students responded to a Likert attitude scale about aspects of an anatomy course. The mean attitude scores for a high and a low course achievement group were significantly different at the 0.005 level; the high achievement group had a more positive course attitude.

Opening Pathways for Underrepresented High School Students to Biomedical Research Careers: The Emory University RISE Program

“…In addition, the format limited the number of questions that students could answer in a reasonable amount of time. For these reasons, we designed a second survey that attempts to be more comprehensive by addressing the same topics using a five-point Likert scale Mendelson et al 1978). Twentyone survey responses from different students were collected using this format over the past 2 years.…”

National survey of evaluation practices and performance-guided resource allocation at German medical schools

“…Data show for example that students with a high initial interest in a course generally tend to rate it more positively than those with a low interest [7], [8]. Further studies found a positive correlation between exam performance and student ratings for an anatomy course [9], [10]. In this context, the importance of a clear definition of the construct of good teaching underlying the evaluation should be emphasized: Only after it has been clearly defined what is meant by "good teaching" can one identify and use an instrument that measures precisely this construct.…”

Participation of students in the designing and evaluation of pharmacy curriculum: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Current pharmacy education should have more emphasis on clinical impartment of knowledge. Participation of students in planning and evaluation of curriculum is not a new concept 11,12 . It is well established that the students have ability to evaluate the efficacy of their own course.…”