The Validity of Student Evaluation of Teaching in Higher Education: Love me, love my lectures?

Who is Learning what from Student Evaluations of Teaching?

“…In a survey of 213 UK social science undergraduate students he was able to attribute 69 percent of the variation in 'lecturer ability' to this charisma factor and he argued that charisma was an example of a single central trait which can seriously effect a student's overall evaluation of the lecturer (Shevlin, Banyard, Davies & Griffiths, 2000). While charisma can correlate with teacher effectiveness it does not necessarily follow that a charismatic teacher improves students' learning.…”

“…As of 1988, 80 percent of all liberal colleges in the USA used systematic student ratings as all or part of the means for evaluating teachers (Langbein, 1994). Across tertiary education in the UK, data from SET is considered as important evaluative information on which to judge academic staff and as a guide for potential changes in course material and method of delivery (Shevlin, 2000). Moreover, in Australian universities it is generally considered that student evaluations are more useful, accurate and valid than other measures of teaching performance and have the added benefit of being a direct measure of 'consumer' satisfaction (Ramsden, 1991).…”

Differential Item Functioning in Students Rating of Teaching Effectiveness Surveys in Higher Education According to Academic Disciplines: Data from a Saudi University

“…Reviewing the related literature shows that there are many variables that influence SETs: Grades or expected grades (Griffin, Hilton III, Plummer, & Barret, 2014, Badri et al, 2006Brockx, Spooren, & Mortelmans, 2011), gender (MacNell, Driscoll, & Hunt, 2015Badri, Abdulla, Kamali, & Dodeen, 2006), teachers' characteristics (Wolbring & Riordan, 2016;Clayson & Sheffet, 2006;Patrick, 2011;Greimel-Fuhrmann, & Geyer, 2003;Shevlin, Banyard, Davies, & Griffiths, 2000). ), classroom size and response rate (Al Kuwaiti, Alquraan, & Subbarayalu, 2016;Koh & Tan, 1997;Badri et al, 2006), course difficulty (Addison, Best, & Warrington, 2006), course level (Santhanam & Hicks, 2002), course type (Beran & Violato, 2005), general versus specific education (Ting, 2000) and course syllabus tone (Harnish & Bridges, 2011).…”

Are Course Evaluations Subject to a Halo Effect?

“…Pohlmann found undergraduate student's evaluations were better on elective than required courses. This use of scales has continued with Rae (1997 p 113-125), and Shevlin et al (2000) recommending using structured scales. These researchers in common with many others assume the scales used are independent.…”