Factors Most Likely to Contribute to Positive Course Evaluations
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Factors Most Likely to Contribute to Positive Course Evaluations Victoria G. VanMaaren 1 & Caroline M. Jaquett 1 & Robert L. Williams 2
# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016
Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which students differentially rated ten factors likely to affect their ratings on overall course evaluations. Students (N = 148) in several sections of an undergraduate educational psychology course indicated their preferences among several designated factors. We found remarkable similarity in the ratings across a variety of subgroups (i.e., high vs. low grades, high vs. low test scores, upper vs. lower classmen, and gender). Good grade emerged as the most highly rated factor for every subgroup, whereas high course standards fell among the less-favored factors. Keywords Course evaluations . Good grades . Course assessment tools . Course standards
Victoria VanMaaren is a Ph.D. student in School Psychology at the University of Tennessee, where she currently serves as a Graduate Teaching Associate. Her research interests include improving writing skills and working with students who have Autism Spectrum Disorder. In addition, she is interested in increasing the predictive validity of student course evaluations and submission rate of those evaluations. Caroline Jaquett has a Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology and is a Ph.D. student in School Psychology at the University of Tennessee, where she serves as a Graduate Teaching Associate. In addition to her interest in determining what motivates students to submit course evaluations, she is interested in behavioral and academic interventions for students with Emotional Behavioral Disorders. Robert Williams has his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from George Peabody College. He is now Professor in the School Psychology Program at the University of Tennessee. His major research publications have focused on critical thinking, generic vocabulary, fluency in reading comprehension, participation in class discussion, notetaking in class, completion of homework assignments, cooperative learning, and a variety of other modifiable factors. He serves as the corresponding author for this article and can be reached at [email protected].
* Robert L. Williams [email protected]
1
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
2
Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, University of Tennessee, 535 Bailey Educational Complex Volunteer Blvd., Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
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Since their introduction in the 1920s, student course ratings have become institutionalized in virtually all U.S. institutions of higher education (Dommeyer et al. 2004; Marsh 1987). Students presumably use these ratings to assist in selecting courses (Beran et al. 2007), and professors and administrators use them in improving courses and in making promotion and tenure decisions (Beran et al. 2005). Although administrators tend to view student ratings positively, many instructors question their value in part because of students’ emp
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