An investigation of how non-tenured faculty members use the results of student /faculty evaluations to improve classroom instruction

• Main Author: Ray, Barbara
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1999
• Subjects: Curricula; Teaching; School administration; Adult education; Continuing education; Education; Faculty; Instruction; Nontenured; Student/faculty evaluations
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/2574; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3573&context=uop_etds

Purpose . The student/faculty evaluation is one of the most widely used evaluation tools for determining which faculty to rehire and to identify those faculty who should receive merit increases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ways in which non-tenured faculty members utilize the information from student/faculty evaluations to improve classroom instruction. Procedure . A survey of 300 faculty members from 22 National University campuses in California was conducted. National University faculty members are ranked bit do not have tenure. Each faculty member receives a student/faculty evaluation at the end of each class. Faculty members were provided with a questionnaire during the first week of class. The questions were evaluated using an analysis of variance. Findings . Results suggest: (1) that few faculty share the evaluations they receive with other faculty, (2) that both scores and comments influence faculty to review and modify course outlines and in-class behavior, (3) that student comments on the evaluations provide more information to faculty for improvement, (4) that few faculty attend workshops in order to improve teaching, (5) that faculty do engage in an ongoing process of self-evaluation in addition to using feedback from evaluations in order to improve their classes, (6) that faculty do not feel that making such changes in their classes based on evaluations reduces academic freedom, and (7) that most faculty feel the student/faculty evaluation is somewhat helpful. Conclusions and recommendations . Specific recommendations about the timing for obtaining student/faculty evaluations and the provision of support and resources for faculty development are made in the dissertation. Recommendations are also made for further research in this area.