Teaching Aspects that Impact SET
Aspects of Teaching that Impact SET
- Higher ratings in classes where students learn more
- Higher ratings in difficult classes where students have to work hard and learn
- Lower ratings in classes where students learn the least
- Higher ratings with prior student interest in course (motivated to take it)
- Higher ratings in elective courses
- Higher ratings in higher level classes (especially graduate courses)
- Higher ratings in smaller classe
- Higher ratings when student expects a high grade (low correlation)
- Lower ratings if grades in course are undeservedly high
- Higher ratings from higher level students
- Higher ratings in arts/humanities than in social sciences
- Higher ratings in social sciences than in natural sciences/math
- Higher ratings if signed by student
- Higher ratings if teacher stays in classroom during evaluation
- Time during term when administered has no impact on ratings
- Higher if students know results will be used for personnel decisions
- Higher ratings when instructor communicates expectations about course work
- Higher ratings when students perceive instructor cares about their success
Aspects of Teaching Correlated with Student Learning
- Organization and preparation
- Clarity and “understandableness”
- Enthusiasm
- Ability to promote student learning/self-initiated learning
- Teacher’s knowledge of subject matter
- Teacher’s availability and helpfulness
- Encourage questions and being open to opinions of others
- Ability to stimulate student interest in the subject
- Demonstrating personal interest in and respect for students and their learning
- Sensitivity to and concern with class level and progress
- Fairness and impartiality of evaluation
- Nature, quality, and frequency of feedback to students
- Difficulty of course/intellectual challenge
Possible Sources of Bias in SET Results
- Age of instructor not correlated with SET
- Age of student not correlated with SET
- Graduate TAs’ ratings are lower than faculty ratings
- Gender of teacher not consistently correlated with SET
- Gender of student/gender of instructor interaction might be possible
- Ratings influenced by how well instructors conforms to stereotypes
- GPA of student NOT correlated with SET
- Race and SET not fully studied—correlation uncertain
- Energy and enthusiasm of instructor correlated with SET results