Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness - Literature review Example

Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness Name Institution Date: Introduction Evaluating teaching effectiveness refers to the process through which one establishes whether an instructor meets the set goals hence ensure that students get proper instructions (Stronge & Tucker, 2003). Course evaluation involves various instruments such as a questionnaire. The evaluation instrument used in this paper is indicated in the appendix section. Answers are sought from the respondents through a number of questions. The purpose of having a course evaluation is to determine how effective a course is taught. The term course evaluation could also refer to the responses received from such a process which have been summarized. Useful feedback is produced which can be employed by the teacher involved and mostly by the school management to ensure that effective ways are developed. Measuring the effectiveness of teaching is very important as the information gathered can influence major decisions regarding the future of academics (Nolan & Hoover, 2010). The decisions made are of two types which are either formative or summative. With regard to formative decisions, the results obtained are used make improvement and change the quality of teaching. Summative decisions make use of evidence to make a summary of the overall performance and then decisions are arrived at regarding whether one is going to be promoted and annual merit pay. The instruments used for evaluation seek for certain factors such as communication skills, attitude of instructors towards students, fairness in grading by the instructor, motivation of the students by the instructor, organizational skills among others. Evaluation is very important hence it needs to be carried out in the best way possible and the methods applied should be reviewed to ensure that the objective is continuously met (Nolan & Hoover, 2010). Justification for the criteria used The criterion used for evaluating teaching effectiveness is an evaluation form. One of the benefits of using a questionnaire is that an instructor realizes how other people view their methods and approach to teaching. This results in instructors changing their approach and making improvements. Administrators also find the response invaluable when making decisions regarding increasing salaries of their employees and deciding on who should be promoted (Robertson & Nilson, 2007). The administrators are also able to come up with recommendations to their members of staff on areas that they can improve. It is not right to base decisions solely on the information obtained from students, it is also advisable that peer evaluations be carried out and feedback from those in charge of the teachers. According to Robertson and Nilson (2007) summative evaluation is carried out towards the end of a semester and involves students who given class at the time of evaluation. The responses given by students are likely to be correct as they are not apprehensive that they will get punished and in any case the respondents are not required to indicate their names hence making their responses anonymous (Cheng, 2005). Evaluation is very beneficial to the students. There are evaluations where results are made available to both instructors as well as students. Where course evaluation are conducted by students out of their own initiative and through their own organizations, there is benefit to those students who gain access to such information as they are able to know how different instructors or classes are like (Cheng, 2005). Such information gathered by students is helpful in the case of elective units as this helps students to make more informed decisions when coming up with what units they would like to pursue. Teaching standards are set at the national level and they determine the means of measuring how effective teachers are in their profession (Attanasio & Capursi, 2011). The standards act as a guide when coming up with tools of measurements, analysis interpretation and reporting of results to enables decisions to be made. The standards are with regard to what needs to be measured and they also define the process of doing so. There needs to be adequate definition of knowledge, skills and abilities and whatever else that determine what effective teaching is. Whether it is a student involved or a peer observing they need to make judgment on a teacher's effectiveness based on what actually occurs inside the classroom. Teaching effectiveness can also be gleaned from publications that describe how innovative teaching can take place and outcome data from students. For a long time, the main source of determining whether a teacher is effective has been based on ratings by students. Lately, there has been a shift with student evaluation being supplemented by other sources which ensures that there are more sources and hence greater amount of evidence which serves to determine how good the teaching is. Aylett and Gregory (2006) note that there should be a unified conceptualization. There needs to be multiple sources of evidence before a decision can be made. This has been informed by the fact that various sources in application have their own shortcomings. Each method has some weaknesses and strong points thus the end result being that no one method can stand alone. Applying multiple sources means that the strong points of one method can compensate for those weaknesses in others. Since the process of determining teaching effectiveness is complex, having a number of sources ensures that a clearer outcome will be arrived at from multiple sources than just relying on just one point. There are a number of sources of evidence to determine the quality of teaching. Such sources include student ratings, self evaluation, ratings by administrators and self evaluation. Student ratings are the most influential in determining instructors' performance and hence determining tenure decisions and promotions in institutions where emphasis is laid upon effectiveness in teaching (Aylett & Gregory, 2006). The evaluation by students though popular, has attracted a lot of criticism and hostility from faculties in colleges. Ratings by students form a vital source of information regarding teaching effectiveness in summative and also formative decisions. However, it should be noted that students do not provide a sufficient source for the making of summative decisions. All in all, students provide an important source of information which is valuable for decision making. Peer review could be more reliable than review by the students. It is cost effective, less subjective and efficient. Peer review as a form of evaluation involves observation by the peers while a teacher is in class a review of written document in use during teaching (Stronge & Tucker, 2003). Review by peers needs a scale of rating dealing with issues that peers are in a better position to evaluate as compared to students. Some of the items that would be included are how the instructor delivers the methods of teaching applied, knowledge of content and other related aspects. Review by peers need to be applied in formative and not for summative observations. Ratings by peers for performance serves as the second most important source of information, second to student ratings (Hativa, 2006). The combination of peer review and rating by students give a view which is more comprehensive. It should be noted that peer ratings are not supposed to form a basis for making decisions regarding personnel. Exit and Alumni Ratings: Research indicates that students who have left school remember a lot about the quality of teaching by their instructors (Evers & Walberg, 2004). In schools, ratings by alumni and those students about to leave school serves to confirm the findings that were obtained earlier while the students were still in school. Such students can be expected to arrive at an unbiased evaluation regarding their former instructors. Another way of evaluating effectiveness of teaching is through looking at results that are posted by students. It is source which is tricky to use since it does not give a direct assessment. One infers the performance of an instructor based on performance of their students. The difficulty with this is that hedging performance of instructors based on outcome of students is bound to be hard. It is not possible to conclusively decide that the outcome of the student learning is solely dependent upon teaching. The results posted by a student could be determined by reasons which the institution has no control over such as characteristics of the students. Use of learning outcome measures needs to be applied cautiously if it is to be applied for evaluating instructors to determine their effectiveness. Application of the Evaluation Form The administration of a course evaluation form is a process. The first step is coming up with the questions that are to be included in the questionnaire. After this is done, then comes the stage of preparing the questionnaire. This stage involves determining the order the questions should be arranged and what language should be used. It is important that proper instructions should be given so that the proper information is gathered so as to come up with the proper conclusions and remedies (Evers & Walberg, 2004). The next stage is getting the information from the respondents who are the students. They should be administered with the questionnaires at the right time to ensure that they give their responses without too much of a hurry and to ensure that honest response is obtained. This is followed by analysis of and interpretation of the information gathered during the process. The final step is taking action upon the results obtained (Hativa, 2006). There is a possibility of the surveys being carried out using forms which are electronic in the case of papers being used one or several students distribute the papers in absence of the instructor. After making their assessments, the students enclose the forms in an envelope and the forms will not be availed to the teachers until they have returned the final results to the students (Hambright 2004). Where the form in application is electronic, it could be more detailed or identical to a paper one. In order to obtain more information from the students, branching technology can be applied. The end result whether the information be obtained through online forms or papers is to obtain feedback which is honest and hence useful. Formative evaluation is carried out if during an existing semester there happens to be some changes. This is performed through consultation by peers. A teacher is criticized by those who have more experience. A teacher who is more experienced in teaching attends a class where a less experienced teacher is teaching and note what methods are being applied by the other teacher (Evers & Walberg, 2004). The teacher who sat for purposes of observation is able to give tips to the other on areas that they can improve on to make their delivery in teaching to be more effective. Peer feedback to an instructor usually takes the form of a meeting which is an open session. The peers discuss about the strong points when the lessons were taking place. An instructor suggests on areas requiring improvement and they are able to get response as to whether their ideas are worth implementing. According to Pritchard (2008) a good example of evaluation of teaching would require considerable amount of resources to be devoted. Instructors would need to be observed and scores awarded several times a year typically four times. Three of the times could be by peers who are not a member of the institution and the remaining could be done by an administrator in the institution. Peer evaluators should be instructors who have a wealth of experience in teaching in the classroom and they ought to be selected for such tasks based on their performance in evaluations. Such instructors could serve the role of evaluators for a given duration, say two years and then they resume their ordinary duties. For one to become an evaluator, they need to have attended intensive training and have high scores during their evaluation. New instructors ought to take part in evaluation during their first year of service so as to receive tenure. The score by the teachers should be based on characteristics that an effective instructor should posses. Hativa (2006) notes that this mode of assessment can be a source of invaluable data which can be applied in a number of ways. Researchers are able to determine which teaching practices produce better results in students and hence it is possible to determine which teaching methods are better and these can be applied on a wider scale. The evaluations give both the administrators and the affected instructor information of practices that made an instructor obtain a certain score. This information is vital as instructors and administrators are able to come up with a plan as to how the instructors can be developed professionally (Hativa, 2006). School administrators are able to determine the different weak points of the instructors. For example, an instructor who might have had a low score would have the opportunity to work out on the specific area of weakness. Results from instructor evaluation help in determining the relationship the practices of instructors while in the class and the improvement in the academic life of the student under the charge of such an instructor. The best evaluation to determine the relation between achievement of student and teacher practices and development should be based on many sources. Conclusion Teachers have had issues with summative evaluations on their teaching. The argument is that these evaluations do not reflect accurately on the effectiveness of teaching. Most of the instructors contend that if standards are raised then students’ evaluation of instructors would dwindle. It has been argued that some of the factors that inform the like of response given by students include gender, looks, ethnicity or even the personality of an instructor. Those who disagree with such evaluations argue that what determines whether an instructor receives good feedback is not whether one is effective in their teaching but other predictable factors. Those critics further argue that such evaluations should not form the basis for determining whether instructors are retained, get favourable terms or get promoted by the faculty. It has also been said that evaluations by students negatively affect students’ attitudes towards their instructors and higher education in general. It has been realized through research that where students expect a certain instructor to award higher grades, then such an instructor is likely to get better evaluation by the students. Research has also established that those instructors who are attractive generally scored better on evaluation from students than those colleagues who were less good looking. It has been argued that course evaluations do not in fact give any important feedback. Another argument is that data produced through such evaluations are not easy to interpret and hence make it difficult for an instructor to find out what their weaknesses are and hence enable them to make improvements on their mode of delivery. Paper based evaluation cost more than those which are electronic hence resulting in more money than necessary being wasted where the evaluations are paper based. There arises the question as to the most effective method of assessing the effectiveness of teaching by instructors. There are many methods that can be applied. This calls for a consideration as to what methods would best help the institution come up with methods which bring out the true effectiveness of an instructor. Application of unified conceptualization could be very appropriate. One should begin with ratings by students and another one or several sources that are acceptable by the faculty as best reflecting the quality of their teaching. It is also important to determine the pros and cons with regard to the different sources that are at your disposal. Finally, one need to come up with a decision as to what combination of sources need to be used for formative and summative decisions and you also need to determine which methods are best used either summative or formative decision making but not both. Regardless of sources chosen time should be taken and effort put in designing, executing and reporting the results obtained appropriately. For the evaluation to be accurate the integrity of the process is paramount and the evidence obtained should be reliable and valid. Having said all this, it still remains that evaluation of teaching has a positive impact in the academic circles. References Attanasio, M. & Capursi, V. (2011). Statistical Methods for the Evaluation of University Systems. New York: Springer. Aylett, R. & Gregory, K. (2006). Evaluating teacher quality in higher education. New York: Routledge. Cheng, Y. (2005). Teaching effectiveness and teacher development: towards a new knowledge base. New York: Springer. Evers, W. & Walberg, H. (2004).Testing student learning: evaluating teaching effectiveness. New York: Hoover Institution Press. Hambright, W. (2004). Case studies in school leadership. New York: University Press of America. Hativa, N. (2006). Teaching for Effective Learning in Higher Education. New York: Springer. Nolan, J. & Hoover, L. (2010). Teacher Supervision and Evaluation. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Pritchard, R. (2008). Helping teachers teach well: a new system for measuring and improving teaching effectiveness in higher education. New York: Lexington Books. Robertson, D. & Nilson, L. (2007). To Improve the Academy: Resources for Faculty, Instructional, and Organizational Development. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Stronge, J. & Tucker, P. (2003). Handbook on teacher evaluation: assessing and improving performance. New York: Eye on Education. Appendix 1: Student Course Evaluation Form Instructions on Filling You can use any mark Please be honest in giving your feedback The evaluation form provided is an opportunity to air your opinion with regard to the course and how teaching of the course has been carried out. To indicate the level of agreement with statements provided below. You choose from among the choices here: 5=strongly agree, 4=agree, 3=somewhat agree, 2=disagree, 1=strongly disagree, N/A= this statement is not applicable to this instructor. Please Mark In The Indicated Boxes 5 4 3 2 1 N/A 1. The students are able to get individual attention from the teacher when they require it. 2. The instructor adjudicated on disputes in the class impartially. 3. The course materials (e.g. text books, handouts) helped to better grasp the course. 4. The instructor fully understood the course content. 5. The instructor communicated audibly and clearly in class. 6. The instructor accommodated those with divergent view points in class. 7. The instructor was fair in doing assessment of student assignments. 8. The instructor took into consideration those students with disabilities. 9. The instructor was respectful to all students. 10. The instructor was enthusiastic about the subject he taught. 11. The assignment offered helped me better grasp the course material. 12. The instructor was clear while giving practical examples. 13. The instructor applied technology during his classes. 14. The instructor responded to queries by students exhaustively. 15. The instructor covered the course completely, comprehensively and in a timely manner. 16. The instructor marked the assignments in time and gave useful feedback 17. The instructor attended the most of the classes and was punctual. 18. The attendance by most students was consistent. 19. The instructor encouraged the students to achieve their full potential. Your comments are invited on the following What would you say were the strong points of the instructor? What areas do you think the instructor needs to improve on? Would you recommend the course to other students? Read More