Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Education and International Services

Program

Curriculum and Instruction PhD

First Advisor

Larry D. Burton

Second Advisor

Jimmy Kijai

Third Advisor

Lynn Merklin

Abstract

Problem

This research examined the type of rating of specific Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) dimensions and overall rating students tended to give for the courses that they took, identified the dimensions that predicted the overall rating, and assessed the association of gender, student academic status, course level, course type, academic school and the effect on SET scores.

Method

The researcher used a quantitative research method to explore the type of score that students give to the courses they took, examine the relationship between dimensions of SET and overall rating, and the influence of gender, student status, course level, course type, and academic school in SET score. The study included 3,745 responses to courses at five schools at Andrews University. Andrews University’s Course Survey was used as the main instrument. Descriptive analysis, regression linear analysis, and multivariate analysis of variance were conducted to help answer the research questions.

Results

The research found that students tended to rate all courses highly. However, these students tended to rate the dimensions of respect for diversity, preparation and organization, and availability and helpfulness higher than other dimensions. Four dimensions were found predicting SET overall rating. These dimensions were: stimulate interest, effective communication, intellectual discovery and inquiry, and evaluation and grading. Regarding the student and course characteristics that were examined, gender was not found to influence the SET score. Student academic status and course level were found to affect SET scores within specific dimensions, but the effect sizes were very small. Both the course type and the academic school were found not significant enough to be used in practice.

Conclusion

This study supported other research that reported some dimensions of SET predicted overall rating. The research offered a model with four dimensions that predicted overall rating. The results of this study supported the theory that both student status and course level affect SET scores. However, this study found that the effect of these two factors tended to be within specific dimensions of SET. Different from other studies, this study found that gender had no influence on SET scores. Both course type and academic school had a very small effect size, which is not large enough to be used in practice.

Subject Area

Student Evaluation of Teaching; Teachers--Rating of; Curriculum evaluation; Andrews University. School of Education

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dissertations/1662

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