De-grading student evaluations
What’s wrong with student polls of teaching
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14857385 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Max O Hocutt (University of Alabama, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1988 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 55-64 |
| Publication date | 1988-03-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Academic Questions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0895-4852 • E-ISSN: 1936-4709 |
| Publisher | National Association of Scholars (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1007/bf02682768 |
| OpenAlex | W2080670619 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 1 |
A quarter o f a century ago, few universit ies polled their s tudents on the merits of their professors. Doing that was left to the students themselves, who polled each other and published the results in underground newspapers, for the benefit o f other students. But times have changed. In the seventies, the student poll of teaching (the SPOT) became an official part o f university policy, used in 86% of public universities to help administrators decide which professors to promote or raise in pay. ~ The S P O T has taken a big step up. It is time for universities to take a look at what they have done. Was the SPOT ' s rise merited? Has it proved its worth? Has it provided the universities with a good measure of teaching? Has it helped to improve teaching? Should it be continued? Although people think so, I remain unconvinced. I f a good teacher is one from whom students learn, there is not now and never has been any p roo f that the S P O T picks out the best teachers. Nor is there any p roof that SPOTs have benefited teaching. Instead, there are indications to the contrary
Higher education · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Philosophy of education · Political science · Engineering · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Evaluation of Teaching Practices · Psychology · Student Assessment and Feedback
| Citations per year | 0.06 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1991 - 2008 (18) |
| Highly cited | No |