Date of Award
12-2020
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy - School Psychology
Department
Human Services
First Advisor
Dr. Luis Aguerrevere
Second Advisor
Dr. Nina Ellis-Hervey
Third Advisor
Dr. Elaine Turner
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Sarah Savoy
Abstract
Course evaluations impact faculty’ annual evaluations and have become somewhat controversial, yet course evaluations in faculty evaluations persist as a common practice across universities. While many scholars find this success-based tool effective in assessing teaching effectiveness, others question the validity and reliability of this measurement and are opposed to using this tool as a mean of determining faculty members’ success. The purpose of this study is to provide a more in-depth examination of course evaluations by analyzing faculty, student, and course variables. Analyses were performed to address the following research question: “To what degree do faculty gender, faculty race, faculty year of terminal degree, student gender representation in class, student race representation in class, total enrollment, course level, and grading patterns predict the variance in overall course evaluation, standard deviation, and response rate in one university academic unit?” Collected data consisted of course evaluations of 202 Human Services-related courses and information collected from 53 faculty members' curriculum vitae during one academic year in an independent, regional institution with a student population of ~ 13,000 located in the southwestern region of the USA. Analysis of this data indicated that faculty gender and low grades predicted the variance in overall course evaluation and standard deviation. Course level, high grades, and low grades predicted the variance in response rate. Results from this study may assist administrators in enhancing the promotion, tenure, and merit review process when considering the impact of faculty and student variables on course evaluations cumulative ratings, standard deviation, and response rates.
Repository Citation
Stewart, Tyesha De’Shuan, "University Course Evaluations: A Study of the Influence of Faculty, Student, and Course Variables" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 470.
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/470
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Included in
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