Reaching a true consensus on a definition or an evaluation of effective teaching has remained a challenge for researchers, administrators, faculty developers, and instructors in higher education, and as a result, the use of student ratings has also been debated. The purpose of this study was to compare student ratings of global items gathered during the semester with those gathered at the end of the semester, as well as the end of semester student ratings of students who had provided their mid-semester feedback twice with those who had not in order to measure the consistency with which students rated teaching effectiveness in their class under different conditions. Participants for this study included 394 undergraduate students enrolled in a total of seven sections of five courses. Within each of the seven classes, participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: one that was primed by completing an online survey twice during the semester, and one that completed an alternate activity at the same time points. Both groups then completed the university’s Students’ Evaluation of Teaching survey with the rest of the class at the end of the semester. After the last day of classes, participants were also invited to attend a focus group session to discuss their experiences in this study. The analyses from the quantitative survey data indicated that for all of the classes, responses to individual items during the semester did not differ significantly from those at the end of the semester. For each of six classes, results did not identify any significant differences between primed and non-primed students on the final survey; however, one class revealed that non-primed students actually responded more consistently than primed students. Additionally, although six classes did not significantly differ for the primed group on the first two mid-semester surveys, one class showed that the ratings of these primed students became less consistent by the second mid-semester survey. Qualitative data from survey comments and focus group sessions were also examined for any patterns. The explanations of the findings as well as the implications of this study and directions for future research are discussed. / text

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Higher education depends heavily on government funding, yet the tendency in both industrial and developing countries is one towards a decrease in budget allocation for the maintenance or improvement of higher education. At the same time institutions of higher learning are increasingly required to give account of that performance. Higher Education institutions will have to explore avenues of raising revenue other than government funding. Decisions with regard to promotion and salary increases, which form a substantial part of the expenditure on the institutional budget, must therefore be based on justifiable grounds if these institutions are to remain viable. It is for this reason that performance appraisal of academic staff assumes increasing significance. This study addresses the aspect of introducing an individualised performance appraisal system for academic staff. The research is in the format of a literature review of performance appraisal in higher education followed by a questionnaire survey and interviews among academic staff at an institution of higher learning. The questionnaire survey and interviews prove that performance appraisal for academic staff is necessary. According to the interviews there is, however, not substantive support for an individualised performance appraisal system for academic staff. In view of the support for performance appraisal elicited by the questionnaire survey, however, the research recommends that an individualised performance appraisal system be introduced for academic staff on an experimental basis, and that the research goal be subjected to further research in a more extensive manner by taking a bigger sample and employing different research methods. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die hedendaagse tendens in hoër onderwys dui op 'n vermindering van finansiële ondersteuning deur die owerheid aan instellings vir hoër onderwys, ten spyte daarvan dat sodanige instellings hoofsaaklik aangewese is op die owerheid vir befondsing vir die handhawing, of selfs verbetering, van hoër onderwys. Terselfdertyd word daar groter verantwoording van instellings vir hoër onderwys vereis. Instellings van hoër onderwys sal ernstige oorweging daaraan moet skenk om ander inkomstebronne as staatsbefondsing te bekom, ten einde die befondsing deur die owerheid aan te vul. Bevordering en salarisverhogings vorm 'n groot deel van die uitgawes op die begroting van die instelling. Besluite in hierdie verband behoort derhalwe geneem te word op gesonde grondslae. Dit is om hierdie rede dat prestasieboordeling van doserende personeel toenemende belangrikheid aanneem. Hierdie navorsmg fokus _ op die instelling van 'n geïndividualiseerde prestasiebeoordelingstelsel vir doserende personeel. Die navorsing is in die formaat van 'n literatuurstudie van prestasiebeoordeling in hoër onderwys, gevolg deur 'n vraelysondersoek en onderhoude met doserende personeel by 'n instelling vir hoër onderwys. Die vraelysondersoek en onderhoude bewys dat prestasiebeoordeling van doserende personeel wel nodig is. Daar is egter, volgens die onderhoude, onvoldoende steun vir 'n geïndividualiseerde stelsel van prestasiebeoordeling vir doserende personeel. In die lig van die ondersteuning vir prestasiebeoordeling soos blyk uit die vraelysondersoek, beveel die navorsing aan die instelling van 'n geïndividualiseerde prestasiebeoordelingstelsel vir doserende personeel op 'n proefbasis, en dat meer intensiewe navorsing ten opsigte van die navorsingsdoelwit gedoen word deur 'n groter steekproef te neem en verskillende navorsingsmetodes te gebruik.

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In a study of perceptions of teaching and teaching improvement, data was collected from 68 CEGEP and university faculty members. Content analysis revealed that faculty members and faculty developers have different perceptions of the need for and the nature of teaching improvement, and that their improvement activities grow out of their perceptions of the critical variables, their controllability and stability. / Most faculty members reported doing some work on improving their teaching, but they were likely to engage in these activities only when they saw a problem and felt it was solvable; they used improvement services only when those services were seen as relevant and necessary to the solution (which was rare). / It was demonstrated that attribution theory and adult learning theory provide the theoretical bases for interpreting professors' descriptions of (a) the factors which limit their teaching effectiveness, (b) their own past and future improvement efforts and the usefulness of formal improvement strategies.

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The problem of this study is to determine the relationship between attitudes of student teachers and the way these student teachers are perceived by their pupils. A subproblem is the effect of student teaching on these attitudes.

The study attempted to determine the relationship between student evaluation of instruction and institutional performance ratings with the following predictors: faculty job satisfaction, faculty attitudes toward the evaluation process, faculty attitudes toward factors associated with the evaluation process, and faculty characteristics.

The problem of this study was the identification of selected characteristics of Minnie Stevens Piper Professors. Purposes of the study were: (a) to determine characteristics of Minnie Stevens Piper Professors, and (b) to determine whether these professors possess characteristics which typify outstanding college teachers as described by the Selection Research, Incorporated College Teacher Perceiver interview. Forty subjects, 20 from community colleges and 20 from senior colleges, were randomly selected from the 1978 through 1988 lists of Piper Professors. Fifteen community college and 11 senior college professors agreed to participate by being interviewed with the College Teacher Perceiver. This interview identified 13 characteristics, or themes, of excellent college teachers.