This study examined selected components of faculty-led study abroad programs and determined students’ changes in global perspectives after participating in faculty-led study abroad programs. A census of the population of interest (N=19), included undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the Texas A&M Namibia Technological Change and Agricultural Communications and the Texas A&M Guatemala Agricultural Leadership and Service Learning study abroad programs. Participants were asked to complete a study abroad course evaluation upon return to the university during class time. The researcher-developed course evaluation included items to measure students’ perspectives of orientation sessions, course delivery methods, program type, program staff, and individual development. The Global Perspective Inventory (GPI) was administered during pre-departure class meetings using the General Student Form. Post-experience administration class sessions were used to collect participants’ global perspectives using the Study Abroad Post Test form. The GPI tests measured changes in global perspectives along three learning dimensions; cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal. Descriptive statistics (mean, frequencies, and standard deviation) were used to report the data. The results showed that (1) the academic programs were intellectually stimulating; (2) student’s individual development consisted of being more receptive to different ideas; and (3) student’s improved their global perspective with regards to cognitive and intrapersonal development.

To maintain a good course quality, the students at Uppsala University are asked to answer a course evaluation after each finished course. These evaluations are compiled by the course director to a report where the course director often include course results and own reflections. Today neither students, teachers or directors of study at TekNat, the Faculty of Science and Technology, at Uppsala University are able to get a clear overview of all course evaluations, course reports or course results. A clear overview of these things is important for all stakeholders since it will simplify the work to retain a good quality of the courses. Throughout this project we have developed a prototype of a website that gives a clear overview of the results for each of the courses. This project makes it clear whether the course evaluations and course reports are submitted and shows an average degree of the course based on the course evaluation. The project also visualizes grade distribution among students. The result was a functional prototype that is a first step in the development of a future system with the same purpose. The project fulilled all requirements and we hope that our design will be used for future development. / För att upprätthålla en god kurskvalitet ombeds studenterna på Uppsala universitet att svara på en kursvärdering efter varje avslutad kurs. Denna kursvärdering sammanställs sedan av kursansvarig till en kursrapport där kursansvarig ofta inkluderar resultat från kursen samt egna reflektioner. I dagsläget kan varken studenter, kursansvariga eller studierektorer på TekNat, Teknisk-naturvetenskapliga fakulteten, vid Uppsala universitet få en tydlig överblick över kursvärderingar, kursrapporter och resultat från kurserna. En tydlig överblick över dessa delar är viktig för samtliga intressenter eftersom det kommer att förenkla arbetet med att behålla en god kvalitet på utbildningarna. Vi har med detta projekt utvecklat en prototyp för en hemsida som ger en tydlig överblick över kurserna på TekNat fakulteten vid Uppsala universitet. Projektet gör det möjligt att se om kursvärderingar och kursrapporter rapporterats in, samt visar studenters omdöme om kurserna baserat på kursvärderingen. Projektet ger även möjligheten att jämföra betygsfördelning och kursomdöme från olika år som kursen givits. Resultat blev en fungerande prototyp som är ett första steg i utvecklingen av ett framtida system med samma syfte. Projektet uppfyllde alla krav och vi hoppas att vår design kommer att användas för kommande utveckling.

The Diploma thesis is focused on evaluation and innovation of a mentor course. Based on the analysis of 11 educational programmes in certificated courses we found out that the courses are not unified. We chose one of the analysed mentor courses called ``Supervisor of clinical practice`` at the Faculty of Health Care Studies of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. The main goals of our research were: 1. to find out the opinions of the mentor course gradutes on the course, 2. to identify possible shortcomings of the courses for clinical practice mentors, 3. to suggest innovation of the current courses. The empiric part of the Diploma thesis was worked on a quantitative research technique to find information required. The data collected through semi-structured interviews were formed into casuistries and subsequently categorised in the tables. Respondents praised the length, the number of participants and the overall structure of their course but they considered the practical part of the course to be insufficient in the extent and the lack of experienced clinical mentors. So a draft proposal of the course was prepared. Our research found some shortcomings of the courses and resulted into a course innovation. The analysis used by the Ministry of Health should help unify educational programmes of mentor courses.

Enligt litteraturen är kursutvärdering något som görs vid de flesta universitet och i Sverige och England finns lagstadgat att kursutvärdering ska genomföras. Normalt är det en kvantitativ kursutvärdering som görs med kommentarer i form av fritextsvar. I detta kandidatarbete har i enlighet med Blandford (2013) genomförts semistrukturerade intervjuer som därefter följts av en tematisk analys för att ta fram teman för fritextsvar av kursutvärderingar vid Linköpings universitet. Fritextsvaren har analyserats genom formulering av huvudteman, delteman och i några fall underteman till dessa. Det har konstaterats att någon tydlig teoribildning inte gått att finna när det kommer till kvalitativa kursutvärderingar. Resultatet från arbetet är en beskrivning av en arbetsprocess för kursutvärdering och dess delmoment vid en utbildning på Linköpings Universitet samt framtagande av förbättringsmöjligheter i denna arbetsprocess. Slutsatserna i denna studie avser kursutvärdering vid en utbildning, men resultaten kan även anses vara applicerbara vid andra, då det är samma system och samma struktur för kursutvärderingar vid de andra utbildningarna vid Linköpings Universitet.

The purpose of this study was to (a) develop an evaluation instrument capable of rating students' perceptions of the instructional quality of an online course and the instructor’s performance, and (b) validate the proposed instrument with a study conducted at a major public university. The instrument was based upon the Seven Principles of Good Practice for Undergraduate Education (Chickering & Gamson, 1987). The study examined four specific questions. 1. Is the underlying factor structure of the new instrument consistent with Chickering and Gamson's Seven Principles? 2. Is the factor structure of the new instrument invariant for male and female students? 3. Are the scores on the new instrument related students’ expected grades? 4. Are the scores on the new instrument related to the students' perceived course workload? The instrument was designed to measure students’ levels of satisfaction with their instruction, and also gathered information concerning the students’ sex, the expected grade in the course, and the students’ perceptions of the amount of work required by the course. A cluster sample consisting of an array of online courses across the disciplines yielded a total 297 students who responded to the online survey. The students for each course selected were asked to rate their instructors with the newly developed instrument. Question 1 was answered using exploratory factor analysis, and yielded a factor structure similar to the Seven Principles. Question 2 was answered by separately factor-analyzing the responses of male and female students and comparing the factor structures. The resulting factor structures for men and women were different. However, 14 items could be realigned under five factors that paralleled some of the Seven Principles. When the scores of only those 14 items were entered in two principal components factor analyses using only men and only women, respectively and restricting the factor structure to five factors, the factor structures were the same for men and women. A weak positive relationship between students’ expected grades and their scores on the instrument was found (Question 3). There was no relationship between students’ perceived workloads for the course and their scores on the instrument (Question 4).

Several experts in the area of postsecondary student evaluations of courses have concluded that they are stable or reliable measures as well as being measures that provide ways of making valid inferences regarding teacher effectiveness. Often these experts have offered these conclusions without supporting evidence. Surprisingly, a thorough review of the literature revealed very few reported test-retest reliability studies of course evaluations and the results from these studies are contradictory. In the area of validity, the conclusions offered by scholars who conducted meta-analyses of mutlisection course studies are inconsistent. This leads to the following two research questions: 1. What is the test-retest reliability over a 3-week period of the course evaluation currently employed at Utah State University? 2. Can results of the course evaluation employed at Utah State University be used to make valid inferences about a teacher's effectiveness? Two parts of a study were conducted to answer these questions. First, a test-retest reliability part was conducted with students from courses at Utah State University, employing a 3-week time lapse between administrations of the course evaluations. Second, a multisection course validity part was conducted using existing student ratings data and final examination scores for 100 sections of MATH 1010 over a 5-year period. Correlational analyses were conducted on the resulting data from both studies. Test-retest reliability coefficients ranging from 0.64 to 0.94 were found. In the second study, the correlation coefficients from the validity study ranged from -0.39 to 0.71, with a mean coefficient of 0.14 and 0.11 for final examination score by instructor rating and final examination score by course rating, respectively. Results from both parts of the study suggest that the course evaluation used at USU is not reliable and that results of the course evaluation do not provide information that can be used to make valid inferences regarding teacher effectiveness.

One method for improving the appeal of instruction is found in Christopher Alexander’s work on architectural design patterns. In this qualitative research study, student comments on teacher/course evaluation forms were analyzed to generate six instructional design patterns. The teacher enthusiasm pattern encourages teachers to show (a) increased scholarship and enthusiasm towards the subject matter, (b) genuine concern and enthusiasm towards the students, and (c) mastery of and enthusiasm towards the act of teaching. The balanced curriculum pattern recommends that teachers (a) determine the appropriate depth or breadth of subject matter and communicate it to the students, (b) create a balanced schedule of activities, assignments, and tests, and (c) provide a variety of subject matter topics, instructional strategies, and media delivery technologies. The clear and appropriate assessments pattern directs teachers to (a) communicate the learning objectives related to each assessment, (b) ensure assessment methods are appropriate measures of the objectives, and (c) use fair criteria in grading and administering the assessments. The authentic connections pattern asks teachers to (a) help students understand the connections between the subject matter content and the world of work, (b) promote interpersonal connections between students through instruction and group work, as well as facilitate teacher-student connections by dealing with students honestly and fairly, and (c) encourage students to look at connections that go beyond workplace application and help students become better people. The flow of time pattern recommends that teachers (a) help students plan out their schedules for various time periods, and (b) synchronize the flow of instructional events with the flow of events occurring in the students’ personal lives. Finally, the negotiation and cooperation pattern encourages teachers to apply the processes of negotiation and cooperation to solve problems related to (a) the students’ lack of a sense of freedom, power, or control, (b) the conflict within the students or within the social order of the class, and (c) the general absence of a self-supporting, self-maintaining, and generating quality in the instruction. These six instructional design patterns may be used by teachers to increase the appeal of instruction in higher education settings.

Online education is continually growing and becoming more widely accepted as an instructional delivery option. Student success, student retention, and course quality continue to be issues in distance education. In order to adequately address the issues of student retention, student success, and course quality, evaluation standards must exist. This study was designed to review evaluation standards for online-course quality in the community college and to explore the results of the usage of the evaluation standards as they related to student retention and success at a local community college. The purpose of this study was to (a) review evaluation standards capable of rating instructional quality of an online course, (b) validate the evaluation standards to be included in the evaluation instrument, and (c) determine if relationships exist between faculty evaluation scores and student success and retention in online courses. The evaluation instrument used in this study was a researcher-developed instrument that was validated from previous literature and a panel of experts in the field of distance learning. The instrument was used to measure the quality of the online classroom from the fall 2014 online courses at a local community college. A pilot test of 12 courses used the test–retest method to determine the reliability of the instrument. The remaining online courses were then evaluated using the Online Faculty Course Evaluation Instrument. Division Chairs and the Dean of Instruction acted as the supervisors of the faculty teaching online. There are 5 Division Chairs and 1 Dean of Instruction. These supervisors completed the evaluation instrument. Positive weak relationships were found and included: (a) correlation between course student-retention and the Assessment and Feedback Item #1, “course assessments are distributed equally and appropriately throughout the semester, (b) correlation between course student-success rates and the overall Course Information scores, (c) correlation between course student-success rates and Assessment and Feedback Items #1, “course assessments are distributed equally and appropriately throughout the semester, and (d) correlation between course student-success rates and Assessment and Feedback Items #6, “assessments align with the course objectives.”

The purpose of this study was to describe the effects of mid-course evaluations on teaching and student learning. A mixed methods approach was used, combining faculty and student surveys, faculty interviews, debriefing sessions, and a comparison of mid-course evaluations scores with end-of-semester scores. Out of 510 section mean scores (128 sections) from faculty members who participated in the study, 352 section mean scores (88 sections, 69%) showed students' perceptions of their own learning improved between the time they completed the mid-course evaluation and the time they completed the end-of-course student rating survey. Results showed when faculty administered a mid-course evaluation, students' perceptions of their own learning improved. Faculty members saw more improvement if they conducted a mid-course evaluation, read the feedback, and discussed this input with their students. Faculty members saw the most improvement in their ratings when they also made changes based upon student feedback. The results of this study should be encouraging to all faculty members and administrators who may feel they want to improve their teaching and increase student learning but have limited time to devote to course revisions.

Yes / Empirical research on three commercial environmental vocational education and training programmes revealed distinct personal, teaching and work-based presage factors, which influenced individual learning and learning transfer to the workplace. The extent to which behaviour change and learning transfer occurred depended on a diverse range of factors, notably the workplace utility of the course; student’s level of personal commitment and position within the employing organisation; strength of the organisation’s environmental culture; level of post-course managerial/supervisory support available within the workplace; and changing workplace circumstances/priorities.