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COURSE EVALUATIONS

Like any college or university, Tusculum University aspires to excellence in teaching.

To these ends, one of our tools is the Course Evaluation.  In higher education literature, this is known as Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET).

 

Each semester, all students are offered the opportunity to share their anonymous opinions regarding the courses they take at Tusculum University every term. The institution uses the IOTA360 platform to collect information regarding student perceptions of teaching toward the end of every semester. Results of these surveys are provided to instructors, department chairs, college deans, and the Provost or Executive Vice President. For adjunct instructors and staff members with instructional responsibilities, these survey results, in combination with the instructor’s peer teaching observation(s), inform department chairs and college deans in their determination of whether to continue parttime instructors’ contracts for subsequent terms.    (Faculty Handbook)

 

Faculty can access the below links:

 

Want to Talk? 

OIRE understands.  We teach, too.  We understand that course evaluations can be intimidating.

We recommend you use SET to help you understand what does and does not work for you and your students.

If you are interested in SET, here’s some resources:

  •  AAUP Statement on Teaching Evaluations  (full version here)
Student perceptions. Student perceptions are a prime source of information from those who must be affected if learning is to take place. Student responses can provide continuing insights into a number of the important dimensions of a teacher’s efforts: classroom per­formance, advising, and informal and formal contacts with students outside of class. A variety of ways are available to gather student opinion, ranging from informal questioning of individual students about details of a specific course to campus­-wide questionnaires.
  • Course evaluations are only as good as a student’s understanding of the intended purpose of the process.  Here’s some really useful Suggestions from our neighbor, Vanderbilt University.

 

Want some Contextual Resources on Teaching and Learning?    

OIRE is a big fan of the Center of Inquiry, based at Wabash College.

OIRE highly recommends material developed by the American Association of Colleges & Universities.   We especially recommend AACU’s Teaching and Learning Framework.