Student Ratings of College Teaching: Rating the Utility of Rating Forms

Abstract

A survey was conducted to assess students’ attitudes toward use made by faculty of customary course evaluations administered at the end of the semester. The survey instrument was given to a sample of students attending a two-year county college. Findings showed that students in this setting felt that (a) the rating forms were generally constructed in a way that provided an effective means of evaluating instruction, (b) teachers frequently did not change their teaching behavior as a result of weaknesses identified by the students, (c) many teachers ignored the results of the rating form, and (d) the students’ identity was sufficiently protected so that fear of faculty reprisal was minimum.