Page 182 - Crisis in Higher Education

Becoming Student-Centered • 153

2. Measure teaching effectiveness by student performance: Assessing the
teaching effectiveness of instructional faculty is no longer done with
student evaluations. Rather, it is accomplished by pretesting and
posttesting each student. A subject matter pretest is given during the
first class to determine the students’ level of competence. The final
examination measures what students know at the end, and the dif-
ference between the two is what the students have learned. Both the
final exam, which is an absolute learning standard, and the differ-
ence between the two tests, which is a relative standard, are used
to assess the teaching performance of instructional faculty. This
approach is useful for tenured and professional faculty as well.
3. Gather different student input: Student evaluations are still used,
but they no longer ask questions such as: How much have stu-
dents learned? Was the faculty member a good teacher? Did the
students like the faculty member? Asking most 18- to 22-year-old
students about these issues presupposes that they have some idea
of what they should learn, when in fact they have limited knowl-
edge about what they need to know to compete for good jobs at
graduation. The revised student evaluation gathers feedback on
the following:
a. Student experiences, including what learning tools would help
them learn faster and easier. This relates to student-centered
learning and the seven learning styles, so the evaluation might
ask if and how they used specific tools and were these effective.
b. Faculty performance, which should emphasize things students
can readily and reliably assess. Were students treated courteously
and respectfully? Did the instructor provide clear and prompt
feedback on performance? Did the instructor arrive on time?
Was the instructor well prepared? Students can provide mean-
ingful feedback about treatment and process, and their answers
can be part of the instructors’ evaluation.

7.5 DRIVING FORCES FOR CHANGE

Some of the changes are within the control of universities, so government,
students, parents, other family members, and friends should be provid-
ing the pressure. If universities want to attract more students, they must