Student evaluation: what predicts satisfaction?

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Research and Development in Higher Education Vol. 32: The Student Experience

July, 2009, 715 pages
Published by
Helen Wozniak and Sonia Bartoluzzi
ISBN
0 908557 78 7
Abstract 

The main goals of course evaluations are to obtain student feedback regarding courses and teaching for improvement purposes and to provide a defined and practical process to ensure that actions are taken to improve courses and teaching. Of the items on course evaluation forms, the one that receives the most attention and consequently the most weight is the question, “Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this course.” However, no attention has been placed on examining the predictors of students being ‘satisfied with the quality of this course’ overall. This study attempts to address this gap. The findings show that while student characteristics and reasons for enrolling in a course are predictors of overall satisfaction, it is the evaluation questions that predict the majority of the variation in course satisfaction. The findings also reveal that faculty-selected optional questions are stronger predictors of overall satisfaction than compulsory questions. This unique finding suggests that faculties are in tune with their students’ needs and experiences as they have chosen questions which are more predictive of overall satisfaction with course quality. This study has provided the basis for future exploration. In a changing culture towards ‘compliance and accountability’ there is a shift to performance indicators, increasing reliance on outputs such as student evaluations of teaching by government bodies, university performance reviews and rewards. This considered; there is some urgency in ensuring that we know what these instruments are in fact measuring and that these instruments are designed to be reliable and valid.

Keywords: student ratings, course evaluation, overall satisfaction