1. Student Teacher Evaluation Dennis E. Clayson Professor of Business University of Northern Iowa

2. Good teaching is not a thing, it is a “construct.” What is a Construct?

3. This the Ayers Rock in Australia. It can be measured.

4. It has a location. It has a weight, length, width, and height. It has a temperature, density, and a chemical composition.

5. But what about love?

6. Or motivation?

7. La personalidad Personlichkeit Or personality?

8. Or happiness?

9. Or satisfaction? satisfacción, Befriedgung

10. These are called “constructs.” They are necessary because two people in the exact environment will not act the same. WHY?

11. “Motivation” explains why one person’s behavior is stronger, and more focused than another person’s. “Personality” explains why one person’s behavior is more animated, or more “sad” than another person’s.

12. They are called “hypothetical constructs” because they can only be hypothesized. Hypothesized and measured by watching and measuring behavior.

13. This typically takes multiple measures.

14. And this can be very be very difficult to do…. But it matters and it can be very important In the real world….

15. A professor claimed that everyone is a genius at something….

16. All are types of intelligence: 1. Bodily-kinesthetic 2. Musical 3. Spatial 4. Linguistic 5. Logical-mathematical 6. Interpersonal 7. Intrapersonal

17. The problem for education was to discover what type of genius you are and then develop the knowledge or skill that magnifies that genius……

18.  But what if it were not true… all of these abilities have a correlation with Spearman’s factor g…

19. Consider bodily-kinesthetic: Almost everyone can be taught to play tennis, but few of us could ever be a varsity gymnast. There are things that we cannot do, or at least never do as well as others. Perhaps there will always be people left behind…

20. It could be that: Half of all people are in the bottom half… One quarter is in the bottom quarter, and ten percent of everyone is in the bottom 10 percent. And no amount of spending will every change that.

21. So how to measure something can have powerful impacts on individuals and on society!

22. In practical terms, a construct is defined by how it is measured. This is called an: “Operational Definition.”

23. Percy W. Bridgman 1882-1961 Operationalization is the process of defining a fuzzy concept so as to make the concept measurable in form of variables consisting of specific observations. In a wider sense it refers to the process of specifying the extension of a concept.

24. “Intelligence” could be defined as how fast (RT) a person solves a puzzle….

25. Or “intelligence” could be defined as not getting cheated at the car dealership.

26. Good teaching is not a thing, it is a “construct.” So how does a “good”teacher’s behavior differfrom a “bad” teacher?

27. But more important: What behavior separates a “GOOD” teacher from a “OK” teacher?

28. Perhaps, the behavior of teachers is irrelevant. “Good” teachers produce “good” students, “bad” teachers produce “bad” students.

29. Irrespective of all this…. Student evaluation of teaching (SET) is used by almost all modern colleges and universities.….. But why?

30. There seems to have been little thought given about WHY we use the method we do.

31. SET is assumed to be necessary because of the • union of 4 ideas and trends: • Philosophically, many educations have adopted the stance that • what happens in the classroom is the responsibility of the instructor. This common sense notion has been taken to the illogical conclusion that the instructor must be held accountable for EVERYTHING that happens in the classroom.

32. 2. Political pressure has been increasing for educational accountability. Political actions create bureaucracies where the process and controlling the process is more important than actual outcomes.

33. When I informed an administrator that our instruments should be abandoned because they were invalid and may lead to law suits…. He replied, “I am require to evaluate my faculty. Give me something better.”

34. The adoption of a student-customer model. Ironically, the model adopted is consider a bit archaic by marketers.

35. 4. Over time, individuals have developed vested interest in the instruments.

36. At least 49 percent of all professors have above average SETs. And 20 percent of all professors are in the top 20 percent of all professors.

37. But that also means that 49 percent of all professors have SETs below average. And 20 percent of all professors are in the bottom 20 percent of all professors.

38. And THAT’S a problem! If fact, instructors with low scores are most likely to say nothing at all…..

39. So…. We have moved ourselves into a position that many do not wish to be in.

40. Student evaluation of teaching taken at random from the internet as an example. Teacher A (picked at random… named Smith) Student 1 “I am still extremely disappointed I took this class. I took it as an elective just because I thought it would be interesting... wrong teacher. The tests were so hard; I'm a straight A student and ended up with my first B. Don't take him…”

41. Teacher A Student 2 “I like her as a person ,however, I wasn't very fond of her teaching style. The last month all we did was presentations and were left on our own. If you don't learn well this way, don't taker her. Otherwise she is pretty good.”

42. Teacher A Student 3 “HE is a guy. His name is Roland Acosta. He's actually pretty good, but his classes take FOREVER. Bring a laptop or small GameBoy and you will be fine.”

43. Questions: Is Teacher A: a good teacher, or a bad teacher….

44. Is Teacher A: For that matter: a man or a woman?

45. As we would expect from any system that could establish merit pay, tenure, and reinforce or humiliate a profession known for their arrogance…. There have been thousands of articles published on the topic.

46. This research has raised a number of interesting questions. 1. Who is a good teacher?

47. This research has raised a number of interesting questions. 1. Who is a good teacher? 2. How do we measure something? And how do we do that with enough accuracy to make decisions that can change another person’s position, salary, job, reputation, and self esteem?

48. This research has raised a number of interesting questions. 1. Who is a good teacher? 2. How do we measure something? 3. Do these measurements make someone a better teacher? 4. Do these measurements create an improvement in education? Has the quality of American education improved since the widespread adoption of SET?

49. This research has raised a number of interesting questions. 1. Who is a good teacher? 2. How do we measure something? 3. Do these measurements make someone a better teacher? 4. Do these measurements create an improvement in education? 5. In society?

50. What Has Been Learned?